BOOK: Faith In God

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4

Obeying God

Genesis 22 ... And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

And HE (God) said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide HIMSELF a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

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And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham:

and he said, Here am I.

And he (the angel) said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from ME.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said,

By MYSELF have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;  And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed MY voice.

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Again we see the pattern for faith in God.

God spoke ... Abraham believed it was God speaking to him so Abraham obeyed … even unto death!

Also we see in verses 6-7 that Isaac was old enough at this time that he could carry the wood and also we see Isaac was old enough to both speak and reason out the situation.

And Abraham was honored by God because Abraham obeyed even unto death of his most cherished son.

In Hebrews 11 we see Abraham's reasoning of the situation ...

Heb. 11:17 ... By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:  Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

(Isaac came from the dead bodies of Abraham and Sarah so Abraham knew God would be able to raise Isaac from physical death if he killed Isaac.)

In OT being raised from the dead was rare and not known by most people, but being raised from the dead is a fundamental principal of the NT Christian faith.

Paul said ... I Cor. 15 ... But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that HE raised up Christ: whom HE raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

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Because we believe God will raise us from the dead, we do not approach death as people of this world. That is because we have faith in that which the Bible teaches us about God raising HIS people from the dead and we have assurance that we belong to God and are HIS people.

I Thess. 4 ...  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep (dead), that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with HIM.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep.

For the Lord HIMSELF shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

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But Abraham knew this concept of God raising a person from the dead and had great faith that God could do this for Isaac.

Concerning Abraham:

God said ... Gen. 18:19 ... For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which HE hath spoken of him.

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Heb. 11:1 ... Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

When there is real faith, there is both substance and evidence. Faith is evidence. For when we believe something our actions show that is what we believe.

If a person comes to us saying, "I believe God will heal me, pray for me."

That person shows he does not believe God will heal him, for if he believes that, why would he need us to pray for something "already done" ... for faith and belief accepts that which is believed as "already done".

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Many church people think they have faith in God but often their faith is in their pastor, or their church, or even in themselves as they find scripture to "stand on".

Back in the 80's, Vinita Copeland, Kenneth Copeland's mother, told me this story. A child in their family was dying. Many were standing around the child quoting various scriptures.

Vinita said, "But the child was dying." Vinita said she left the room, got on her knees and began to talk to God, pleading with God for the life of the child.

Jesus said ... Jn. 5:39-40 ... (Ye)  Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of ME. And ye will not come to ME, that ye might have life.

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No man can keep alive his own self ... But God can.

God kills and God makes alive. HE is God and not we ourselves. So we don't tell God what to do. We plead with God.

God pronounced a sentence of death over the child David had with Uraiah's wife. Nathan the prophet said to David...

II Sam. 12:14 ... Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

David shut himself away and fasted and prayed for the life of the child. David's servants were concerned about David. Then the child died and the servants were really concerned about what David would do.

II Sam. 12 ... But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.

Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.

Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.

And he (David) said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?

But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again?

I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.

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God does what HE wills. We can plead with God but God does as HE wills.

God sent Jonah to tell the great city of Nineveh that it would be destroyed. The people were terrified and fell down in sackcloth and begged God not to destroy them. God held back the planned destruction.

Unless God chooses to tell us what HE is going to do, we, like sheep of the pasture, do not know what will happen.

Paul was on a prison ship and a very stormy sea arose. The ship was in great danger of being destroyed. But God told Paul what would happen.

Acts 27 ... And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.

And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.

Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

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This is faith:

Paul heard from God and believed that which God told him, and he told the others what God had said.

Moses was a great man of faith. Several times Moses went to Pharaoh and each time Moses told Pharaoh what God was going to do unless he, Pharaoh, let the people of Israel go. Moses boldly spoke of what God was going to do. These were not idle words. Moses had heard from God as to what God would do. But certainly it took faith for Moses to tell this to Pharaoh.

Ex. 7 ... And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.

And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve ME in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.

Thus saith the LORD,

In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.

And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

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Faith is very simple.

Faith is hearing from God ... believing HIM ... and acting according to that which God has shown you.

But it always starts with God.

First, God speaks to us ... Then we have faith "in God", in what HE has shown us about the matter. And we believe and obey.

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At the time I was born again, 1975, I owned a small business in Dallas, Texas.

A very freak occurrence happened at my business,  ending in a young woman taking me to court.

It was terrifying to me.

As the court trial approached, I heard the following words in the form of a thought sent to my mind and with all my heart I believed this was God telling me what to do.

The instruction I heard was two words:

"Don't testify."

I called my lawyer and told him he might not want to represent me in this case because I believed God had told me not to testify, therefore I would not be testifying.

Gordon said he would represent me.  He said he knew we would win the case if I testified and he didn't know what might happen if I didn't testify, but he would represent me even if I didn't  testify.

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A woman who worked for me had witnessed the entire event concerning the young woman and she would testify.

When she learned I was not going to testify, she became very angry at me!

She said all the burden of the case was now upon her since I wouldn't testify.

I told her, "What can I do?  God told me, 'Don't testify.' "

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The man I was dating at that time, said to me, "Joan, you aren't doing this woman any good by not testifying."

I replied:  "I'm not trying to do this woman any good.  I'm trying to obey what God told me which is,  'Don't testify.' "

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Everybody on my own side was upset with me!

In the courthouse, the judge was looking down at a piece of paper upon which he was writing while my lawyer told judge that I was not going to testify.

The judge froze in mid-sentence as my lawyer spoke. 

Judge looked directly at me with a shock on his face and questioned me:  "You're not testifying?"

Judge couldn't believe what he was hearing.

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The trial began.  It was such a low level case that we had right to choose trial by jury or we could let the judge try the case.  My lawyer recommended letting the judge try the case so that is what we did.

Flo, the woman who worked for me, gave her testimony.

My lawyer came to me and said, "Flo's testimony wasn't as strong as I hoped it would be.  If you will testify, I know we will win."

I replied, "I'll see ..."

I went in the rest room of the Court House and asked God what He wanted me to do.

I heard (in form of a thought) ...

"Don't testify."

I returned to the court room and as I entered the door, Gordon, lawyer, looked at me in an anxious way.

I shook my head, "No."

The trial continued.

I was acquitted by the judge.  It was over!

With this, God began teaching me faith in God ... to hear what HE said ... to trust what HE told me ... and to follow orders!

Faith in God is a very exciting adventure in life!

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