AROUSED FAITH
THE STEPS TO A FRESH EXPERIENCE WITH GOD
Genesis 17:1-27
The time lapse between chapters 16 and 17 of Genesis involve a period of approximately 13yrs. The central figure in these chapters is Abraham and his journey with God. Much had happened in his life, but the promised son Isaac had not yet arrived and it seems Abraham had become at ease, complacent and lethargic in his acceptance of the substitute to the promise, Ishmael. In chapter 16 Abram was still capable of begetting offspring. It was a period marked by activity of the flesh and its attendant ruin. In chapter 17 he is ninety-nine and his body “dead,” and he sits in the midst of the ruin his folly has wrought, powerless to effect a remedy. This is where man must be in order for God to draw near and act on his behalf. Man must first see the failure of his own efforts must realize his own helplessness, before God will reveal Himself and undo man’s ruin.
Abraham didn’t yet realize that with his hope exhausted, and his ability to produce a son of promise naturally having died, it became an opportunity for God to work and bring forth what had been promised long ago. Abram’s age, 99, is further confirmation that resurrection is the theme of this section, for 3 is the prominent factor of 99, and 3 is the Biblical number of resurrection.
How about you? Making do with a substitute, given up hope? Here are eight steps to aroused faith in God.
• Receive a Fresh Revelation of God
Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
Abram needed God to rouse, stir, quicken, and awaken his faith – to look beyond the present, the physical to the possible. To look at the impossible and believe: Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” So God appears as Almighty God, El Shaddei = to display power. See God for who He really is! God, the God of resurrection. God began the work of recovery by bidding Abram to look, not at self, but at Him. That is where all recovery must begin; the eye must be turned to God.
• Make a commitment to walk before God and be blameless
Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless (perfect).
To walk means to live before God in a spirit of devotion, worship and fellowship to understand He can see us and to recognize He looks after us – Perfect means: to be sound complete, of single mind, it is not the perfection of sinlessness, but rather that perfection of heart that will have perfect faith in God, trusting Him implicitly “to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” Eph 3:20. In other words if we live our lives in light of God and who He is we will find that He is our Peace in every situation. When we have God in view how can we not be changed?
Ephesians 5:15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
• Humble yourself before God and listen to Him
Genesis 17:3-5 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
Abram fell on his face, he got as low as he could, God gives grace to the humble – Abram begins to hear God’s voice again:
a. God renews Abram’s call and promise – “Father of multitudes”
b. God breathes His Spirit – “Ah” into Abram’s name and he becomes Abraham - Abraham represents faith, and Sarah, grace
Zechariah 4:6 ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.
Is this not the key to Christian living that it is only with faith and grace that we can accomplish those things He has desired for us?
• Hear and believe God’s covenant promises
Genesis 17:6-8 “I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. “Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
a. I will make you exceedingly fruitful – nations - kings
b. I will establish - My covenant
c. I will give unto you - all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession
It is all God and His acting – when we realize it takes God to accomplish God things we can rest in His Promise
• Keep the covenant meaning in our mind
Genesis 17:9-14 And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. “This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; “and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. “He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. “He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. “And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
God centered thinking produces life – circumcision of the heart – eight days meaning new beginnings – a renewed mind transforms our lives for the better and overcomes doubt and unbelief and brings life
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
• Don’t despise the means of the promise
Genesis 17:15-18 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. “And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”
Sara = strife, contention, quarrelsome – Sarah = princess
Don’t turn the womb into a tomb – the womb of our spirits is where God is at work – it is our Holy of Holies – where rivers run making dead things living – God chooses to work through unusual means and ways don’t limit Him by reasoning in the natural – begin to declare that which isn’t as though it is - Ishmael, begotten by the energy of the flesh, was the perpetuation of the old line, but Isaac, begotten by the power of God, was to be the beginning of a completely new line. God doesn’t remake the flesh. He sets it aside completely. Men of the Spirit are a new creation. It was when the flesh in Abram was dead that God changed his name to Abraham and empowered him to become the father of a new line altogether.
• Accept the will and purpose of God
Genesis 17:19-21 Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. “And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. “But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”
Abraham’s desire had been wrapped up in Ishmael, misplaced and out of line with God’s will – Abraham needed a “sight” adjustment – God reconfirmed His will
a. Sarah was to bear the promise
b. God would name the promise – Isaac
c. Isaac would be the means of continuing blessings and fulfillment of God’s will
• Make a public decision to obey God’s instructions His word
Genesis 17:22-27 Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Once God speaks we need to proclaim His word and walk in obedience to it – Abraham put into practice what he had heard – his obedience affected his whole household
