Who Against Hope Believed In Hope

What do we do when there appears to be no hope in our situation.

Abraham's testimony was Who against hope believed in hope.

Rom 4:16-24

16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

A Time of Altars

Written by Jack Hayford

Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South. – Genesis 12:6-9 ...to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord... Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord. - Genesis 13:4, 18

Altars are a memorial to the place where God meets us

Has God failed us? ... I don't understand and my faith is faltering

God's Promises

Has God failed us? I have read repeatedly where God promised the Jews to be a great nation, yet today Israel is struggling for survival, and Jews in the Diaspora are assimilating in record numbers. I don't understand and my faith is faltering. Please explain.

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

God made a covenant with Abraham, and that pact is not able to be broken. However, God assures us that our ability to flourish, or conversely to suffer, depends on how well we fulfill our end of the bargain: which is to observe the mitzvot and be a holy people that inspires the world to recognize God's existence and dominion over all.

Even in the darkest times, God is with us. But that in itself is a test of our connection to Him, to be able to see His guiding hand even within the darkness. In Deuteronomy 31:16-18, God says that if the Jewish people rebel, "I will hide My face from them."

Portable Praise

Psalm 98:4–9

Making a joyful noise to the Lord sounds good and right, doesn’t it? It’s a no-brainer—so much so that it’s easy not to engage our brains all that actively over a praise passage. We’re inspired and uplifted when we read such words. Our gait may even be livelier and our gaze focused higher for a while afterward.

The trouble is, our days are often characterized by an operative word other than praise. Despite our best intentions, that word too easily morphs into busyness. Author Cynthia Heald reflects on this issue:

One day when I was reading Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest, I was struck by his insight about a rather obscure and easily overlooked verse in Genesis: “[From there he (Abram) went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD.]” Chambers writes, “Bethel is the symbol of communion with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. 

Go When You're Ready

"With long life will I satisfy [you], and shew [you] my salvation." (Psalm 91:16)

Did you know that it's not God's will for you or anyone to die young? His will for you is to live the full number of your days. You ought to live 70 or 80 years, and if you are not satisfied, live a while longer! The Bible says that when Abraham died, he died at a good old age, full of years. That's the way it ought to be with all of us.

Some believers don't realize that and they've gotten themselves in a mess. When they get sick instead of just believing for healing, they start wondering if it's God's will for them to die. "Maybe He's ready to call me home," they think.

Don't ever entertain thoughts like that. If God has His way, He won't call you home until you're good and ready to come. The Apostle Paul understood that. In 2 Timothy 4:6-7, he said, "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." Paul didn't die until he and Jesus were ready for him to go.

Trusting in the Promises of God

Written by Brenda Miller

Take today’s next step: Learn how to pray the promises of God. 

“And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.” (Genesis 21:1-2, NKJV)

God is always faithful to His promises. His word is absolute truth. We can be assured that God will not see His word return void when He sends it out to achieve important purposes in our lives.

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

When God Shows Up, Don’t Forget It

Sharon Jaynes 

 

“Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water,” (Genesis 21:19 NIV).

Yesterday we looked at Hagar and how God spoke to her in her deepest time of need. Let’s visit that one more time, because Hagar, like you and me, forgot about her encounter with God.

When Hagar encountered God the first time, she fell on her face and gave God the name El Roi, the God who Sees Me “I have now seen the One who sees me,” she cried. She had heard God. She had seen God. More importantly, God had seen Hagar. God had heard Hagar.

Hagar returned to her mistress, gave birth to a son, and placed him into Abram’s arms. But sixteen years later, God was true to His word, and Sarai gave birth to a son of her own. (God also changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s to Sarah). 

Wait in God's Presence

by Barbie Breathitt

The Bible is full of God-given revelation through dreams, visions, and prophecy. We must study to show ourselves approved so that we can operate in the Spirit of understanding. We need to be spiritually fruitful in today's age of increasing spiritual awareness—which is both good and evil. We must learn from the Holy Spirit to discern between the two and have the character to reject the evil and embrace the true.

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened...” Ephesians 1:17–18 NKJV

The tangible presence of God residing in our lives, enabling us to do the impossible, is more important now than ever before in history. We do well to adopt the prayer of Moses in Exodus 33:13–16 (below). Moses asked God to show him His ways. This involves the spiritual realm of vision. If we are able to see our future and understand the ways God wants us to walk, we will prosper. It is time to see the grace and favor of God resting upon us in the realms of glory. Part of knowing God is recognizing His glory manifest in and through our lives. Do we really know God if we are not walking in the strength of His power doing great exploits?

Abraham : Father of many nations.

Greetings in Jesus Name!

It is not where you are at in life's journey but your relationship with the Lord that is going to bring the blessings to your life.

When a person fully understands this and walks in this realm they begin to experience the fullness that the Lord has for them.

Abraham experienced this in his life.

Deuteronomy 8:1 (KJV)
All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.

Aaronic Benediction Explained

Dear Friends,

Myles & Katharine Weiss

Messianic Jews have consistently experienced a presence of peace with Arab, Egyptian, and Persian Believers. The continued failure of political peace efforts is underwhelming and completely predictable. Any of us who are involved with world ministry, especially those in Israel, can recount mountaintop experiences of supernatural fellowship that supersedes human failure and historical precedent.

This is based on the power of blessing that comes directly from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is not merely a New Testament phenomenon. Blessing is a characteristic that winds throughout His-story including the Tanach (Old Testament). From the very time it was instituted in the Word, we see that Abraham could bless whomever he wanted. One of the most famous rabbis in Jewish history observes that if Abraham could bless whomever he wanted, doing so becomes a privilege that God gave to us as the children of Abraham. In fact, it is commanded. In Numbers chapter six, God told Moses to have Aaron and his sons stand before the people and “You will bless the Sons of Israel in this way….”

Abraham : The Man Who Was God’s Friend

Abram, Abraham [Ā'brăm,Ā'brăhăm]—the father of a multitude. The original name of the youngest son of Terah was Abram, meaning “father of height.” Abraham was given to him when the promise of a numerous progeny was renewed to him by God (Gen. 11:26;17:5, 9). The Man Who Was God’s Friend                                Abraham’s place in the Bible’s portrait gallery is altogether unique and unapproachable. He stands out as a landmark in the spiritual history of the world. Chosen of God to become the father of a new spiritual race, the file leader of a mighty host, the revelation of God found in him one of its most important epochs. In himself, there was not much to make him worthy of such a distinction. His choice was all of grace.

Why Did God Sit Me on the Shelf?

Dr. Julie Barrier,


Just got home. Opened the frig. An odiferous gallon of sour milk reminds me that I should have pitched it days ago. Milk has a short shelf life. The rotten cow juice makes my Cheerios taste like poo.

Avocados are the food of the gods, in my estimation. Especially if you pair them with salsa and Doritos. If you grab avocados in the grocery, they are rock-hard and tasteless. Stick them in a sunny windowsill for two days and they become silky and succulent. Leave them too long and they become brown and pasty. Blech. Their shelf life is miniscule. 

Hostess Twinkies have a shelf life of fifty years. I’m not kidding. Hostess is out of business, but the cream filling may be re-purposed as cement for space stations in 2050.

Eliezer : The Man Who Found a Wife for His Master

Eliezer [Ĕli ēzûr]—god is my help.

1. The second son of Moses and Zipporah to whom his father gave this name as a memento of his gratitude to God (Exod. 18:4; 1 Chron. 23:15, 17; 26:25).
2. A son of Becher and grandson of Benjamin (1 Chron. 7:8).
3. A priest who assisted in the return of the Ark to Jerusalem (1 Chron. 15:24).
4. A Reubenite ruler in David’s time (1 Chron. 27:16).
5. The prophet who rebuked Jehoshaphat for his alliance with king Ahaziah in the Ophir expedition (2 Chron. 20:37).
6. A chieftain sent with others to induce many of the Israelites to return with Ezra to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:16).
7. A priest who put away his foreign wife (Ezra 10:18).
8. A Levite who had done the same (Ezra 10:23).
9. One of the sons of Harim who had done likewise (Ezra 10:31).
10. An ancestor of Joseph, husband of Mary (Luke 3:29).
11. Abraham’s chief servant, and “son of his house,” that is, one of his large household. He is named “Eliezer of Damascus” probably to distinguish him from others of the same name (Gen. 15:2; 24).

The Man Who Found a Wife for His Master

The Man Whose Birth Caused a Laugh

Isaac [Ī'zaac] he laugheth or laughing one. The son of Abraham and Sarah, who was born at Gerar when

Abraham as one hundred years of age and Sarah was about ninety years old (Gen. 17:19, 21;21:3-12; 22:2-9).

Isaac is one of the few cases in the Bible in which God selected a name for a child and announced it before he was born. In the Old Testament we have Isaac, Ishmael, Solomon, Josiah, Cyrus and Isaiah’s son; in the New Testament, John the Baptist and Jesus.

Isaac’s beautiful and suggestive name, “he laughed,” commemorates the two laughings at the promise of God—the laughing of the father’s joy and the laughing of Sarah’s incredulity which soon passed into penitence and faith (Gen. 21:6). Isaac was the child of the covenant, “I will establish My covenant with him.” To three patriarchs in succession was this covenant specifically given: to Abraham, as he left Chaldea (Gen. 12:3); toIsaac, when in Canaan during the famine (Gen. 26:4); toJacob, at Bethel (Gen. 28:14). Isaac, however, was the first to inherit the covenant, and to him God gave the whole inheritance of Abraham (Gen. 24:35).

Introducing the Eternal God

“I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself fully known to them.”—Exodus 6:3

This Torah portion for this week, Vaeira, is from Exodus 6:2—9:35 and Ezekiel 28:25–29:12.

This week’s Torah portion is called Vaeira, meaning ‘and I appeared.’ But it isn’t a reference to something happening in this week’s portion; it is speaking about God appearing in the past – to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It’s as if God were saying to Moses, “In the past I appeared to the forefathers in one way, but you will have a completely different experience. To the Patriarchs I was ‘God Almighty,’ but to you, I am ‘the LORD.’”

What was God trying to tell Moses?

The Sages explain that every name of God – and there are many of them – has a different meaning. Each name describes a different way in which we can experience God. The name revealed to Moses, “the LORD,” is the four-letter name, YHVH, which comes from these three terms: He was, He is, and He will be. This implies that any promise that God has made in the past is remembered in the present and will be fulfilled in the future.

Step Across the Faith Line

"And being not weak in faith, [Abraham] considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God." (Romans 4:19-20)

In the years I've spent living by faith, there's something I've learned to do that helps me receive from God in the toughest of situations. It's something I call stepping over the faith line.
A faith line is what you need when you want God to do the "impossible" in your life. It's what you need when you want to be firm in your faith and yet you keep wavering back and forth between your circumstances and God's promises--believing first one, then the other.

It's what can make you like faithful Abraham. You know, Abraham had natural facts to deal with just like we do. He knew there was no natural way for God's promise to him to come true.

Like a Father : "As a father has compassion on his children"

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” — Psalm 103:13–14

In Psalm 103, King David writes, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”The Sages ask: Like which father? They explain that this verse isn’t talking about just any father who has compassion for his children; it is talking about the Patriarch Abraham. He, more than anyone else in the Bible, demonstrated endless love and compassion for all humanity.

Abraham’s unique love for people was best demonstrated when he prayed on behalf of the people of Sodom. It’s one thing to have compassion for good people who slip up once in a while; it’s another to feel empathy for people who are prone to evil. The people of Sodom were cruel, immoral, and godless. Yet Abraham made every attempt to save them when God informed him about their imminent destruction.

Is God Really Enough? Part 1

Mary Southerland

Today's Truth
So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided" (Genesis 22:14, NIV).

Friend to Friend

As I worked through the seemingly endless number of emails, my heart grew heavy and my soul cried out to God - so many women in so much pain. I could feel their fear and confusion in every word. Their circumstances were all very different, but they were all really asking the same question, "Where are you, God?"

I was already tired and overwhelmed, having just returned from speaking at a women's conference in an area of the country where the economy had taken a nosedive. So many of the prayer requests were centered around one deep need – the provision of God. And honestly, I was struggling with the same question in my own life.

I hurt. The doctors said it was fibromyalgia and that the medical world doesn't really understand the disease, so my treatment options were "iffy" at best. I had a lot of questions but no one seemed to have any answers.

The Stubbornness of Hope

Written by Becky Toews

Ten reasons to hope.

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed….” (Romans 4:18a)

I’m thankful that hope is so stubborn. If it wasn’t, I think I’d be a goner. Many times my circumstances have tempted me to throw in the towel, but each time I find hope popping to the surface and eventually taking over.

Oh, I’ve tried to resist. I’ve let discouraging thoughts smother the “noble, lovely and praiseworthy.” I’ve listened to the whispers of failure more times than I care to remember. I’ve allowed the voice of disappointment become louder than a scream. But with the predictability of a Hallmark movie, I find that after all my rants and raves, hope stands there quietly waiting. She penetrates my protests with the undeniable assurance that it’s gonna be okay.

How were people saved before Jesus died for our sins-

Since the fall of man, the basis of salvation has always been the death of Christ. No one, either prior to the cross or since the cross, would ever be saved without that one pivotal event in the history of the world. Christ‘s death paid the penalty for past sins of Old Testament saints and future sins of New Testament saints.

The requirement for salvation has always been faith. The object of one’s faith for salvation has always been God. The psalmist wrote, Blessed are all who take refuge in him (Psalm 2:12). Genesis 15:6 tells us that Abraham believed God and that was enough for God to credit it to him for righteousness (see also Romans 4:3-8). The OldTestament sacrificial system did not take away sin, as Hebrews 10:1-10 clearly teaches. It did, however, point to the day when the Son of God would shed His blood for the sinful human race.

What has changed through the ages is the content of a believer’s faith. God‘s requirement of what must be believed is based on the amount of revelation He has given mankind up to that time. This is called progressive revelation. Adam believed the promise God gave in Genesis 3:15 that the Seed of the woman would conquer Satan. Adam believed Him, demonstrated by the name he gave Eve (v. 20) and the Lord indicated His acceptance immediately by covering them with coats of skin (v. 21). At that point that is all Adam knew, but he believed it.