This morning I continue our series entitled, “Standing on a Word from God.” This is Part 18. We have been looking at the life of Abraham for weeks. For the past couple of days we have been looking at at passage in Genesis 22. I want to go back to it today. The Bible says:
After these things God decided to test Abraham’s faith. God said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Yes!” Then God said, “Take your son to the land of Moriah and kill your son there as a sacrifice for me. This must be Isaac, your only son, the one you love. Use him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there. I will tell you which mountain.” In the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took Isaac and two servants with him. He cut the wood for the sacrifice. Then they went to the place where God told them to go. After they traveled three days, Abraham looked up, and in the distance he saw the place where they were going. Then he said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go to that place and worship. Then we will come back to you later.” (Gen 22:1-5 ERV)
Today I am going to focus in on the line: “The boy and I will go to that place and worship. Then we will come back to you later.”
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. You were born destined to live out God’s plan for your life.
a) The Bible says, “That which is now already has been, and that which is to be already has been; and God seeks that which has passed by [so that history repeats itself].” (Ecc 3:15 AMPC). God has already seen your life play out before Him. God mapped out your life, and your success, before you were born. He then rewound the tape and pressed PLAY the day you were born.
b) When God looks at you today, He is looking for what He planned. He is looking for history (or HIS story) to play out in your life.
c) God’s plans for your life are already finished. Just like an architect who has to finish the plans before starting the project, God finished His plans for your life before you ever took one breath. You were born as God’s design. You are God’s handiwork. You are His masterpiece. Paul said it this way: “We are God’s handiwork. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.” (Eph 2:10). Did you catch that? We don’t get to CHOOSE what we want to do with our lives and then call that “the will of God.” NO! God chose before we were born. Purpose cannot be decided, purpose must be discovered! Abraham did not CHOOSE to leave his home and everything he knew. He was called of God into his purpose. He did not CHOOSE to go to Moriah to sacrifice Isaac, He was called of God into it. This is the life of faith! Faith is not about you telling God what to do. It is about you discover what God already planned; about walking in what God has already done!
2. Faith is about discovering God’s plan and attempting to live it out in the earth.
a) Many Christians come up with things on their own, they lay it before God, they ask God to bless THEIR plans, and they then add, “IN JESUS’ NAME” to the end of their prayer and they call that faith. That’s not faith. Faith is not you attempting to get God to put a “YES” on your plans. Faith is God attempting to get you to put a “YES” on His plans.
b) Faith is not what happens when you attempt to convince God. Faith is what happens when God convinces YOU! It is true faith when you are so convinced of God that you are compelled to ask for it in prayer and to then provide the corresponding actions required to bring it to pass in the earth realm, despite a lack of sense-realm evidence to support it, and often in the face of opposition.
c) Abraham was SO convinced that God was going to give him a lineage and a heritage through Isaac that he was willing to KILL the boy as a sacrifice. He was willing to set his own son on fire! Why? Because he believed that God will not leave the boy dead. He believed that he AND the boy would go up the mountain, and he AND the boy would return. Faith is what happened when you are CONVINCED of God’s will! So convinced that you will do whatever God is telling you to do, even when it makes NO SENSE in the earth.
*** The day you get truly convinced, the day you are fully persuaded of God, will be the day you start living by faith!
Closing Confession:
Father, this is a season of expectation for me. I am the just and I live by faith. I live by every Word You speak to me. I live by everything You say. You reveal to me what You already planned and I release my faith to receive it. My faith accesses Your grace. I choose to do what You say, by faith, even if it means I have to do so without any sense-realm evidence to support it, and even in the face of opposition. I am fully persuaded that what You have promised You are able also to perform. More importantly, I am convinced that You WILL do it, in my life, in the earth, before I die! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
