Title: In Hope Against Hope, We Believed
Please believe that when you are thankful, the door to happiness opens, when you are grateful, diseases run away, when you are grateful, you come to understand the Word, and when you are thankful, you will receive the blessing of prosperity as you wish.
Gratitude is the key to solving all difficult problems. I pray in the name of the Lord that this ‘everyday gratitude’ will be restored in your lives and all the difficult problems you are experiencing will be resolved.
- Abraham hoped against hope (Rom 4:18)
It is not faith to hope for what can be hoped for. It’s just the way it is and it’s almost obvious (Gen 12:1-2). At this time, when Abraham was 75 years old, God pronounced a great blessing on him. And He ordered Abraham ‘to leave’. But He didn’t tell him ‘Where’ to go.
Abraham did not know his destination. He had no idea what he would experience or what kind of life he would be led into. But still, Abraham had hope. In other words, he hoped for the unknown and the invisible place. Abraham did not see it but he had a hope. Therefore, if we want to become the descendants of Abraham who have the same faith and blessing, we must become people who can hope for these things that are not visible now.
Abraham came as far as Haran without knowing his destination. If Abraham had settled down and stayed in Haran, he would never have been able to enter the land of Canaan. I have a purpose. The Lord Covenant Church will be revived to have 50 or 100 members. Our middle and high school students experience the Word and the living God while serving in the church.
No one knows how much time, materials, and effort it will take to achieve this. Also, we don’t know how to achieve these things. You must keep knocking and finding ways. However, I won’t stop hoping and I sincerely hope that you too will keep knocking and search for a way together with me.
Why did Abraham have hope even though he could see nothing? It is because he believed the words in Gen 12:1-2. And all because he lived a life of gratitude.
- Abraham believed in a situation that he cannot believe (Gen 17:9)
God appeared when Abraham was 99 years old. And he told him that he would have a son through Sarah next year. At this time Sarah was 89 years old, and her menstruation had already been stopped. Even when she was young and possible, she couldn’t have a child. So, she needed her body to be rejuvenated and her reproductive functions must be revived and works better than before. Can you truly believe such things to take place in your lives? For the same reason, Abraham laughed. Then God asked, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Gen 18:11-14)
No matter how impossible things are, I believe that it is not that we can believe things as we wish, because faith is not ours. You can believe when God allowed you to believe. In other words, you can believe only when you are given the grace to believe (Rom 4:19-20). So, we must live a life seeking God’s grace. Our worship time should be a time when God’s grace is poured out. Therefore, we must prepare in prayer and with sincerity.
- Abraham did something that he cannot do (Gen 22:2)
Isaac was not simply a precious child born to Abraham when he was 100 years old. He was the fulfiller of the covenant that all of God’s blessings could only be achieved through Isaac.
God ordered Isaac to be offered as a burnt offering. Abraham could have protested to God that this is inhumane and unjust. He could have aslo refused to obey, saying that God was trying to destroy His own promise and His covenant. This is something no parents and no believers can do. But Abraham did it.
The Bible says that the reason was because Abraham had faith that God would raise Isaac up even from the dead (Heb 11:19; Rom 4:17).
These words are very comforting to me. Because in the end, it is the Word that accomplishes everything, not man, but God.
Of course, this scene can be explained as the point at which Abraham came to faith in resurrection, but I would like to explain this scene as the point at which Abraham acknowledged God’s sovereignty (Rom 11:36; Job 1:21).
The words that God has proclaimed in our church and the will He has established will surely come true. It is not because we are good, but because God is strong, faithful, and still alive (Mat 14:31).
Jesus’ disciples rebuked you for having ‘little faith’ in Jesus. What does ‘little faith’ mean? The founding pastor explained that to think of God as less than everything in this world and as having no power is little in faith (Jhn 10:29).
The Bible explains that Father God is greater than all. We must believe so. We must believe that he is greater than anyone else in the world, and that is why he believes that only God’s plan and will come true without any change. At that time, I believe that even if it is our most beloved and precious thing, we can put it down in front of God and do it.
No matter what happens, I pray again in the name of the Lord that you will be obedient and move forward in front of God (Col 3:15-17).
The Lord's Covenant Church Malaysia 