ARE YOU A BELIEVER?
12th Jan 2022
When I read the Bible I’m always expecting to hear or see something new. The words and the content may be familiar, but the insight can always be fresh. Manna was gathered on a daily basis, and as you come to the Word of God expect fresh truths.
I have been reading in Genesis and was struck again at the faith of Abram. He had no natural heir, his wife Sarah is barren - but God! God appears to him in a vision and tells Abram that his servant will not be his heir, but a natural child will be born to him and Sarah despite their advanced years.
Genesis 15:6 contains this statement, “Abram believed God…..” during this encounter God tells him that he will also give the land of Canaan to his offspring. Bear in mind that Abram had been with powerful kings who were fighting with private armies and he had rescued his nephew Lot from one of these skirmishes. Abram asks, “How can I know I will gain possession of it?” And God cuts the covenant with animal sacrifice. It is not a question rising out of unbelief, but a genuine, how will you do this?
Why was Abram able to believe? What experience did he have of God’s ability to fulfil these promises? He had seen God in a vision, God had appeared to him, He had oral history. The awe and magnificence of God opened his heart and he understood that God was able to do what He promised. He believed God!
Jesus told His disciples that His sacrificial death instigated a new covenant and that they were to break bread and remember what He had achieved and promised. You probably have no problem believing that His death and resurrection dealt with the sin problem and gave us new life so we can access the presence of our Father God. I ask myself, am I a believer in the wider sense? Do I believe the promises of God especially with all the healing needs I encounter?
I have concluded I need a fresh new encounter with the Living God, a new understanding of Covenant that will result in a new certainty that when I lay hands on the sick, they will recover. I feel that we have not obeyed instructions about the Lord’s Supper which is a celebration of covenant and I would suggest that we take bread and wine regularly in honour of the death and resurrection of Jesus - daily? weekly? regularly?
We expect faith to grow this year and that the words spoken to Sarah and Abraham, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” would become reality. (Genesis 18:14)
by Joyce Sibthorpe
