Seize the Moment – Day 398
Abram’s Faith!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 19.
The Genesis story of Abram highlights the primary work of God’s grace and the essential importance of faith—the act of believing God for God’s promises.
Do you have a hard time believing the promises of God in the face of your everyday situations?
Abram had good reasons to doubt God’s promise to make his family into a great nation and through his family bless all the nations of the world. Abram was an older man and his wife was barren. To Abram, it seemed impossible that he would ever become a father. That is why his story is an essential part of the Bible and a critical connection between the Old and New Testaments. Listen to Genesis 15:1, 5-6,
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” … And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then [Abram] believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
We are saved by faith and not by works so that no one can boast. The Apostle Paul proclaimed this to us in Ephesians 2:8-9. Paul strongly used the Abram story as the foundation for his gospel presentation in Romans 4. Paul said in verse 16, “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”
It is only because of God’s grace that we now sing songs of faith about Father Abraham.
Seize the moment and believe God in the face of your everyday situations.