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Laughing at the Promises of God

God focused on one man to bring to pass His promises.

“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him” (Genesis 12:1-4).

Five times in three verses we find the words bless, blessed, or blessing. We are blessed to be a blessing.

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There are 7,487 promises in the Bible from God to man, and many of them are directed to us. Sadly, through ignorance, we live far below what God has in mind for us. We are the children of the promise (Romans 9:8; Galatians 4:28) and the heirs of promise (Hebrews 6:12, 17). It is our inheritance. God has many good things in mind for us. Some promises are conditional: they depend on our obedience for fulfillment. Others are unconditional.

Unfortunately, we often fail to take God at His word and do not believe Him to be powerful or sufficient enough to handle our problems. For the problems we encounter in life there are corresponding promises to overcome them.

“We sometimes denigrate Sarah for laughing at God. However, as incredible as it sounds, laughing at God is not that unusual. We in effect do the same thing every time we read God’s words and fail to put them into practice or hear his promises and decide not to believe them” (The Knowing Jesus Study Bible).

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The Father of Faith

God called Abram out of a pagan world and made him some amazing promises. Abram responded in faith. “Faith obeys God” (The Bible Knowledge Commentary, page 46). He left everything to follow God’s plan.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report….But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:1-2, 6).

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Abraham is the embodiment of faith. In life’s circumstances he believed God. No wonder he is commonly referred to as the father of faith. He took God at His word and did what was asked of him.

I am awed with that phrase “Father of Faith.” Being old, having a wife that was very old, he became a father. Although, his son was named Isaac (laughter; God has made me laugh), for all intent and purposes, he could be simply called “Faith.” Isaac was the direct result of faith. Looking at Isaac, one could quickly see faith in action. No one could dispute it.

“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform” (Romans 4:19-21, Emphasis mine).

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Lessons from the Road they Travelled

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There are great lessons we can learn from elderly men and women. Someone has rightly said, a church without elderly people has no history. A church without young people has no future. I’m glad we have an abundance of both in this church. Let’s look at the elderly:

  • They’ve made the journey of faith; the walk of the godly before.
  • They’ve been through all that life threw at them, and made it.
  • If they can survive the long-haul, I can survive the long-haul, and you can survive the long-haul. You can make it. You will make it.
  • God, through their stories, has proved that He remains the same through the ages. He met them at their need; and He will do the same for us. See Hebrews 13:8; Malachi 3:6.

The impact of one’s journey through life is many times determined by what is said or remembered after they ran the race, completed the course, and kept the faith.

Pause for a moment and ponder how you would like to be remembered after the end of your life. It has been said, “When you were born, everyone around you was smiling and you were crying. Live life so that when you die, you are smiling, and everyone around you is crying.”

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Best Decisions are made at a Pentecostal Altar

Some of the best decisions I’ve ever made were at a Pentecostal altar. Thirty-four years ago, at an altar, I met Jesus Christ. Not the Jesus merely portrayed on the stations of a cross, or the Jesus pictured in homes, nor the Jesus pinned around one’s neck, lapel, or on the dashboard of a car. No, I met the real Thing. Promised. Present. Right there; at the altar. My life was forever altered. Behind that altar I was baptized in the saving name of Jesus Christ. At that altar I later received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

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I found myself at the altar—every week. There, I started feeling the tug to Africa. Well, not really a mere tug, but a continual wave of African faces.

I said, “I do” at a Pentecostal altar. Now married for going on thirty years, I’m still saying “I do” and still building an altar in my home. I dedicated both of my children at a Pentecostal altar. Their eventual vocation selection didn’t matter. What mattered was, is, and is to come that they serve God and bow their knees to His name. At an altar!

I’ve had the awesome privilege of praying literally hundreds through to the Holy Ghost at altars spread across the globe.

Last night I found myself at an altar….again! I’m not ashamed of my weekly trips to a communal altar at my church. Neither am I embarrassed of the altar I invisibly build and sacrifice upon on a daily basis.

One of my favorite Scriptures, prayed and acted upon daily is: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).

It’s my daily prayer. At times I drag myself on to that altar. Sometimes I fall off. What do I do? Pull myself back on to the altar again. God is concerned about my availability and willingness to be a living sacrifice. Paul felt it was so important that He begged us to offer our lives daily.

One African missionary tells of a thanksgiving service where many gifts had been placed at the front of the church including a huge basket. When it looked like all the gifts had been given, the pastor prepared to go on with the service. He paused as a skinny, frail old man made his way to the front of the church. Empty-handed he went to the large woven basket and climbed inside. With no offering to bring the man had decided to give the only thing he had–himself. It is the gift of gifts.

During this holiday season let us renew our commitment daily. Find your altar again today; stick with it, stay on it, and never stray from it.

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Why Bible Schools?

Why Bible schools? That’s easy. We firmly believe in Joel’s ancient prophecy and promise reiterated on the birthday of the apostolic church: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh” (Acts 2:17). The future is bright. The greatest days of the apostolic movement are right ahead of us. Bible schools prepare passionately for the future!

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Countries will be turned upside right with apostolic revival. Cities will be changed. Communities will be impacted. Revival will come. Church growth will happen. All that—and so much more—calls out for multiplication. Train workers. How else would we reasonably prepare for the monstrous end-time harvest?

Within Global Missions, Bible school training remains one of the pivotal, fundamental things we do. With around three hundred schools outside of North America we are bent on facilitating the global harvest and worldwide revival. Our strongest nations are places where we have the strongest Bible school programs. One such nation has over eighty schools. What next? Open more Bible schools. Train more laborers. Develop more discipleship and mentoring methods. Equip more Bible school instructors. We are aggressively active and adamant about it. Expect no less with seven billion people on the planet still waiting for trained harvesters. The future demands it now!

Printed in IBC Perspectives

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