From History To His Story (Hebrews 11:8-18)

Champion of the Gospel with Jonathan Heng

The story of Abraham is a story of how God can change a person's history of failure and sin into one of His mercy and grace.
Abraham was a great man of God, a hero of faith as we can read in Hebrews 11:8-19. However, he did not do everything right in the process.
When God called Abraham and made a covenant of promise that his descendants would be as the number of stars in the heavens (Genesis 15:5; also Genesis 12:1-3), he made a blunder by going ahead of the Lord, before His perfect timing. This resulted in Ishmael, a product of the mind and the flesh.
Sometimes, when a word of the Lord or a prophecy is released to an individual or a church, we can get impatient in trying to help God fulfill it by moving before its proper season and time. This often cause jealousy, strife and conflict. Ishmael is an example or a type of what happens when Abraham's wife, Sarah, asked him to go to her maid Hagar in order to bear them a child. This was a wrong move.
However, as God sees Abraham's heart of dedication, He has not forgotten His promises made to him. This resulted in the birth of Isaac, the child of promise and destiny, against all odds in the natural.
The key is:
Impatience gives birth to illegitimate work of the flesh (as represented by Ishmael); but
Intercession and intimacy with the Lord gives birth to inheritance in the Spirit (in the case of Isaac).
Today, God is calling us to be destiny setters for Him. Yet, mistakes in the past can often cripple us from being all that we can be in Christ Jesus. Like Abraham, what do we do when we fail God?
Continue to STAND before the Lord (and see His salvation) -
Genesis 18:22: "Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD" (a picture of intercession);
Genesis 18:33: "So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place" (we need to identify with people in our society and bring them to the Lord - an example of evangelization).
The key is:
The believer's primary commission is Intercession and Evangelization.
Intercession is the key to giving birth to inheriting the promises of God. Just as Abraham had to wait for the appointed time, when his wife Sarah was too old to conceive in the natural, God wants to move in the supernatural. It is like He is saying, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14).
Likewise, when God calls us for a task in the Kingdom, He will require maturity and obedience before the actual fulfillment of a word. Sometimes, it takes months and even years before we see the complete picture of His promises. In the case of Abraham, it was Isaac, the promise child, who was born in spite of his wife's barrenness and old age.
What are the "Isaacs" in our lives?
Could it be our career, material blessings, ministry and salvation of a loved one?
Some of us will have to press in and press on in prayer, faith and the Word before we see our fullest potential and destiny in Christ realized.
James 1:2-3 says: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing";
Luke 8:15: "But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience"
The key is:
Faith is essential, but it is hope and patience with confession that brings forth possession.
Before possessing the promises of God, we need to know and love the Promiser Himself intimately. Intimacy and love for the Lord will result in a life of obedience, sacrifice and worship. Even after we have received our "Isaacs", we need to surrender them to the Lord as a living sacrifice. When we think we have produced some results in a particular career, calling, ministry or gifting, God may require us to lay it down on the altar.
Are we willing to relinquish our position and possessions in order to follow God wholeheartedly?
The lesson is:
Multiplication (follows and) comes through sacrifice.
And loving God precedes the fulfillment of visions and goals in ministry.