God 'called it', I believe it!

God gives us many good promises in the bible.  The promise we are mostly aware of is his promise to save us from our sins if we call on the name of the Lord (Acts 2 v 21).

In our being saved, he calls us "Holy" even though we can see we are still very human and weak.  He says even though our sins are as scarlet, we will be made white as snow (Isaiah 1 v 18).

In Romans 4 v 17 the scripture says of God that He is the "- God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were".  This scripture is amazing, because it is quoted in the context of the story of Abraham, a man who God enabled to father a child at 100 years old and his wife being 90, not exactly the peak childbearing age!

It was before God enabled Abraham to father a child through Sarah, that he called him by the new name, Abraham.  Until that point his name was Abram.  God said: "No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a Father of many nations", Genesis 17 v 5.  God said I HAVE made you...did you catch that?  Before Abram has the son through which the promise occurs- God declares that Abraham is already the Father of the many nations and declares and seals it with re-naming him!

The God who calls things that are not as though they were- also sees into our lives and calls out our new name and our destiny over us and our children.  The question is- will we listen and believe that it is, before we see it with our eyes.  Abraham has to believe that what was normally impossible, God would make possible.  And so, we may look at what God says over our lives and it will require us believing what seems impossible too.

We may look at our circumstances, and we can't see his promises at the moment.  We look into the past and we definitely can't sometimes.  We can carry the identity of the past like a huge burden.  When God gives us a hint of how he's turning things in our life around for good- he's giving us a new identity in an area.  What is the new identity God's giving you?  Abraham's was 'Father of many nations'.  Just like Abraham did not "look" a likely candidate for this title, so we can not "look" a likely candidate for our title.

A temptation might have been for Abraham to keep calling himself by his old name, until he actually had the child God had promised- until he saw it with his own eyes.  But God had already decided that he was calling Abraham by the new name as soon as he spoke the promise to him.  I believe when God speaks over us, he has already considered it accomplished in our lives.  But we must respond in kind by taking on God's perspective over us and our circumstances.

Unfortunately sometimes lately, even though I know Gods communicated to me through various ways that he's turning something around majorly in my life- I can still be obsessed over the dead condition of the thing and bemoan the past and stare at the present circumstances hopelessly.  That is not the way!  That is not the way of faith, not the way of Abraham, not the way of God!

This morning was one such morning and I'm driving in the car and I hear in my mind the words- do not call bitter...and I finish it in my mind with- what God has called sweet.  And I got home and more of these phrases come to mind...

Do not call cursed what God has called blessed

Do not call unfruitful what God has called fruitful

Do not speak despair where God has declared hope

Do not call lost what God has called restored

And I realized that where God has declared a change coming- I must believe it, think it, even feel it, as though it has already happened!  

A fantastic story of restoration is the "Healing of the water" in 2 Kings 2 v 19- 22.  It's a short story, but an incredible one that can help us have hope of what God is able to do. Here it is in the NIV version...

"The people of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad, and the land is unproductive".

"Bring me a new bowl", he said, "and put salt in it". So they brought it to him.

Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what the Lord says, 'I have healed this water.  Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive'".

  And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken".

God is able to take something that is "all bad", as we say, "bad to the bone" and make it all good, like that spring of water.  Not only that, he is able to take that healed thing and cause it to bring healing and rejuvenation to whatever it touches.  Amen to God!

What is the problem if we don't believe what God has said- well, we might miss out- like the kings official in 2 Kings 7 v 2- God declared he was going to do something amazing and the official wondered 'could this happen?'.  Elisha the prophet responded to the officials doubt with a prediction that he would then miss out on sharing in the spoils of the blessing when it occurred. And there is more to the story...

But if we are living in the land of "could it happen?" over what God has said is coming about- let's get out of there- and into a full confidence of belief so we can take hold of the blessing when the time comes for it's arrival!

 As Christmas approaches, I thinks it's such a great time to bring to mind the words of Mary and learn from her example of faith.  Let's accept God's word and believe it humbly- as recorded in the bible in Luke 1 v 38- "I am the Lord's servant", Mary answered. "may it be to me as you have said".  And then when we accept it, take on the identity as ours, and see God's word as already accomplished!