7
Well 7seas., it seems we might have a conversation going. I can read your post and see why you believe the way you do. And why I don't believe the way you do. We have been given authority here on earth as the sons of God. And we have been told to walk out our authority in Christ. That's why it's so vital to know who we really are IN Christ.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost their position (and ours). The authority they had been given by God, Adam forfeited to satan and Jesus had to get it back for us. Jesus is the last Adam. To this day Jesus is in His glorified body... the first of many brethren at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. He is our Great High Priest.
We hold the ground Jesus already won for us... bought and paid for. But we do it by faith and not by sight. Just as Abraham lived his life that is how we too are to live out lives here. I'll post some commentary that explains the verses about calling those things that are not as if they actually were (because they actually ARE) In Christ we have the promises but they need to be accessed by faith. Without faith., we will live on this planet weak and beggarly lives because we have not believed in the promises that were freely given to us for the pilgrim journey here.
I find it so interesting too that both our commentary materials come from Christians who also see this issue differently. I'll be of the sort that does not condemn you for believing differently than me.
The phrase, “and calleth those things which be not as though they were,” is referring to the instance Paul had just cited when God changed Abram’s name to Abraham (Genesis 17:5). According to Strong’s Concordance, the name Abram means “high father,” and the name Abraham means “father of a multitude.” The Lord changed Abram’s name to Abraham one year before the birth of Isaac, thus confessing that Abraham was the father of a multitude before it happened in the physical.
This illustrates God’s faith. God says things are so before there is physical proof that they are so. The same thing was done at creation (Genesis 1). God spoke everything into existence, and then it was so. He spoke light into existence and then four days later created a source for that light to come from (Genesis 1:3 and 14-19).
God has given us the power to create with faith-filled words (Proverbs 18:20-21, see note 4 at Mark 11:14 and note 4 at Mark 11:23). If we are going to operate in God’s kind of faith, we have to learn to call those things that are not as though they were.
There was no hope in the natural for Abraham or his wife, Sarah. They were both as good as dead when it came to having children at their age. Therefore, they rejected the natural and believed God with a supernatural hope. There is a natural hope that everyone has, and there is a supernatural hope that is imparted by God (1 Corinthians 13:13). To receive miracles, we have to reject the limitations of natural hope and press on to obtain God’s supernatural hope through faith.
NOTE 8 AT ROMANS 4:18:
Abraham’s faith was based on God’s Word. Every word of God is powerful and contains the faith of God to bring that word to pass (see note 4 at Matthew 14:29). If we will only consider God’s Word, then we will only believe (Romans 8:6, see note 9 at Romans 4:19).
Abraham did not think carefully about his age and Sarah’s and the impact that would have on the promise God had given him. He did not take those things into account or make any allowance for them. That was not what he paid attention to.
That is amazing, and that is exactly the reason many of us would not be able to receive the same miracle. We consider every negative thing that looks contrary to God’s promises, and then we try to use our faith to overcome the fear and unbelief that come through those thoughts (see note 3 at Matthew 17:20). That’s not the way Abraham was strong in faith.
Abram was seventy-five years old when the Lord first promised him that he would have a child and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:1-4). He was ninety-nine years old in this instance that Paul cited (Genesis 17:1), and Sarah was ninety years old (Genesis 17:17). Yet he didn’t even take into account the impossibility of what God had promised him.
It is true that Abraham was strong in faith (Romans 4:20), but the thing that made him strong in faith was
the fact that he kept his mind stayed on God’s promise. NOTE 7SEAS
Equally important was that he kept his mind off anything that would have been contrary to God’s promise. Many people desire the same strong faith that Abraham had, but very few desire to control their thinking the way Abraham did.
Faith is a direct result of what you think on. If you think on God’s Word, faith comes (Romans 8:6 and 10:17). If you think on other things, unbelief and fear come (Romans 8:6, see note 39 at Matthew 6:22 and notes 40 and 41 at Matthew 6:23). If you want the faith of Abraham working in you, then think the way he thought and never consider anything except God’s Word, and you will be strong in faith.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost their position (and ours). The authority they had been given by God, Adam forfeited to satan and Jesus had to get it back for us. Jesus is the last Adam. To this day Jesus is in His glorified body... the first of many brethren at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. He is our Great High Priest.
We hold the ground Jesus already won for us... bought and paid for. But we do it by faith and not by sight. Just as Abraham lived his life that is how we too are to live out lives here. I'll post some commentary that explains the verses about calling those things that are not as if they actually were (because they actually ARE) In Christ we have the promises but they need to be accessed by faith. Without faith., we will live on this planet weak and beggarly lives because we have not believed in the promises that were freely given to us for the pilgrim journey here.
I find it so interesting too that both our commentary materials come from Christians who also see this issue differently. I'll be of the sort that does not condemn you for believing differently than me.
The phrase, “and calleth those things which be not as though they were,” is referring to the instance Paul had just cited when God changed Abram’s name to Abraham (Genesis 17:5). According to Strong’s Concordance, the name Abram means “high father,” and the name Abraham means “father of a multitude.” The Lord changed Abram’s name to Abraham one year before the birth of Isaac, thus confessing that Abraham was the father of a multitude before it happened in the physical.
This illustrates God’s faith. God says things are so before there is physical proof that they are so. The same thing was done at creation (Genesis 1). God spoke everything into existence, and then it was so. He spoke light into existence and then four days later created a source for that light to come from (Genesis 1:3 and 14-19).
God has given us the power to create with faith-filled words (Proverbs 18:20-21, see note 4 at Mark 11:14 and note 4 at Mark 11:23). If we are going to operate in God’s kind of faith, we have to learn to call those things that are not as though they were.
There was no hope in the natural for Abraham or his wife, Sarah. They were both as good as dead when it came to having children at their age. Therefore, they rejected the natural and believed God with a supernatural hope. There is a natural hope that everyone has, and there is a supernatural hope that is imparted by God (1 Corinthians 13:13). To receive miracles, we have to reject the limitations of natural hope and press on to obtain God’s supernatural hope through faith.
NOTE 8 AT ROMANS 4:18:
Abraham’s faith was based on God’s Word. Every word of God is powerful and contains the faith of God to bring that word to pass (see note 4 at Matthew 14:29). If we will only consider God’s Word, then we will only believe (Romans 8:6, see note 9 at Romans 4:19).
Abraham did not think carefully about his age and Sarah’s and the impact that would have on the promise God had given him. He did not take those things into account or make any allowance for them. That was not what he paid attention to.
That is amazing, and that is exactly the reason many of us would not be able to receive the same miracle. We consider every negative thing that looks contrary to God’s promises, and then we try to use our faith to overcome the fear and unbelief that come through those thoughts (see note 3 at Matthew 17:20). That’s not the way Abraham was strong in faith.
Abram was seventy-five years old when the Lord first promised him that he would have a child and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:1-4). He was ninety-nine years old in this instance that Paul cited (Genesis 17:1), and Sarah was ninety years old (Genesis 17:17). Yet he didn’t even take into account the impossibility of what God had promised him.
It is true that Abraham was strong in faith (Romans 4:20), but the thing that made him strong in faith was
the fact that he kept his mind stayed on God’s promise. NOTE 7SEAS
Equally important was that he kept his mind off anything that would have been contrary to God’s promise. Many people desire the same strong faith that Abraham had, but very few desire to control their thinking the way Abraham did.
Faith is a direct result of what you think on. If you think on God’s Word, faith comes (Romans 8:6 and 10:17). If you think on other things, unbelief and fear come (Romans 8:6, see note 39 at Matthew 6:22 and notes 40 and 41 at Matthew 6:23). If you want the faith of Abraham working in you, then think the way he thought and never consider anything except God’s Word, and you will be strong in faith.
you don't have to tell me the story of Abram/Abraham. you cannot prove what Prince relates from that story at all.
you do not seem to grasp that Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation and, as such, was chosen for a one time event that none of us can lay claim to.
Abraham had a relationship with God you and I will never have. However, we can have a relationship with God that Abraham never had through the blood of Christ
you are not a creator and you simply cannot create life from death as does God...understand that He alone can call forth life from death and in fact He has done that with each of us