It is my privilege to meet you once again, to talk to you. He who has ears let him hear the word. May our spiritual eyes and spiritual ears be open, to hear what the Spirit says… no matter who preaches the word! Because His word is Spirit and they are life.
If you are a person of faith, it speaks about you in Hebrews 11:16 that God has prepared a place, a city for you – a heavenly country. “But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
Hebrews 11, as you know, is the roll call of the faithful – a chapter on the heroes of faith in the Old Testament. ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ (v1). From those listed here, we find
- Abel worshipped… by faith
- Enoch walked… by faith
- Noah worked… by faith
- Abraham went… by faith
Faith is listening to God’s voice and doing it… Listen and Obey. It is written ‘..of things hoped for, … of things not seen’. It is written these heroes, they obeyed, but did not receive the promise. ‘And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.’ (v39). But there is an exception made in the case of Abraham…
Of all the heroes of faith, Abraham was one who had seen and accomplished what God had spoken. It is written about Abraham thus: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,…” (v17, 18). Isn’t that interesting?
Now what made Abraham different from all the rest… he was tested again and again, and proved faithful! What we learn is that, to go to a higher level you require faith-testing… Unless you change and are willing to change you cannot go to the next higher level. This is our experience in the natural world; and so in the spiritual world. We require growth - a change; in our thinking, in our attitude, and in our perception; through testing.
Now a change is by our own choice. For example, if a hard-working professional applies for a better job elsewhere, he will need to think of the consequences – he may be married, maybe with children and also having dependent parents; the job maybe in a distant place or involving lot of travel. So he would think twice before he makes his choice for the change. So the choice for the change is a real challenge! It may involve risks and mostly it brings about a crisis… someone told me that in the Chinese language, the word ‘crisis’ also means ‘opportunity’. Isn’t that interesting? Opportunity, initially, would seem like a cross to bear; but, if cross is your choice, it will lead you to the crown – of success, promotion and the desires of your heart.
So let me talk to you about Abraham; how did he inherit and receive God's promises?
By the grace of God, I am what I am now, with 53y of ministry. Merciful God gave me a personal revelation of Himself when I started out in the ministry…desperately seeking God. Not only did He reveal Himself, but I also heard God’s voice… speaking to me. Now, I am not going to ask you to wait for your revelation… for there is His word with us; His will is revealed in His word and by grace we will hear His voice…
Genesis 22:1: Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” It starts here saying ‘…after these things..’; now the question comes to mind: what are those things? It is recorded in the previous chapters of how God called Abraham to come out of his household, gave him the 7-fold blessing, when he was 75 yrs, there was testing now and then … of faithfulness in his material things (Abraham meeting Melchizedek Gen. 14), of his obedience, of his motive, of his love, of his patience… Abraham undertook the long journey; saw his possessions increase; the choice of Lot, his nephew; the separation; fighting battles for his brethren; negotiating with God for Sodom; of continued barrenness of Sarah; and Hagar and Ishmael; and then the promised son Isaac. With each testing, God took Abraham higher and higher… even the kings around him recognized the blessings of God in Abraham.
Now in the land of the Philistines, Abraham was well-settled…He planted the tamarisk tree - which takes a long time to grow (Gen. 21:33), and stayed in the land many days (v34). It looked as if Abraham’s testing was all over and that he was comforted on all sides. But you know what? God comforts the afflicted; but I am also tempted to think God afflicts the comforted!
Isaac must have been a young lad 17 or 18 years old. God spoke to Abraham… after these things! ‘Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:2). Putting oneself in Abraham’s position, one would be inclined to think ‘What kind of God is He? He fulfilled His promises and now He wants to take them away! Surely He did say ‘In Isaac your seed will be called’? Did I hear Him right, this time around?’
(Job confessed ‘The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away! Blessed be the name of the Lord’. But we sing, You give and take away…I believe it must be You give and give away… Personally I believe, that the Lord will take only if you are willing to give away)
Anyway… in 1972, when we were in a crusade in Goa, my wife, Florence, became paralyzed on one side… I had to make some choices for change; Philip here was just 9y at that time (Yesterday, he completed 47). God spoke to me thus: ‘Joseph, you came to the cross on My terms, and not yours!’ And I’m saying this to you Christians- to you all who are called, sanctified, baptized and born-again Christians … we came to Him on His terms, and not ours! He said, ‘I have every right over you!’ Then came the realization to me; He is the Potter, I am just the clay; He will tell, I will do. I had neither right on any material things that I possess, nor any right on what I hold on to – even the ministry, successful though it be! You see, when we were baptized, we died to our self, identified ourselves with Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Now we walk in the newness of life.
Do you understand why some people are buried with problems and more problems of the same kind over many years? Why do people struggle to ‘find’ God’s will and direction? Simply put: They do not pass the test. Or sometimes listening to His voice and at other times doing their own will… Take one step forward and two steps backward.
Do you understand why some people are buried with problems and more problems of the same kind over many years? Why do people struggle to ‘find’ God’s will and direction? Simply put: They do not pass the test. Or sometimes listening to His voice and at other times doing their own will… Take one step forward and two steps backward.
Or is it that we just sit tight with what we have, what we possess and are unwilling to budge or to give away! Don’t we all know that ‘obedience is better than sacrifice’ or that ‘disobedience or rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft’ (Now do you really want to hear His voice?)
In John Maxwell’s Bible, he lists the traits of tests common to all men.
- We get tested at each step of growth
- The leader’s goal is to pass the test
- Testing always precedes promotion (as in the natural, so the spiritual)
- Self-promotion or other’s promotion will never supersede divine promotion (not minority right and not majority right; but with God we are always in the majority)
- Promotion requires sacrifice.
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