Don't Stagger At The Promises Of God

DON’T STAGGER AT THE PROMISES OF GOD! (Faith – Bible)

TEXT: Romans 4:19-21

If God says He will do something for you, He will do it! He always keeps his promises, but there are some things that you have to do in order to receive from Him. The best example of this is seen in the life of Abraham.

When God promised Abraham that Sarah would give birth to a son, Abraham had to ignore his natural circumstances, have faith in God’s promise, and believe that God was powerful enough to do what He said he would do.

Romans 4:19-21 reveals the steps that Abraham followed to receive the fulfillment of the promise God made to him.

This passage of Scripture makes one thing clear: If we’re going to receive from God, we’re going to have to do the same things Abraham did – consider not, stagger not, give glory to God, and be fully persuaded.

Consider Not

Abraham considered not. He didn’t take into account the natural circumstances that told him it was impossible for him and Sarah to have a child. He did not let those circumstances influence his faith.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not telling you to ignore the natural circumstances and do something crazy. But I am telling you that when you’re believing to receive the fulfillment of a promise from God, you can’t concentrate on your natural circumstances.

The word “not” doesn’t appear in some manuscripts – so Abraham looked at the circumstances of his and Sara’s body through the eyes of strong health faith.

It doesn’t matter what you’re believing God for—you don’t have to consider the circumstances that surround your particular situation. If you start thinking about all the natural conditions or what So-and-so said, you will become weak in faith.

Abraham’s faith was not weak. The word week means, “to be feeble to be diseased, impotent, sick, etc.” A lot of people have diseased faith. Abraham’s faith was not sick but well.

Abraham’s faith was so strong that he didn’t consider the fact that both he and Sarah were beyond the age of having children. God promised him that they would have a son, and Abraham didn’t even blink an eye!

He did not allow the obstacles that were in front of him stop him from believing God.

Stagger Not

If you’ll go back and read the story in Genesis 18:1-15, you’ll see that Sarah laughed at the whole idea of bearing a child at her age. Think about it, common sense tells us that a 99-year-old man and a 90-year-old woman are not going to be able to have children. But Abraham didn’t say anything against it at all. In other words, he didn’t waver.

The Contemporary English Version says: “But Abraham never doubted or questioned God’s promise.”

A person who staggers or wavers in faith will not receive anything from God. James 1:6,7 – “(6) But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. (7) For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.”

I know people who have read a faith-inspiring book or listened to a powerful sermon and felt “sky high” spiritually – really strong in faith. They’d make all the right confessions and keep concentrating on the Word. But a few days later they would start to waver, so they never received the answer to their prayers. They did exactly what they weren’t supposed to do. They began to consider the situation. (Considering not and staggering not go hand in hand. You can’t separate them.)

The enemy will always try to get you to focus on your circumstances. When you make a statement of faith declaring what you’re believing God for, the first thing he’ll do is start asking you questions and sowing seeds of doubt, saying “Have you considered this? Have you thought about that? Do you know that what you’re believing for goes against what’s happening in the world?” The enemy may ask, “Why hasn’t God answered you yet? If God were going to answer you He would have already done it.”

Actually, the tactics of the enemy are no different today than they were in the Garden of Eden. The enemy came to Eve and said, “Well, God said such-and-such, but have you thought about this?”

You see, if the enemy can get you to consider everything around you, he can get you to stagger at and forfeit the promises of God. So don’t consider the situation or the circumstances!

Now that doesn’t mean the circumstances don’t exist. Some people think that when you don’t consider the circumstances, you’re denying that the situation exists. But this is not what we are saying, of course it exists. You would have to acknowledge that first before you could even do something about it.