By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. - Hebrews 11:11
The Lord had me studying and pondering about faith last week and the above verse has stuck with me all week long. Reading through Hebrews 11 gives us a picture of how men of faith leveraged their faith in the Lord. This synopsis of the men of faith is championed by our almighty God Himself. Hebrews 11 starts by describing to us what faith exactly is. It is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen. In my own lingo, faith is hopelessly believing God to do exactly what I desire according to His will and purpose. I have no plan B or C and as I hope and trust in my God, I walk around picturing those things in my mind with a wide glee on my face. As we move to verse 3 God goes on to tell us something that I find profound. By Faith, the whole universe created which we can see was created by things we cannot see.
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible - Hebrews 11:3
But this isn’t where I am going today, you could take your time to ponder on the above verse and perhaps it could speak to you in ways that you might need.
Faith meant different things to these men of faith at different times of their lives. For example, Enoch’s faith in the Lord propelled all of his actions to walk with God. For Abraham, his faith in God powered his love for God so much that he gave his only promised child to God. Believing that the God who gave him the son after so many years is able to raise the child back to life.
But for Sarah, her faith Strengthened her.
By Faith, Sarah received the strength to conceive seed and bear a child when she was past the age because she judged Him faithful who made the promise to her.
Let us take a closer look at the verse. So Sarah received strength, this is a clear indication that she needed strength. For her to need strength she must have been weak in her body and perhaps her spirit-man after trusting God for about twenty-five years for His promise. If I am being honest with myself, I probably would have stopped praying about it and just resort to praising God for His goodness, period. But mother Sarah was biologically weak in her body as described to us in the Bible but by faith, she drew strength to receive seed from her husband Abraham, and not only did she conceive the seed. She also carried the fertilized seed to term at the age of ninety.
As I pondered on this scripture in the week, I could not help but imagine how she received strength through her faith. I imagined her eating meals upon meals of faith just like food in order to gain the strength that she needed to receive God’s promise. This brought to my remembrance how faith is ingested into the body. Faith is ingested into the body by hearing, hearing God’s word- Romans 10:17.
LOL! I really do not know why God has me pondering on this right now, I strongly perceive that it is an essential nugget I would need as I go through the year. I am still in the Euphoria of the new year, basking in the goodness of my God. I sense that times will come down the line when my strength or your strength might fail. But our faith in the Lord is what would keep us going. And how would we stay strong in faith? It is through God’s word ingested into our bodies daily.
Thankfully, I have formed this habit of reading or listening to God’s word daily and listening to a man of God daily. It has really helped me a lot, it is so wholesome to see God expressed through different men and women of old and even in this age and time. It leaves me in awe at what God can wrought in a man who is sold out to Him. Many other times it empowers my faith just seeing men and women speak about the things God has done for them, the ways they have known and seen God. Ah! God is so sweet to know!!!!
This brings me back to the definition of faith in my own lingo, it is a knowing, knowing that God has it handled. But you cannot come to this place of knowing without first knowing the God who does these great and marvelous things. It is a brand new year, a great time and opportunity to commit to an intimate relationship with the Lord. Oh! How He wants you to know Him intimately, How He wants to strengthen you, How He wants to help you carry your burdens, How He loves you.
My dear friend, come to the father today, say yes to the Lord who created the whole universe with His spoken words, and allow Him to create your beautiful world with His words. And my dear brother and sister in faith, I pray that you stay encouraged to keep drinking and eating God’s words so that you may be strengthened to receive His promises for you this year in Jesus’ name.