The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (NIV)

Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

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Ah, to be remembered as Abraham! Even with all the missteps and mistakes, he goes down in history as a righteous man (Heb. 11). He was subject to a holy God who demanded perfection, as are we, so how is it possible? How did he, how can we, please a perfect God?

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In short, we can’t. As a matter of fact, Jesus tells us it’s impossible (Matt. 19:26). That’s the bad news; want the good news?

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In Genesis 12, God made a covenant with Abraham, then called Abram, who was 75 years old and without a child. The covenant included many promises to Abram, including descendants as numerous as the stars and a bountiful land to call his own.

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I don’t know about you, but in my impatience, I’d wake up the next morning expecting all God’s promises fulfilled! But they weren’t - no children, no home. Abraham kept believing. No children at 85, he kept believing. Wandering in Egypt, believing. Fighting kings, mistakes with slave women, rescuing nephews, still wandering the Negev...yup, still believing.

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At 100 years old, Abraham saw the promise of a son with his wife, Sarah. At about 106, sometime after his son was weaned, Abraham finally settled in the land of Beersheba. He had kept his faith in God’s promises for 25-plus years before seeing one of the many promises come to pass. Some of the promises weren’t even fulfilled during his lifetime; he never saw them.

But, he had faith!

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“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Heb. 11:1).

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Abraham trusted God in faith. He believed God would make a way, a way for impossible promises to become reality. A way for a holy God to accept him and make him righteous. That’s the good news! Faith works to bring righteousness, a gift of God bought by the death of Jesus (Eph. 2:8) - spiritual healing for all.  

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Faith also makes physical healing possible. After healing a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, Jesus says, “your faith has healed you” (Matt. 9:22). Again, in Matthew, we see blind men healed, “according to your faith...” (9:29). Even without Jesus being present, healing took place for a servant whose master had, “great faith” (Matt. 8:13).  

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Scripture tells us that “those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Gal. 3:9). By following Abraham’s example, we can please God through our faith in him (Heb.11:6).

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How about you? How about me? Do we have great faith? Do we believe that God still works through faith today, able to redeem ALL people? Let’s not forget to help others to come to faith in Jesus, which comes by hearing the gospel. We can change lives daily by simply speaking the message of Christ’s birth, love, death, and resurrection to others, believing by faith that Christ will set them free (Rom. 10:17).

Father, we thank you for the faith that you give us through your Spirit. We ask that you grow it in us that we would have more hope and confidence in you and who we become through the sacrifice of Jesus. May we live by faith, not by sight! May we have faith in the Son of God who loves us so much he gave his life (Gal. 2:20, 2 Cor. 5:7). Please continue to guide us to “one more” to share the truth of your Son and, we pray that, by hearing, their new faith in you will flourish.