Part One
The word FAITH comes from the Greek word pistis. The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary states that faith means, “to rely, agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be confident, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield, reliance upon Christ, fidelity.”
Over the next few days we are going to look at women of faith from the Scriptures. They all have a story from which I hope you can glean some personal application. The first one we look at is Sarah. Do you remember reading about Sarah?? She was the woman whose husband Abraham was given the promise that he would be the father of many nations. But Sarah had to wait a very long time to bear a child. Along the way she had likely more than one crisis of faith.
Let’s review some Scripture:
God promises Abraham that his descendants will be as many as the stars in the heavens.
Genesis 15:4-5
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
Sarah decided to “help God.” Mind you she didn’t ask, “Lord, teach me to pray?” or “Lordm what is my role in this promise?”. Abraham was told his heir would not just be someone in his tribe, but would be from his own seed. Sarah decided to give her maid to Abraham thinking his descendants would have to come from another woman since she was barren. That resulted in the birth of Ishmael and led to lots of challenges which we will not go into. Have you ever been anxious for God to release His promises to you? Did you try to help Him by acting on your own good ideas? It generally doesn’t work out too well. It is so much better to trust God and wait on Him. Easy?….NO. Wise?….YES.
Back to our Scripture:
Genesis 18:9-15
Then they (angels) said to him (Abraham), “Where is Sarah your wife?” So he said, “Here, in the tent.” And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door, which was behind him.) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”
Although it sounds like the Lord was not happy with Sarah when she laughed to herself, I don’t think He was really angry. After all, if you were 90 years old and you were told that you would conceive a child you might laugh, too. Nevertheless, Sarah bore a son at the ripe old age of 91!! She was told to name him Isaac, which means laughter.
Genesis 21:2-6
For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him-whom Sarah bore to him-Isaac. Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”
Victory Call 