THE
EMBARRASSMENT OF FAITH
Apostle Handley
Somebody reading this message today has received a promise from God with
instructions to START a unique and powerful ministry. As a matter of fact, the
revelation to you is so BIG, you are questioning as to whether it is really God.
You also are concerned as to what others . . . even Christians . . . will think
of you if you obey.
If you want to be greatly used by God, you will have to always . . . each time .
. . be willing to take a STEP, or make a MOVE, of faith. It will NOT be walking
out on a "limb" (of a tree) by faith and then sawing off the limb.
However, it WILL be sawing the limb off first, and then walking out by faith.
Noah sawed the limb off when he STARTED building the
There is a reason God gives us instructions in detail. However, sometimes He may
give us at first general, or nonspecific, leading; and later, when we arrive at
the place for new instructions, He will be more specific. Why should God give
all the plans out when we haven't taken the FIRST step and started to carry out
His instructions?
Notice that the great leaders and deliverers which God used to impact and save
humanity were required to do what seemed FOOLISH in the eyes of the world. Noah
STARTED BY building the
Abraham left his father's wealth and the false gods and idols of his people to
follow the True God that his relatives and friends could NOT see. He STARTED by
heading out to a place he had never been, and didn't know where it was. It was a
place that God said He would show Abraham. "Now Jehovah said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,
unto the land that I will show thee: [Genesis 12:1 ASV]
Concerning WHAT has God been speaking to YOU? Whatever it is, you may have to be
willing to accommodate the embarrassment of faith. That is, you may have to
adapt to, or fit in with self-consciousness, uncomfortableness, and uneasiness.
You may have people look down upon you with pity or shame. If you don't allow
yourself to walk in the Spirit, you may even feel awkward; especially if you
allow yourself to objectively look at the situation in the natural.
During Abraham's walk of faith, after he had STARTED, at one point God promised
to give him a son and then descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and
the sand on the sea shore. "Who against hope [Abraham] believed in hope,
that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was
spoken [by God]: 'So shall your descendants be'." [Romans 4:18]
"And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when
he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's
womb." [Verse 19] Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 when Isaac was born.
"He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in
faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had
promised, he was able also to perform." [Verse 20]
WHAT HAS GOD PROMISED YOU?
WHAT STEP OR MOVE HAS GOD REQUIRED OF YOU?
WHAT IS THE EMBARRASSMENT OF FAITH YOU MAY PROBABLY ENCOUNTER?
I have a word for you from God. After you START in this faith endeavor which God
has promised to perform, you will not care what people think about you. You will
be so overwhelmed with JOY and the ANOINTING of the Holy Spirit that your are
oblivious to what people . . . even some Christians . . . think or say.
If God is going to do the work through you by HIS GRACE, it is going to have to
be by YOUR FAITH. You will have to BELIEVE and START: take the action, make the
move! If you really believe God CAN and WILL do what He has told you, then be
willing to encounter the embarrassment of faith. [God told Abraham], "I
have made thee a father of many nations, before whom Abraham believed, even God,
who makes alive the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they
were [already]. [Verse 17]
If you are involved in a project or endeavor where others have joined you, God
will be good to at times give you encouragement, even FAITH LEADING, through
them. Do NOT discount the advice of others who are with you in the faith project
the LORD has assigned you. The only time you should NOT listen is when you
definitely know what God wants you to do at that stage of the game, and other
advice is conflicting.
This requires you to follow your spirit, the voice of your inner man. If you do
NOT KNOW it is God, then don't do it. I promised God at a particular juncture in
my life and ministry that I would never do anything that I wasn't sure He wanted
me to do. Study the teachings in the Archives of either The Apostles Group or
Apostle Handley Daily Message, in the series, "Direction and
Guidance."
I just yesterday prayed for a lady to conceive. When I prayed, the power of God
came upon me. There was NO doubt; the anointing of the Spirit was so strong upon
me that I could feel it in my arms. His presence was intense. I have prayed for
several barren women to conceive who conceived in 30 days. God knows how to
fulfill His promises without our help. We just need to use our faith.
Sarah, after many years of being barren suggested to Abraham that he lay with
her maidservant, Hagar, and that way they could have a child. In other words,
she thought they could help God keep His word, or promise, to Abraham! God
doesn't need help in keeping His word. If He promised you something, then just
do what He told you: obey in faith.
However, notice that about 14 years later, it was Sarah's faith that brought
about her MIRACLE CONCEPTION of Isaac. "Through faith also Sarah herself
received strength to conceive seed [at the age of 90], and was delivered of a
child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Therefore sprang there even of one, and him [Abraham] as good as dead, so many
as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore
innumerable." [Hebrew 11:11-12]
In Hebrews 11:11, when the scripture says, "Through faith also Sarah,
herself ..." The Greek word for "herself" implies something
remarkable that Sarah would manifest this faith. She had laughed years before at
even the suggestion by Abraham of God's promise. But now, years later, she had
grown in her trust in God, probably through living with Abraham. Abraham was now
100 and Sarah was 90. [Genesis 17:17 and 18:11]
Even though Sarah influenced Abraham to make a bad decision 14 years earlier to
try to help God in the FLESH [Galatians 4:23] with the subsequent birth of
Ishmael, she later through FAITH was the instrument God used to bring about the
PROMISE of the child Isaac! And, with the result of not only millions of
descendants of Abraham, but the establishment of the seed line through which
Messiah Jesus would come to earth through a MIRACLE VIRGIN BIRTH 2,100 years
later.
Your obedience to God's promise, exercised through your START . . . your step of
faith and subsequent walk . . . even though making you an exhibition to the
world and the resulting EMBARRASSMENT of faith, will result in the PROMISE of
God being performed to bless YOU, your descendants, and the nations of the
world.
Die to the embarrassment of faith and bring resurrection LIFE to you, your
family, your associates, and the world. Many will join you later and thank you
for both the privilege of working with you and for being under your leadership!
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