Have Faith When Against All Odds

How God Brings Death To The Promise Before Resurrecting It

One of the most exciting experiences any person can have is to pray and get an answer.  It's so wonderful as a Christian to look back and remember the times that you have prayed and against all odds see God answer your prayer.

Many people become discouraged when they don't get their prayers answered.  If you're going to grow in the Lord and get answered prayer you'll have to keep your faith.  If you want to win the battles of life against all odds you'll want to maintain a fresh faith.

Faith is always now. Abraham learned this lesson and against all odds he received his promise, and his miracle from God. Against all odds Abraham still believed in hope that his promise would come. He was the father of many nations because of his faith.

Romans 4:18 says "Who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be."

So even when you're against all odds, have faith in the promise.  I want you to listen very carefully because I'm going to show you a biblical principle that will help you win the battles of life. Many of you have reached the place of deferred hope.  The bible says in Proverbs 13:12,

There are some of you that God has given a specific promise but the answer has been delayed and delayed, and delayed.  You have become discouraged and have reached the place where you are almost ready to give up.  God wants to speak to those of you who see no sign or evidence of your breakthrough. If this sounds like you then I have been sent to encourage you today.

If you will hear what the spirit is saying it will change your life radically.  The principle is that when God begins to fulfill his promise and He is ready to bring it to past he first puts a sentence of death on that promise.  When God does that and there is no means or ways of getting it then He is getting you into a position where you can learn to totally trust in Him for it.

Until you understand this principle of God you will live in turmoil for the rest of your life. You cannot understand the ways of God until you understand this divine principle.  God will allow it to appear that your promise is absolutely dead. After He makes it look dead He will then resurrect the promise and fulfill it.

First, let us consider Abraham. God made Abraham a great promise. Let's go to Genesis 12:2, "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you, And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing."

Now that's a great promise right there.  God tells Abraham that he's going to have a son. God says, your name shall be great.  This sounds like a wonderful promise because we know his seed has not dried up for he fathered Ishmael.  Abraham's body still has life producing forces.

It's wonderful when God makes us a promise. We walk around saying, glory hallelujah, God has made me a promise. You know every day, every month, every year Abraham and Sarah looked for that exciting promise to come to fruition.

Abraham was waiting for his wife to come in and say, guess what sweet heart, I'm pregnant.  But it didn't happen.  A year goes by, then two, then ten years.  Finally, it comes to the place where Abraham is talking to God and says, well God you had better hurry up before it's too late, Lord, I'm an old man.  Lord, where is the promise?

What does God do? He rolls death in. He puts death on the promise.  When Abraham is a 100 years old and his wife Sarah is 90 God comes back and says, Abraham, you're going to have a son.  Abraham was probably thinking, Oh Lord it's too late.

It's just human nature to think that it's not possible. But Abraham recovers in his faith.  But God still rolled death in on the promise. Not only is the promise dead but all human possibility of making it happen has died. For the human mind, God has waited too long and it's all over.

But God is never late.  He might not come when you want Him to but He'll be there on time. He's an on time God.  So against all odds, have faith. Abraham had faith like no other. His faith was so strong that God imputed it unto him as righteousness. He was saved under the old covenant, not by keeping any laws but by faith.

God said because you have so much faith in me I'm going to consider you a righteous man.  God called him the father of faith. Abraham's faith pleased God and without faith you cannot please God.  He that cometh to God must believe that He is a rewarder, even against all odds, to those that diligently seek Him.

God fulfills His promise and He gave Abraham the son of promise.  Abraham named Him Isaac, which means laughter.  Maybe it would do some of you good to just get some joy and start counting your blessings and stop looking at everybody else.  Get your eyes on Jesus. Say, I don't understand what I'm going through but God has a purpose in it.  He has brought me thus far and He will not fail me.  I believe God and it shall be unto me just as God has told me. It's not over until God says it's over.

Secondly, let's consider Joseph and the great promise God gave to him. Genesis 37:5, "Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more."



In Joseph's dreams God showed him that his sheaves would be higher than all his brethren. The brothers would bow down to him, and that the sun and moon would bow to him. The brothers hated Joseph because of these dreams. Don't let anybody take your dreams.  God is the dream giver.  If you'll serve Him and love Him with all your heart, He'll bring you out and fulfill the promise to you.

Sometimes you got to be corrected, and God will send you a Jeremiah.  Preachers have to give the word of God and sometimes they're hated for it. All prophecies concerning you may not be what you want to hear. So they hated Joseph for his dreams. Joseph's promise was literally fulfilled before their eyes.  They came to him in Egypt and bowed before him.

Before the brothers got to Egypt and bowed before Joseph God killed the promise before Joseph.  Joseph was sold as a slave. Then he went to prison and was forgotten.  He was all alone in a foreign land.  It feels so terrible to be all alone.  Have you ever been there?  If you haven't just hold on because you'll reach that place some day.  You better makes some friends.  You better be prayed up and know the word of God.

Joseph had been forgotten. During this time he had given up all hope of seeing his family again.  Later, the Pharaoh gives him an Egyptian wife and he has children.  But the vision was dead, gone and there seemed to be no hope.  Finally, Joseph just lays the promise aside.  Until one day the Egyptians came to Joseph and they tell him, some Hebrew men are here and they've come to purchase some grain.

Joseph goes and sees them and realizes they are his brothers.  They are kneeling down before him. Suddenly, a light goes on and Joseph remembers the promise.  He realizes God had sent him to Egypt to save his people. This was the plan all along by God but first God sentenced the promise to death.

Then one day the unexpected happened, and God fulfilled the promise.  If you'll just keep God's commandments, be pleasing to Him, there is not enough devils in hell to stop your breakthrough.  There's not enough demons to stop you, so hold on and give Him some praise and prayer.  Give Him some thanks and some hallelujahs.

No matter what you see in the natural, remember the eyes of the Lord are running to and frow throughout the whole earth to see whose hearts are perfect for Him.  Grow up in God where you can realize that God is working everything to your good. All things work together for our good for those who are called according to His purpose.

Thirdly, let's look at the incredible promise God made to David.  King Saul had backslidden.  He had lost his anointing.  Oh God, don't ever let me go to that place.  You should pray that too.  Samuel was told to go to Jerusalem and anoint David as King of Israel.  Samuel took a horn of oil and poured it over David's head. Then he prophesied over him. The bible tells us that the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.  What an incredible promise to a young man at the age of 16, that he would become the King of all Israel.

What did God do to that promise?  He sentenced it to death.  Every way that could have made it possible died.  We find David hiding in caves.  We see Saul chasing him and hunting him like a wild animal. David has to flee for his life.  When we see David at Ziglag, the Amelikites has razed the entire area.  They burned everything down, took David's wife, gold and his family.

David's empire is gone in one day. All of his men are ready to stone him.  This was the man of God that God had chosen and anointed.  His 600 mighty men were ready to stone him.  These men don't know what's going on but David, he gets alone and he talks to God.  He asks God, shall I pursue?  God tells him to pursue and that he would overtake them all.

Pursue your dream.  Keep walking in it.  If you'll keep your faith in God the promise shall show up in your life.  If you had asked David at Ziglag, what about the promise David?  David would have said, Do I look like a King?  I can't even handle this bunch of rebels. How in the world could I handle a Kingdom?  My palace and home is burned down.  I worked for it all my life and its all gone.

But did God fail with the promise?  No he didn't but first God rolled in death to the promise.  He made it appear like it was dead.  God makes things appear dead so that He can be even more glorified when the promise happens.

This is a principle of God found throughout the word of God.  Until you come to understand this one principle of God you will live in turmoil an anxiety for the rest of your life.  God gives you a promise then He sentences it to death.  Out of death God always brings resurrection.

I can't tell you how many promises God has given me and right before it could materialize death rolled in.  But it was after this death that God resurrected the promise after much prayer.  This is what redemption means, to be brought out of death.  We were put into a slave market and the devil put in a high bid for our souls.  Jesus stepped into that slave market and He purchased each and everyone of us.  With His own precious blood.

When he did this we had to die to sin.  We had to die to self.  We had to die to the world.  So we could be raised in the newness of life in Christ.  He wants us to be a mirror reflection of our Lord and Savior.  Until you understand this principle of God you will never be what God has called you to be in His Kingdom.

God gives the promise, then he rolls death in on it and it looks absolutely impossible humanly speaking.  God resurrects the promise.  There's a miracle in the making for you against all odds. God works like this all the time.  He brings joy and sorrow.  He brings peace out of conflict.  He brings beauty out of ashes.  He brings health out of disease.  He brings liberty out of captivity.  He brings life out of death.

This is the way we get to know God. You don't get to know God by living on the mountain top.  You learn who God is when you have to go through some valleys.  There is where you see that God is in control.  No one will ever be exempt from suffering.  Paul wasn't, the early church wasn't.

Lets look at Philippians 3:10, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."

That I may know Him! Is that the cry from your heart?  If it is then its going to cost you something.  You'll be misunderstood.  You'll go to help people and they'll turn on you just like they did Joseph.  You'll have to realize something, you're not going to be popular with man.  but I'd rather please God than man.  I'm on a mission for God.  Well glory.  We got a work to do for this church age.

Oh God, that I may know you and the power of your resurrection.  None of us want the fellowship of his suffering to be conformed unto His death. But it is only out of death that resurrection comes.  God does this on purpose.  The struggles of life are not always the works of the devil.  Get over it.  God takes us to places where He can grow us.  Sometimes God takes us all the way down so we can learn to trust Him.

Look at Galatians 2:20,"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."

God sentences the old man to death so we can walk in the newness of Him.  God, in His mysterious ways gets us to the place where we will completely trust Him.  God doesn't want us to trust in human resources.  God doesn't want you to trust in the flesh.  He wants you to cast yourself completely upon Him.

Isaiah 46:9, "Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other, I am God, and there is no other like me declaring the end from the beginning."

God gives us storms to weather.  Then He gives us a promise.  And the reason He rolls death in on it
is to give us an anchor to hold us. He knows you're going to go through storms.  He knows you're going to be tested.  He knows that you're going to face rejection.  He knows that you're going to be misunderstood.  He knows your best friends and family will turn and walk away from you.  So God gives us a promise.  He knows your pain.  The promise acts as a faith anchor to hold us.

Now I want to ask you a question.  Have you ever received a special promise from the Lord? Something that the Lord has spoken to you specifically.  I'm talking about a desire of your heart. Something that the Lord has spoken to you specifically.  I'm talking about a desire of your heart.  I'm talking about something you didn't manufacture.  But something through God's compassion and desire dropped into your heart.

The bible says to delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.  Through the storms you've found the secret place and been abiding in Him.  You've been communing with Him, crying out to him.  God has heard your cry.  He placed a desire in you, a promise.  Does it look like its dead and hopeless?  If that's the case then God is in the process of fulfilling your promise. God never suffers the righteous to be removed.

Death rolled in on the promise and cruel men took Jesus and nailed Him to the cross.  At Calvary, it looked like all hope was gone.  The disciples were scattered as sheep without a Shepherd.  Jesus Christ, the son of God died.  But He didn't stay that way.  God always brings life out of death.  Three days later on resurrection morning He rose up once again.  He raised His head and said, I am He that liveth. I was dead but now I am alive forever more.

Out of sorrow god brings joy. Out of death God brings life.  Against all odds God brings life. There's a miracle in the making for you.  Things may seem so dark that you can't see the way, but I'm here to tell you to hold on, because your answer is on the way.