If God asked you to prove your faith and love for Him, what would your answer be?

Whatever your answer, don't think that you will be able to prove your faith and your love for God in simple and easy-to-perform attitudes.

The true proof of our faith and our love for God are demonstrated with attitudes that are difficult to take, that go against any logical reasoning and that value God above all else.

Once, God asked Abraham for a test of faith, asking him that his only son, Isaac, be given as a sacrifice to Him.

Genesis 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love — Isaac — and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

WHAT WAS ABRAHAM’S ATTITUDE?

Abraham immediately obeyed God. He prepared his servants and Isaac and they began the journey to Mount Moriah, where Isaac would be sacrificed.

Genesis 22:3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ATTITUDE IN A SIMILAR SITUATION?

What would your attitude be if God asked you something very difficult? Something that would make you lose what you love most, other than God, is obvious.

Some may be saying: “Now the pastor has caught me”, but your response SHOULD BE THE SAME RESPONSE AS ABRAHAM, simply OBEY.

Abraham believed in God's promises, when God said to him:

Genesis 17:19 Then God said, Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Abraham knew that God's promises would never fail to be fulfilled, therefore, he knew that God was testing him and that God would not allow Isaac not to be part of God's covenant with him.

Abraham's faith was so great that he said to his servants in Genesis 22:5: We will worship and we will come back to you (in the plural), that is, Isaac and I will come back.

Genesis 22:5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

When Isaac asked Abraham where the lamb for the sacrifice was, Abraham replied:

Genesis 22:8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

And it happened exactly as Abraham predicted, God did not let Isaac be sacrificed, but prepared a lamb for the burnt offering.

Genesis 22:10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, Abraham! Abraham! Here I am, he replied. 12 Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.

Surely God has already tested you once and will test you several other times in your life, and I always say, that God tests us so that we know our true faith and our true love for Him, because God always knows what the outcome will be our attitude in the ordeal.

God wants to bless us, but our attitudes sometimes prevent this from happening.

As God is fair, it is our attitudes of faith and love towards Him that will determine how much we will be blessed.

God wants to find true worshipers in us, who worship Him in Spirit and in truth, who overcome the world, who overcome sin, out of love for Him and who do not put obstacles in the way of serving and obeying Him.

1 John 5:3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

Pastor Val Martins