“Then the Lord took Abraham outside and said to him, ‘Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!’ And Abraham believed the Lord and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
Genesis 15:5-6 (NLT)
In this scripture, God told Abraham to step outside of his tent, look at the stars in the sky, and count them. God wanted Abraham to come outside to physically see the stars in order to adjust his perspective. Sometimes there needs to be an adjustment to our perspective. In doing so, we may have to reposition ourselves physically and / or spiritually. We may have to physically step outside of the tents we have been dwelling in (our thoughts, feelings, emotions or circumstances) and look up to Him, to gain a new perspective, God’s perspective.
In the very next verse, it says that Abraham BELIEVED the Lord. God made Abraham a promise that naturally sounded outlandish, that he would have descendants as many as the (countless) stars in the sky, when he didn’t even have ONE child yet. But Abraham CHOSE to BELIEVE God! This is the same thing we have to do, BELIEVE God. We have to BELIEVE God and believe the TRUTH of every word, every promise that has been written in the Word of God for our lives. This same verse continues on to say that when Abraham BELIEVED God, the Lord counted him as righteous because of his FAITH! Our FAITH is our TRUST in God.
Let’s step outside of our tents today by adjusting our perspective in how we see different circumstances in our lives. Let’s BELIEVE God through the circumstances and have a greater level of FAITH and TRUST in God so that our faith will be counted to us as righteousness.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
As I think about the necessity of adjusting our perspective, God reminded me of a run I was on a few weeks ago. It was the worst weather since I had started running again. The wind was so strong, and it was raining. I was determined to finish the run despite the weather, but my main focus was to make sure my run time did not slow down. As I ran, I continued to glance down at my watch to check my pace and to my surprise I had dropped nearly a minute off my time from three days prior. I felt lighter that day while running and I knew it wasn’t a physical weight because I weighed myself before I left. However, as I ran, I continued to glance down at my watch, and my time kept decreasing. For me, when something significant is taking place with me physically, I know God is trying to show me something spiritually. In these moments, I always ask Him two questions: 1) How does this relate to me? 2) How does this relate to Your people?
On my way back, I asked God what was going on, why was I in stormy conditions and against the wind, but running faster? He clearly told me, “Nicole, today your perspective was different. You saw the weather conditions were worse, but you were so determined not to have your run time slow down, you pushed that much harder and it was with ease that you dropped your run time significantly. You adjusted your perspective.”
Then I asked, what does this have to do with your people? At that moment, God said, “This is what the body of Christ needs to do when the uncertainty of life comes their way with attempts to steal, kill and destroy. Adjust their perspective and PRESS into ME, so much so, that it will feel like with ease they can make it through the uncertainties of life that may come.”
As we may feel like we are in a season of uncertainty, let’s CHOOSE to be FREE and FEARLESS in our FAITH and TRUST in the promises of God. Just like God told Abraham in Genesis 15:1, He is saying the same thing to us! — “DO NOT be afraid, (say your name). I AM YOUR SHIELD; Your reward will be GREAT.” (Nicole Farmer)
TODAY’S DECLARATION
“Today, I choose to ADJUST MY PERSPECTIVE, and I call it into RIGHT alignment with the TRUTH of the Word of God!.”
TODAY’S BIBLE READING
Our Bible Reading Plan gives 25 daily readings per month. There is no scheduled reading for today. You can use this time to catch up on any readings you may have missed, or read through previous passages again.
