Touré Roberts - Being a Believer

I want to talk today about the ebbs and flows of belief. The ebbs and flows of belief I want us to look at as a foundational passage of scripture is Genesis chapter 15, the first six verses. The ebbs and flows of belief. One day, Jesus said something hard to his disciples, and they replied to him, «Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.» It wasn’t their belief that was hurting them; it was their unbelief. Did you know that you can believe and not believe simultaneously? What stirs me to speak this word to you is the fact that not believing is costly. Yes, not believing hurts. Sometimes I look at people in pain, and this is not true for everyone, but I realize that the reason why they’re hurting is that they’re not believing. Sometimes, the very reason we are frustrated, stagnant, and perhaps even moving in the wrong direction can be tied to what we are not believing. When you don’t believe, you are vulnerable. When you don’t believe, especially regarding your destiny, you become desperate. Like I talked about last week, you will eat anything. You need to go back and watch it. It was so good.

So, I want to look at a passage of scripture, and the character in this passage is a man named Abram, who will become Abraham. The journey from Abram to Abraham was a journey of growing in his relationship with God. How many of us know that when you meet God, you don’t just automatically have this flourishing relationship? He may have a flourishing relationship with you, but we don’t always have a flourishing relationship with Him. It takes time. One of the things I love about the story of Abraham is that this relationship is unfolded right before our eyes. We see the fruit of him having a lesser relationship with God, and we also see the benefits of him growing in his relationship with God. Additionally, one of the things I love is that it shows his humanity. Let’s keep it real. We are not superheroes; we are human. We have human issues, fears, and struggles, yet God still works with that.

I want to read some things here, point out a few ideas, and give you four thoughts to take home with you. It says, «After these things”—I will talk about what those things were in just a second—“the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.’» It’s interesting because there’s nothing in the text or in the previous text that suggests Abram was afraid. One of the things I love about God is that He knows where you are, even when you don’t tell Him. One of the cool things about a relationship with God is that He will confront you lovingly. He will address where you are, not where you say you are. We are almost programmed to respond that we’re doing well when someone asks how we are. We often say, «I’m good, I’m good, ” but that’s only true some of the time. It’s our answer almost all the time. God doesn’t wait for Abraham to come to Him and tell Him he’s struggling with something—we will see what he’s struggling with in just a second—He engages him right away. God takes the initiative. He is proactive in engaging him. Here’s why: God knows that if you are divided in your belief, you cannot move forward. If God has ordained you to move forward because of a promise He has made to you, He knows that if you do not believe that promise, you’re not going anywhere.

So, in God’s love for us, He confronts us and says, „Hey, you’re good; you’re beautiful. I know you’re spiritual, but I’m telling you right now, I’m doing a spiritual divine CAT scan of your faith, and you’re lacking.“ Can I take my time? Yes, sir! Only God can do that because most of us feel like we’re good enough. „I’m good. No, I’ve got this.“ But you don’t.

Now, let’s get into what’s happening with Abraham. After these things, we need to discuss what happened in the passage right before this one. Abram had a nephew named Lot. You remember Lot? His nephew was wild, kind of crazy, and erratic, so Abram had to separate himself from Lot in order to be released into his destiny. I have a whole section in my book, „Purpose Awakening"—shameless plug, guess who doesn’t care—I’ve got the mic! I explain that God has to separate Abram from Lot in order for him to move forward. Just because he’s separated from him doesn’t mean he doesn’t love him.

So, Lot, his nephew, gets into some trouble after being separated from Abraham. Now Lot is in trouble, and Abraham has to stick up for him. You ever had a family member who gets on your nerves because they are…