Throughout the Bible there are stories of women who had incredible faith. They believed God’s promises when their circumstances made it seem impossible.  They stood in prayer for their families, and God used them in powerful ways.  In this series we’ll take a closer look at the lives of several of these women and see what we can learn from them about what it means to be a woman of faith.

1. Women of Faith: Hagar
2. Women of Faith: Sarah

How can we pray for you today?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a deep abiding faith in God,

The written account of Sarai begins in Genesis 11 with her marriage to Abram. Some time thereafter, her husband Abram and father-in-law Terah set out with their families to move from Ur to go into the land of Canaan, but settled in Haran. (See Genesis 12 for details.) After Terah’s death, God came to Abram and told him to “go from your country … and your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation.” At the time, Abram was already seventy-five years old! Instead of settling down God invited Abram and Sarai to go on a great adventure. It takes a lot of faith to make a change like that.  Would you be willing to pack up and move if God asked you to?

Are you in God’s waiting room?

“Is anything too hard for the LORD” (Genesis 18:14)?

When discouraging circumstances catch us by surprise, one of two things tends to happen. Either we firmly believe God will somehow, some way, work our circumstances to good, or we jump to conclusions and take matters into our own hands. When God told Abraham and Sarah that they were going to have a baby in their old age, Abraham was 86 years old and Sarah was 76 years old. (Genesis 15:4)

Knowing they were well past the age of childbearing, they didn’t see how they were now going to become parents. However, just because they didn’t see how it was possible, didn’t mean it was impossible. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)  Unfortunately, despite this promise, they chose to jump to conclusions and take matters into their own hands, forfeiting God’s perfect will, for His permissive will.

Instead of trusting God to keep His promise to them, Sarah suggested to Abraham that he sleep with her maidservant, Hagar to give them a child. (Genesis 16:1-4) After Abraham got Hagar pregnant, jealousy and envy consumed Sarah, and their lives became needlessly complicated. Had they trusted God to work out His perfect will in their life from the start, they could have avoided so much tension and heartache.

Though my faith has never been put to the test in quite this way, I’ve learned whenever I jump to conclusions and take matters into my own hands, it is because I have let my troubling circumstances distract me from remembering and resting in God’s promises to me. Despite how bad our situation may look, God’s plans are still, and will always be, to prosper us, not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and future. (Jeremiah 29:11) Every problem we face. Every time.

Heavenly Father, thank you every circumstance You allow in my life is filtered through the promise of Jeremiah 29:11. When things go wrong, please help me to remember that promise and rest the truth that with You all things are possible. Amen.

Questions: Are you resting in the promises of God? What are your favorite Bible promises for encouragement when you are going through difficult times?

Do you feel isolated, hurt or afraid and lost all hope and have no one to talk to? Talk to us.

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30 am EDT.

“But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently”(Romans 8:24-27).

Have you ever noticed that God’s promises have a wait in them?

God’s promise to Abraham was, “All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth that cannot be counted” (Genesis 13:15).  When God made that promise, Abraham had no land and no children.

Abraham waited at least 25 years to have Isaac, his only child. All the years of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the Canaanites occupied the land. Abraham had to buy a little plot of land to be able to bury his wife Sarah.

Isaac negotiated with the inhabitants about wells. Jacob, still not owning the land, took his family to Egypt where they suffered slavery for 400 years. (Acts 7:1-8) Not until Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land did Canaan become their land (perhaps 1000 years after the promise had been given!)

Has God given you a promise?

Perhaps it’s a Bible verse that you have highlighted and dated.  I have verses like that. “But that was thirty years ago,” I sometimes grumble to the LORD. “Nothing has happened yet.”

Why does God give us the promise so far in advance? God’s promise gives hope for the future and stability for the present.  It helps us focus on God. The waiting is necessary to grow faith.

God is not bound by our time frame. Neither will we be once we get to heaven.  When you’re living in eternity what does one year mean? 10 years? 100 years? It’s like being in an ocean and scooping up a handful of water. You can’t measure an ocean like that.  We can’t measure eternity either.

What was Abraham’s response? “Abraham believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)  Like Abraham let us hold fast to God’s promises. No matter how long it takes, one thing is certain: God keeps His promises.

Dear God, Sometimes I get so impatient. Help me to rest in your promises knowing that you never go back on your word. Amen.

Questions: Has God given you a promise, which seems like a long time a go, and still you have not experienced an answer?  What does the word hope mean to you?

About the Author Helen Grace Lescheid

What does it take to be an official, certified superhero? According to the World Superhero Registry, a real-life superhero must meet a few basic criteria:

Costume. The purpose of a costume is not simply to protect the identity of the Real-Life Superhero from criminals that might seek revenge, but to make a statement both to the evil-doers that you fight against and to the world at large: you are not simply someone who happened upon crime or injustice and made an impulsive decision to intervene. You have vowed to actively fight for the betterment of humankind and to serve as an example for others.

Heroic Deeds. The purpose behind becoming a Real-Life Superhero must be for the benefit of mankind, and the Heroic Deeds must be of sufficient degree as to exceed normal everyday behavior.

Personal Motivation. A Real-Life Superhero cannot be a paid representative of an organization, not even a benevolent one. The motivation to become a Real-Life Superhero must come from the individual…

Plenty of people have registered themselves on the site, crime-fighters like Queen of Hearts, whose “goal is to quell Domestic Violence by teaching our youth and others how to recognize and prevent it”,  or Red Arrow, who says he is “a real-life superhero in Hong Kong. I try to bring happiness to people and become the salt and light of the world.”

Black Arrow, a Real Life Superhero (RLSH) from the United Kingdom says,

“I am a female RLSH, I was born to be a RLSH. My mission is to save the world. I aid those in need, I serve justice to those who deserve it. I give advice and guidance. But I am not just here for the people, I am here for the animals and the environment, for they are part of this world. Everyone has the power to stand up for themselves, to stand up for other people, but it’s the few that decide to embrace that power and be heard, and these people are RLSH, and rightly so. We stand for our beliefs, the rights of others. We stand for those who cannot. We stand because we can. It’s not that uniform you wear or the training you have done that matters, it’s how big your heart is and how far you are willing to go for your fellow man.”

Do think committing to a life of crime fighting and good deeds will make a difference in the communities of these superheros? If you registered on the Word Superhero Registry, what idenity would you assume? Why expend so much energy for other people?

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30am EST.

“Is anything too hard for God?” God asked Abraham this when He appeared to him and his wife Sarah and told them that Sarah would have the child they had yearned for all their lives.

Sarah had laughed at the idea that she would actually bear a child at the age of 90. But she did!

Why do we tend to limit God, even though we may be familiar with His mighty works? Even the virgin Mary, chosen vessel of God, could not understand how she could be the mother of a child without “knowing” a man. An angel told her the Holy Spirit would come upon her and His power would overshadow her.

“Therefore,” he continued, “that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God,” Then he told Mary that her cousin, Elizabeth, who was way past the age of child-bearing, was also going to have a son. He concluded by saying, “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37).

Do you believe that?  Well, read Psalm 145, letting its blessed truths sink into your heart and mind. Think about them, savor them, and then follow the psalmist’s example of praise.

I love the book of Ephesians. Listen to this: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations” (Eph. 3:20-21). Does that not fill your heart with faith when you realize how all-powerful our Lord is?

Paul, inspired of God, said to the Ephesian believers, “May the eyes of your understanding be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.”

Father God,
Thank you that with You, nothing is impossible. Help me this Christmas to put my trust in You in fresh and courageous ways. Increase my faith Lord. I ask in the powerful name of Jesus, amen.

Questions: Are you believing God today or are you limiting God in your life today? Do you truly know and have faith that God is who He said He is and He will do as He has promised? Ask God to increase your faith today.

About this Author Muriel Larson

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, Telling It Like It Is, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog