"And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai..." (Gen. 16:2).
Abraham and Sarah simply became impatient and decided they would help God out.
Most of the time that's the reason Christians miss God. It's not because they don't hear His voice. It's because they don't wait for His timing. Impatience always produces actions that are motivated by unbelief. Impatience says, "I can't wait any longer. I'm going to make something happen in my own strength." That's pure unbelief!
The Bible clearly states that we "inherit the promises through faith and patience" (Heb. 6:12). Impatience will rob God of His opportunity to bring His perfect answer to your problem every time.
Abraham's mistake was one of the detours that delayed his faith and kept him from arriving at the place of being "fully persuaded" where the promise and blessing of God were waiting.
But, praise God, you and I don't have to take detours. We have the written Word. We have the examples of men like Abraham to learn from, and we have the Holy Spirit leading us into all truth. We have everything we need to move right into the realm of being fully persuaded.
And once you enter that realm, there's no power in hell or on earth that can keep you from receiving God's promises. There's nothing that can keep you from turning defeat into victory - nothing that can keep you from going from one degree of glory to another.
Once you enter the realm of being fully persuaded, every promise in the Word of God is within your reach.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Mac Hammond is the senior pastor of Living Word, a large and growing church in Brooklyn Park (a suburb of Minneapolis), Minnesota. He is the host of the Winner’s Minute, which is seen locally in the Minneapolis area on KMSP Channel 9 at 6:44 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. He is also the host of the Winner's Way broadcast and author of several internationally distributed books. Mac is broadly acclaimed for his ability to apply the principles of the Bible to practical situations and the challenges of daily living.
