And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah [shall] her name [be].  And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be [a mother] of nations; kings of people shall be of her.  Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall [a child] be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?  And Abraham said unto God, Oh that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.  And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. (Gen: 17: 15-22 -ASV)

 

Of course, we know about Abraham, Sarah, and Ishmael.  We read in the scriptures that Sarah gave Abraham to Hagar to have a son because she felt that she was too old to bear a son of her own.  At the time when Ishmael was born Abraham was eighty-six years old.  It said in the above scripture Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?  (vs. 17) So if Abraham was eighty-six at the time of Ishmael’s birth, then Sarah was probably seventy-six years old.  It amazes me how Sarah could have faith in Abrahm to believe he could conceive a child with Hagar at the age of eighty- six and not with her at the age of seventy- six.  Now the bible does not say how old Hagar was at the time of conception; however, Sarah was just like some of us.  Many of us have gone into buildings that have different levels.  Some have parking levels 1,2, &3, then the ground level, then the lobby, then the 1st floor and so on until you reach the penthouse. I asked the Lord why Sarah could believe that Abraham’s seed would reproduce through Hagar and not through her and he said because Sarah's faith in herself was on the ground parking level.  It was underground just like some of our faith in ourselves to accomplish a task. 

 

Isn’t it amazing how we can believe that God can do all kinds of great things through other people, but not through us.  It is easier for us to believe that our co-worker, or our boss, or our neighbor, or family member can achieve anything that they desire to achieve but not us.  Sarah’s faith in Abraham was in the penthouse, not once does in say in the bible that she doubted Abraham’s ability to conceive with Hagar, she did not laugh or doubt in her heart.  The funny thing about this is, neither did Abraham.  However, we read in the scriptures Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 

 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? (Gen: 1717; 18:12-ASV)

 

Both Abraham’s and Sarah’s faith were on the parking levels underground when God promised them a son together.  They could not raise their level of faith in each other, but just thirteen years ago, neither of them had any problems in believing that a child would come forth from Abraham’s seed. The bible says: The lord asked Abraham, “Why did sarah laugh? Does she doubt that she can have a child in her old age? I am the lord! There is nothing too difficult for me. (Gen: 18: 13-14a CEV) God desires to raise our level of faith in Him, His word tells us be ye master or bondservant He has no respect of person.  (paraphrase mine) God wants our faith to rise from the ground parking level to the penthouse and see ourselves as He sees us.  If God has made a promise to us, He is well able to keep it. His promises are yea and amen.  God wants us to increase our level of faith in ourselves through him, because he says I can do all things in Christ who strengths me.  (Emphasis mine) Faith is simply forsaking all impossibilities and trusting him.  We can raise our level of faith in ourselves, because the God of all faith dwells on the inside of us and He is risen.!!