Blog 81: No Excuses

Hey Family! Long time no see, eh? 😊🤣😁 I’m so glad to announce Word Wednesday blog posts are back! I’ve missed you guys! You can find me almost daily on my YouTube channel, Generation of Young Believers.

So, I don’t know about you, but all of sixth and seventh grade I would stay up every single night until 2am reading. No joke. My bedtime was 8:30ish and I would be up for five plus hours reading. Now, when I began 8th grade, I leveled up. I got old. Gray hair, a cain, the whole nine meaning I started going to sleep and not staying up late to read. When I was young, three, four hours of sleep was fine, not anymore. Now my mom, she told me every night at 8:30, Sarai it’s bedtime. She didn’t say, go read. She said, BEDTIME. But every night, when I got in my room, I made the EXCUSE that I couldn’t fall asleep unless I read and before I knew it was 2am. And to conceal my guilt of disobeying, I said to myself, reading helps me sleep. I said it like it was FACT. But I was excusing my behavior so I didn’t feel guilty. So without further ado, today’s topic is, “No Excuses,”. 

Today, I want us to go through the story of Sarai, Abraham, and Sarai’s servant Hagar. Sarai made an excuse and this excuse formed a rivalry, hatred, and a sense of void. Sometimes, what we do and say can hurt ourselves and bring sorrow because we aren’t mindful of what we are doing. But then there are other times, we know exactly what we are doing, and we get prideful thinking that we know best. So then later on, when pain comes, it hurts in a different way, because we brought it upon ourselves. 

Genesis 15:1-3 says, “After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield,[a]  your very great reward.[b]” 2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 

I want to stop and point out something critical here before we continue on. Verse 3 says, “And Abram said,  “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.””. Some people confuse disbelief with speaking facts. There’s a difference between saying, “God will never heal me” and “God has given me a sickness and He hasn’t healed me yet”. There’s a disbelief. And there’s a fact. Let's take a moment and break down the word disbelief here. The meaning of dis is “not or the opposite of”. The meaning of the root word belief is “belief or faith.”. Don’t allow yourself to confuse facts with disbelief because just how our words can rebuke the devil, they can also tear our own selves down because we are EXCUSING our lack of belief and saying it’s a FACT. 

Note: Don’t excuse your lack of belief by saying it’s a FACT.

Picking back up at Genesis 15:4 and continuing on till verse 6, “4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.“

Don’t we all want to be a little more like Abram? God said it, and he believed it. Now, Abram goes and tells his wife Sarai what God has said. I can imagine he is overjoyed because if you do not know, at this point in his life, Abram is between seventy-five and eighty-five years old and his wife is ten years younger than him. I don’t know about you but I don’t hear about women around that age having kids.

Well, like most people in today’s times, when things don’t happen quickly or soon, we get restless. Saria was getting restless.The definition of this word is this: unwilling or unable to stay still or to be quiet and calm, because you are worried or bored.  Sarai right now, I can imagine, is upset. All she wants is a child. I can imagine day by day her peace is fleeing from within her. She’s restless. I can imagine she’s enjoying a nice cup of tea and suddenly she has an idea.

Genesis 16:1 says, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Well, was that the idea you were expecting? Uh nada. Say what now?!? Sarai has decided to take matters into her own hands and says. ‘Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”. Like, I can literally imagine her stance and her tone of voice. Girl says, I’m done with this. Time is now going to be on my watch. Well, okay Ms. Sarai. There’s one thing I want to point out that came to my mind when she said this. It wasn’t the fact she was giving her husband away to another woman. It was the fact that she thought if God won’t do it for me, I can do it for myself. Which brings me to my next point.

Note: God knows when and where you can receive what you might want so don’t overextend yourself into something that doesn’t concern you YET.

At this point, instead of Sarai doing her own thing, she should have waited and let God do His thing. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." This verse is a call to trust God fully rather than relying on our own limited understanding, like Sarah did when she took matters into her own hands.

So, Abram agrees. Don’t believe me? Read verse 2. Look with me now at verse 5 because Felisha got nerve. “”Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”

I would be under the impression she wasn’t the one who came up with the idea. Yes, it was partly Abram’s fault because he agreed and went through with it, but Sarai played a huge part. Girl got restless and don’t we sometimes? Isaiah 40:31 says, "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." This verse reminds us of the strength and blessings that come from waiting on the Lord rather than becoming restless and acting prematurely. We get so restless and ignore the Holy Spirit’s voice trying to stop and save us, that we create an excuse to help us sleep at night. Create an excuse to help us think we’re righteous. Create an excuse so nothing is on our conscience. 

Sarai should have taken accountability for something she had done. Abram sleeping with her servant was HER idea. And in life, the best thing for us to do is take accountability for our actions instead of always acting like we are the victims and we’re right because the truth of the matter is, we aren’t always right. We’re human.

James 4:17 says, "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." This verse encourages us to take responsibility for our actions and not excuse disobedience.

Instead of Sarai choosing to do it her way, she should have trusted and believed that God would keep His promise. Habakkuk 2:3 says, "For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay." This verse reassures us that God's promises will come to pass at the right time, even if the wait feels long.

When Sarah was falling into sin, and realizing she didn’t want to wait on God, all she needed was a friend to remind her of Mark 9:23-24. It says, "'If you can?' said Jesus. 'Everything is possible for one who believes.' Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, 'I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!'" This verse shows the importance of being honest with God about our struggle with disbelief and asking Him for help to strengthen our faith. Sometimes in life, we will have a good friend sent by God who will remind us of His goodness and faithfulness and other times, not. That’s why we have to be grounded and serious and committed about learning our Word.

I won’t be so mean as to leave you all hanging so yes God does end up giving them a child who they name Isaac. And God changes their names to Abraham meaning, “Father of nations” and Sarah “meaning mother of nations”. Wow, that is a whole Word in itself, but to just sum it up, God blessed them. GREATLY. Personally, I think God didn’t punish Sarah for having her servant and husband have a child because the pain and hatred and the sudden rivalry was so much for her heart to bear that God was like, My daughter now knows who’s in control.

I charge you, to not create excuses for your sins because exactly how today’s story illustrated, our excuses can be the very thing that takes away our blessings. Luke 14:18: "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’" In this parable, Jesus emphasizes how excuses can prevent us from receiving the blessings God has prepared for us, just as Sarah’s excuse brought unnecessary conflict into her life. Sarah could have had a lot more peace and joy if she just waited for God’s timing.

As I come to my closing, I want to also say something that I think is beneficial. Sometimes, we see our non Christian friends or associates, doing things, going places, soaring and we think walking with God and waiting on Him is derailing and prolonging our blessin so we make excuses to do things on our own. Psalm 37:7: "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." This verse highlights the importance of waiting calmly for God’s plan, even when it seems like others are succeeding by their own efforts.

Note: Blessings came when I kill the excuses 

Children of God we have the power to kill spirits and thoughts. Sometimes as Christians we get under the mindset that only our pastors or parents can pray for us and the bad things will leave us. Guys, God has given us the power and the authority to rebuke and kill anything unlike Him. I want you to kill, rebuke, anything that you have been using to justify your sins. 

Sometimes we think of revivals as spreading the Word of God and thousands putting their faith in God. But I want you to know, deciding that today and every day that follows, you will not make excuses to commit sins or make excuses to justify them, is a revival in the Christian community. The revival can start with you. Are you up for the challenge? 

Thank you guys for joining me for another Word Wednesday. If this blessed you, please share with someone. I love you guys and always praying for yall.  Sending my love, my prayers, and all of the above,

Sarai ❤️