Just Believe God
Genesis 15:1-21
Message #5
Being counted righteous “By Faith Alone” is not a New Testament theology. In fact, it goes back way before Abraham. (You can see that by reading Hebrews Chapter 11 in the Hall of Fame of Faith.) But Genesis 15 is the landmark Old Testament text for righteousness BY faith alone. There is no great act or accomplishment on Abraham’s part here. In fact, what we see here is God’s unconditional, one-sided covenant with Abraham that we are ultimately “grafted into” by our faith, and we title this section Believe God… Just Believe God.
Remember, we have seen both faithful and not-so-faithful actions and decisions from Abraham.
Leaving UR – answering God’s call – faithful
Delaying for his father in Haran – not so faithful
Traveling the land, building altars – faithful
Disastrous trip into Egypt – not faithful
Rescuing Lot and the Melchizedek scene – super faithful
And that is where we left Abraham last message. He had just won an incredible victory rescuing Lot, and he had been blessed by the Priest/King Melchizedek. But, some time later, we find Abraham struggling a bit.
Genesis 15:1 (NLT)
1 Some time later (after saving Lot and meeting Melchizedek), the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”
God had not yet changed Abram’s name to Abraham until Chapter 17; his name is still formally Abram. But I think it’s safe to say the Lord said these things to Abraham because the Lord knew exactly how Abraham was feeling.
And the Lord does the same thing for us, doesn’t he? IF we will listen, then through his Word and by his Spirit, God will address the very thing that we are wrestling with in our hearts. And often, he will say to us believe – just believe God. And that is what the Lord is doing with Abraham here. God is saying (in verse 1), “I will be ALL that you NEED.” I will protect you, and I will provide for you. Just believe me – just put your full faith and trust in me.
The Lord knew that Abraham was struggling with really, truly believing God’s promises even though the Lord had already made incredible promises to Abraham. Back in Genesis 12, verses 2-3, God promised Abraham:
Genesis 12:2–3 (NLT)
2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.
3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
This is an incredible promise from God. But Abraham had to decide if he really, truly believed this promise from God. Believe God, Abraham – just believe God.
Then a huge unconditional promise just four verses later.
Genesis 12:7 (NLT)
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” . . .
Believe God, Abraham – fully and truly believe God.
And then, God promises again in Genesis 13, 15-16:
Genesis 13:15–16 (NLT)
15 I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession.
16 And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted!
These are the incredible promises given to Abraham, and Abraham is struggling to truly believe God. He’s struggling to fully, completely believe God, and God gives us incredible promises as well, and we have got to decide if we truly believe God – if we fully completely believe God.
And sometimes, we struggle to believe God just like Abraham struggled to believe God, and God gives us undeserved grace just like God gave Abraham undeserved grace. Phenomenal, unconditional, underserving, one-sided grace. We call it the “grace flood.”
Just watch this.
Genesis 15, verse 2, is the first recorded time Abraham speaks to God. After all those previous promises, look at what Abraham says to God.
Genesis 15:2(a) (NLT)
2 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? . . .
Have you ever said something to God that later you think God must’ve just been “shaking his head” at that? In the first recorded words that Abraham speaks to God, he says to The Almighty God what good are all your blessing when I don’t even have a son? This is definitely a moment of Abraham doubting God, of Abraham struggling to believe God, of Abraham even questioning God.
And then, Abraham goes into full “woe is me” mode. (Have you ever done that with God?) Look at the end of verse 2.
Genesis 15:2(b) (NLT)
2 . . . Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth.
Eliezer is the chief servant in Abraham’s household, and the custom was that if you had no children, then the chief servant in your household would be your heir.
So, Abraham gives God the “woe is me” doubting statement, and believe me, God hears him! But Abraham feels like he needs to repeat his complaint to God in verse 3.
Genesis 15:3 (NLT)
3 You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”
Really Abraham? Pretty sure God heard you the first time.
God’s grace to you is unending. So, when you do the “woe is me” thing with God, and you wake up every day and complain about the same thing, listen; God gives you grace. It’s phenomenal. But it’s super unhealthy to just always be in the “woe is me” mode.
So, Abraham repeats his complaint to God, and we do too.
God is so full of grace toward us. His love for us is so unconditional (his mercies are new every morning). Here’s what we are going to see in the rest of the chapter.
God is going to again reassure Abraham of his promise.
Then, God is going to again give Abraham an immeasurable example.
At that point, Abraham is going to believe God.
And then God is going to make an unconditional one-sided covenant with Abraham.
All of this while Abraham is right in the middle of his “woe is me” moment.
It starts in Genesis 15, verse 4.
Genesis 15:4 (NLT)
4 Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.”
It’s amazing to me that God, in his grace, is meeting Abraham where he’s at in order to take him to a deeper and deeper level of faith.
And then God does the immeasurable example – again – (just like he did back in Genesis 13, verse 16).
Genesis 15:5 (NLT)
5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
This is God’s unending grace drawing Abraham deeper and deeper into “truly believing.”
Last time (in Genesis 13), God told Abraham his descendants would number like the dust of the earth, and Abraham must have sort of, kind of believed.
But now, God is taking Abraham deeper. He is taking him to fully, truly believing God.
Again (in verse 5), God says, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
And something happens to Abraham right here. We know Abraham had believed God before this to some extent. But maybe it’s like us when we go from “believing God” to really putting our full faith and trust one hundred percent in God. From believing God – to really believing God.
And I’m not splitting hairs about salvation. When faith comes to salvation, I’m telling you that God wants to take you deeper, and deeper, and deeper into your belief in him – into your full and complete one hundred percent trust and faith in him.
But one thing we do know at this point Abraham truly believed God.
Genesis 15:6 (NLT)
6 And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.
The Hebrew here is “continual.” He believed, and he kept on believing the Lord. This is a landmark verse. This is a major “watershed” verse. This is a bombshell to all of man’s religious ways of trying to earn their way to God. Here Abraham is overwhelmed by God, and he truly puts his full faith and trust in God alone.
And this verse is so connected to the truth clearly taught throughout the New Testament of us being counted righteous by faith alone. (Romans, Galatians, and even James.) James says if you have this level of faith, it will show. Our series on James was called “Faith Works.” This is the level of faith that actually shows in your life. That’s where Abraham is at right now. Throughout the New Testament, we are pointed back to this verse because this is the Father of the Faith being counted as righteous through faith alone.
Not his effort – not his works
Not his religion
Not his perfect acts of obedience
Abraham believed God – he really, truly believed God, and it was “counted” and “reckoned” to him as righteousness, and THAT foundation continues throughout all of God’s Word. (Reckoned is an accounting term.) That’s the foundation of salvation by faith alone. It’s because God did it all, and we believe. That’s our only role – we believe. And we do have a role, don’t let people imply we don’t. God may know whether you will believe or not, but it doesn’t mean he is forcing you to or not to.
And so, our gracious God is going to continue to assure Abraham that his promises are true and his promises will not change.
Genesis 15:7 (NLT)
7 Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”
God reminds Abraham WHO he IS and WHAT he has already promised, and here is how Abraham responds.
Genesis 15:8 (NLT)
8 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?”
Seriously, Abraham?
If you were God, wouldn’t you get fed up with you? But God doesn’t. Instead, God gives you assurance after assurance that you can really, truly one hundred percent believe him. God wants our faith, and he wants to draw us into a deeper and deeper level of belief until we really, truly, one hundred percent believe.
And so now, in his grace (this is phenomenal), God is going to make a covenant with Abraham, and God is going to clearly make it an unconditional, one-sided, eternal covenant.
Genesis 15:9 (NLT)
9 The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
These animals are the animals that would become normal for sacrifice under the Law of Moses.
Genesis 15:10 (NLT)
10 So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half.
This was actually a customary “covenant procedure.” The animals would be cut in half, and both parties would walk between them – together – and it was a dramatic sign of agreement that if either party broke this covenant, then they would be cut in half – like the animals.
But God is going to put a twist on this covenant with Abraham. God is going to make this an unconditional one-sided covenant.
Genesis 15:12 (NLT)
12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him.
This is not normal for Abraham to be taken out of the covenant process, and this terrifying darkness that “came down” over Abraham is similar to what would happen at Mt. Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments.
Now God is going to give Abraham some details in this one-sided covenant promise.
Genesis 15:13–16 (NLT)
13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. (that’s Egypt)
14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.
15 (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.)
16 After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”
The fulfillment of this covenant promise was far into the future. In fact, the complete one hundred percent fulfillment of this covenant promise is still in the future (but that’s a teaching for another time). This is a promise to Abraham, and we’re going to still have more of it, that is still ongoing. That’s what permanent means. It’s an eternal, permanent covenant that God made and that God will not change.
(And by the way, nowhere does it say that God will replace Israel with anybody else, including the Church. And thank him that it doesn’t because if he would arbitrarily replace Israel with you, then he’s going to arbitrarily replace you with something else. God doesn’t change. This covenant remains.)
Right now, God is going to ratify this unconditional, unilateral covenant, and God is going to ratify this unilateral covenant in a Theophany (visible manifestation of God).
Genesis 15:17 (NLT)
17 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses.
Moses would see something similar in the burning bush. Israel would see it surround Mt. Sinai and in the pillar of fire.
This is the visible manifestation of God passing between the halves of the sacrificed animals, and God (incredibly) ratifies this unilateral covenant in a way that man says, “If I break this covenant, may I be cut in two like these animals.” Incredible!! I am thinking God has made his point to Abraham, and through Abraham, to us.
And now God is going to speak to Abraham with all the promise and power of this covenant process.
Genesis 15:18–21 (NLT)
18 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River—
19 the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
God’s promise of righteousness for faith alone and God’s unconditional promise to his people are now etched forever in a covenant with the Father of the Faith. There was no greater way God could have assured Abraham of his promise. This was the strongest point God could make at that time.
But there would come a time when God would give you and I a greater assurance – an even surer guarantee… God would come himself, in Jesus Christ, and take our sins upon him and die in our place in order to invite us to freely receive the final unilateral, unconditional covenant of God’s love.
God put Abraham to sleep, as if he were dead, and made this unconditional, unilateral promise, and all Abraha had to do was believe – just believe God. And when we were dead in our sin, Jesus Christ came to take upon himself our sin and to pay the full penalty for our sin. And when Jesus Christ cried out on the Cross, “TETELESTAI!!” (It is Finished), he fully completed the unilateral, unconditional covenant – our eternal salvation.
And for us to receive everything that comes with God’s offer of eternal life in Jesus Christ, all we have to do is believe God – just believe God – wholly and completely, fully and without reservation.
Believe God…just believe God.
Remember, we have seen both faithful and not-so-faithful actions and decisions from Abraham.
Leaving UR – answering God’s call – faithful
Delaying for his father in Haran – not so faithful
Traveling the land, building altars – faithful
Disastrous trip into Egypt – not faithful
Rescuing Lot and the Melchizedek scene – super faithful
And that is where we left Abraham last message. He had just won an incredible victory rescuing Lot, and he had been blessed by the Priest/King Melchizedek. But, some time later, we find Abraham struggling a bit.
Genesis 15:1 (NLT)
1 Some time later (after saving Lot and meeting Melchizedek), the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”
God had not yet changed Abram’s name to Abraham until Chapter 17; his name is still formally Abram. But I think it’s safe to say the Lord said these things to Abraham because the Lord knew exactly how Abraham was feeling.
And the Lord does the same thing for us, doesn’t he? IF we will listen, then through his Word and by his Spirit, God will address the very thing that we are wrestling with in our hearts. And often, he will say to us believe – just believe God. And that is what the Lord is doing with Abraham here. God is saying (in verse 1), “I will be ALL that you NEED.” I will protect you, and I will provide for you. Just believe me – just put your full faith and trust in me.
The Lord knew that Abraham was struggling with really, truly believing God’s promises even though the Lord had already made incredible promises to Abraham. Back in Genesis 12, verses 2-3, God promised Abraham:
Genesis 12:2–3 (NLT)
2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.
3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
This is an incredible promise from God. But Abraham had to decide if he really, truly believed this promise from God. Believe God, Abraham – just believe God.
Then a huge unconditional promise just four verses later.
Genesis 12:7 (NLT)
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” . . .
Believe God, Abraham – fully and truly believe God.
And then, God promises again in Genesis 13, 15-16:
Genesis 13:15–16 (NLT)
15 I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession.
16 And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted!
These are the incredible promises given to Abraham, and Abraham is struggling to truly believe God. He’s struggling to fully, completely believe God, and God gives us incredible promises as well, and we have got to decide if we truly believe God – if we fully completely believe God.
And sometimes, we struggle to believe God just like Abraham struggled to believe God, and God gives us undeserved grace just like God gave Abraham undeserved grace. Phenomenal, unconditional, underserving, one-sided grace. We call it the “grace flood.”
Just watch this.
Genesis 15, verse 2, is the first recorded time Abraham speaks to God. After all those previous promises, look at what Abraham says to God.
Genesis 15:2(a) (NLT)
2 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? . . .
Have you ever said something to God that later you think God must’ve just been “shaking his head” at that? In the first recorded words that Abraham speaks to God, he says to The Almighty God what good are all your blessing when I don’t even have a son? This is definitely a moment of Abraham doubting God, of Abraham struggling to believe God, of Abraham even questioning God.
And then, Abraham goes into full “woe is me” mode. (Have you ever done that with God?) Look at the end of verse 2.
Genesis 15:2(b) (NLT)
2 . . . Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth.
Eliezer is the chief servant in Abraham’s household, and the custom was that if you had no children, then the chief servant in your household would be your heir.
So, Abraham gives God the “woe is me” doubting statement, and believe me, God hears him! But Abraham feels like he needs to repeat his complaint to God in verse 3.
Genesis 15:3 (NLT)
3 You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”
Really Abraham? Pretty sure God heard you the first time.
God’s grace to you is unending. So, when you do the “woe is me” thing with God, and you wake up every day and complain about the same thing, listen; God gives you grace. It’s phenomenal. But it’s super unhealthy to just always be in the “woe is me” mode.
So, Abraham repeats his complaint to God, and we do too.
God is so full of grace toward us. His love for us is so unconditional (his mercies are new every morning). Here’s what we are going to see in the rest of the chapter.
God is going to again reassure Abraham of his promise.
Then, God is going to again give Abraham an immeasurable example.
At that point, Abraham is going to believe God.
And then God is going to make an unconditional one-sided covenant with Abraham.
All of this while Abraham is right in the middle of his “woe is me” moment.
It starts in Genesis 15, verse 4.
Genesis 15:4 (NLT)
4 Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.”
It’s amazing to me that God, in his grace, is meeting Abraham where he’s at in order to take him to a deeper and deeper level of faith.
And then God does the immeasurable example – again – (just like he did back in Genesis 13, verse 16).
Genesis 15:5 (NLT)
5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
This is God’s unending grace drawing Abraham deeper and deeper into “truly believing.”
Last time (in Genesis 13), God told Abraham his descendants would number like the dust of the earth, and Abraham must have sort of, kind of believed.
But now, God is taking Abraham deeper. He is taking him to fully, truly believing God.
Again (in verse 5), God says, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
And something happens to Abraham right here. We know Abraham had believed God before this to some extent. But maybe it’s like us when we go from “believing God” to really putting our full faith and trust one hundred percent in God. From believing God – to really believing God.
And I’m not splitting hairs about salvation. When faith comes to salvation, I’m telling you that God wants to take you deeper, and deeper, and deeper into your belief in him – into your full and complete one hundred percent trust and faith in him.
But one thing we do know at this point Abraham truly believed God.
Genesis 15:6 (NLT)
6 And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.
The Hebrew here is “continual.” He believed, and he kept on believing the Lord. This is a landmark verse. This is a major “watershed” verse. This is a bombshell to all of man’s religious ways of trying to earn their way to God. Here Abraham is overwhelmed by God, and he truly puts his full faith and trust in God alone.
And this verse is so connected to the truth clearly taught throughout the New Testament of us being counted righteous by faith alone. (Romans, Galatians, and even James.) James says if you have this level of faith, it will show. Our series on James was called “Faith Works.” This is the level of faith that actually shows in your life. That’s where Abraham is at right now. Throughout the New Testament, we are pointed back to this verse because this is the Father of the Faith being counted as righteous through faith alone.
Not his effort – not his works
Not his religion
Not his perfect acts of obedience
Abraham believed God – he really, truly believed God, and it was “counted” and “reckoned” to him as righteousness, and THAT foundation continues throughout all of God’s Word. (Reckoned is an accounting term.) That’s the foundation of salvation by faith alone. It’s because God did it all, and we believe. That’s our only role – we believe. And we do have a role, don’t let people imply we don’t. God may know whether you will believe or not, but it doesn’t mean he is forcing you to or not to.
And so, our gracious God is going to continue to assure Abraham that his promises are true and his promises will not change.
Genesis 15:7 (NLT)
7 Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”
God reminds Abraham WHO he IS and WHAT he has already promised, and here is how Abraham responds.
Genesis 15:8 (NLT)
8 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?”
Seriously, Abraham?
If you were God, wouldn’t you get fed up with you? But God doesn’t. Instead, God gives you assurance after assurance that you can really, truly one hundred percent believe him. God wants our faith, and he wants to draw us into a deeper and deeper level of belief until we really, truly, one hundred percent believe.
And so now, in his grace (this is phenomenal), God is going to make a covenant with Abraham, and God is going to clearly make it an unconditional, one-sided, eternal covenant.
Genesis 15:9 (NLT)
9 The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
These animals are the animals that would become normal for sacrifice under the Law of Moses.
Genesis 15:10 (NLT)
10 So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half.
This was actually a customary “covenant procedure.” The animals would be cut in half, and both parties would walk between them – together – and it was a dramatic sign of agreement that if either party broke this covenant, then they would be cut in half – like the animals.
But God is going to put a twist on this covenant with Abraham. God is going to make this an unconditional one-sided covenant.
Genesis 15:12 (NLT)
12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him.
This is not normal for Abraham to be taken out of the covenant process, and this terrifying darkness that “came down” over Abraham is similar to what would happen at Mt. Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments.
Now God is going to give Abraham some details in this one-sided covenant promise.
Genesis 15:13–16 (NLT)
13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. (that’s Egypt)
14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.
15 (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.)
16 After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”
The fulfillment of this covenant promise was far into the future. In fact, the complete one hundred percent fulfillment of this covenant promise is still in the future (but that’s a teaching for another time). This is a promise to Abraham, and we’re going to still have more of it, that is still ongoing. That’s what permanent means. It’s an eternal, permanent covenant that God made and that God will not change.
(And by the way, nowhere does it say that God will replace Israel with anybody else, including the Church. And thank him that it doesn’t because if he would arbitrarily replace Israel with you, then he’s going to arbitrarily replace you with something else. God doesn’t change. This covenant remains.)
Right now, God is going to ratify this unconditional, unilateral covenant, and God is going to ratify this unilateral covenant in a Theophany (visible manifestation of God).
Genesis 15:17 (NLT)
17 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses.
Moses would see something similar in the burning bush. Israel would see it surround Mt. Sinai and in the pillar of fire.
This is the visible manifestation of God passing between the halves of the sacrificed animals, and God (incredibly) ratifies this unilateral covenant in a way that man says, “If I break this covenant, may I be cut in two like these animals.” Incredible!! I am thinking God has made his point to Abraham, and through Abraham, to us.
And now God is going to speak to Abraham with all the promise and power of this covenant process.
Genesis 15:18–21 (NLT)
18 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River—
19 the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
God’s promise of righteousness for faith alone and God’s unconditional promise to his people are now etched forever in a covenant with the Father of the Faith. There was no greater way God could have assured Abraham of his promise. This was the strongest point God could make at that time.
But there would come a time when God would give you and I a greater assurance – an even surer guarantee… God would come himself, in Jesus Christ, and take our sins upon him and die in our place in order to invite us to freely receive the final unilateral, unconditional covenant of God’s love.
God put Abraham to sleep, as if he were dead, and made this unconditional, unilateral promise, and all Abraha had to do was believe – just believe God. And when we were dead in our sin, Jesus Christ came to take upon himself our sin and to pay the full penalty for our sin. And when Jesus Christ cried out on the Cross, “TETELESTAI!!” (It is Finished), he fully completed the unilateral, unconditional covenant – our eternal salvation.
And for us to receive everything that comes with God’s offer of eternal life in Jesus Christ, all we have to do is believe God – just believe God – wholly and completely, fully and without reservation.
Believe God…just believe God.