Not By Might or Power But By the Holy Spirit
This is the longest chapter in Genesis and it tells a beautiful story of how people come to Jesus and Church ( Bride of Christ) is formed. Genesis draws a picture of what is to come in new covenant , The covenant that we are under . In Ch 22 we saw the Abraham almost …
Continue reading "Gen 24: Holy Spirit Searches for Bride"
As we saw in the last chapter, Abraham come through a tough test. One that many feel was his biggest faith moment but as painful as that was, now we see he faces an even more significant challenge in my eyes. Oh no, don't get me wrong, loss of a child is devastating, and there …
Continue reading "Genesis 23: How Saved person grieves"
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains …
Continue reading "Genesis 22: Sacrifice Of Issac"
Each year on last Thursday of November, we celebrate Thanksgiving. A day where all over America families get together and share a meal, watch some football and get ready for shopping. Between the turkey, traffic & trimmings, we may pause to Thank God ,maybe say a grace over the meal and then we get back …
Continue reading "True Thanksgiving: Psalm 116"
And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom …
Continue reading "Gen 21: The Birth Of Issac"
For some strange reason Abraham decided to leave the region where he was after the destruction of Sodom and he moved closer to Egypt. Once again both him and Sarah repeated their previous mistake. Once again, Abraham goes toward Egypt and introduces Sarah as sister to the king Abimelech. Now Abraham moved on from there …
Continue reading "Gen: 20-Abraham & Abimelech"
Lot in this chapter paints a perfect picture of modern-day Christians. He thinks he has best of both worlds, the eternal benefit of saving grace and also the worldly benefits by fellowship with men of the world. Their wickedness bothers him a bit and he may not enter into all of their activities but in …
Continue reading "Genesis 19: Sodom & Gomorrah"
Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre,[a] as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet …
Continue reading "Genesis 18: Is Anything too Hard for God?"
Abram did not hear from God for 13 years after the birth of Ishmael. He was 99 years old and well passed the age of bearing children and first thing God says is he is Almighty ( El- Shaddai). Lord also commands Abram to be blameless & perfect. He did not say to try to …
Continue reading "Genesis 17: Everlasting Covenant"
In chapter 15, we saw the promise God made to Abram. A promise of son, who is his own flesh & blood. As we look at chapter 16, we will learn what happens when we try to fulfill God’s promise on our terms and on our timing. Sarai decided to be pragmatic. She believed in the promise God gave but she tried to make it happen on her own strength. She looked at her present circumstances. She was in her 70’s & Abram was in his 80’s. To her having children was not possible at her age and thus she decided to take matter into her own hands and came up with solution which created a problem that is not resolved even today.
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.
Abram listened to his wife and went along with her plan. Abram had just cut a covenant with God, he was walking with God and had experienced the faithfulness of God from the time he left Ur to now.Before going along with the Sarai’s plan, he should have checked with God. He should have prayed and asked for guidance from God. How many time we fail to ask the guidance from God? In our personal life or if you serve in church or work with ministry, we should always ask God for direction. It does not always have to make sense intellectually. There are numerous example throughout bible where God’s solution just did not make sense but those who trusted and followed in faith were rewarded with blessing. Joshua was asked to run around the wall, Gideon was asked to just take 300 men against an army of 30000 men, Moses led the Jewish people out of slavery with just a rod in his hands, Daniel was in den of lions, we can go on and on. God has supernatural way of fulfilling his promises. Abram failed once again and he tried to make it happen on his own.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”
Those who are married will understand above statement. Now Sarai is angry at Abram for the way Hagar is acting. Suddenly, it is Abram’s fault although the idea was hers and she was the one who made it happen. We as human have very limited foresight. What seems like solution today might just be adding to the problem. If you a need solution, ask for God’s guidance and wait for his solutions. I remember when I was in leadership of particular church, I along with couple of other people were working hard and we were getting burned out for there was lot to so and only few of us. I started asking others in church to get involved and help out. In my own understanding, I was doing the right thing. I was making others part of the church. In reality what happened was, we ended up having people whose agenda was not Christ based and church was never the same. There was nothing wrong with asking for help but I should have prayed to God and asked him to provide the people and I am sure he would have. Of course, like Abram I am still on my journey of faith and I just thank God he is faithful even when we are not.
So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
If you have been reading other studies, you know the importance of first mention. In verse 7 “Angel of the Lord” is mentioned and this is no one else but Christ. This is another appearance of Jesus in Old testament. This is very important scripture and what a great hope and lesson for those who are lost or feel that God will never look for them because of their sinful past. Here Jesus seeks out Hagar, a Egyptian slave and for first time in scripture he appears as an angel to a slave woman. He did not appear to Abram or Lot or Sarai but to Hagar. In new testament, we read the parable of “Lost Sheep”. He comes searching for 1 lost sheep. Oh what a great hope we have in Jesus. Are you running from something? Jesus is there for you, just like he was there for Hagar.
9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:“Behold, you are with child,And you shall bear a son.You shall call his name Ishmael,Because the Lord has heard your affliction.12 He shall be a wild man;
His hand shall be against every man,And every man’s hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi;[a] observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Earlier I said this was no ordinary angel but Jesus himself. You might say on what basis am I saying this? If you look at Bible, Angels do not want to be worshiped. Here we see, Hagar worships Angel and call him BEN LAHAI ROI .. God who sees. This was an Egyptian woman who worshiped other Gods but when she came in contact with Jesus, she was changed. Above passage tells me Hagar was born again on this day and don’t be surprised if you see her in heaven. Why do I say she was born again or found her salvation? Look what Paul says in Romans ch 10: 9-10
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Did Hagar do this? Absolutely. She believed in his promise and called him God. She Obeyed him and although she was being treated badly by Sarai, she went back. Not only she went back but when boy was born, she named him Ishmael as told by God. I also have to believe when she went back her attitude toward Sarai was different. She probably did not look down on her as before. It is impossible to remain same once you come in contact with Jesus and are born again. If you say you are born again but there is no change in your attitude, how you treat others, your attitude toward life, you might want to reexamine your salvation. By no means, I am saying you become sinless or perfect but there is definite change.
I hope you are blessed by the word today. I urge you to pray for me as I write this that God may continue to use me for his kingdom. I urge to keep reading the scripture, keep growing spiritually and in your relationship with Christ. Remember we do not follow a religion but we serve a Risen God.
I will close with few words from popular Hymn.. Trust & Obey. This is what Hagar did.
Ch 15: 1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
Chapter 15 is one of the most important chapter in bible. we can spend hours just discussing verse 1 . There are six words mentioned in verse 1 for very first time and if you been reading previous chapters you know the importance of first mention. In ch 14 we see Abram going to war against 5 kings to save his nephew Lot and afterwards having communion with Jesus ( Melchizedek ) , offering tithes and rejecting Satan in form of King of Sodom who offers him all the riches of war for soul of the men. After this great victory and fellowship, Abram his sitting and suddenly he is afraid , Maybe he fears that the kings he defeated will come against him. It often happens in christian life when we have great fellowship with Christ or we have great victory in Christ, right after that we fall into temptation or tend to waver in our faith.Here we see Abram in same situation. Elijah the great prophet found himself in similar situation. He had just defeated all the prophets of Baal . Lord ignited a fire on his sacrifice after he poured water all over it. He had a great victory but right after that we find he is running for his life because he was afraid for Jezebel. He goes & hides in jungle waiting to die. So many times we act in similar fashion. We lose our faith even though we see the work of God in our lives.
Six words to study in verse 1:
After these things WORD of the Lord …. this means Jesus came to speak to Abram. John 1 say In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Jesus is the word. He was there in beginning of the world. It was Jesus who came to speak with Abram. Whenever we are down and afraid , He is always there to come and comfort us.
Vision: This is the first time we see word vision in scripture. Abram was not dreaming about these things. He actually had a vision and he was wide awake.
Afraid: Why would God tell Abram not to be afraid? because he was afraid. He was fearful of the kings and consequences of his victory in previous chapter. Later we will read the same message when Moses passes away and Joshua is to lead the Jewish people . In Joshua 1 :8-9, God tells Joshua not to Be afraid and be brave matter of fact in chapter 1 of Joshua that same message is repeated number of times because Joshua was afraid. Today in your walk with Christ, are you afraid? Are you fearful of the surrounding storm like Peter was when he walked on water? keep your focus on Jesus and just like he told Abram & Joshua , he is telling you and me ….. DO NOT BE AFRAID.
I AM: God is great I AM. Exodus 3: 13-14 13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to yo.’”
Shield: God is telling Abram why he should not be afraid . It is him who is our shield. Message of Bible is so consistent it is amazing. Look at what Paul says in Ephesians 6 when he is talking about the armor of God, 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Now read this verse with what is said to Abram. God is our Shield and our faith is on him. This is why Paul is telling us to take the shield of faith. There is no other way to defeat Satan. If you are trying to do it on your own, you are going to fail. There is only one way and which is JESUS.
Reward : Abram was probably sitting and wondering about all the riches he gave up . maybe his wife asked him if you won the war , where is the booty from the war. This is why God reminds him that he is his reward . what a lesson for us. Those of us who are in ministry or working in local church giving your time and service and lots of time all you get is blame . It seems like no one is noticing and there is no appreciation for all you do . I hope this verse is encouragement to you. He is your reward. Some day he will say My son , My daughter you have done well. Oh what a reward. Keep on working, keep on being faithful he will reward you in due time.
In verse 2-3 Abram tells God of his situation and he just does not know how what God has promised him is going to happen. Abram is not complaining to God nor does he have doubt, he just does not comprehend how it is going to happen. He is thinking with his limited understanding just like we do.
Verse 4-5 : God once again assures Abram of his promise to him of heir. He clarifies that the son is going to be his blood not a slave who was born in his home but his flesh & blood. Not only that but he takes him out and tells him exactly how many descendants he is going to have ( stars of the sky & sand on the beach ). Just keep in mind , at this time Sarai was in her 70’s & Abram was in his 80’s . He had left his home in UR over 25 years ago when God first gave him the promise. Would we have this kind of faith? sometimes we pray for something for a week or month or a year & we give up or get angry at God. Remember if God has given you a promise , he will fulfill it in his time. Later we will see how Abram & Sarai try to fulfill the promise on their own and mess they create in process.
Verse 6: And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. This is one of monumental verse in Bible. If you don’t have it jotted down in your bible, do it and remember it. For the first time in Bible word BELIEVE is mentioned. It is our belief which makes us righteous. Not our works, not baptism , not which church we attend or how many bible study we attend nor how much tithes we give but it is the belief in Christ that gives us salvation. The word RIGHTEOUSNESS means rightly clothed. We lost it when Adam & Eve sinned. First they discovered they were naked ( unclothed) and then they try to cloth themselves and all they got is itchy body and God looked at them and clothed them properly. It is a great illustration of our salvation. Paul uses this verse to explain our salvation in Roman 4. Read Romans 4 in context of this verse and you will have whole you new understanding of what Paul is saying. He repeats similar message in Galatians 3. All of us who are born again are robed or clothed in garments of salvation.We are justified by our belief in Christ and what he did for us on the cross. Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,My soul shall be joyful in my God;For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
8 And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”
Can you believe the Abram asked this question? This is so much like me & you. We believe but we always have doubt. We might even think God might be upset with Abram and even walk away and cut him off but God is so gracious that he understands us. He has same kind of patients with us although we continue to question and doubt he never abandons us. This also illustrates how even the mighty men of faith struggled with doubt & unbelief. So instead of being upset God tells Abram , let us cut covenant. In those days, it was common practice when 2 parties made a deal they would cut a covenant as described in Verse 9-10.
in those days there were no lawyers , no contracts and this is how they sealed the deal. So here Abram cuts the animals and he is waiting for God to show up . As he waiting the birds & vultures are circling the the cut meat and Abram is trying to fight them off but he gets tired and falls a sleep. This is when God shows him the future we read about in Exodus. How the Jewish people are going to go down to Egypt and be in slavery for 400 years and how they will come out with riches. In scripture birds are always symbol of evil . He might have been mocked by people passing by , they knew what was to take place. They knew Abram was ready to cut covenant and other party , in this case God had not shown up . Abram was ready to do his part but he was fatigued and he slept. When he awoke God had already come through and had gone through the carcass . Abram realized that he was supposed to meet God half way but God had done it all. What a lesson for us. God has done it all . We still try to be like Abram and try to get salvation by works. God knows we are not capable of keeping our promises. We have best of intention to keep our promises. We want to obey the God but our flesh is weak and God knows it. Paul says 5 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. Jewish people at mount of Sinai meant to keep their promise but in 40 days while Moses was up speaking to God they made golden Calf and started to worship . We are no better than them. God knows this and there for Jesus has done everything for us on cross.Like Abram we eventually get tired of chasing the birds away and we are not able to keep our part of bargain. What a wonderful merciful God that he knows me & you . He wants us to be promise taker not promise maker. As it was with Abram, God’s Covenant with us is unconditional . All we need to do is BELIEVE. Do you believe? Have you acccepted Christ as Savior? If not here is your chance. Like Abram all you need to do is believe. Many have such a hard time with this fact but that is all that is required.
Do not be AFRAID , Just BELIEVE in the WORD ( JESUS) , put on the SHIELD of faith and be part of great REWARD.
May God add blessing to his word. Let those who read it be blessed by it. Amen
As we ended Chapter 13, God Spoke to Abram and gave him all the land including the land Lot chose as his promise land. As we go into chapter 14, There are three things that are mentioned first time in Bible. For the first time there is mention of war, communion & tithe. Chapter starts with 4 kings going to war against 5 and actually defeating the 5 kings. If you research the names of some of the king’s name, you will find them in history books. The 4 kings defeats the 5 kings and in process take Lot and his family as hostage. Abram hears about what has taken place and by help of God fights a guerrilla war against 4 kings and rescues Lot and all his possessions. I do not want to spend lot of time on this part of scripture as there is very important lesson at the end but I would just like to mention when it is Ok for christian to go to war. For us war is not about territory or vengeance or to spread kingdom but rather to defend or rescue family. When you see injustice being done, I believe christian should stand up and defend or go to war.
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said:
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
And he gave him a tithe of all.
I would like to focus on this 3 verse in this chapter and what great lesson they teach us. For first time we hear the name ” Melchizedek ” he is mentioned few more times in bible. he represents Christ. Look what paul says about Melchizedek in Hebrew chapter 7
2to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. 3Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually. 4Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils.…
So now if you read it in that context, Jesus met with Abram and prince of Peace brings Wine & Bread, elements of communion. Abram had communion with Melchizedek the high priest. We take communion in remembrance of what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary. Here Abram is taking communion in anticipation of Christ on the cross. So if there is ever a question regarding how did the prophets and people in old testament receive their salvation, here is your answer. They receive salvation the same way we do, in the blood of christ and By faith. Right after the communion, Abram gives tithe to the Melchizedek.
So here in this 3 verse , we have two of the most controversial subjects in church. These 2 things cause lots of debate and division among Christians. I would like to start by saying God does not need us to tithe. Our God is not broke and he certainly does not need our money. Having said that, we need to tithe. It is something we get to do. As you read in above verses, as soon as Abram had communion with Jesus, he tithed as sign of worship. We have very hard time giving. We want to gather or save for ourselves but no one can take their wealth with you when we die. All the funerals I have attended, I have never seen s bag of money or all the possessions being buried with the dead body. So you can not take it with you but you can send it ahead by tithing. Here is quote from D. L. moody on tithing ” I can tell more about man’s spiritual life by his check book then by looking at his bible or prayer book ” . We can say all we want about how we love God and how we are so spiritual but are we giving to God? Here is what Jesus says to rich man in Luke..33“Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. 34“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
This is how we can take what we have here with us. I know many pastors & churches have taken advantage of this. They are constantly asking for money but if church or pastor says without you giving the money they will close or they will not be able to operate, just let them close. If God is truly leading them in ministry and they are doing God’s work, God will provide them with the funds needed. In Malachi, God says do not rob me? How do we rob God? By not giving him 10% of what we make. In same book later on it says give to God and windows of heaven will open up. It is an act of faith. Don’t give so you will receive, Give so you will be blessed. When you tithe and when you communion with God you are able to withstand the Satan as we see in next few verses.
21 Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.”
Here King of Sodom represents Satan. Look at the offer he makes to Abram. Just like King of Sodom, Satan will give you all the worldly goods but in return he wants your soul. He will give you all riches of the world but in turn he wants to destroy your soul and take you to hell. Only way to say know is if you have tithed and are in relationship with God. look at how Abram is able to fight of the temptation and say no to the offer.
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, 23 that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’—
Abram had communion with Melchizedek and he had given him the tithe and therefore when this offer was made, he was able to say no and walk away. He was fully aware of who was his provider and he did not want to ruin his witness. It was God who had given him the victory and he did not take any material possessions from King of Sodom. Oh what a great lesson for us, In order to withstand Satan, we need in constant communion with Jesus and we will able to fight of anything Satan has to throw at us.
Hope you are blessed by the word of God. Amen
only savior jesus 