Genesis 22:17-18
There is blessing in obedience… The things that you do which God has commanded you to do have not gone unnoticed and you have to stand in faith knowing that a blessing is on the way… The Lord says that you will be blessed to Abraham because of the fact that thou hast obeyed my voice… God has been speaking to mankind since the very creation of man and it is up to us as to whether or not we hear and obey His voice… There are a lot of things in this life which clutter our ear gate to the point that we cannot hear the voice of God; however Jesus Christ tells us in the 10th chapter of John, verse 27 that “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” You may be at a point in your life where you are constantly praying to God for a blessing; you are laying before Him all your cares and have come to the conclusion that He may simply not be answering your prayers… This devotion today reminds us that we must obey the voice of God if we want to receive the blessings of God… Make no mistake about it, God indeed is hearing even the faintest of cries; however, the problem is not God hearing you but you having the ability to hear Him… As you pray God may be calling your to walk in obedience and you have not adhered to that call which is why the blessing your anticipate has been delayed in coming… This passage taken from the book of Genesis is penned at the time in which Abram has received his call from the Lord… Abraham was promised manifold blessing from the Lord… The Lord tells him in our two focus verses today that He will bless him, multiply his seed and allow him to possess the gate of his enemies… One can read these promises and say that Abraham must have been favored by the Lord and truly was “…a friend of God…” which he is called in a couple of scriptures recorded in the bible… The favor of God which resulted in this manifold blessing in the life of Abraham did not come without a measure of obedience and faith displayed in Abraham’s life…
The word of God tell us that “obedience is better than sacrifice” and I proclaim that statement from the bible to say that God has plans for you; however, He needs you to acknowledge Him and obey the commands that He has and will lay before you… See we read scriptures like these and then we assume that we can just pray to God about what we want and He will “supply all our needs (a portion of scripture that we all love to speak)…” Let us take time today to not only read the promises of God, but also learn to understand what it is that we must do in order to see these promises fulfilled in our lives… Abraham was told of these promises; however he had to take on several challenges in his life in order to see them come to pass… The first step in Abraham’s life was to accept the will of God… If we do not accept the will and plan that God has for us, we can never see His blessings bestowed in our lives… By accepting the will of God, we turn from our own desires and allow Him to direct us… This key point is how Abraham was able to leave the home he had known his whole life and travel into the territory of the enemy… There are many of us that profess our faith in God, but we don’t show it when he calls us to move… I know from my own personal experience that I have caused more chastisement upon my life than was needed because I choose to honor God with my lips but not my heart… You may be in a comfortable place, you may be in the midst of a storm or you may want to stay where you are because you don’t know where your next step will lead you…
Whatever the case may be, wherever you are right now, if you want to see God’s promises fulfilled, if you want to be victorious, than you must adhere to His call and do what He desires for you to do… Abraham was called to leave all that he had known, there might be people in your life that you must leave behind, relationships that you must end or even a job that you must say farewell too… The only thing that Abraham knew when he traveled to the land of Canaan was that God told him to go there… Stop trying to put all the pieces to the puzzle together before you step out on faith, stop trying to add things up in your finite mind before you are willing to trust the Lord, the fact that He has called you and made his vision for your life known to you should be enough for you to move according to His will and way… Notice in these two verses not only all the promises that God makes, but what the last part of the 18th verse says… After the promises are recorded these verses conclude by saying, “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice…” Nations would be blessed because Abraham has obeyed God’s voice… There are people in your life that will be blessed by your willful obedience to the word of God… If you want to see your child come home, stay in the word of God, if you want to see your family restored, stay in the will of God, if you want to overcome the trials and temptations that you face in your life, stay in the will of God knowing, trusting and believing that His word is true… Stand tall in the midst of your opposition, because you know that through this passage God is with you and he will never leave you nor forsake you! Accept the trials you face, because your reward will be that must sweeter…
ALL FOR HIS GLORY!
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