#fatherabraham | itsawonderfilledlife

Posts Tagged ‘#fatherabraham’

Footprints of Faith

Posted in GOD, WONDER, tagged #byfaith, #faithinaction, #fatherabraham, #footprintsoffaith on January 29, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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Whatever we put our faith in, we must put it into practise to prove it is real.

I have faith in my vehicle, therefore I drive it to the places I need to go.

I have faith in my bank, therefore I keep my money in my bank account (ok, so there really isn’t much in there).

I have faith in the bridge on the road, therefore I drive on it with confidence.

I have faith in God, therefore I …

Faith is to have confidence, to have belief in, to trust.

Hebrews 11 gives us the academy award winners of those who lived by faith in such a way that God himself took note.

By faith Abel …

By faith Enoch …

By faith Noah …

By faith Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab …

My most favourite of the faithful is Abraham. The man who not only believed, but gave feet to his faith. This is particularly the case when God led Abraham to make a blood offering, and the only sacrifice that God seemed to provide was his son, Isaac. In this story Abraham had to take one step in front of the next, each step an action, each step an act of faith.

I can only imagine Abraham whispering under his breath, with each step,

“God will provide a lamb” over and over again. Yet, he kept stepping forward.

James 2, in the Message, reminds us of Abe’s faithful action:

“You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.”

May we give our faith feet this day.

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The Hardest Part of Love is …

Posted in GOD, WONDER, tagged #fatherabraham, #genesis17, #godspromises, #the hardestpartoflove on September 13, 2016| 1 Comment »

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I remember dreaming and anticipating those rare middle school dances …

Girls on one side of the room, guys on the other.

MUCH too much make-up.

Not enough deodorant worn by many.

Too much cologne worn by many more.

Couples dancing with barely any part of their bodies touching, or so close there was no room for the Holy Spirit, let alone Jesus (a little Christian dating humour … not humour that my kids would find funny, but humour that is funny in my imagination).

And I remember the song, by Straight Lines, (the hardest part of love is) “Letting Go”.

Recently, I was reminded of it when at a Christian Conference Centre, listening to Charles Price speak on the story of Abraham and Isaac. This is my personal favourite story from the Bible, and one that I have written about in a 3-part blog series:
https://itsawonderfilledlife.net/2015/03/24/gods-test-abraham-father-of-isaac/

Years before Abraham took his son on a hike up the mountain to make a sacrifice that Abraham didn’t want to make, God had made a promise to Abraham that he would one day be the father of many nations (Genesis 17).

Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice the son who was the premier star in his sky? And why would Abraham actually follow through with God’s instructions?

God had promised that Abraham would be the father of multitudes, but Abraham had to let go of his human understanding of how that would happen, in order to trust that God would keep his promise, and that Isaac would not simply be a falling star.

Remember, Abraham had learned this lesson, the hard way. When God had taken his good ‘ol time in fulfilling his promise, Sarah and Abe took matters into their own hands and utilized Haggar to begin Abraham’s nation. This had not turned out so well, for anyone involved. And this is often what happens when we attempt to fulfill a God-sized promise with human-sized perspective.

When we believe that God has made a promise to us, we begin to dream of how that promise might be fulfilled. But, we need to let go of our dream, releasing it back to the one who has hung the stars in the sky. For it is through him that our dreams are born, and it is through him that our dreams come true.

The hardest part of love is letting go … but what we get back, in return, could fill the night sky with the brightest lights.

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