Tag Archives: Abraham and Sarah

How to Receive an Answer from God (Part III) – Letting God Answer in His Own Power

26 Thursday Jul 2012

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Have you ever tried to help God out while waiting for the answers to your prayers? I’ve been there … got a few t-shirts and learned some hard lessons.

The classic Biblical example of a couple trying to help God is Abraham and Sarah. God promised a great nation would come from their loins. Years passed without a son being born. When it appeared God needed their assistance, they took matters into their own hands and had a son (Ishmael) through their servant Hagar. This was not God’s plan, or His promise.

I also think of young couples who get married too soon and live to regret it. Our quick/help solutions are almost always the wrong solutions. We need to wait for God’s solutions, even if they require a miracle, as it did for Abraham and Sarah!
Why does God wait until the last possible moment, when the answer requires a miracle? Why do our circumstances often get worse before He answers?

It is because we tend not to give the Lord credit for answering our prayers until all of our capabilities have been exhausted. When God answers our prayers after all avenues have been exhausted, things can only be explained by God acting on our behalf. Everyone, believers and non-believers alike, realize it was God who moved and answered by His power. The glory is all His and His alone. Sometimes the glory comes from the answer and sometimes it comes from how it was answered. Ultimately, people will say, “The Lord did it.”
We see this clearly when Jesus raised His friend Lazarus from the dead. Jesus wanted an occasion to reveal His power to everyone. Jesus knew He could count on Mary and Martha because they would not deny Him, even though their “personal prayers” appeared to be going unanswered. Jesus delayed and let Lazarus die to show everyone He had the power over the grave! But those four to five days before Jesus arrived were rough on the sisters. All this reveals that the closer we are to the Lord, the more our faith gets tested. If you consider yourself to be a friend of God, then rest assured… you will be tried.

If your prayer has not been answered, don’t give up or act too soon to solve it yourself. Instead, trust God and wait on Him! God wants to reveal His power through your situation…. to you and to someone close to you who needs to know that your God is for real!
A little old lady came out every morning on the steps of her front porch, raised her arms to the sky and shouted, “Praise the Lord!” One day an atheist moved into the house next door. Over time, he became irritated with the little old lady. So every morning he would step out onto his front porch and yell after her, “There is no Lord!”
Time passed with the two of them carrying on this way every day.

Then one morning in the middle of winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted, “Praise the Lord! Lord, I have no food and I am starving. Please provide for me, oh Lord!” The next morning, she stepped onto her porch and there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there.

“Praise the Lord!” she cried out. “He has provided groceries for me!” The atheist jumped out of the hedges and shouted, “There is no Lord. I bought those groceries!”
The old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted, “Praise the Lord! He has provided me with groceries and He made the devil pay for them!”

 

Blessings,

Pastor

 

Mission Accomplished – Promise Fulfilled!

04 Friday May 2012

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Abraham and Sarah made it!  They were finally going to see the fulfillment of God’s word. Their journey started over eight chapters ago and spanned almost 25 years.  Abraham wasn’t perfect. He just kept on believing regardless of circumstances, hardships, detours, and delays. This was what spoke to me most about Abraham’s life of faith. Ultimately, he kept believing the Lord despite everything he faced.  Chapter 21 records the Lord’s promise being fulfilled.

 

Then the Lord took note of Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he has promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. (Genesis 21:1-2)

 

The verb “paw-kad” means to take note of, visit, or be gracious. Here it was used to denote the idea of divine intervention for the purpose of good. God intervened in the life of Sarah for the purpose of blessing her with a son. This same verb (paw-kad) was used to describe God’s intervention in Joseph’s life, as well as Hannah’s, when she delivered Samuel.   It was also used when God led Ruth and Naomi back to Israel.

When God answers our prayers it is more than just a miracle, it is a divine visitation.  No one may truly understand it all, but you will.  Why?  You are the one who prayed and prayed for years, months, or weeks.  You are the one who carried the word in your heart.  You are the one who was tested until the word came true in your life.

Our goal is hold on to God’s word until His “divine intervention” manifests in us. One of my favorite biblical phrases is “it came to pass.”  Praise God it didn’t come to stay, it came to pass!

Questions –

  • Why did God visit Sarah?  
  • Did God simply feel sorry for them?   
  • Did they finally pray enough times?   
  • Did they finally say their prayers in the correct order so as to unlock the answer?   
  • Did they finally get enough people agreeing with them?   
  • Was it on Abraham’s 100th birthday, so his wish came true as he blew out the candles?

NO – God said He would do it; therefore He did. The repetition of the written word of God reminds us of the total reliability of the promises of God. If God said He will do something, then you can be assured that He will. God’s promises are absolute.

Most of our gnawing struggles can be overcome by simply trusting in the word of God and the promises of God. We move to a higher altitude when we put our confidence in God’s word.

During World War I, an American Airmen took off from an airfield located in Kobar, Arabia. Little did the pilot know that while the plane was on the ground a large rat had crawled inside the cockpit.  While in the air the pilot became aware of the rat’s presence when he heard some gnawing behind him. He immediately realized that the sound he was hearing was the sound of a rat. Alarmed at what could turn into a disastrous situation, the pilot remembered that rats could not live in high altitudes. So the pilot did the smart thing and pointed his airplane up and climbed to altitudes where breathing was difficult. After some time at the high altitude, the gnawing stopped. When he landed on the ground he found the rat had died.  The gnawing rat represents the many gnawing struggles we face daily in our walk with God. Many, if not all, of the gnawing struggles that we face on a daily basis can be dealt with much like the pilot dealt with the gnawing rat. It can be dealt with by climbing to greater altitudes where God’s word causes us to soar and earthly issues die for lack of air.

Every believer has some seed of promise God has planted in them.  The Father is a faithful sower.  Are the promises of God being matured in you?  Are you in the beginning, middle, or near the end of your process?  Stay in your process.  A divine visitation may be just around the corner.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

 

When God’s Ability Is Finally Bonded With Faith’s Availabilty…

02 Wednesday May 2012

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When God’s ability is finally bonded with faith’s availabilty, it creates a spiritual tipping point. This passage doesn’t read like a spiritual tipping point, but it is, for both Abraham and Sarah.

 

 Then they said to him, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’ And he said, ‘Behold, in the tent.’ And he said, ‘I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’ And the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh saying, “Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?” Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.’ Sarah denied it however, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. And He said, ‘No, but you did laugh’ (Genesis 18:9-15)

 

It was customary in those days, as in some cultures today, for the women to neither be seen nor heard while male guests were entertained. Sarah thus prepared the bread out of the sight of the men (cf. verse 6), and she remained inside the tent as they ate. While she carefully kept out of sight, her curiosity got the best of her. She may have peeped through the folds of the tent or had her ear to the door, anxious to hear the conversation outside. I doubt that any of us could have avoided such a temptation either.

It was in this context the Lord assured Abraham that Sarah would have a son next year. It appeared Abraham either failed to mention what he heard from God previously in Genesis 17 about a son, or he failed to convince Sarah of its certainty. Whatever the case, the words of God were intended more for Sarah’s benefit than Abraham’s. It was vital that she, too, have faith in God’s promise.

Initially, Sarah’s response differed little from her husband’s response.  He laughed too when God spoke to him the last time about a son.  Now, Sarah was laughing as well. What was their laughter all about?  Maybe it was a combination of surprise, shock, sheer joy, and unbelief.  How could such a thing be?  One wonders if Sarah’s laughter was not heard outside the tent.

Notice the rebuke is directed, at first, toward Abraham, not Sarah. “And the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh? ’” (Genesis 18:13). In essence, God is saying, “Hey husband, why is your wife laughing at such a wonderful promise?  What have you been telling her?”

  • Had Abraham deliberately kept God’s promise from her?
  • Was his faith so weak that he could not convince his wife?

Somehow he had to give account to God for his wife’s response. I find it most interesting that Sarah’s response mirrored Abraham’s. He had provided the example for her. I personally have met people like this who could barely believe for themselves, much less pull along a “weak believing person”.  In other words, their faith was so weak they were more easily pushed down than pulled up!

The words of our Lord speak as loudly to us today as they did to Abraham. “Is anything too difficult for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14a).

Here was the bedrock issue. The only reason for such unbelief was a failure to comprehend God’s ability to work in and through us. This means there was a break down in our comprehension of what God can do through men.  For most, the question has never been, “what can God do?”  Everyone believes and knows God can do anything.  We must personalize that question.  “At my current faith level, what can God do through me?  Do I personally believe God will powerfully move through me to others?”

This was the heart of the matter.  Abraham and Sarah fully believed in their heart they were past the point of producing a miracle baby.

This is a sticking point for many who seek to believe the Lord for a promise.  Most believe in God, but many believers have little or no faith in themselves.  Fifty years earlier Abraham and Sarah could have easily believed for a child.  Why?   They were in the possible category.  Now, while God was still in the possible category, they had grown into the impossible zone for God to do anything.

God was confronting them for thinking they were beyond living in the miracle zone.  Understand, if the matter of having a son was not impossible, the glory for such a miracle would have not have been given to God.  The birth would have simply been a product of love.

Now – The delay of Isaac’s birth was intended both to necessitate and to nurture the faith of Abraham and Sarah.  God was not trying to torture and frustrate Abraham and Sarah. If God delays a miracle in any way, it only means He wants to develop our spiritual walk. God was not only providing a son, he was creating a “Father of many nations.”  Creating a son was easy.  Developing a Father of Nations was the difficult part.

Had Abraham and Sarah come to terms with their unbelief and sarcasm they would have grown more quickly in their relationship and faith towards God. It is high time we start getting honest with ourselves and honest with God.  We spend so much time “acting spiritual”,  we actually begin to believe we are someone spiritually deep.

Sarah lied to God when she said she didn’t laugh.  I think she actually believed she didn’t laugh. Sarah did not deny her thoughts, only her actions.  Sarah didn’t care what went on inside her mind and spirit.  She only cared that others perceived her as having her spiritual act together. How do we know?  She only tried to hide the fleshly error, not the heart issue.  No one knew how sarcastic she had grown towards the promises of God.

Does anyone know what is really going on in you today?  You could be floundering around “big time” spiritually.  Your outward actions do not expose the truth. We all must learn to believe the Spirit’s assessment of our lives…not the fleshly hogwash we tell ourselves and others.

I believe God wants to accomplish some big things in our lives.  These things can only be accomplished by the Lord working through people of faith so that He might receive all the glory.  Have you arrived at the place where your faith is fully available for Him to use?

Blessings,

Pastor

Recovering From a Spiritual Dry Spell

26 Thursday Apr 2012

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One of the reasons I identify with Abraham and Sarah is because their spiritual walk was not perfect.  They both made plenty of mistakes, but didn’t stay in that condition.  Eventually, they got things back on track with the Lord. Maybe, like Abraham, you have blown it spiritually.  You need a fresh encounter with God and a renewed vision.

Spiritually speaking, it is never too late to make a fresh start because we are never beyond God’s reach.  In Genesis 17, God challenges Abraham to move to a new level of trust and faith.  This was a time when Abraham probably thought his best years were behind him. Yet, God asked him to step up and believe. It is amazing to consider that when we think it is all over, God is thinking about new beginnings.

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. 2 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying…  (Genesis 17:1-3)

Abraham was now ninety-nine years old. Twenty-four years had passed since God’s initial call and he had left Ur. It had also been thirteen years since the events recorded in Genesis 16. So far as we can tell, God had not spoken since He and Hagar got together. Thirteen years of silence!   If we would be honest with ourselves, we too have experienced long periods of “dry spells” in which God’s revelations and appearances were few and far between. It didn’t really have to be this way. But because we held on to our sin and kept walking in disobedience, even after being confronted with the truth, God remained silent.

I remember on one occasion when I was upset with the Lord over His dealings with me.  I was sulking and throwing a spiritual pity party.  After a few days of this, I soon realized that no one was attending my pity party but me.  A few days later I was praying and heard these words from the Lord,  “I am not going to come and get you this time.”  In other words the Lord was telling me, “He wasn’t going to attend my selfish pity party either.”  I decided it would be better to repent and return to the Lord, rather than continue in my self-absorbed vanity.  I still didn’t understand the Lord’s dealings in my life. But at least I was on track again.  It was only months later that I understood what God was doing.  Sometimes it is better to repent first and ask questions later.

Here is the point: When we insist on “doing it our own way”, we will eventually eat the fruit of those seeds. Thirteen years earlier Abraham had taken a wrong turn (he and Sarah birthed an Ishmael). For thirteen years there had been only silence from heaven.  These were years of unhappiness and unrest in the household of Abraham. Yes, the old couple had a child… but it wasn’t the “child of promise.”  By their own hands, they produced unwanted/ungodly interference to God’s plan. It wouldn’t have been so difficult had not the promise of God still been lingering in the air.   The presence of Ishmael in the home created contempt, bitterness, envy, and strife.  Yes,  they had problems before this, but they were always ultimately victorious.  I don’t believe these were necessarily lost years.  God used these thirteen years to teach Abraham the cost of acting presumptuously on his own.

One of the most frightening things in life is when you insist on having things your own way. God may let you have your way for a season. You may be sorry you asked for it.  But ultimately for those who are hot hearted for God, the hunger for the promises of God draw you back.

Blessings,

Pastor

God Doesn’t Need Our Help to Get Things Accomplished

19 Thursday Apr 2012

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Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.  Genesis 16:1-2

 

Notice who Sarah blamed for her inability to have children. She blamed God.  Now the Lord had told these two on numerous occasions they were going to have a child of promise. Since the Lord’s word had yet to come to pass… it was totally God’s fault. In Sarah’s mind God was working behind the scenes preventing her from having children.  The truth was God was working on the character of Abraham and Sarah so that they might value and cherish the child He provided. It is one thing to receive a promise from God.  It is another thing to keep or maintain a promise from God once it is provided.

Sarah wrongly concluded that she needed to help God. Her thought processes probably flowed along these lines… “God has had ten years to give us a child.  God needs a hand to get it done.  Maybe God has been waiting on me!  Hagar is fit and can bear children.  I will give her to Abraham and maybe the Lord will bless this alternate plan. Others have produced heirs in this fashion, maybe it will work for us.”

The problem was Abraham believed the voice of Sarah over the words God had already spoken to Him. He traded “God’s Idea” for a “good idea“.

Many believers have fallen prey to this type of thinking.  Sarah wasn’t the first and our generation will not be the last.  I have heard some say, “If I don’t give my money this church, it will not make it.” Even pastors have wrongly concluded, “This church would be nothing without me.”

The truth is God does not need our money, our presence, or our help to continue His work. If the Lord’s work is dependent upon us, then it is probably not the Lord’s work.  He simply invites us to join Him and work alongside in faith where He is already moving.  If His will is dependent upon us moving in the flesh to accomplish His tasks, then we are the ones who will get the glory.  When we truly follow the Lord’s plan and will, He receives all the glory.

Who are you working for today?

 

Blessings,

Pastor

 

Abrabam and the Consequences of Compromise

03 Tuesday Apr 2012

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In a time of famine Abraham chose to go down to Egypt. He suggested his wife Sarah act like his sister so that he would not be harmed by Pharoah. Abraham’s vagabond days of being sustained by the mercies of God ended abruptly as he turned to Egypt as a source.  He had a full belly but a bankrupt heart!

Remember this was the same man who walked away from his home and family and vowed never to return.  This same man faced new enemies everyday in Canaan and never flinched or backed down.  In those days he walked in obedience to the known will of God. But now that Abraham had succumbed to fear and entered Egypt, he was out of God’s will.  He no longer walked in obedience and anointing.

When we walk away from the known will of God we forfeit God’s protective hedge of protection. Abraham walked out of Canaan, his fellowship with God, away from the tent and the altar.

The outcome of Abraham’s disobedience was that Sarah was put into a situation of real danger. The king claimed her for his harem, and the lie Abraham told opened that door. Abraham was trying to protect himself, but in protecting himself he exposed Sarah to indecency and danger.

Not only was Sarah endangered, but so was Lot. Abraham’s nephew went down to Egypt with him. Later on when the allurements and enticements of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah cast their spell over Lot, we are told that he saw Sodom as though it were the land of Egypt. (See Genesis 13:10) This lust for comfort and worldly glory was enhanced during this stay in Egypt. Abraham and Sarah quickly got over Egypt but Lot and his family never recovered from the worldly attachments they discovered in Egypt.

Egypt ultimately made Abraham very rich. You say, “What’s wrong with riches?  They are not bad, but a blessing?” Yes they can be a blessing unless they come prematurely from a wrong source before we are ready to handle them. Jesus taught us the difference between “owning things” and “things owning us”. (See Mark 4:19).  Jesus taught it was the “delighting in riches” that choked the Word in a person.

In Egypt Abraham was given sheep, oxen, menservants, maidservants, donkeys, and camels. This was the wealth of the oriental world. But when he came back into the Promised Land, the first thing we heard was the strife between Abraham’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen over the riches they received in Egypt.  Abraham could deal with the riches, Lot could not. In addition, Abraham willing offered up the Promised Land to Lot. It was promised to him, not Lot. Wow!

Furthermore, we are told Abraham and Sarah were given maidservants, one of whom was named Hagar. Through Hagar Abraham later conceived Ishmael. Ishmael is recognized by Muslims as the ancestor of several prominent Arab tribes and being the forefather of Muhammad. The price of living in Egypt was extremely high and is still being paid today.

Abraham was called to be a blessing, but when he got into Egypt, he became a curse instead!

“The Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”

A Christian out of fellowship with Christ is of no help to the lost people around him. Instead, he is actually a hindrance. His life of hypocrisy and weakness is a stumbling block and a plague upon the hearts of those who are watching him.

I end with this dramatic scene. Here was God’s man Abraham standing before a pagan king who had better morals than he. Listen as Abraham was publicly rebuked for his folly.

 

Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.”  (Genesis 12:18-19)

 

There is nothing more degrading for a Christian than to neglect God’s warning and afterward get rebuked by the world. God would always rather correct His children in private first.  It is never God’s heart to make a public display of our disobedience.  He loves His children too much to desire this type of display.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

Abraham and His Wifster!

02 Monday Apr 2012

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I’ll bet you didn’t know Abraham had a wifster.  He did.  It was only when Abraham decided to go Egypt because of famine that we discovered the wifster.

 

It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.”  Genesis 12:11-13

 

Abraham was a man of faith. But now that a famine has occurred, he has gone off the reservation.  He concocted this plan to save his own skin.  Sarah was actually Abraham’s half-sister. The only problem was she was his whole wife.

You may have all heard of the southern parents who had a son that was serving time in the penitentiary.  But his mother told all her friends and relatives he was off serving time in the war. Well he was sort of serving time for his country.

Abraham Lincoln said “You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” But the greater truth is you can’t fool God any of the time. No matter how you view it, participating in deception violates the conscience and further impairs our relationship with God.

So Abraham produced a half-truth called a wifster.  But a half-truth is also a half-lie; and a lie in any proportion is intended to deceive. The nearer a lie is to the truth, the more perfectly deceitful it is.  This is Satan’s modus operandi.

Abraham’s intent was clearly to deceive. Doubtless he justified it on the grounds it was needed to protect his beautiful wife. Perhaps this was the most startling thing about this story. Sarah was sixty-five years old at the time, yet so remarkable was her beauty that Abraham was afraid he might lose her. This was exactly what happened. When the Egyptians saw her, they immediately took tales of her beauty to Pharaoh.

Why is lying so bad in God’s eyes?  Lying is the very opposite of speaking and living God’s truth.  To lie is to cower at current circumstances and abandon the promise of God’s deliverance. Lying lips cause us to live below God’s standards and to trust the flesh. This is especially true when you ask someone else to lie for you. There is no honor in lying.  Abraham’s solution was to sacrifice Sarah’s honor and save himself. “That it may be well with me for your sake, and that I (My soul shall) live because of you.” (13b) Abraham was basically saying, “Sarah save me!”  He was not crying out to God but scheming with Sarah. Abraham was not seeking the Lord’s guidance nor relying on His protection.

Remember it was fear that caused Abraham to leave God’s land of promise. Now, it was fear again that caused Abraham to concoct a plan of lies and deception.  Often, when we get out of God’s plan, we get ourselves into worse situations that take us further down the very road we were trying to avoid.  There is an old saying that states,

 

Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

 

I am sure Abraham didn’t immediately wake up one day and say, “I am going to sacrifice my wife’s honor to save my own life.”  No, the more he thought about his own life, the more he became afraid.  The more fear he allowed into his heart, the more schemes like deception and lying came to his mind.

To say this little white lie didn’t have consequences and conclude God didn’t care is the wrong conclusion. God did protect Abraham but a generational curse was placed upon his family and it manifested in the next four generations.

 

Blessings,

Pastor