THE ABRAHAMIC LIFESTYLE 6

THE NATURE OF MAN 

And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people, he hath broken my covenant – Gen 17:14

God made a covenant with Abraham concerning the future of his seed. The sign of this covenant was circumcision. Every male seed who wants to partake of the covenant must be circumcised. Failure to do it means such a person would be cut off from God’s people.

Circumcision is the putting off of the body of flesh (Col 2:11). It is necessary for every person who wants to be a partaker of the Abrahamic covenant to be circumcised. We are not by any means talking of physical circumcision. It is our hearts that need to be circumcised.

 The nature we inherited from Adam after his fall (simply called the flesh) is sinful and opposes everything that is God’s. It is proud, arrogant and boastful. Just as an archer with a defective eyesight will always end up with incorrect shots, all our (sinful) incorrect actions are as a result of this defective sinful nature. It is the reason why we rely so much on our strength, eloquence, intelligence, beauty, etc. It is the reason why we find it difficult to please God (Rom 8:8)

A God’s chosen people, we are to be people with no confidence in the flesh. Apostle Paul enjoins us not to have any confidence in flesh (Phil 3:3) because without God, we can do nothing (Jn 15:5). We need God to deal with this nature of flesh in us. It does not need to be repaired because it is too corrupted. In similitude to Abraham’s obedience, we too must cut off the body of flesh. This is not something we can achieve on our own. We need the Lord’s help and only He can make it happen, if His covenant must be established in our lives.

This is high time we conducted an examination of ourselves. We need to identify those things that are still opposing God in us. We need to identify those things that are still making total obedience to the Lord a difficulty. They must be nailed to the cross and we must ask the Lord to help perfect every imperfection in our lives.

When we sincerely pray this prayer every time we feel the flesh is about to come alive in us, the Merciful Lord will hear those prayers and bestow upon us the grace we need to overcome.

THE ABRAHAMIC LIFESTYLE 5

Standing in the Gap

And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also

destroy the righteous with the wicked? – Gen 18:23

Abraham was resting by his tent door in the heat of the day when he saw three men standing before him. Quickly he rushed out to meet them and then invited them to dine with him. As the men rose up after eating, the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” (Gen 18:17). This was how it was revealed to Abraham that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were booked for destruction.

Ordinarily, we would have expected him to rejoice on hearing this. He had every reason to be happy because God was about to deal with his enemies and that meant more land for him to acquire. Rather we saw him interceding for those people. He pleaded for them to be spared from the impending judgment.

Like Abraham, we need to cultivate the habit of interceding for people. Hear this shocking truth: God looked round and saw there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor…. (Is 59:16). God expects you and I to become intercessors and we must not fail Him in this responsibility.

The Enemy does not want us to pray. He is working round the clock to hinder us from praying for God’s intervention in our national and international affairs. Our generation is that which requires extraordinary praying. We may ask why. The reason is because the enemy knows his time is short and the powers of darkness are greater today than before.

Brethren, we need to rise up to the task at hand. The souls of men must be freed from the Enemy’s grip and the powers of darkness must be utterly shattered. John Knox cried “Give me Scotland or I die”. Somebody later recorded that the whole nation of Scotland was converted by a lump. John got the answer to his prayers and we also can when we pray for our nation.

May the Lord use us mightily as vessels that will rescue the souls of men from the road to hell as we continually stand in the gap for our people.

THE ABRAHMIC LIFESTYLE 4

The Gift or the Giver

After these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward – Gen 15:1

The life of Abraham is that which portrayed a life of absolute dependence upon God. When God declared Himself as Abraham’s shield and reward, we would have expected him to jump up and profusely thank God for such an awesome offer. Instead, Abraham did a contrary thing. His response indicated that something else was more important to Him: the issue of an heir (Gen 15:2).

If we were given the opportunity to judge Abraham’s reaction, many of us would have said “How can an heir be more important to him than God?”. Though Abraham spoke his mind and was very human in this regard, God did not rebuke him. Rather He (God) reaffirmed his promise to him that he would indeed have an heir from his own loins (Gen 5:2 – 5).

When God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only son (Gen 22), we were able to know who was more important to Abraham: the gift or the giver.  The birth of Isaac was very important. The fullness of the promise settled upon him. To sacrifice him was to sacrifice the covenant word of God. Heb 11: 17 – 19 paints a picture of the agony that Abraham felt at the costliness of this demand. The man proved his loyalty to God. He chose the Giver in place of the gift.

Today, Isaac can stand for many things in our lives. He represents many gifts of God’s grace. Before God gives, our hands are empty. Afterward, they become full and when God reaches out His hand to take ours in fellowship, we no longer have empty hands to put into His. Because we have received His gifts and are nursing them, our hands are full. We begin to dwell on the gifts at the neglect of the Giver.

Many have earnestly sought the face of God for jobs, marriages, career, etc but when these blessings come, they become hindrances to worshipping and fellowshipping with God. It’s a common thing to hear brothers and sisters giving jobs as excuse for being far away from church activities.

Are you guilty of this? Repent today! Remember that it was after Abraham’s obedience to the sacrifice of his son that God swore by himself to bless him. Nothing in our life should be more important than God. May the Lord grant us the grace to make Him our utmost priority everyday of our lives.

THE ABRAHAMIC LIFESTYLE 3

The Man Who Attempted To Help God

And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren – Gen 16:17

At the age of eighty five years after which Abraham had dwelt in the land (Canaan) for ten years, he felt it was time his son arrived. In his desperation, he heeded Sarah’s advice and went in unto Hagar who bore him a son, Ishmael. Abraham believed it was time to help God.

This man ought to have known that the issue of a son was a deep one. He failed to understand that what was important was from whom the son came, and who gave him. God does not only want the right things done, He wants us to be the vessel of the right things that He is doing.

All Abraham got for his effort was Ishmael. Of him the Scriptures says “…he will be a wild man”. As a result, the world is still suffering from this wrong advice Abraham accepted. You and I know the destruction upon destruction that the descendants of Ishmael are still unleashing upon humanity till date. Perhaps you don't even know who his descendants are.

Are we found in the same situation like Abraham? What wrong advice is the Enemy offering you today? Anything done or received outside God amounts to helping God. And God cannot be helped by mere dust: man (Ps 103:14). The devices of the Enemy are many but we must not be ignorant of them. We need to guard ourselves against sinful suggestions. We must never allow ourselves to be cajoled into doing anything that does not originate from God; no matter how beautiful it may seem. 

Are you experiencing marital delay and friends are beginning to suggest a spouse to you? Or are you still jobless after so many years of searching and friends are pointing you to a “cloudy” money spinning business? Watch out! That spouse or business could be another Ishmael in making. “Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal 6:7).

May the Lord grant us the grace to wait upon Him for everything.

THE ABRAHAMIC LIFESTYLE 2

The Passenger in The Covenant

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee – Gen 12:1

When Abraham left for the land of Canaan in obedience to the commandment of God, he took a passenger along with him: Lot. In Canaan, both of them began to prosper, and soon the land was not big enough to accommodate their combined possessions. Not long, the servants started engaging in fights (Gen 13:7).

Abraham had never fully obeyed God in leaving his kindred. And because he held on to Lot, God started disciplining him. He later realized that the promise was meant for him alone and did not include Lot. Upon this realization, he showed his nephew the whole land and offered him his choice. He never tried to keep the land to himself by selfish methods. He never held on to the land for personal reasons. The land was God’s, not his.

The important lesson here is for us to trust God, and convince ourselves that He would keep for us what He gives. And we must never seek to possess it by worldly means. Living in the world is not an excuse to be worldly in our deeds. We must come to the point in our lives where we leave everything into God’s hand.

Lot’s decision to choose the richest portion ought to have annoyed Abraham. It is enough for him to resent Lot forever, but he let him have it without any grudge. He let Lot have the portion he chose unconditionally. When he later learnt that Lot has been taken captive by Cherdorlaomer , at the risk of his own life he rushed out to rescue him the very moment he heard the news (Gen 14:14).

Those who know God do not need to protect their rights. Because we believe and trust in Him, we need to bear the cross daily and rely upon Him for the outcome. At this juncture, because of Abraham’s obedience and self-restraint, God spoke to him (Gen 13:14 – 17).

As you learn to surrender all and depend upon God for sustenance and provision, He will speak to that challenge of yours.

THE ABRAHAMIC LIFESTYLE 1

The Man and the Land

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened: that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saint - Eph 1: 18

God promised Abraham that he would inherit the land of Canaan. Abraham on his part did not fully understand the importance of this promise. He had not fully come to terms with keeping and dwelling in Canaan. The land was supposed to be his everlasting possession but Abraham had not fully come to value it.

As a result, when condition became unfavourable, he abandoned this land of promise to seek refuge in a foreign land (Gen 12:10). He thought that if he remained in that land, he would eventually die of hunger. This was a man whom God had promised that his descendants would be innumerable as the dust of the earth (Gen 13:16). He ought to have known that until the promise of an heir was fulfilled, nothing touch his life.

In Egypt, he learned that there was no land like Canaan. In Canaan, he had no need to avoid danger but in Egypt he lied so as to protect his life. For this, he was condemned by a man of the world. Abraham, a believer and friend of God was rebuffed by Pharaoh, a pagan monarch. As quickly as possible he returned back to Canaan, the land of promise.

Many times we often fail to value the promises of God. In trying to help God in quickly achieving His purpose in our lives, we adopt the ways of the world to side-step His timing. Believers have falsified their ages to secure jobs and altered documents to escape punishment. When caught, they found themselves at the mercy of unbelievers. When Apostle Paul noticed how the Ephesian believers were negligent of the grace of God upon their lives, he prayed for God to open their eyes (Eph 1:18).

Abraham learnt a valuable lesson that the land was precious. Are you caught in a similar situation today? Are you toying with the grace of God upon your life? Return back to God. Ask Him to forgive and renew His spirit within you.

THE STABILITY OF THE HUMAN SOCIETY

“As he came forth of his mother’s womb naked shall he return

to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which

he may carry away in his hand”  - Ecc 5:15

THEN……….

Japan, a member of the G8, is considered to be a major economic power among the countries of the world. By nominal GDP, it is the third largest economy. It is the world’s fourth largest exporter and importer and Japanese products are regarded as the hallmark of quality. The country maintains an extensive modern military force in self-defense and peacekeeping roles.

  

After Singapore, Japan has the lowest homicide (including attempted homicide) rate in the world. According to UN and WHO estimates, it has the largest life expectancy of any country in the world. According to UN, it has the lowest mortality rate. Suffice it to say that Japan is a definition of a strong and stable human society.

NOW………

Japan is a state of nuclear emergency after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the country along its eastern coast. An emergency was declared after a number of nuclear reactors shut down. Consequently, the high radiation levels recorded in foods and agricultural produce make them unfit for human consumption.

Japan faces the threat of health hazard and needs support from you and I to survive. The Prime Minister said, “This is the most severe crisis since World War II”. 

The stability of the Japanese economy was shattered by an earthquake. Despite the country’s advanced technological know-how, the disaster could not be averted.

Brethren, this is something we need to ponder upon. Remember the story of Job and how he lost everything in a day. Career, marriage, family commitments, education and a host of others have made people to neglect the primary in life: our relationship with God. We are so engrossed with earthly things that we forget heaven as our ultimate goal. Everything in this world that matters so much to us is temporal and would be left behind one day.

The Scripture says “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep his commandment: for this is the whole duty of man” Ecc 12:13. This is the primary reason why we are here. This is what we need to continually focus upon. May the Lord grant us the grace.

PS: remember Japan in your prayers. To see aerial pictures of the extent of the damage, log on to: http:/abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm