Hebrews 11:17 It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,18 even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.
How far does your faith take you? If you received Jesus by faith, your faith will take you into glory for eternity and I praise God for His faithfulness. Even Abraham's reasoning was from a faith foundation. That foundation was built on God's faithfulness and in the above scripture, the writer of Hebrews explains the reasoning of Abraham when he writes ”19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. We can rely on God's promises and the possibilities of God and our reasoning should always fall in line with that belief. In a world where they are trying to explain away God, we should always come down on the side that God is faithful and will not disappoint. When everything is going great and God's favor seems to be on us it is easy to believe in God's promises. But when it is all "out there" and nothing is happening our might waver some. Use the example of "all out" by Abrahan to stimulate your faith to a new level. You don't have to be willing to sacrifice a child to show your faith in God because a child was already sacrificed once and for all, and that was Jesus. Born to be sacrificed once and for all the sins of everyone who would come to Him by faith. There's that faith thing again. It is all about faith.
Another important part of the above verses is the word "offered." Abraham was willing to give Isaac as an offering to God when God was testing him to see the depth of his faith. Abraham had already seen God's promises fulfilled in his son Isaac, but his relationship with God was his main priority and he showed God that He was number 1 in everything. Where is God in the "pecking order" of your wants and desires? He should be number 1 with everything else a very distant second place. Don't just add God to the "mix" of your life because He has to hold first place in everything and all else will fall into place from there.
When God says "follow me" like Jesus said to a group of fishermen, then follow Him and don't look back. You saw what happened to Lot's wife when she looked back when God told them not to when fleeing Sodom Genesis 19:24 Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.25 He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation.26 But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt. Remember, we live in a very fallen world and the things we leave behind when we receive Jesus by faith are those temporal things that limit our faith and always try to draw us back to the world. We now live in the righteousness of God and EVERYTHING is changed. No longer does the ways of the world control us, but we walk clear of the influence of this world and follow the ways of God and the Holy Spirit consecrates that walk in the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said this in Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your way, take up your cross, and follow me. The faith of a born-again believer generates a heart that wants to follow God no matter what and that kind of faith involves looking to God's word for our direction. His sacrifice prompts our sacrifice and that involves a commitment that follows the call of God to do whatever He asks knowing that His promise of a heavenly. home powers the faith we have while still on earth. He is our Substitute Sacrifice. We deserved eternity in hell and Jesus gives us eternity in heaven. Praise God and Thank you Jesus!!
The Pilgrimage Continues
David Warren
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