Tag Archives: Abraham

August 27, 2014 · 6:14 AM

A Lover Of God’s Presence

On my last trip to Haiti, our group sang a song by Jesus Culture called “I’m a lover of your presence”. The part in the song that stands out to me says, “I’m a lover of your presence and it’s all I wanna be.” I can still hear our voices calling out into the night sky to God how much we love His presence. It became my prayer then and I still pray it today. I don’t want to live a day without walking in God’s presence. I know it’s possible and that God wants that relationship with us too.

Adam walked in God’s presence each night in the garden. Abraham lived in God’s presence according to genesis 24:40. Enoch also walked daily with God. Moses spent so much time in God’s presence that his face became bright. He had to wear a veil because it was too bright for the people to look at him. David loved God’s presence so much they he wanted to build a house for Him to dwell in. Peter spoke of the times of refreshment that come from the presence of The Lord. The Bible is full of examples of people who spent time in God’s presence.

If they can do it, you and I can do it. You may be thinking, “Yeah, but those were saints and holy men in the Bible. I’m just me.” Each of the people I listed above and the many more that you will find in the Bible who spent time in God’s presence were ordinary, flawed people just like you and me. The difference was that they took time to be in God’s presence each day. They knew they were unworthy of it, but they trusted God’s grace enough to enter His presence.

They knew that when they stood before God, in His presence, even their hidden sins would be exposed. Yet they entered it anyway. Why? Because they knew that the only way to get sin out of their life is to expose it to God. They knew that it was a good thing to get it out. But somehow, our minds think that we shouldn’t enter His presence because of our sins. We use that as an excuse to stay away from His presence. We cannot buy into that lie!

That’s just like people I know who won’t go to the doctor. I ask them why they won’t and they answer, “Because every time I go, they find something wrong.” They see it as a negative thing when a doctor finds something wrong. I see it as a good thing. If there’s something wrong in me, I want to find it quickly and have it dealt with. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. Dealing with it does. Being in God’s presence forces us to deal with what’s wrong in our lives. We should want to have Him find what’s wrong so we can get forgiveness and move into a closer relationship with Him. Find time today to spend in His presence.

If you’d like to listen to the song on YouTube, you can click here.

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June 26, 2014 · 7:45 AM

Chasing Vultures

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In Genesis 15, God spoke to Abraham (Abram) and told him that his reward would be grand. Abraham fired back at God, “What use are your gifts as long as I’m childless.” He wasn’t being rude. He just wanted someone to give an inheritance to. He had been blessed by God in every way, but had no one to give it to. That’s when God planted the dream of having a son on his heart. He took him outside to count the stars to number his descendants. God said, “You’re going to have a big family!”

It was then that he made a sacrifice to God for giving him the dream of a big family. While the sacrifice was on the altar, verse 11 says, “Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.” When I read that, I thought, “That’s a weird verse to have in the Bible.” The more I think about it though, the more I know it was on purpose. You are going to have to protect the dreams that God gives you and you are going to have to protect them. The enemy wants to come in like a vulture and steal them.

I looked up vultures on the internet and found that there are many types of them. They are all birds of prey. They can spot their target from miles away. They will pick at their food and eat it until it’s gone. That’s what our enemy does. He circles above our heads and threatens to take our God given dreams away from us. He picks at them until we let them go and give them up. We wonder why God gave us the dream only to have it picked apart and eaten. It’s up to us to chase the enemy away.

One thing I learned about vultures is that they don’t mess with things that are healthy. They only prey on the weak, the sickly or the dead. The first line of attack is to keep the dream God has given you alive and healthy. Don’t let it sit dormant in your mind. Write it down. Tell others about it. Own it. Steward it. When it feels like it is taking forever for it to happen, keep believing in God. Habakkuk 2:3 says, “If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place.” The dream God gives you will take place in His time, not yours.

If your dream is weak, sickly or dead it is still not beyond God reviving it. Joseph’s dream must have seemed dead to him. He had been given it over 20 years earlier. Since the time God gave it to him, he had been betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused of rape and was forgotten in prison left to die. I’m sure there were many times as he sat in that prison that the vultures circled his dream, but he refused to let it die. He knew that God had given it to him so he chased the vultures away. He kept believing until the Pharaoh called for him one day.

Whatever dream God has given you, it’s worth fighting for. It’s worth chasing the vultures away. Even if they are circling overhead, don’t get discouraged. Stand your ground. Own your dream. Patiently wait for God to bring it to life. What He started in you, He will finish. What He planted in your heart will grow and come to life. While you are waiting for that to happen, grab the Word of God and chase those vultures away. Your dream is worth fighting for no matter how bad things look right now.

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June 24, 2014 · 7:30 AM

The Blue Prints Of Faith

Due to my schedule, I’m reposting one of my most popular posts this year.

In our small group last night, we were reading from Genesis 6 where God gave Noah the blueprints for the ark. He told him it was to be 450 feet long, 45 feet high and 75 feet wide. He told him what kind of wood to use, how many levels to have, how to waterproof the wood, to build stalls and even told him why he was to do it and how it would happen. I got a little jealous of Noah as I read all of that because he got a blueprint of exactly what God wanted from him with each step.

I’d love for God to do that for me. Instead, I feel more like Abraham who God told, “Leave your native land and go to the land that I will show you.” There were no blueprints, no reasons or navigational directions. He was simply told to pack his stuff, leave his relatives and everything he’d known for a land that he would be shown without being given a reason. I don’t know if he felt the doubt, frustration and fear that I do from being in those shoes.

At first, I started to think that Abraham was the one who really acted in faith. After all, he didn’t get a step by step guide like Noah. The more I think about it, the more I see how much faith it took from Noah to accomplish his task even with a blueprint. When God shows you something you’ve never seen or heard of and asks you to do it, that requires a lot of faith. Even with a blueprint, you are venturing into the unknown, the uncomfortable. It requires faith to start building.

Another thing I see with Noah is the sheer enormity of the project God asked of him. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with how much God asks of us, but just like with Noah, it starts with one board and one nail. It took him a hundred years to complete what God asked of him. As our group leader pointed out last night, imagine Noah on year 33. After all those years, he was only a third of the way done. He’s worked night and day every day for over 39 years and only has a little of the project to show for it. Most of us would have quit. By faith, Noah got up the next day and kept following the blueprints.

Whether God has given you a set of blueprints or has asked you to follow Him with blind trust, it requires faith on your part. Faith to pick up that first board or faith to pack your bags and take that first step. Which of these two do you identify with? Has God asked for endurance from you to see His plan through in the face of ridicule and a seemingly lack of progress? Has He asked you to leave everything you’ve known to do something He’ll show you later? Either way, it requires faith and He has faith in you to accomplish it or He wouldn’t have asked you. Take courage and do something today that moves you in the direction of what He asked you to do.

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May 27, 2014 · 7:49 AM

Let It Go

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The other night, my nephew and I went for a late night Wal-Mart run. We just needed to get one thing. As we entered the store, he asked, “Do you want a basket?” I told him we didn’t because we only needed this one item. As we walked past the aisles on the way, I spotted something my wife would love. I said, “Let’s get a box of these for your aunt!” As we went down the aisle, I spotted something else. The further into the store we went, the more I grabbed. He asked, “Are you sure we don’t need a basket?” I declined again. By the time we got to the item we were after, our hands were full.

I limited myself to what I could have because I refused to let go and to put them in a basket. God has great things in store for each of us, but we rarely want to let go of what’s in our hands in order to get more. When you think about it, that’s the underlying theme in so many stories in the Bible. Abraham had to let go of the place he called home in order to receive the Promised Land. What of he had tried to hold onto it? What would have happened if he refused to let go and to trust God?

Moses’ mom had to let go of him so that he could lead his people out of slavery. Moses had to let go of the riches of Egypt and his title of being the grandson of Pharaoh. He could have lived a life of luxury and had it easy. Hebrews 11:26 says, “He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ rather than to own the treasures of Egypt.” When he let go of what was in his hands, God was able to use him for a greater purpose. Would we even know Moses’ name if he hadn’t let go?

Think about David. He had to let go of His sheep in order to rule a nation. He let go of what was comfortable to him. He let go of the job he had known since he was a boy in order to be king. He could have looked at the greatness God had in store for him and chosen to watch sheep instead. It would have been less stressful. It would have been easier and required less faith, but he chose to let go of what he had in order to embrace what God had in store. I wonder if we would have the Psalms today had he not chosen to let go.

I could go on and on with example after example in the Bible. Paul let go of his life of persecuting to be persecuted, the disciples gave up family and income, Joseph gave up bitterness to save his family and the future nation of Israel, Jesus gave up all of Heaven to walk among us so that we could be with Him one day. The story of the Bible is all about giving up what’s in your hand so that you can accept more from God. Don’t be selfish with what The Lord has given you. Give it back to Him and He will open the windows of Heaven and pout out blessings you can’t even contain. That’s a promise He made and it doesn’t just apply to money.

What are you holding on to that God has asked you to let go of?

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March 6, 2014 · 7:55 AM

Plow Of Preparation

When I think of living by faith, I always think of Abraham first. The next person I think of is Elisha. Like Abraham, he was minding his own business doing his own thing when the call came to uproot and move. Elisha was plowing a field when Elijah walked up, threw his cloak over him and walked away. I’m not sure what my reaction would be if someone walked into my place of work and did that, but Elisha’s reaction was to run after Elijah. He didn’t ask what it meant or why he did it. Instead he said, “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye – then I’ll follow you.”

I believe that God had already spoken to Elisha even though the Bible doesn’t say it. We know God gave Elijah the instructions to find Elisha and to do what he did, but it doesn’t give us any insight to Elisha before this moment. I believe he was a praying man. I believe that as he plowed fields with those oxen, he spent time praying and asking God to use him in mighty ways. Day after day, he plowed waiting for God to tap him on the shoulder and put him into action. I wonder if he had days where he doubted that God would ever move him from plowing fields to doing ministry.

So many who read this are like Elisha. We’re plowing fields day in and day out. We’re waiting on God to come get us and put us into full time ministry. We’re waiting on God to give us the green light. But as we put our hands to the plow each day, it’s easy to begin to wonder if God has forgotten us or if we ever heard Him in the first place. We look at the calendar and wonder, “How much longer, God?” We start thinking the “what if’s” and “how come’s”. Our faith can weaken in the times that it’s intended to grow stronger.

If we aren’t doing the things it takes to grow our faith while we are plowing, how will we ever do it when we aren’t? God uses the times of preparation to grow our faith, to increase our prayer life and to build our trust in Him. He expects us to be people of prayer while we plow. He expects us to plant seeds in people who are already doing ministry. He expects us to be ministering to people around us before he instructs us to minister to the masses. We have to prove to Him that we can be faithful in the little things while we are plowing before He can trust us with more.

If you are plowing today and are waiting for the cloak to be thrown over you, don’t lose heart. This time of plowing and preparation is essential to your growth and necessary for you to be able to perform later. God has not left you in a field and forgotten you. Be a person of prayer while you are plowing. Build up your faith now that when you have to really walk by faith, you have a sufficient amount. Keep your eyes open and be ready for God’s tap to put you in. Be ready to walk away from the plow and to step into that life of faith at any moment. Until then, keep plowing.

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February 18, 2014 · 7:46 AM

God Is Looking For Nobody

When American Idol first came on TV, it was one of the most popular shows ever. People couldn’t get enough of it. Since that time several shows with the same premise have begun. The draw to reality shows like this is that it gives a nobody the chance to be somebody. It tells us that there’s a chance for each of us to be great, famous or known. It gives us a cut in the line to stardom, to bypass years of plugging away following the normal route. In essence, shows like that give each of us hope that we too will be discovered one day.

As I was reading Paul’s account of Abraham in Romans 4:17-18, it occurred to me that God only uses nobodies. When you look through the scripture and think of the great people of faith, they were nobodies. David was a shepherd minding his own business tending his father’s sheep when God chose him to be king. Abraham was a devoted husband who just wanted to give his wife a child. He was taking care of his possessions when God asked him to move. Mary and Joseph were just two young lovers trying to plan a wedding when God chose them to be the parents of Jesus.

Look at the disciples too. Most were ordinary fishermen, tax collectors and every day blue collar workers when Jesus gave the call to follow Him. Joseph was a teenager who ratted on his brothers one too many times when he was sold into slavery and dragged to a foreign land. He lived his life in obscurity until God chose to make him second in command of one of the greatest civilizations of all time. Moses was an abandoned child, who ran away from his adopted parents and was tending sheep in the desert when he had the burning bush experience.

The somebodies in the Bible all started out as nobodies. They didn’t follow the normal routes to greatness. They were just doing their normal every day routines when God stepped in. The difference between them and others was that they were willing to be obedient to the voice of God. David was willing to tend sheep as the king, Abraham was willing to leave his homeland with no questions asked, Mary and Joseph were willing to be ridiculed for having a child out of wedlock, the disciples were willing to leave everything behind to follow, Moses was willing to go home and face his past. Each person was willing to be obedient when it didn’t make sense.

That’s the difference in being a nobody and a somebody. Blind faith. God is still looking among the nobodies of this world to find somebody who will blindly obey. He’s looking for somebody to be great. He has not changed His methods. Blind obedience is still what He desires from you and me. Being willing to do whatever He asks even when it doesn’t make sense or defies logic is the trait He most admires. You and I have a choice when He comes our way. We have the choice to remain a nobody because we aren’t willing to do what He asks, or we have the choice to obey and be somebody great. What will your obedience look like today?

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January 30, 2014 · 8:08 AM

Taking The Train

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Yesterday was one of those days. I was away on business and couldn’t get home. The airport was shut down due to weather and my flight had been canceled. The roads were closed due to ice so I couldn’t drive home. The only other option was to take a train. I realize that other countries and even parts of the States have adopted rail as normal way to commute, but it hasn’t caught on where I live. The day was ripe for adventure.

People are more friendly on a train than on a plane. I guess that’s because you are going to spend quite a bit of time together. I got to know a father from Australia who came to the US to rescue his wife and daughter. They were going to see the world together when the daughter developed a fear of flying. He came, figured out a way to get the daughter from Florida to California and then back to Australia without having to fly. It has cost him a great deal of time and money, but He was happy just to be taking care of his family.

It reminded me of the great lengths our father will go for us. When we’re suddenly afraid to take that next step of faith, even after having taken several, our Father will come to our rescue. He will leave His throne in Heaven, meet us where we are and guide us the rest of the way. It may not be the way He intended for us to take, but He’s good at finding work arounds. He doesn’t come and demand that we do it His way. He comes and gently encourages us to find a way to follow our faith.

I also met a Filipino who is an associate pastor in Long Beach. He, like many of the disciples, loves to fish. His trip had taken him from California to Florida to go on a fishing expedition. His eyes lit up as he talked about all the different types of fishing he had done. They really lit up when he talked of his seven daughters and only son whom God blessed him with “late in life.” Here was a man in his sixties who had a five year old son and referred to him as a blessing from God.

He reminded me of Abraham who had a son at one hundred years of age. He was supposed to be beyond the years of having children, yet God decided to bless him with a son. Abraham considered it a blessing and Sarah thought it was a joke. They both loved their son very much and God used that miracle to be the way to fulfill His promise he made to them 25 years earlier. I’m sure the older Abraham got, the more he doubted God’s promise. He must have become content with living in the land God showed him and had given up until the angel spoke. That son became the embodiment of the promises of God that seem too far fetched to come true. It gives us all hope that His promise to us is still coming.

I don’t know where your adventure is taking you, but I do know that all around you are reminders of who God is. To me, He proved He is the father who will go to lengths of the earth to find me. He’ll make a way for me even when I don’t see how. He also showed that the promises He made years ago are still alive. I don’t see the path to make them come true and I’m not getting any younger, but He knows when the timing will be right. Until then, I’m to be faithful, ready to call Him when I need help and open to blessings in disguise. God is good at using those to fulfill his promise.

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June 20, 2013 · 8:46 AM

The Blueprints of Faith

In our small group last night, we were reading from Genesis 6 where God gave Noah the blueprints for the ark. He told him it was to be 450 feet long, 45 feet high and 75 feet wide. He told him what kind of wood to use, how many levels to have, how to waterproof the wood, to build stalls and even told him why he was to do it and how it would happen. I got a little jealous of Noah as I read all of that because he got a blueprint of exactly what God wanted from him with each step.

I’d love for God to do that for me. Instead, I feel more like Abraham who God told, “Leave your native land and go to the land that I will show you.” There were no blueprints, no reasons or navigational directions. He was simply told to pack his stuff, leave his relatives and everything he’d known for a land that he would be shown without being given a reason. I don’t know if he felt the doubt, frustration and fear that I do from being in those shoes.

At first, I started to think that Abraham was the one who really acted in faith. After all, he didn’t get a step by step guide like Noah. The more I think about it, the more I see how much faith it took from Noah to accomplish his task even with a blueprint. When God shows you something you’ve never seen or heard of and asks you to do it, that requires a lot of faith. Even with a blueprint, you are venturing into the unknown, the uncomfortable. It requires faith to start building.

Another thing I see with Noah is the sheer enormity of the project God asked of him. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with how much God asks of us, but just like with Noah, it starts with one board and one nail. It took him a hundred years to complete what God asked of him. As our group leader pointed out last night, imagine Noah on year 33. After all those years, he was only a third of the way done. He’s worked night and day every day for over 39 years and only has a little of the project to show for it. Most of us would have quit. By faith, Noah got up the next day and kept following the blueprints.

Whether God has given you a set of blueprints or has asked you to follow Him with blind trust, it requires faith on your part. Faith to pick up that first board or faith to pack your bags and take that first step. Which of these two do you identify with? Has God asked for endurance from you to see His plan through in the face of ridicule and a seemingly lack of progress? Has He asked you to leave everything you’ve known to do something He’ll show you later? Either way, it requires faith and He has faith in you to accomplish it or He wouldn’t have asked you. Take courage and do something today that moves you in the direction of what He asked you to do.

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May 6, 2013 · 7:51 AM

The Paradox of Christianity

One of the great paradoxes of Christianity is that we’re to learn to be satisfied with what we have, but not with where we are. Our human nature wants that to be backwards. We like to have the comfort of routine, but are never satisfied with what we have. I’m in that awkward state of making the switch from my human nature to what God wants. I’m learning to be satisfied with what I have, but not where I am. There’s this uncomfortableness inside that says, “There’s another level to go to.”

I think that’s where Abraham’s journey started. God told him, “Get up and go to a land that I will show you.” I’m sure he loved the comfort of where he was. He had everything he needed. He knew the land and the people. But that’s not what God had for him. He asked him to move away from those things that held him down. He challenged him to pick up his roots and to move.

It had to be confusing too. Where was he going? What land was he going to be shown? How long would it take to get there? Would he ever be coming back? When God makes you uncomfortable with where you are, He doesn’t always answer those questions. He expects you to trust Him and His plan. If we knew the details, we’d probably try to alter the plan. I know I would.

So where does that faith come from that allows you to just pick everything up and move? How do you spiritually pack up and move to a deeper walk with Him that requires more than you think you have to give? I don’t know how to get there, but I do know that it starts with just one step. One act of obedience. One decision to make a change. It’s not the easiest thing to do. I think that’s why so many Christians wander in the wilderness and rarely make it to the promised land that God has for them.

Our fears and doubts keep us from experiencing all that God has. Our logic wants to see the whole path. Our faith doesn’t need to see it. We get to choose which of the two we listen to. When spying on the Promised Land, Caleb and Joshua chose to believe their faith. The other spies chose to believe their logic. Because of their choice, an entire generation was kept out of where God wanted them.

So what’s my choice? What’s your choice? Do we continue to go with logic that says we should stay where it’s comfortable and where we feel secure? Or do we go with faith that tells us there is more and is making us uncomfortable in this place? That’s the beauty of who God is, He gives us that choice. He allows us to decide whether we pack our things and walk by faith or stay in the wilderness and camp where it’s comfortable.

As for me, I’m going to pack my bags, pull up my tent stakes and start walking. I don’t know where the path is heading. I just know that I can’t stay here in this place. I’m being drawn into a deeper commitment, a deeper relationship and a deeper walk with God. He is making me too uncomfortable with where I am. He is pushing me out of this place that I’m in. I don’t know where He is leaving yet, but I choose to go with my faith instead of my sight.

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January 28, 2013 · 7:57 AM

The “Why”

I’m the type of person who likes to know the “why” behind a task before I do it. It drives my wife crazy. Even yesterday she asked me, “Why can’t you just do what I asked without knowing why?” I like knowing the intention, purpose and final outcome before I do something so I know its importance and how to prioritize my time and effort towards it. It wouldn’t be bad if it were just a couple of things, but that thinking bleeds into every task including those God asks me to do.

I’m sure that He, like my wife, gets frustrated with me. Even when God asks me to do something, I still like to know the “why” and the final outcome. What I’ve found is that more often than not, God doesn’t give me those. He expects me to trust Him blindly and to do what He asked without question. That is tough for me because it goes against my very nature.

When I look at the Heroes of Faith in Scripture, I see men and women who trusted and followed God without knowing the “why” behind everything. When God said, “Go”, they went. When God said, “Speak”, they spoke. A couple of them might have argued because they didn’t want to do it, but they really didn’t ask why. They knew that when God asks for something, you do it. You don’t argue with the details. He knows them and will give them to you when you need them.

That’s what faith is. Doing what you’re asked to do without knowing why or what the outcome will be. If God shared with us the “why” and what the end result would be, we wouldn’t be acting in faith, we’d be acting on knowledge. God didn’t call us to walk by knowledge. He called us to walk by faith. He knows that when we know the outcome, we will try to do things in our own strength to affect the outcome to what we think He wants.

Look at Abraham. When God told him that he would have a son and that all nations would be blessed through his descendants, he took matters into his own hands. His “knowledge” said that his wife couldn’t have kids and so God must have meant to have a kid through her maid. Had he walked by faith, he would have trusted God to do what He said and had a kid with his wife. That mistake cost him 14 years before he saw the promise fulfilled in Isaac.

I don’t want my need to know the “why” to cost me years of wandering when I could be enjoying the blessings of obedience instead. I want to trust God without knowing the final outcome. I’ve got a long way to go in that area before I’m there. Until that time, I will take the small steps and trust His direction without knowing the “why’s” until my faith is strong enough to take the giant steps He wants me to take. I don’t want to hear God ask me like my wife did, “Why can’t you just do what I asked without knowing why?” I would rather hear Him say, “Thanks for obeying. Here’s what happened because you did…”

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