Walking by Faith

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Gen 15:7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

Gen 15:8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

Gen 15:9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

Gen 15:10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

Gen 15:11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

Gen 15:12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

Gen 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Gen 15:14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

Gen 15:15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

Gen 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

Gen 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

Gen 15:19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

Gen 15:20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

Gen 15:21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

Here we have in this passage, a glimpse into a real, live, example of a human being. There are times when we read Scripture too quickly and we tend to raise those who are hero’s in the Old Testament as bigger than life figures that we could never identify with. But when we stop and look at times like these for example, we see a complete and total human being dealing with the God of the universe but feeling the same things that we do and dealing with them in the same manner as we do these days.

Doubt, insecurity, worry, and fleshly thinking.

Gen 15:7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

Gen 15:8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

We have already dealt with the fear that Abram felt, even when God had given him His Word. Now we see a hint of worry. “This is my land, How do I know that I will inherit this land?”

We still see that Abram is flesh and blood. He is a mortal, limited human being speaking to an unlimited God, and yet the Lord still deals with him with such grace and mercy, just like He deals with you and me today.

Gen 15:9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

Gen 15:10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

God gives Abram a sign and this comes in the form of what would be used in confirming covenants – Jer 34:18,19

Gen 15:11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

Gen 15:12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

Many times, in Scripture, birds are pictures of evil. Abram had done exactly what God has prescribed for him to do. He has taken each animal and divided them as God described, but pretty soon, the birds get a whiff of the picnic laid out there before them. So Abram drives them away, but he wears himself out.

How many times do we do the same thing. We have done exactly what God has described. We have done exactly what He lays out for us, we have our work set out, laid out for God to use when He sees fit. So we wait on the Lord and right in the middle of our work for the Lord we get side-swiped with evil. We get hit with sin. The birds of evil come down to devour what we are doing and to get us side-tracked or focused on what we are doing, or our fight.

So we decide to do things on our own. We decide to please God by how hard we are working.

The natural thing is to want to drive it away, to fight for what the Lord has given us, to hit sin head on.

But that will only lead to one thing if we rely completely on our own power and our own works

Burn out!!!!!

We will quickly find ourselves in the same situation that Abram found himself in, we will be wore out, beat up, burned up, and sleep deprived when all God wants us to do is rely on Him. Yes there are things that we need to do and things we must take care of, but we must rely on the Lord for what He gives us to do.

Gen 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Gen 15:14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

Gen 15:15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

Abram must have been wondering what his future would be like, because God seems to throw this in. Again, this shows just how human Abram is, and it shows how our nature is. Right in the middle of all this, he is worried about himself. We also see something that many folks don’t seem to want to acknowledge – the mercy of God

Many times we hear how the God of the Old Testament is a God of death and judgment and how the God of the New Testament is a God of life and mercy but I am here to tall you that they are completely wrong.

400 years God gives the Amorites to give up their lewdness and disobedience before judgment will be handed down.

Gen 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

Gen 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

Gen 15:19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

Gen 15:20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

Gen 15:21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

When two individuals come together in the ceremony of a covenant, they would take the carcass of the animal to be sacrificed and cut it into two parts. Both parties would then walk between the two halves and shake hands as a binding thing between them. The blood would signify that these two meant business and that if either one broke this covenant, there was blood to pay, meaning the outcome was death for the one who broke this promise.

Abram wakes us to see that God does not just enter into a covenant with Abram – He becomes the surety of this covenant between them, meaning that God takes the initiative to take responsibility for this covenant.

The smoking furnace and burning lamp possibly mean that the sacrifice was completely consumed, meaning that God was satisfied with what is going on.

God then proclaims the total listing of the land that Abrams seed will occupy. The Israelites have yet to receive the total given by God.

Gen 15:1  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 15:2  And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
Gen 15:3  And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
Gen 15:4  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
Gen 15:5  And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Gen 15:6  And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Gen 15:1  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.

Abram has faced many enemy troops, he worshipped the King of Peace and turned away the King of Sodom and these are the after theses things that Scripture speaks of before us today.

He has experienced a great victory in battle and in spiritual realms but now he is living out something that we all tend to face after such great episodes—DEPRESSION!

What was it? FEAR!

Now God has come to Abram and tells him not to fear. Perhaps he is looking at all the new enemies he has made or perhaps he is thinking that he has messed up by not taking the spoils of the battle, either way it is something that we all tend to face when we have such great victories in our lives, especially in our walk with Christ.

God is telling Abram “Don’t be afraid! I am your shield!, I am your protection!” and He is also telling him “I am your reward!, don’t worry about money! I will take care of you!”

Fear and faith almost alwaysseem to go hand in hand and these usually happen together in order to draw out the other. Many times a faithful happening or an enormous spiritual  experience that builds faith usually is followed by fear of some sort. The good news is that God knows us completely and He knows how we work and so He will use these times of doubt, these times of fear to build our faith.

Gen 15:2  And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
Gen 15:3  And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
Gen 15:4  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir

In Abrams day, not having an heir was not a good thing and if you didn’t then your servants first-born would become your heir instead.  God tells Abram that his heir will in fact come from his own bowels. This child will be Abrams.

Notice that Abram is real. He is not some whitewashed fake illustration that we can look up too. He is asking a question that we all still ask God, especially during these times when God is so quiet.

He asks God “What are You going to give me?”

OK God You are my shield and my reward but what are You going to give me? He asks God even after God has given him His word. Notice that God is so loving and patient with Abram and that gives us hope and satisfaction that God deals with each of us in such a loving way. He doesn’t get mad, or impatient with Abram He just answers him again.

Thankfully, that is how God still deals with His own. He is still patiently answering our questions, using fear if it comes up to build our faith!!

Gen 15:1 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 15:2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

Gen 15:3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

Gen 15:4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

Gen 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Here we see a marvelous picture of the omnipotence and omnipresence of our Almighty All-knowing, All-seeing God.

Now God had promised seed to Abraham and in his haste to help out God he looks to external circumstances, which doesn’t always work, especially when dealing with God. Abraham does what we all do and he gets impatient in wanting to see the work of God, but we also get to see another aspect of the characteristics of God – His timing. His ways are not ours, His time is not ours, yet His time is perfect!!!

What does this tell us?

That God is not shackled to time and space as we know it, but that He sees the end from the beginning. He does not see our lives, as we see it. He sees our begininning and the end of our lives at the same time. He knows all and He sees all. He knows the choices that we will make and the end result from which we will end up.

What does that mean in the grand scheme of things?

I am not sure how He works in regards to our lives and outcomes, mainly salvation. The Bible tells me that He loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son in order for all to be saved. In Peter’s epistle, he tells us, through the penmanship of the Holy Spirit, that God wishes for all to be saved. But not all will be saved because not all will choose Him.

I don’t fall into the party lines of those who wish to believe that we are chosen beforehand as the elect, as some see it. Nor do I choose to believe that we are all predestined to either be saved or damned. But that is just me and how I choose to interpret Scripture.

Now whether God chooses us beforehand or whether in His infinite wisdom and for-knowledge, knowing that we will choose Him instead of our own way, He calls us because we will choose Him is another rabbit trail that I am not ready to get into but it does make certain passages make sence to me

Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Mat 22:1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

Mat 22:2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

Mat 22:3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

Mat 22:4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

Mat 22:5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

Mat 22:6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

Mat 22:7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Mat 22:8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

Mat 22:9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

Mat 22:10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

Mat 22:11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

Mat 22:12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

Mat 22:13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

I don’t believe that He would ever limit Himself in order to give us a chance to choose His way or our own. He knows us and is He sees our whole lives in an instant than He knows the choices we will make.

Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

The most important thing to remember is that God loves His children and He will provide for what they need. He sees much further than we do. He knows what is best for us. He knows much better than we do. What a Great and Almighty God we serve!!!!!

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Gen 15:1 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.

After these things, what things? This came right after the war and the resulting battle between Abraham, his followers, and these evil kings. Perhaps he was regretting turning down the King of Sodom and God might be letting him know here that he did make the right choice.

I am convinced more and more that we are in almost the very same situation that Abraham and his future descendants were in. We are in an age where great faith is needed and will undoubtedly be tested in various ways and for various degrees with each beleiver. Although faith has always been tested and streached by God in order to make us grow because, to be honest, we are generally lazy mortals who usually need a little prodding and pushing in order to grow because we usually get comfortable and adjust well to just about anything that comes our way. We mope and whine about our circumstances and how God doesn’t love us, or we aske what we must have done to make Him mad at us, or whether we made a bad choice and now we are paying or it.

Then we either get bitter and walk away and faith dies in us or we get better and we grow from the experience and we move on with what God is doing and we find that He has something wonderful planned for us that would require such rigorous training. Training that only our present trouble could provide.

I once heard a fiend say “We, as beleivers, are either in the middle of trouble, getting out of trouble, or fixin to get into trouble”. Trouble is and will always be around us and this is by fa the only way that faith can be allowed to grow when God is dealing with us because it is the only way we learn and train. He brews also tells us that this is the only way to properly please God ao then we must look at troubles in a different light than we once did.

We are in the midst of what seems and feels like an economy and community, here in America that is about to either change significantly or crumble into non- existance, but that is what could possibly be just paranoia on our part. You see, we really have always had it prety good here, especially religiously but I do believe that it will all change someday for the worse. I am not sure if our generation will see it but only God knows that.

In Hebrews we have what has always been called “The Hall of faith.” One good reading from it would actually stop a lot of the whinning and complaining, especially for those who have had it as well as I have. I know this for a fact because I read it today.

I say to my shame that I have complained, murmmurred, whinned, and cried about some really useless things to God. I have pouted and griped because my work environment has changed, I have lost wages, lost study time, and I have had to redo everything.

But I have also had to rethink everything, and I do mean everything.

“What did I do/not do?” was the standard cry to God.

“How did I sin?”, “Why are you chastising me so much?” was the cry heard from my lips.

“Where is my reward for being a good little boy?”

God had abandoned me. God had given up on me. God had let me down. You see He had not done what He said He would do.

The truth is He had not done what I thought He was supposed to do and how I love Him so much that He still blesses stupid!!!

You see, when I read the next few verses, I see where I have no reason, nor room to complain or whine at my circumstances.

Heb 11:32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

Heb 11:33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Heb 11:34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Heb 11:35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

Heb 11:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

Heb 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

Heb 11:38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Another friend made the following comment the other day regarding faith

“I was talking with B**** this morning and was saying that we have always been
told…”anything worth having is worth working for”.  Sounds good and makes a lot
of sense.  That is until it comes to the gift of salvation.  It is so worth having, but
we can’t work for it.  B**** then said no we can’t, but when times get tough and
you face a struggle, having and maintaining your faith then becomes work.  How
easy is it for us to give up and blame God for the things happening around us. “

So now the passage from James has a whole new meaning

James 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

It takes work for faith to stay and grow and that is exactly where God wants us

He has caused me to re-think everything. My relationship with Him as my Father, my family, the Lordship of Jesus Christ in my life, salvation, church, and life in general. I am still in he wilderness, learning how to be a nobody who can be used by God, and I am not there yet but I have faith and that is all that matters. Gid is my shield, He has been and will protect me and my family regardless of what comes our way and He is my reward. He has supplied Himself as my reward for the future. The things that I have yet to see

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.