The Patriarch

I've been studying Abraham lately. In the past, I never really paid any special attention to this man who is so important in the story of God. I mean I knew all the different stories about him from Sunday School and stuff growing up so when I got to the parts about him in the bible I would just read them as that: stories. This time around though I stopped and started really thinking about what I was reading, and I noticed a lot of things that I feel like aren't really emphasized enough. Abraham lived the first 75 years of his life outside of the land that would later become Israel. In fact, the first time that it's recorded that God ever spoke to him wasn't until that time. Now, I know that people lived much much longer back then, but I think that the fact that the father of the Hebrew people did not begin his life in God until he was already 75 years old is a very significant thing. I mean that's crazy to my way of thinking! God comes to this guy out of the blue and tells him when he's already 75 to leave the land of his father because he's going to create a great nation from his children! Abraham listened to Him too! He just got up and left. He lived an amazing life after that too. God just kept blessing him and blessing him. I mean he inherited an entire country from God! He was blessed with tons of goods and livestock. He was so wealthy that the people in the land that surrounded where he lived called him a prince. This guy was patient too! He was 75 when God promised him children, and his wife Sarah didn't have the child that God promised him until 25 years later! Twenty-five years of waiting, trusting God, and doing everything that He asked without exception. I know that Abraham lived to be 175, but that does not change the fact that 25 years is FOREVER!!! I mean if I had to wait 25 more years to have children I don't know how I would make it! Abraham was actually called Abram for most of his life. Abraham was the name that God gave him. Abram meant "exalted father" while Abraham meant "father of a multitude". Either way, this man was called to be a father his whole life, and he waited most of his life for it! I think that's amazing! So, here we have this guy who had this amazing relationship with God, was blessed beyond measure, but still he waited 25 years to have Isaac, the child of promise. And after the big wait for this kid; after he waited his whole life to be a father; after he received promise after promise from God that he was going to be the father of nations; God tells him to go up to the mountains, and sacrifice his one and only son that he waited so long for and whom he loves more than anything. This wasn't a "spiritual sacrifice". This was real. God was saying "Abraham, I want you to go up to the mountain and stab to death and burn your one and only son whom you love more than anything. The one whom I promised to you in the first place 25 years before he was born." I don't think I could ever understand what Abraham thought at that moment. He actually did as God asked. He really was going to sacrifice Isaac. It wasn't like he didn't love this kid or care about him. He waited 25 years for him. He was already 100 years old when Issac was born. You cannot even say that it was all God's idea for him to have children and that he never really wanted it. God said"Take now your son, your only son Issac, whom you love..." in Genesis 22:2. That verse is the first time in the entire bible that the word "love" is even used. Abraham loved this child more than you or I have ever loved anything in our lives, and his faith in God was so strong that he was still willing to give him as a sacrifice. As a sign of his love for God, he was willing to give the one thing that he loved most on this earth. We know that he didn't end up having to go through with it and that God provided another sacrifice, but I still cannot even begin to fathom how amazing this story is. I cannot wait to meet him when I get to the New Jerusalem. This man truly was great. God chose him to be the father of His chosen nation. I believe that God also chose him to have the greatest revelation of His heart that anyone has ever had because when Abraham was willing to give up Isaac in love for God he became a picture of God sacrificing His own Son in love for us.   

The First Issue Of My Newsletter

I just completed the first issue of my newsletter  — check it out and let me know what you think!



December2010 Newsletter

Who are we giving our inheritance to?

So I was listening to Mike Bickle today, and he was talking about why Jesus had to be a human in order to take over the earth. When God gave Adam authority over the earth, the earth became his to do with whatever he pleased. When Adam sinned, after Satan tricked him, he gave ownership of the earth to Satan. The devil received authority over everything that was supposed to be our inheritance. Because the earth was meant for human rule, Jesus had to become fully human in order to win it all back. We all know that He did that on the cross and when He comes back He will claim that which He won, but while Mike spoke on this I had an idea. Adam was created to govern the earth. The rule of the earth was his inheritance, and by sinning he gave it up.  So, what are we doing when we sin? The Lord has an inheritance for us all that can never be taken away, but there are some things (or many things) that will either be given to us or withheld from us in the age to come depending on how we choose to live in this age. When we sin, are we giving our inheritance to the devil in a sense? Our sin only increases his hold in our lives. It holds us back from walking in the fullness of what God has called us to. So, even though he won't ever receive the rewards that we will in the future, it seems to me that when we sin and when we choose not to walk worthy of our highest calling that we're just giving all of those rewards to Satan just as Adam did. I know that we all will most likely be struggling with sin for most of the rest of out lives, and that we can only overcome sin through leaning on God, but I feel like this should give us a greater resolve in our fight. I'm not sure about you, but I DO NOT want to be giving the ultimate gifts and rewards that were designed specifically for me by my Heavenly Father to the prince of this age. Those were made for me, and I intend to fall down and get right back up and run into Jesus' arms as many times as it takes to overcome my struggles and live a life counted worthy of what He has for me. I know that this a journey and none of it will happen overnight, but I'm going to try my very hardest to get to where I need to as fast as the Lord will allow me to. I want to become closer to Him and His heart than anyone else has before, and I won't be satisfied trying for anything less. This whole post may seem a little jumpy or like its lacking a definite point that I'm trying to make. I'm pretty tired while typing this. I had this burning inside of me though, and I had to get it out. Take from it what you will. These are just my thoughts.

Psalm 134: Blessing the Lord

The last time I was at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, I attended the NightWatch (the period between the hours of 12 a.m. - 6 a.m. in which a faithful group of intercessors stand in the house of the Lord praying for the nations of the earth). The vision statement of IHOP-KC's NightWatch is Psalm 134. This 3 verse Psalm speaks about beholding and blessing the Lord in the night. It's what the NightWatch is all about. Its why the Prayer Room is open day and night. I wasn't really sure exactly what that meant though. So, I began to seek out the answer: What does blessing the Lord really mean? I began to brainstorm and ask God for His wisdom on what this Psalm (and a few other scriptures that mention it) was all about. The following is what I wrote: "What does it mean to bless the Lord? He is who He is. Nothing that we say about Him will change who His is, and if we use Isaac blessing Jacob with the blessing of a father as an example then shouldn't blessing someone mean speaking words that bring forth great change for good inside of someone? Our words cannot change who God is though, and nothing can make Him better because He is absolutely perfect and He never changes. So, who do our blessings effect then? The answer: ourselves and the people around us. These words of blessing change the way that we and others around us view Him. When we bless Him we speak words of truth and praise about Him that become established inside our hearts and minds. When we declare the absoluteness of who He is we make it a part of our thoughts. When we do this we're filling ourselves with light. It's all a part of renewing our mind and becoming more like Him. Therefore, blessing Him is of uttermost importance! It pushes back the power and influence of darkness over our minds and the minds of others! When we speak this absolute truth about the Lord of Hosts, it has the power to decimate lies that have strongholds in the minds of all who hear and accept it. Blessing the Lord is a weapon with which we thwart the schemes of the enemy and save souls from darkness. Blessing Him is our purpose as a part of the Creation of God. All of Creation exists entirely for His glory. As belonging to such, we can never truly be who we were created to be unless blessing Him is our first priority, primary focus, and sole desire in this life. We absolutely MUST dedicate every breath to His glory. Anything less is insanity!"

First Post

Welcome to my blog. I'm not really someone who spends a huge amount of time on my computer, so I'm kind of arriving on the shores of "Blogland" a little late. However, I'm not really blogging because other people do it. I decided to start a blog because every now and then I start to journal about random things and I thought it would be cool to share them with others. So, enjoy!