Jan 4 (Genesis 12-13)

Genesis 12

God's promise to Abram is fascinating. God doesn't make this promise conditional upon anything that Abram does...it's by God's love and grace that He blesses Abram. Let's not forget that Abram was a pagan, observing pagan worship...that's all he had been taught. But God chose Abram to begin a family of believers...first with a nation called Israel, and ultimately, the whole world. Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful, so all of us who believe and worship Elohim, are descendants of Abraham!!!

(v.3) All the world needs to read this verse when dealing with Israel. America has been blessed for many reasons, but one of them is because we've been the best friend to Israel. I fear for our country now, since we've been intentionally pushing Israel aside, and ordering them to forfeit their rights in the name of "peace"...God help us!

(v.13) Technically, Sarai was a half-sister to Abram. Abram wasn't telling a lie, but he definitely wasn't telling all of the truth here either. I used this opportunity to talk to my kids to show them that leaving out all of the truth can be just as bad as telling a flat-out lie. Now, even though Abram wasn't completely truthful, God still blessed him...I told my girls that this just shows us that God loves to use us imperfect people for His purposes! All of us have hope that God can use us (warts and all as they say) if only we let Him!

Genesis 13

Abram lets his nephew, Lot, decide what part of the land he wants to raise his herds. Lot lets his eyes sway him, and he ends up picking the area near Sodom...and we all know what happens there! It has been said that the eyes are the window to our soul...but it is also the means by which Satan tempts us to stumble. When we see things that are beautiful or enticing, we act without thinking sometimes...remember Eve with the pretty fruit? We all need to be careful not to let our eyes lead us away from Christ!

(v.15) No matter what side of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict you're on, it is a fact that God gave Abram that whole area. The arguement is whether the promise went through Isaac or Ishmael. Those of us that believe the Bible, and not the Koran, believe that the promise went through Isaac...but that's for later this month!