KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Monday, January 16, 2017
Chapters: Genesis 12-15
Message: Faith And Faithfulness
Hello My Friend,
When you think about how God blesses us we have to admit that it is our faith that makes us fruitful more than being obedient to His commands. Now, God does want us to be faithful and obedient, but that comes naturally as we first receive Christ, and second start walking with Him by faith. If you ever wondered why some people seem to be more blessed than others, it is not because God favors them more, it is because of their faith and faithfulness. “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. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” – James 2:18-20.
Faith and faithfulness go hand in hand, as your faith in God builds you become more faithful in serving Him, and serving God does not always mean working for Him in the church, it is being faithful to whatever He calls you to do. After God spent some time dealing with man as a whole He decided that it was time to focus on one group of people, one nation that would be totally devoted to Him so that He can show the rest of the world His ways and how they too can come to know Him. He chose a God fearing man named Abram, He told him to leave his family and follow Him, and by faith Abram followed God into the land or Canaan.
“So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.” – Genesis 12:4-7.
“Unto thy seed will I give this land:” The thing that we have to understand about God is that He takes us to places that are down right impossible to achieve on our own, He wants us to live by faith, and be faithful to His calling, if we can do that then He can turn the impossible into something possible. We do not even need a lot of faith sometimes, but as long as we have a little bit we can see God do some amazing things. “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” – Matthew 17:20.
Now, walking by faith and faithfulness often comes with God asking us to do things we do not quite understand, like separating from family and friends. God told Abram to leave his town and take no one with him other than his wife, but since he raised his brothers son Lot after he died he thought it would be a good idea to bring him along. He soon found out that that was not such a good idea. It was time for them to separate, Abram tells him to choose a path and he will go in the opposite direction.
“And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.” – Genesis 13:10-16.
“after that Lot was separated from him,” More often than we think there are people in our lives that prevent God from blessing us with more, and all we have to do to see them is separate from them. I know this to be true because God kept me from blessings until I separated from my ex-fiance, once in a while we talk and God reminds me of why we separated. Incidentally, those who believe in Christ by faith are also the seed of Abraham. “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” – Galatians 3:6-9.
You see, faith is walking into the most difficult situations with God leading us and seeing Him blessing us through them while faithfulness is showing God that we have faith in Him seeing us through them. When God told Abram that he was going to have a son he did not quite understand, after all his wife was sixty-five. He asks God how or who would assist in this.
“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. 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? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 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. 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. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” – Genesis 15:1-6.
“And he believed in the LORD;” Do you see the key here, “believed”, Abraham believed and that is why he too saw heaven when Jesus gave His life on the cross. Salvation has never been about our good works, it has been about believing in Him, naturally if one has faith they are going to be faithful to God. “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” – Romans 4:3-5.
Something interesting happens when we live by faith and are faithful to God, we truly see His mercy and grace. You know, even before God chose Abram He knew that his seed would not be completely faithful to Him. God gave Abram some rather unsettling news about his soon to be family, along with an incredible prophesy. “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; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” – Genesis 15:13-16.
“and they shall afflict them four hundred years;” God foretold to Abraham before he even had children that his seed would be enslaved to Egypt. God has a plan for everything, and His timing is everything, which is why we as Christians must be faithful to Christ because while we know what the future holds for us, we do not know when that will take place. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” – II Peter 3:8-10.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:” – Genesis 14:18-19. Melchizedek was a priest to God when Israel did not even exist yet, Jesus is the High Priest to God not only for Israel, but all who believe in Him. “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” – Hebrews 9:11-12.
Today’s Prayer: God, It is amazing how much You bless us just by receiving Your Son as our Saviour, but what You do after we are saved is hard to comprehend sometimes as we follow You by faith. The paths You lead us down are often unknown and quite scary sometimes, but with our faith and faithfulness we not only live a blessed life we live a victorious life, one that only You can give us. Lord, lead us and guide us, give us Your power and strength to walk by faith and remain faithful even when we do not understand where we are going. I ask these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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