Day 4- Stepping Out In Faith
📖Daily Reading
Genesis 11-15
🎥 Video
Join me on my morning walk as we rise and shine together by walking through the Bible daily and learn a practical applicable coaching nugget from the ultimate life coach - our creator (whatever that means to you). No judgement zone here, all are welcome, we are all on a spiritual journey because we are after all spiritual beings having a human experience.
Video for Daily Bible Wisdom Reflection:
Video from 1/4/22: Reflection on You Are Loved
📝 Reflection
Genesis 12: 1-3
“The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.””
Abram was from the land of Ur, which means light or flame. He was asked to leave his country, his family and his land. He was asked to step out in faith into what God had for him. God asks that of all of us in some form or another and at some time. Will you respond when he does? It is not an if, but a when. Usually not just once either, but many times. As we will see from Abram’s example.
Abram was married to Sarai, but they had no children. He did have a nephew whose father passed, Lot. So he, Sarai and Lot set out to find their new home. He first settled in the land of Canaan. The name Canaan means humble. It takes courage and humbleness to step out in faith. Things were ok for awhile but then famine struck the land. They decided to go to Egypt to lives as foreigners and survive. Sarai was beautiful and Abram thought he might get killed if they knew he was her husband. So they thought strategically and agreed to tell them that they were brother and sister.
This is one of the ways God provides for us and bless us, is through our intellect and ability to think things through and problem solve. Abram was correct, they did think Sarai was beautiful. In fact so beautiful that Pharaoh married her. Through this time and association Abram was able to amass a small fortune. But bad fortune visited Pharaoh through plagues. He found out that they were married and knew that God was punishing him, so he sent them off with all of their possessions.
So they headed to the Negev with their riches of livestock, silver and gold and settled in ear Bethel. There Abram worshipped the Lord again. Both he and Lot had herds and workers and were both doing well so well that they were outgrowing the land together and needed to separate to keep the peace and keep their men from arguing. After Lot went to settle in another area, the Lord gave Abram the same promise a second time; “I am giving you this land and I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth they cannot be counted”. Abram then settles in Hebron.
There were wars and conflicts in the land and Lot ended up getting captured in one. A servant was able to escape and tell Abram. Abram heads out with 318 men (that is specific 📝) under the cover of night. He gets Lot back and all the stolen goods, possessions, and captives. Then there is a very interesting meeting in the valley of the kings between Abram and the King of Sodom and the Melchizedek the King of Salem and Priest of God.
Before we dive further into that, we need to look at the meanings of names again. Melchizedek means king of righteousness. The name Salem means peace. The city of Salem also later becomes Jerusalem. So we have the King of Righteousness and Peace and Priest of God coming onto the scene. There is no reference as to why. He just appears bringing bread and wine and blesses Abram: “Blessed be Abram by God Most Hight, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you”.
Then we are told that Abram gives Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he recovered. This is really interesting. Bread and wine and a prayer and blessing from The King of Righteousness and Peace and a Priest of God. Pre-shadowing of Jesus. 📝
The King of Sodom offered for Abram to keep all the goods he recovered. Abram refuses saying I don’t want anyone else to be able to take credit for my achievements and wealth. He is a man who stepped out in faith and wants to chart his own course with God as his guide. After this Abram gets a third version of the same vision and promise. This time it will be referred to as a covenant.
After hearing the promise of blessings again, but this time Abram says ‘what good is all of my wealth with no descendants to leave it to?’. So God has home look at the stars and says: “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descents you will have!” 3 promises of descendants. Here is where it gets even more interesting. He has Abram get 3 animals and 2 birds. A 3 year old cow, a 3 year old female goat and a 3 yr old ram. Abram sacrifices them all and cuts them in half. He then lays the carcasses out with the halves side by side. Then after it gets dark, he sees a vision of a smoking firepot with a flame passing between the two halves.
Then the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way form the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River…”. It is already done. He gives the promise again in the present tense 🤯. I see this smoking firepot that his floats between the halves as God reigning and uniting our inner divide self and our past and future into present faith. Faith is a gift, no other creatures have it. Faith when paired with intelligence, humility, willingness and God is something we all have available to us, but few have the courage to combine and act on. It is blessed and rewarded when we do!
*📝Additional note: Abram means exalted father - he led the way for all of us to step out in faith and believe audaciously that anything is possible.
✍🏼Daily Journal Prompt
How is God calling you to step out in faith? What seed of possiblity has been planted in your heart? We are all called metaphorically to leave 'home' or our comfort zones and chart our own course to live life with out limits!
📖Tomorrows Reading
Genesis 16-20
Coaching Opportunity
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If you have stuck with me this far, then you are not reading this by accident, I believe God has a plan for you and is calling you forward!😉🤩
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