25 January

ABRAHAM’S BLESSINGS

“Now the Lord said …  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

(Genesis 12:1-3)

We sing the chorus that Abraham’s blessings are ours. Yes, just as God used the sign of the rainbow as a remembrance of His covenant with Noah and perpetual generations, so had He previously gone into a covenant with Abraham with the physical sign of male circumcision but this has been changed to spiritual circumcision in the New Testament. We inherit these blessings when we allow God to circumcise our hearts in repentance, love, total surrender and obedience to Him. “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6).

With this covenant, God’s promise went beyond Abraham to His generations: “I will establish my covenant between me, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (Genesis 17:7). Thus as we surrender to God through His Son, Jesus, as the one through whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed, we inherit the promises.

ACTION:  As you wake up each morning, appropriate the words of the blessings of Abraham, in Genesis 12:2-3, to yourself.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, fill me with grace, like Abraham, to trust you sufficiently enough to leave my comfort zone to the unknown and sacrifice that which I cherish most for your cause.