“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers,’” (Genesis 17:1-2)
By this time Abram had been walking with the Lord for several years and should know have known Him by now. Just remember Abram didn’t have the Holy Spirit as we have. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:25-26: “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” As people our nature is to be self-centred, which is why the Holy Spirit has to remind us about the things of God. Since Abram was human, the Lord had to remind him every so often of their relationship and covenant. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself,” (2 Timothy 2:13).
Note that the condition to God’s covenant with Abram in the passage above was that Abram had to be faithful and blameless. The wonderful thing about this is that the Lord put His conditions before us and as long as we bring our side, He is faithful with His, but if we are unfaithful He will make every effort to bring us in line with Him again, so He could continue with the covenant. The Holy Spirit then convicts us of our sin and unfaithfulness and He disciplines us through turning up the heat of our circumstances, first to get us to return and then for us to decide not to do it again because we fear the consequences. The closer we get to the Lord, the less ungodliness He tolerates. In the past I got away with much more than I get away with now. These days the reprimand is instantly and severe, should I dare to dishonour the Lord.
“Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you,’” (Genesis 17:3-7), and “God also said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her,’” (verses 15-16).
God said that this covenant is between Him, Abraham and all his descendants. All believers are descendants of Abraham. This covenant is therefore for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and has been adopted into the family of God. If we walk blameless in Christ and be faithful, we are part of the covenant. The Lord promised Abraham and Sarah that nations and kings will come from them as part of the covenant.
Who are your descendants in this covenant? Have you ever thought of the heavenly rewards of the person who obediently led Billy Graham to the Lord? He also has spiritual nations as part of his descendants, doesn’t he? Lord has a great plan and He uses a variety of gifts, talents and personalities to accomplish His plan. Not all of us are public speakers, but we may just be in touch with the future great evangelist, Christian political leader, pastor of a fruitful church, etc. whom we should lead to the Lord. If we are faithful in being obedient in the small things, we might just be part of a future great thing.
Lord, teach me to be faithful and blameless.
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.
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