I’ve started out the year reading Genesis. While digging into these stories, I found something interesting about the story of Abram.
Today, I am going to share a few scriptures right off the bat with you. Then, I will share with you what I am learning from these passages.
Before we dive in, a quick reminder, Abram is Abraham before God gives him a new name. This is the set up to the father of faith. So, let’s go from there.
Promise #1
“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.” So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.” - Genesis 12:1-4
God sends Abram out with a promise and a blessing. Abram obeys. Even at the age of 75. He did as God called him to do and began to experience the blessing God had for him.
Promise #2
“Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.” - Genesis 12:7
As Abram is traveling per God’s instruction, God gives Abram another promise. His descendants will get the land he is traveling through. So, Abram believes God and builds an alter to remind him and his people.
Promise #3
“After Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west. I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession. And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted! Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.” So Abram moved his camp to Hebron and settled near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. There he built another altar to the Lord.” - Genesis 13:14-18
Abram allows Lot to take the best land and God blesses Abram in his selflessness. God again lays out a promise before Abram and so Abram believes and builds an alter in this place as well.
The Covenant Promise
“Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.” - Genesis 15:4-6
God tells Abram that he will have many descendants and they will fill the land for which he has been traveling. But Abram is worried that he has no children and his servant will inherit everything.
Yet, God continues to make a promise and a covenant to Abram that he will have many descendants and they will inherit this land. If God tells you something over and over again, you’ve got to believe.
And that is just what Abram did. He believed. And God expanded on his covenant promise:
“Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”” - Genesis 15:13-16
While this part doesn’t sound so hopeful, it is the word of God and if he says it, well, it will happen. But that didn’t phase Abram. He was talking with the God who created everything, so of course he continued on in his connection with God.
And then, God makes his covenant with Abram. He seals every promise he had made with Abram with this covenant:
“So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”” - Genesis 15:18-21
How this Applies to Our Lives Today
While I was reading these scriptures over a few days, I could hear God say to me that we are living in a time where he has made promises for years that are about to be sealed with a covenant.
I know this has been true of my life. I have a list of promises and words from God in my journal that I look at about once a month. Theses promises keep me going when things are hard.
And when I read this section, I remembered that Abram was 75 when he got some big promises from God, but it wasn’t until he was 99 that they began to be fulfilled. And it came after God made a covenant with Abram.
God said to me:
I have made promises over the last few years to my people and I am getting ready to make a covenant with them for the fulfillment of those promises. They need to stand fast and be ready.
If I call them into something, they need to obey me. If I have called them into something already and it hasn’t happen, continue to obey me. I am about to make a covenant that will change the lives of generations in their family.
Be ready, listen for me, and I will bring forth progress in the plans I have for you. They will be good, they will bless you, and they will prepare the way for great things for you, your children, and your children’s children.
Final Thoughts on Promises and Covenant
I believe there are promises that God is about to fulfill for my family, our church, our neighbors, and more.
These passages of scripture remind me that it will take time, there is a level of obedience to them, and ultimately, God will make it happen if he says it will happen.
I release over you today blessing and favor. I ask God that he will guide you, that you will walk in his guidance, and that you will see the fullness of the promises God has given you in the past.
Most of all, I praise God that he is good. He has fulfilled promises in the past. And we can count these testimonies as part of our story too.
J.R. Heimbigner is a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon who loves helping people grow in their faith and help writers become authors. You can connect with him on Medium, his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Substack!
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