The Blessing E-Book

Brian Simmons

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: The Passion Translation Devotional Commentaries
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 288

Beschreibung

We are destined for glory. Through the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we discover the Creator's deep longing for connection with every nation, tribe, and tongue. Brian and Candice Simmons continue their in-depth study of the book of Genesis in this second volume, covering chapters twelve through thirty-five. Gain fresh insight from rich footnotes that include commentary, word studies, cross references, and alternate translations. God has a blessing of inheritance for all of us that unites generations in his glory. As we begin to see the Father as the patriarchs saw him, we step into our inheritance right here on earth and experience true fellowship with the One our heart loves.

Leseprobe

BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC

Savage, Minnesota, USA

BroadStreetPublishing.com

The Blessing: Uniting Generations

Copyright © 2020 Brian and Candice Simmons

978-1-4245-5953-4 (softcover)

978-1-4245-5954-1 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless indicated otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Passion Translation®, copyright © 2017, 2018 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®, copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Cover and interior by Garborg Design at GarborgDesign.com

Printed in the United States of America

20 21 22 23 24 5 4 3 2 1

I will pour refreshing water on the thirsty

and streams on the dry ground.

I will pour out my Spirit on your children,

my blessing upon your descendants.

They will spring up like grass blanketing a meadow,

like poplars growing by gushing streams.

ISAIAH 44:3–4

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

1Leave Everything Behind

2Seven Tests of Abraham

3Obey the Voice of God

4God’s Sevenfold Promise

5Build an Altar of Worship

6During Tests of Faith, Turn to God

7Be an Example, Not an Echo

8Beware of Seeking the World

9Restore Those Overtaken with a Fault

10God’s Love Is All We Need

11Have a Heavenly Vision for Your Life

12God Blesses All Who Believe

13Trust in God’s Timing

14Walk Blameless before God

15Nothing Is Too Extraordinary for God

16The Power of Intercessory Prayer

17Always Look Forward and Trust God

18Sow a Seed for Your Own Healing

19Fix Your Heart on Eternity

20Will You Pass the Tests of Abraham?

21Six Divine Principles of God’s Tests

22One Act of Humble Service

23Serving God with Enthusiasm

24Generational Blessings

25Our Spiritual Birthright

26Draw Fresh Water from Your Spiritual Well

27Isaac Stands by His Blessing

28Ascend the Stairway and Find Fulfillment

29Are You a Wanderer or a Worshiper?

30Are You Passionate or Lukewarm?

31The Lessons of Jacob and His Wives

32What You Behold Is What You’ll Conceive

33Ask God to Do It All

34Subdue the Jacob in You

35Forgiveness Is Sweet to the Soul

36Terrify Your Enemies with a Clean Heart

37God Will Never Disappoint You

Endnotes

About the Authors

FOREWORD

Imagine The Blessing in your hands as a prophetic compass from heaven. It contains secrets that the Father is whispering.

Years ago, I had a vision. I saw a map of the world. As I was looking closely, I noticed oak trees. Some regions and cities had giant oak trees while some had smaller ones. Then the scene changed. I saw trees dying, except in the regions where the smaller trees grew up right next to the giant oak trees. God spoke to me and said, “This will be the blessing of the generations. Where you see young and old together, the kingdom will flourish. Where you see isolation and rebellion, it will be hindered.”

I have known Dr. Brian and Candice Simmons for over seventeen years. The majority of that time they have been my spiritual parents. Pastor Brian and Candice, Pop and Mom as we call them, have been the driving force behind all the churches we have started and the move of God we have seen in New England. Years ago God orchestrated our relationship, and through every season we have stayed submitted and committed to one another. Some of the greatest truths they live by are poured into this book.

From their faithfulness to being missionaries in the jungle of Panama, to building a mega church in Connecticut, to now travelling the world with the Passion Translation, I have often wondered how a generation could tap into the blessing and breakthrough on their lives. Considering how extremely busy they are, I realize not everyone has the privilege my wife and I have learning directly from them. I believe fully that this book is the answer. These pages display the heart and impartation from the authors. It’s a “follow me as I have followed Christ” anointing. This blessing taught about in these pages is the believer’s blessing; it’s your birthright from the Lord.

The apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:5: “I’m filled with joy as I think of your strong faith that was passed down through your family line. It began with your grandmother Lois, who passed it on to your dear mother, Eunice. And it’s clear that you too are following in the footsteps of their godly example.” God’s desire is that you receive a blessing of inheritance today. I did not grow up in a family with any heritage in faith. However, through the very teachings explained in The Blessing, I have received from the Lord as if I have been in a family of faith for many generations.

Get ready to step into another dimension of blessing, a realm in God where generational curses are broken, family lines are healed, and the DNA of heaven is flooding your family, home, workplace, and city.

Get ready to have your faith ignited as you embark on a journey into the miraculous.

Get ready to receive the Father’s plan for your life.

Let these pages be an invitation into the greater glory realm.

As I read this book, I could hear the Father whisper, “Come up higher.” Here we come, Lord!

INTRODUCTION

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What amazing men they were, and what amazing heroes of faith are their descendants. Their lives are rich examples of how God transforms our hearts today. Every believer in Jesus Christ has a blessing given to us in Christ through the promises God gave to these three men.

For Abraham, it was the faith-promise of children, land, and blessing. Abraham is truly the father of our faith. He opened the faith-door that accessed heaven’s blessings and favor. Leaving everything behind, he stepped out into a faith-journey that led him to his inheritance. Tested over and over, he was found faithful. We need the faith of Abraham that builds altars of testimony with our every breakthrough.

For Isaac, it was his sonship that brought the blessing. He was the son of promise, the son of supernatural power. Everything about Isaac’s story points us to the faith-inheritance that comes to us simply by being a son or a daughter. Isaac re-dug ancient wells and opened up new ones. Sons of inheritance will drink from the wells of the past but will always dig new ones. We need the sonship of Isaac to understand our inheritance and dig new wells of glory.

For Jacob, it was his transformation from being a “heel-grabber” to become a “prince with God.” Everything about the story of Jacob points us to the power of God to transform us into a royal partner with heaven. Jacob stole the birthright from Esau, pulled the wool over Isaac’s eyes, and ended up wrestling with the Midnight Man. But at last, we see the transformation of a man who became the father of twelve princes—the twelve tribes of Israel. We need the transformation of Jacob to become our life story.

Our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That means we can expect the inheritance of God’s covenant to flow through the generations until we are transformed. What these three patriarchs went through is a picture of what God is going to do in every royal believer today (1 Corinthians 10:11). The dealings of God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob typify the foundation of all that God plans to do in the human soul. Abraham discovered Yahweh as the God of promise. Isaac found him to be the God of miracles. And Jacob learned that he is the God of transformation. Each patriarch received the promise of miracles, and this miracle-promise released true transformation within the heart of each man.

God has a blessing of inheritance for all of us as well.1 And we can experience it in our lives today. We too often put off until tomorrow the things that are available to us today in Christ. As we begin to see the Father as the patriarchs began to see him, we, too, can experience true fellowship with the One our heart loves. He has done all the preparatory work for us. He has purchased it all for us by the blood of his cross. With his divine perspective in our hearts, we can step into our inheritance right here on earth. Do you want to see what he sees? In the midst of turmoil, you can look at all of life through his heavenly perspective. God the Father never saw Abram as a man with a wife who was too old to birth a child. He saw Sarah’s barrenness as a way to display his glory to all people by doing the impossible. When we think that it’s too late, he sees opportunity.

We see in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that God longed for more than just a man. He longed for more than one nation or peoples. He longed to see every nation, tribe, and tongue drawn to him. He loved Jesus so much that he wanted to fill heaven with people just like him. This was his reason for calling Abram out of the land of Ur and bringing him to himself.

It’s time for you to choose this God to be your very own inheritance. It is the desperate walk of the hungry to move out of our own reality and into his. You are called to be his, now and forever, a look-alike of Jesus. Though made from dust, we are destined for glory. This is our divine inheritance that unites us all. This is the inheritance passed down to us from God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is the God who gives inheritances that unite generations.

Abraham is the ancestor of Jesus Christ, and from him has come a people who know their God. A people who know their destiny. A people who walk in unity and in love. From the first Adam to the last Adam, the story will be complete as the church “aris[es] as the dayspring of the dawn, fair as the shining moon. Bright and brilliant as the sun in all its strength. Astonishing to behold” (Song of Songs 6:10). Yes, one day there will be a people on this earth who will display the image of their Father God. And so, we start this book where our first book, The Image Maker, left off. We must have an understanding of the first family of the nations for us to understand God’s purposes on the earth. The days of your spiritual inheritance are before you now.

LET’S PRAY

Father, today, I step out by faith into this adventure with you. I want to know you and to understand your ways. Reveal your power to me. Increase my faith. Enlarge my joy. Transform my soul. I want to appropriate and enjoy the fullness of my inheritance in Christ. As I read this book, connect my heart to you as never before. I trust you completely! Amen.

1

LEAVE EVERYTHING BEHIND

The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham.

ACTS 7:2

The Bible is a book filled with the blessings of divine encounters. God walked with Adam and Eve, he spoke to Noah, he was more than a friend to Enoch, and he appeared as the Glory-God to Abram. Without divine encounters, we would not even have our Bible today.

The importance of the man Abram (who will later have his name changed to Abraham) is impossible to exaggerate. In fact, the story and lineage of Jesus begins with Abraham (Matthew 1:1–2). It was from Abraham that the nations were born!

Abraham had no burning bush to inspire him, no tablets of stone to guide him, and no ark of the covenant as a centerpiece of worship. Neither did Abraham have a temple to go to, a Bible to read, or a priest to counsel him. Nor did Abram have a pastor to pray for him, a prophet to prophesy to him, a teacher to instruct him, or a multitude of followers to validate him. But Abram had what God had always intended for those made in his image: he heard the voice of God.

ABRAM’S PARTIAL OBEDIENCE

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they all departed together from the Chaldean city of Ur to go into the land of Canaan. But when they journeyed as far as Haran, they settled there. (Genesis 11:31)

God spoke to Abram when he was almost fifty years old and told him to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household and to go to a land God would reveal to him (Acts 7:1–3). Instead, we see Abram gathering up his father and his father’s entire household and moving them all with him to a place called Haran. It was while they were in Haran that Abram’s father, Terah, died. Only after Terah died did Abram leave and complete the journey.

Abram was slow to fully obey the word of the Lord. He compromised by taking all his clan with him. He stopped short of where he was called to go, and he disobeyed by taking his support system along with him. By failing to leave all behind, Abram found himself in a spiritual pause at Haran.

The name Terah means “lagging behind” or “delay.” There was a delay in God’s plan for Abram because he took his father with him. This delay ended up being twenty-five years. We, too, can delay God’s plan for our lives when we fail to fully obey. There was a time in our lives (Brian and Candice) when God spoke to us about leaving the mission field and returning to North America. Yet it took us nearly two years to fully obey what God had instructed us to do. That delay was a season of difficulty, burnout, and disorientation—until we obeyed the voice of the Lord. We know from firsthand knowledge that every self-imposed delay in our lives must be forsaken. There is only one call on our lives—a call to obedience, no matter what the cost! When we obeyed and returned to our home nation, the favor on our lives returned and has increased until this day. Praise God!

How often we lag behind in reaching the place of promise by taking with us what we should have left behind. The ties of human nature hindered the full response of Abram’s heart. Terah is a picture of our old self (the old man) that must die before we can enter in to our inheritance. Compromises will lead to delays in the unfolding of God’s destiny for us.

Abram had a “Lot” to lose. Although Terah was gone, Abram still had his nephew, Lot, who accompanied him, and many sorrows in their relationship would later surface. Abram set out for the land of his inheritance, but once again, he settled far short of where God wanted to bring him. Eventually, Abram was forced to leave all his family, including Lot, to fulfill the full plan of God for his life.

It has been the purpose of the author of Genesis to bring us to this point. Everything from Genesis 1–11 has been introductory in nature. Incredibly informative and amazingly accurate but only anticipating what is about to come. God the Father places a “spiritual seed” in the heart of Abram. Chosen by the God of heaven, the story line now takes us into God’s ultimate purposes.

All of Abraham’s life is meant to bring us into an understanding of our own heavenly calling, to a blessing beyond description. When we begin to have an understanding of our inheritance, we will find the cure for the disease of seeking the satisfaction of making a name for ourselves here on earth. How could we love the things of the world when we have been given “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm” in Christ? We have only to match our condition with our position. Why would we delay or compromise when we understand what is ours already? We must continue reaching into the place God has destined for us. Halfway is not enough.

Like Abram, we are called to a life of separation. But, as we all know, we delay in answering that call at times because a near relative is not prepared for a life outside the box. It took death for Abram to break that tie to the world, and so it took death for us; it’s called the cross of Christ, the place where we were co-crucified with him, the place of separation from the world, along with our co-burial and co-resurrection with him to release us to the purposes of God. The same cross that connects us to God separates us from the world (Galatians 6:14). Our “Terah” has died, and now we must move forward in the resurrection power imputed to us and move forward toward the destiny that God has already secured for us.

When you read about Abram in the New Testament, you will find that God graciously overlooks this failure of Abram. “Faith motivated Abraham to obey God’s call and leave the familiar to discover the territory he was destined to inherit from God. So he left with only a promise and without even knowing ahead of time where he was going, Abraham stepped out in faith” (Hebrews 11:8). Grace had blotted out his sin.

OUR SPIRITUAL CALLING

Try to imagine what that must have seemed for Abram to leave everything behind and go somewhere. I can imagine him saying, Where are we going, Lord? The essence of what the Lord said to Abram sounded something like this:

“Leave it all behind—your native land, your people, your relatives, all your stuff, your security, your dreams—release them all to come with me. I’m sending you somewhere you’ve never been before. You’re going to do something that no one has ever done before. Step out into the unknown and I will go with you. Concerning the destination: I’ll let you know when we get there! Your part is only to go; my part is to know. Follow me, and I will make you into a great nation. I will bless your socks off and prosper you beyond your imagination. I will make you so famous that everyone will know about your journey. You will be a tremendous source of blessing for others. Your blessing will rub off on everyone who blesses you. And if anyone tries to stop you, I will stop them! And through you, believe it or not, the entire earth will be blessed. Now let’s get going!” (Genesis 12:1–3, author’s paraphrase)

After being visited by the Lord, Abram had a choice to make. He could allow the voice of God to move him in a totally new direction, or he could stay where he was. Abram would be lost and disappointed forever if he did not obey this God who appeared to him. God must be everything to this man of faith. The promise of inheritance gripped his heart. It would be greater than what he already possessed, something bigger than himself.

The essence of our “spiritual calling” is the same as Abram’s. We love Jesus beyond any other affection. Lovers of Jesus will leave everything behind to follow his calling, his footsteps, even when it doesn’t make sense. Faith moves us closer to our inheritance until, finally, we discover the fullness God created us for.

LET’S PRAY

Father, today, I ask for your fire to fill my heart and consume everything in me that lags behind and delays to obey your voice. I want to be a true follower of Jesus and a person of great faith. Show me today how I can love you and serve you even more completely. This world has nothing for me. I find all my joys and all my fountains in you. Amen.

2

SEVEN TESTS OF ABRAHAM

Now Yahweh said to Abram: “Leave it all behind—your native land,2your people, your father’s household, and go to the land that I will show you. Follow me, and I will make you into a great nation. I will exceedingly bless and prosper you, and I will make you famous,3so that you will be a tremendous source of blessing for others. I will bless all who bless you and curse all who curse you. And through you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”4So Abram obeyed Yahweh and left; and Lot went with him.

GENESIS 12:1–4

Has God ever told you to do something difficult, painful, or impossible? Imagine how you would feel if these words were spoken to you? Wouldn’t it seem like God is asking a lot from his servant? Yet if God instructs you to do something for him, you can count on his promise of power to fulfill it. God’s promise to Abram guarded his heart and energized his steps. He had the truest form of security that exists in this universe: walking in the clear direction of the Lord.

Abraham’s life is a story of separations that he had to make. Each new separation brought new revelation. Each new revelation led to greater worship. Abraham would make a separation, and then the Lord would speak to him. And each time it prompted him to make an altar of worship. Here are the seven separations of Abraham’s life. Each of them was a test of his faith. And each represents a parallel test for us in our own journey. To follow Christ means you leave everything behind. The world behind me, Jesus before me. Here are the seven things that Abram (Abraham) had to leave behind:

1.He had to leave his comfort zone (Genesis 12:1). He had to forsake all that was familiar and comfortable. He had to abandon the land governed by moon-worship (the powers of darkness). He had to leave his home country and journey into a promised land of destiny’s fulfillment. We, too, must leave the traditions that say, “You can go so far but no farther.” We may need to discard traditions and boundaries. God wants you to leave the familiar, get out of your comfort zone, and go into the glory zone. Philippians 3:14 states, “I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus.”

2.He had to leave his closest ties, his father’s household (Genesis 12:1). God’s call of faith on our lives will one day deal with the closest ties of our heart. This represents both our natural and spiritual kindred. Often our sincere (but mistaken) family members will urge us not to leave our current condition and beckon us to stay behind with them. Many within the church will refuse to let you go into the place of your inheritance, seeking to keep you in their system. According to Job 17:9, “The righteous keep moving forward” (NLT).

3.Abraham had to leave Egypt and his compromise with the world (Genesis 13:1). Egypt was only a stopping place, not his destination. Egypt is a type of world-system full of the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. It’s a place of bondage to the man-pleasing spirit that seeks prominence over others. Doubting God’s provision in a famine is what drove him to this compromise. It’s the land of lies and deception. To refuse to leave Egypt is to continue in bondage and servitude.

“Don’t continue to team up with unbelievers in mismatched alliances, for what partnership is there between righteousness and rebellion? Who could mingle light with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and Satan? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What friendship does God’s temple have with demons? For indeed, we are the temple of the living God, just as God has said: ‘I will make my home in them and walk among them–I will be a true Father to you, and you will be my beloved sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Yahweh Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14–18)

4.Abram had to separate from wrong companions. He eventually left Lot behind (Genesis 13:11). Lot was not a man of the Spirit but of the flesh. He lived only from a carnal and worldly viewpoint. (I am not suggesting that you abandon family completely, but there is a spiritual principle that we don’t continue a close relationship with those who hinder our forward advance with God.) “Stop fooling yourselves! Evil companions will corrupt good morals and character” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Some people are just along for the ride but despise the responsibilities. The friends you keep can define and describe you. Choose your friends wisely, ones that will help you grow in character.

5.Abram had to forsake his craving for wealth. He refused the spoils of Sodom (Genesis 14:21–24). After rescuing his nephew Lot and returning all the stolen goods to the king of Sodom, he gave it all back. He even paid tithes to the priest of Salem (Jerusalem), Melchizedek. “And Melchizedek, who was both a priest of the Most High God and the king of Salem, brought out to Abram bread and wine. He spoke over him a special blessing, saying, ‘Blessed is Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High. Whose power delivered your enemies into your hands!’ Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all he possessed. Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Just give me the people you rescued; keep all the spoils for yourself.’ But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I raised my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, and I pledged a solemn oath to the Possessor of heaven and earth that I would keep nothing for myself that belongs to you, not even a thread of a garment or sandal strap. That way, you will never be able to say, “I was the one that made Abram rich”’” (vv. 18–23). Great privilege and anointing will provide opportunity to get wealth. God will provide unlimited provision to those who seek first the kingdom of God. The man of faith must not be bought. First Samuel 2:7 tells us, “The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts” (NIV).

6.Abraham had to leave behind his clever ideas and the works of the flesh. He had to separate himself from Ishmael (Genesis 21:9–14). Ishmael was the product of his impatience, not the child of promise. Every manufactured attempt to forward the promise of God must be abandoned. Ishmael was Abraham’s good idea, but not God’s promise. “As you yield freely and fully to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life.. Keep in mind that we who belong to Jesus, the Anointed One, have already experienced crucifixion. For everything connected with our self-life was put to death on the cross and crucified with Messiah. We must live in the Holy Spirit and follow after him” (Galatians 5:16, 24–25).

7.Abraham gave up and let go of his dearest treasure, his beloved son, the son of prophetic promise, Isaac (Genesis 22:1–14). This was his ultimate test of friendship with God. He had to give up even the promise God had fulfilled. And we find in Hebrews the reason Abraham could do what he did. Because he believed the second part of the promise that the Lord had given him. Hebrews 11:17–19 says, “Faith operated powerfully in Abraham for when he was put to the test he offered up Isaac. Even though he received God’s promises of descendants, he was willing to offer up his only son! For God had promised, ‘Through your son Isaac your lineage will carry on your name.’ Abraham’s faith made it logical to him that God could raise Isaac from the dead, and symbolically, that’s exactly what happened.”

Of course, God does not call us to sacrifice or abandon our children, but rather, it’s a hyperbole to help us understand how intent we must be to not worship or hold the long-awaited promises we have received as more important than the worship of our Lord God and Father. Our long-awaited promises, the ones for which we have fought the good fight of faith and won, cannot be our focus of worship. For our worship must be reserved for God and God alone. Exodus 20:3 states, “You shall have no other gods before me” (NIV).

And this also speaks to our trust in God. Do we believe his words, the report of the Lord? And do we believe that his character is good? Abraham knew logically that if the Lord asked him to sacrifice his own son, then he would have to raise him up again. Otherwise, how could he trust in a God who doesn’t keep his promises? All the promises of God are yes and amen!

LET’S PRAY

My wonderful Father in heaven, you always know what is best for me. When I feel like I’m surrounded by impossibilities, I’m actually surrounded by you. Every command you speak to me is a promise. Your words are promises that I will succeed and reach the prize of the goal of being like Christ. I trust your words, even the words I don’t understand. I know that you hold the timing of my life in your hands. I rest in you. Amen.

3

OBEY THE VOICE OF GOD

“Leave…your native land…

Go to the land that I will show you.”

GENESIS 12:1

Before we turn to discuss Abraham’s seven promises of blessing, let’s take a look at the setting. As the men of Babel sought to build for themselves an earthly city, Abraham proved his willingness to abandon all in search of a heavenly city. Abraham’s entire life is a story of leaving all to follow the Lord. Much like Peter, who left his nets and boats and fishing business, Abram left his country, his family. He continually released everything to God. The gospel of Jesus Christ truly begins with a man named Abram who listened and obeyed God (Matthew 1:1). All of human history has been changed because Abram heard and followed a heavenly vision.

And you are an heir of the blessing God promised Abraham, for you and I are the true spiritual seed. All the blessings given to him now flow to you. God will bless whatever you touch, for the blessing of Abraham is upon you. Your life is anointed to prosper, to grow, to excel, to bless others, to increase, and to be a source of blessing to your family, your church, your city. Nothing can stop you as you step out in faith!5

In a way that Abram could never forget, “the God of glory” first appeared to Abram while in Ur, a city in ancient Iraq (Acts 7:2). Think of that—the God of glory manifested in front of Abram! The celestial vision resulted in a call to Abram that shaped his destiny. He probably never dreamed that God would call him. Many people today have no clue that God has called them to greatness. This “appearing” was so life changing for Abram that it enabled him to come out of his pagan, darkened background and accept God’s calling on his life. The glory of another world drew Abram out of the city of Ur and to the city of God.

This is the first time God “appeared” since he walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. We don’t read that he appeared to Abel or Noah but to Abram. As a man would speak face-to-face with his friend, God appears. He saw the God of glory! It was perhaps this vision that kept Abram moving through his tent-dwelling days. Abram was able to believe God because he was a man of spiritual vision. This visitation made Abram’s future as real as the present.

Isaac could be offered as a sacrifice because Abram could see ahead to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus and even the power for resurrection (John 8:56). Abram, the prophet, had foreseen the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus prophetically and knew that his son would be a picture of the coming Messiah. Abram was a man captured with the eternal.

Abram was not told to stay and reform the culture or run for political office. He was called to separate himself and go out of Ur/Iraq toward another city. He didn’t know where he was going, but he did know what he was looking for (Hebrews 11:8–10). He was told to leave his country, his kindred, his father’s house, and leave for a country that God would lead him to: “Go to the land that I will show you.”