Lessons From The Father Of Faith...

First, I apologize for the break in transmission. Though we shouldn't take a break from the things of God; however, it is important that we retreat to refill. Any breaks taken is for the growth of God's work. God's word is ever green, and we run with it. So there was the need to seek God's face in order to be sure we're still on the right track. We wanted to take the road to the New Testament this week, but the owner of the blog said we should stick around the Old Testament for a while. So yeah, we're still in the old testament... 

Today's character is a special one. I did a study on him a while back, and I happened to stumble on his character again in my recent Bible study. This man is a wonder and it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a modern translation of his biography because, what???!!! (This is already giving me an idea sha). I always exclaim and I'm left in bewilderment each time I come across his story. 

Father Abraham!!! There are dozens of things to learn from this great patriarch. I'll try listing out and explaining some of it; but first, I'll start from the one that Africa, Nigerians especially can relate with...

1. Father Abraham understood the attitude of respect and reverence: I noticed a trend in Father Abraham. Whenever he's in the presence of the Lord, he bows, all the way to the ground. I checked out other translations thinking it was a metaphor, and my guess was wrong. It isn't a metaphor. Abraham would literally now himself down to the ground whenever the presence of the Lord comes to reside with him (Genesis 17:3, 18:2, 23:12) 

Genesis 17:3‭-‬4

“Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face. Then God said to him..." (MSG)

Now, this is an act of reverence. If anytime you go before the Lord you decide to fall flat on the floor, stay on your kneels, or even stand, what's more important is the state of your heart. Don't kneel when in your heart, you're actually standing; but you're doing it for the crowd effect. For the crowd effect, I mean, when in church because people are around, you fall on your knees claiming to be lost in worship. No, it's hypocrisy. Don't do that. You're doing it for the audience's sake, and God doesn't regard that. 

In your secret place, how do you worship God?? Let's agree you're shy outside (in case you don't do it in church), what happens when it's you and God alone?? I'm not saying it's mandatory, but as an act of reverence, you should learn to fall on your knees in worship to God or even fall flat on your face to worship Him. Not everytime, standing like you and God are mates. Accord him that respect by falling on your knees when it's time to worship. 

Now, don't fall on your knees because you read it in one of TRC's articles; but because it came from your heart, and that you revere and reverence God.

2. He knew how to keep his mouth shut: if I have nothing to take from Abraham's story, this particular one, I held on to it tightly such that I kept it in my left hand so I won't use it to eat (as a Yoruba adage says). Abraham left his father's house without telling anyone what God told him. There was no case of him reporting to his father first or his brothers (Genesis 12:1-4)

Also, in Genesis 22, God told Abraham,

“And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." (Verse 2- KJV)

I want us to pay attention here. You know, Abraham had Ishmael already, However, Heaven only recognized Issac as the only son of Abraham because Ishmael came out of human compromise, and not God's promise. You know, it would have been easier said if God had not specified the son he had to kill, and even at the time, Sarah had made Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away because they mocked her son (Genesis 21:8-14). Still, Abraham could have found them and hastily slaughtered Ishmael because he wasn't the son of promise. But God did mention it that he should take his son, whom he loves and go ahead to give him as a sacrifice. Well, some might say he already had Ishmael so he doesn't actually loose both ways. I beg to differ because after Abraham had Ishmael, God told him clean and clear that because Ishmael is his son, He will make him a great nation and bless him, but the promise God had for Abraham wouldn't be fulfilled in Ishmael (Genesis 17:17-21), but rather in Isaac. Now, God was instructing him to take that exact son in whom the promise was promised that he should give him up as a sacrifice. Hmmm. 

Abraham didn't tell Sarah and even the servants he took along that God had asked him to sacrifice Isaac his son. Rather, he had given up Issac in his mind, and immediately the Word came from God, he took Isaac, two servants, items for sacrifice and set out! I'm pretty sure it was when Sarah got to Heaven that she was updated that Abraham tried using her only son for a sacrifice unto God. 

Need I tell you, that the ‘seed' God kept mentioning to Abraham was in the real sense referring to Jesus, and not to Isaac, but God was trying to tell him Jesus was coming from the lineage of Isaac, and not Ishmael. God was already prophesying the coming of Jesus here, and it wasn't the first time. In Genesis 17:19, God told Abraham the promise is for him (Isaac) and his seed after him. 

Galatians 3:15‭-‬17

“Dear brothers and sisters, here’s an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or amend an irrevocable agreement, so it is in this case. God gave the promises to Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say “to his children,” as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says “to his child”—and that, of course, means Christ. This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise..." (NLT)

Another thought that crept into my heart even as I write now was that God was already preparing our heart that He'll send his Son- His only son to die for our sins (now, I'm not saying this is right or wrong. I study and I meditate on what I read, and even while writing, some new interpretation creep into my heart so I'm writing them as I deem fit. I'm not sure there's a basis for this in the Bible or in any material. I am only sharing my thoughts and that's what it is). You know, God sent His only son to die for us, and now, God was telling Abraham to sacrifice his only son whom he loves, the lineage where Jesus is supposed to come from. God didn't give a reason though, and that's where we should take a pause and meditate. 

That should automatically translate to the fact that God wasn't really after the death of Isaac, but after the obedience of Abraham (we've moved to another lesson from the life of Abraham. So take this to be number 3). My pastor during my university days said something in one of his sermons that I never forgot. He said, “half obedience is disobedience," and also something like, “if you obey grudgingly, it's still disobedience." I also heard in a message by Pastor Chris Segun Onayinka that, “The proof of obedience is the obedience itself!" Dear reader, if God asks you to give out something or submit something to him, something you love so dear, would you be willing to give it out?? Would you obey without flinching?? Would you question God as to why He wants that thing from you?? He isn't after that thing He said He wants from you; rather He's after the state of your heart while doing it.

Do you wonder why after you obeyed God, you didn't really see the result promised?? Take a trip down memory lane to the state of your heart when you did what He asked you to do. Do you give tithe because your pastor won't stop preaching about it or because you actually see it as a duty to give God ten percent of your earnings?? Do you give offering because you don't want people thinking you don't have money or because you actually don't have, but you cannot bear not dropping anything in the offering basket?? Do you give tithe because you want people to see that you receive alert every week, or because you cannot do without giving God ten percent of every penny that arrives in your hand?? Can you give up that relationship, even if it's a godly one, because God asks you to?? 

It would be necessary that you know that everything you see on this earth, even up to the skin covering your bones is all dust! You know the popular scripture, “vanity upon vanity!" Nothing in this world is going to matter in Heaven! Don't think you'll go to Heaven and be thinking you'll still be married to your partner over there. No o. The marriage ends here. You lots are going to be brothers and sisters in Heaven. So you see, what exactly is now too big for you to drop in the name of, “God told me to??"

I didn't think it as a sacrifice until I got away from my father's house. Yes, God told me the same thing. He asked me to leave my father's house in Lagos to Ile-ife in Osun state, Nigeria where I studied. I was in Ile-ife before I got the instruction to stay back. I had always wanted my freedom anyway, so it was like a win-win for me. My parents didn't agree to it, and I had to go back home to explain things to them. When they finally released me to come back, I didn't believe I had left home until I set foot in my room. That day, I cried and was beyond sad! If I had the opportunity, I'd immediately go back home that day. First, I didn't see it as a sacrifice because I wanted it, but after spending just a few weeks at home, I knew family, was more important than the freedom I craved. What the Lord would have me do in Osun state, I had no idea, but because He said it, I'm obeying! God gave me the example of Abraham and Joseph when He asked me to leave home. Abraham was asked to get out of his father's house. Joseph was bundled out of his father's house; though it looked like a bad thing happened to him, but it was God's will in play. He needed to leave his father's house for his dream of men bowing to him to come to pass! That was what I held unto- I needed to be in another location where I'd fulfill purpose. Yes, Abraham had the issue of childlessness. Joseph had the case of being a slave, and being thrown into prison for an offense he didn't commit, and me, presently I'm passing through my own. But am I sad?? No! Why?? God still took care of, and came through for these men. Definitely, He'll take care of me too!

The home I went back to before I came back to cry, I went in disobedience because my parents were on my neck to come back, so I went home in order to explain to them because I felt the explanation I was doing on phone was not explanatory enough. However, I believe God still used it to teach me and help my heart, because really, when I got the instruction at first, it sat well with me because I had wanted my freedom, but when I went home and came back, I knew it wasn't freedom I had. It was a sacrifice I made! 

If I say I still love my freedom and I'm okay being away from my family, let me use the words of Paul, “I lie and the truth is not in me." I miss them a lot!!! But God's will will definitely lead me to somewhere better! He said the thoughts He has towards me are, “thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give me an expected end!" (Jeremiah 29:11)

Please note the repetition in the statement that, “The Lord told you to do what you're doing." If you go ahead and do what God didn't tell you to, He won't back you up. He won't even have a hand in it. Stick with, and learn to stay with God's word to you! Learn to hear God for yourself and hold onto His Word, and do it. Even when it seems ridiculous. In all, make sure, the Word you heard that made you do what you're doing, came from the Lord!! Provided he's sure that the word came from the Lord, Abraham follows it to the letter. 

Back to the lesson of Abraham keeping his mouth shut... When he left his father's house, I want to believe he didn't ask Lot to go with him, but Lot decided that, ”oh, I like this uncle, let me follow him" and Abraham agreed. As opposed to what we do hear, Abraham didn't take Lot with him. Lot decided to go with him. 

Genesis 12:4

“So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran." (NLT)

Yes, he didn't give the information aforehand that he was leaving, but his family members must have seen him packing and Lot decided to follow him. I'm sure if God had told Abraham that he should leave Lot behind, he would have obeyed without thinking twice! As I mentioned earlier, If Abraham had told Sarah God asked him to sacrifice Isaac, she would probably have ran away with Isaac the next morning, and both servants he even went with, he didn't tell them the reason they set out to make a sacrifice. I bet they'd have stopped him one way or the other thinking he must be drunk or not in his right senses because this is the son he waited for and gave birth to when he was 100 years of age. Even when Isaac asked him, he said, “the Lord will provide;" and that is where we get the name, “Jehovah Jireh." Sometimes, there is wisdom in secrecy; especially when that thing the Lord said to you sounds mysterious and out of this world. Wait o, don't say you read it somewhere in one TRC article that you should keep the instructions and words God told you secret. No o. What I mean is that there are some people you shouldn't tell everything to. As for me, there are some things I'm doing presently my parents aren't aware of; but my mentors, instructors and spiritual father are aware of that instruction. They're not necessarily bad, and it's actually not bad but I know my parents would kick against it if I told them so I kept it to myself. If they should know, it would be much later. 

Dear reader, if the instruction seems to big and mysterious, let your spiritual head know; as in mentor, spiritual father or instructor should be aware. If those sets of people are your parents, let them know as well!!! That's why we have them so we wouldn't take the wrong decisions. There are things I've heard from God that if not for my mentors, I'd have taken the wrong steps concerning those things because I didn't have the right knowledge with which to tackle the matter. It is very important to have a spiritual covering over you! What I mean by being secretive with some instructions you got from the Lord is that there are certain people you should keep in the dark as touching these things. It's not everyone you pour out your heart to, all in the name of they're close to you. Sift out what information to give to specific people, regardless of their affiliation with you. 

Speak to people as the Spirit leads you to!  

For today, we'll take a stop here. We'll continue some other time on some lessons from the life of Father Abraham. Maybe this isn't what you were expecting to read. For me, it wasn't what I planned to write, but I believe God has something somewhere in this message for us!