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WHEN ABRAM was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am the Almighty God;
walk and live habitually before Me and be perfect (blameless, wholehearted, complete). And I will make My covenant (solemn pledge) between Me and you
and will multiply you exceedingly.
Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, as for Me, behold, My covenant (solemn pledge) is with you,
AND YOU SHALL BE THE FATHER OF MANY NATIONS.
Nor shall your name any longer be Abram [high, exalted father]; but your name shall be Abraham
[FATHER OF A MULTITUDE], for I have made you
THE FATHER OF MANY NATIONS. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful
AND I WILL MAKE NATIONS OF YOU,
AND *KINGS WILL COME FROM YOU.
And God said to Abraham,
as for you, you shall therefore keep My covenant,
you and your descendants AFTER YOU throughout their generations."
- The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
The law of gravity demands that something descend from us.
Something must fall from my life to others. That's why our children (biological and spiritual) are called descendants. They are a representation of what has descended from our life.
When God told Abraham, I will make you "the father of many nations," it was virtually impossible physically. The fact that Abraham was old, well advanced beyond years and his wife's womb was dead (she was beyond the years of childbearing) made the promise suspect; but the promise that God would make Abraham, one nationality, into many nations seemed insane, reckless and without merit.
After all, how would God make a multitude of different nations (or nationalities) out of one?
This promise was both profound and prophetic and illustrated how the faith of one man that was so remarkable and fearless, that God wanted to make a mold out of it and reproduce it for future generations.
What type of faith, feat or characteristic flows out of your life that fascinates God to mold others after you?
The Hebrew writer wrote: "So from one man, though he was physically as good as dead, there have sprung descendants whose number is as the stars of heaven and as countless as the innumerable sands on the seashore." (Chapter 11)
When people write you off (for dead), that's when God wants to pull something out of you that never existed before.
God said: "I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you."
But Abraham was not a king and had no royal lineage or bloodline; so God gave Him a promise that required a future blood transfusion. The American HeritageŽ Science Dictionary defines a "transfusion" as "the transfer of blood from one person to another to replace losses caused by injury, surgery, or disease."
I won't even go there.
But let me just say the Seed of Abraham, Christ, replaced some things that our ancestors gave us. He gave us permission to access the generational blessing and promises made to a thousand generations of those who love God (and keep His commandments.)
We have a right to demand the blessing to descend to us.
For something to descend to you (for it to be inherited or transmitted), you must be a succeeding generation (or family member.) So the Apostle Paul wrote: "And if you belong to Christ [are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed], then you are Abraham's offspring and [spiritual] heirs according to promise."
But heirs of what promise?
Well, here is one of them:
"For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your posterity forever. And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the dust of the earth, then could your descendants also be counted." Gen 13[15-16]
RIGHT NOW, "What descends from your life to others?"
Does anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, lust, pride, poverty, joblessness, illiteracy, divorce, emotional instability descend from you? OR does blessing, wealth, favor, wisdom, grace, faith, increase, employability, righteousness, responsibility, love and forgiveness descend?
Your daily decisions make the choice of what comes to and through you.
Faith, action and results determine where we go and what we lead in life.
