…Abraham
Imagine how it must have looked
to onlookers, to Sarah & the intimate relatives, when Abraham was
off to sacrifice Isaac. It still looks atrocious to men! Well, but this
was My test, which made him the Father of faith, for greater faith than
this, to be truly willing and ready to sacrifice your own most beloved
son to obey Me, has very rarely been found. You can do miracles, move
mountains, heal the sick & raise the dead, and it still won't
amount to that kind of faith. For it looks most irrational to the whole
world. How could they know, that the God of the universe was going to
sacrifice His only Son, and He was asking Abraham, 'would you be
willing to go that far?' And He was showing the world a little glimpse
& example of what He was going to do
Only once Abraham was willing
to sacrifice & yield that which he loved most dearly, was I able to
bless him mightily to become the 'father of faith'... And likewise, I
cannot tell whether you truly love Me first until you've really lain
your Isaac on the altar. Letting go of the person you love most in all
the world is a painful process, & if some people may still wonder
why I ever had Abraham pass through such a cruel test, now that you're
in the middle of that very same test you wonder all the more, but one
day you'll see the perfect sense in this.
I often give you your Isaac,
only to ask you to give him up for Me again, to test whether you really
love Me above all. If one uses this situation as an excuse to quit,
then they will only show that they didn't have what it takes in the
first place: the necessary amount of love for Me.
Just like I gave Isaac to
Abraham: the fulfillment of all his desires & My promises to him,
the heir of My covenant with him, the one to fulfill all that I had
spoken, and yet I asked Abraham to give this very son of promise, this
embodiment of all that was important to him back to Me, to sacrifice
him, to kill him, to let Me take him away out of his life again, even
so it is with all of you: everyone has the choice whether they're going
to let the things I have given them, their boy- or girl-friend, their
children, wife or husband, become their new god, the thing they live
for, the thing that all their actions revolve around, or whether
they're going to give it back to Me every day, lay it on the altar
& put Me first, willing to sacrifice their most dearly beloved...
Only those with great faith can
do that, but only those with great faith are going to become the heirs
of faith. If Abraham would not have been willing to sacrifice Isaac,
you never would have heard of him, it's as simple as that. I would have
had to look for another Abraham, one who would have been willing to put
Me first & surrender & sacrifice that to Me which he loved most
in all the World...
In a very real way, this
sacrifice greatly enhanced Abraham's love for Isaac. It showed to him
how blessed he was, every day, after this, to even have him, because I
could have also taken him away from him. Now that he had shown that he
would not even withhold his very son from Me, now he could love him
with a love that was pure, purged of any selfish intentions or
motivations. He loved him with a love that daily cried out to Me in
thankfulness: "God, I thank Thee for this son whom You have given me,
and whom you have asked from me, and I have not withheld him from you,
and for this son that you have given back to me, even again, a second
time!" It was a love from then on that was through & through
drenched in gratefulness, drooping with humility & tears of joy, a
love enhanced & beautified by utter submission to Me, a love that
was only passed by Abraham's love for Me. It was a factor that purified
his love greatly. That's the kind of pure love that is necessary, in
order to make it for Me in this life and death game of faith, beloved!
A love that says to the one whom you love: "I love you, but you are not
mine, but have only been given to me by the Lord, and I am willing to
give you back to Him at any time He requests you. I love you so much
because God is giving us this great love for Him in the first place. He
has loved me as much as to give you to me, and I will love Him back
& give you back to Him any time He asks, and this in return, will
again, strengthen and purify our love for each other: my love for you,
your love for me, and our love for Him..."
Now you wonder, well, what is your Isaac then?
Your Isaacs are all the little
things that seem to get so important to you that they drag you away
from Me and My service. Whatever it is during any given day that just
seems to become more important than Me, be it in any kind of form or
shape of your music ministry, or your own desires... What it all boils
down to for each of you, is: are you willing to lay down your own
desires on the altar, in order to serve Me and further My Kingdom? The
more you learn this, the more you are willing to sacrifice your own
desires, and the more you will learn to do this not grudgingly, but
willingly, and joyfully, the quicker you will learn what it truly means
to be a humble & willing servant of Mine, & a true &
dedicated disciple. As long as you are ridden by your own selfish
wants, lusts & desires, why, you're not that different from anyone
else in the World. And you aren't, really. You've got the same desires.
Abraham had the same desires to have a family, as any other man in the
World.
But the difference between
those like Abraham & the rest of the World is that they can say,
"See, I've had the same desires as you, I'm the same kind of material
as you, but I've had to learn to put the Lord first, before that
natural desire of mine. We've got to learn to give back to God that
which He gives us in the first place, to show that we're thankful to
Him, that we acknowledge that it all comes from Him, and that we learn
not to take each other for granted, for that way we will only hurt each
other. But when we give each other back to the Lord, it enhances our
love for each other, it makes our love grow and grow and grow..."
Usually people take whatever
options sound best to them, as in the case with Abraham & Lot. Lot
chose the valley, & consequently got himself into trouble in Sodom,
remember?
I'm challenging you to stretch your spiritual muscles & limbs into new, more exciting areas & changes, higher plains.
Everybody involved in this
equation needs to stretch their muscles of faith & trust in some
area. The thing to do is to focus on Me & keep your focus on what's
up ahead, not the easier, more comfortable option, IF you want to
follow in the footsteps of Abraham, the father of faith, & be part
of his heritage, a bearer of the crown of those who chose My highest
will & option.
Take the mountain! Like
Abraham, like Joshua, like Caleb. And let the rest of the weaklings,
half-hearts & compromisers settle for the valley & the
low-lands.
The acid test is always whether
they seek that which is their own or that which is Mine. They will only
be able to withstand the Enemy's attacks with doubts & negative
thoughts if they really focus on what I want, & not their own
selfish little desires or selfish little families, or whatever it is
they're most concerned about.
It's a fine line, because
everybody has their ministry or "Isaacs" that are of utmost importance
to them. The question is only whether they're willing to surrender
& give them back to Me, or whether they will try to selfishly cling
to them & "protect" them from Me, not letting Me touch them. You
see, the test I've had Abraham pass with Isaac was actually a lot more
relevant to all My followers of all ages than meets the eye. Nearly
everyone has their own little family, with their own little "Isaacs".
Those who will say, "No, never
will I allow You to touch my Isaac" will sooner or later fall away,
because they simply haven't got the faith nor the love for Me that it
takes to follow Me all the way. Only those who wholeheartedly say,
"Lord, whatever is mine is Thine... take it & do as You wish..."
those who trust Me to this extent, are the ones who will make it unto
the end.
It's an ongoing test, and
sometimes I may give you brand new Isaacs in brand new situations,
where you say, "Lord, I'm tired of forsaking my Isaacs to You. I have
forsaken so many already, don't take this one away from Me also..."
No, life isn't going to be
perfect - ever - in this present life, and I ordained it this way in
order for you not to cling to this World & this life with tooth
& nail, but so that you would - like Abraham - seek a better place,
a City Whose Builder & Maker I am - your true Home. This World is
not your home, so you might as well quit looking for the perfect place
in it, and the perfect situation, where everything is going to be as
you wish. (See Hebrews 11:8-10).
I delight in doing My miracles
when they seem all the more impossible. I waited for Abraham &
Sarah to grow in age beyond the point where it was humanly &
commonly possible to have children until she conceived Isaac. Remember,
she laughed at My Words, but that laughter turned into flesh &
blood!
Abraham was willing to trust
Me, that I knew better what was the best concerning his son, that My
hands were the place he was going to be best cared for, even if I asked
something as absurd of him as to sacrifice him unto Me. Evidently
Abraham had enough faith to believe that even if Isaac would die, it
would be better for him than what could have happened if Abraham had
disobeyed Me.
I use what nobody else thinks I
can use: when Abraham was of old age, he was tempted also to think that
the promise I had given him must have been meant to be interpreted in
some other way, not in the typical, carnal or physical way he
originally expected, because, after all, that would have required a
miracle of the kind the world had never seen yet.
You've got to have faith for miracles of the kind the world has never even seen yet. I'm still going to surprise you!
Don't look at your own flesh
& limit Me by saying I can't use you anymore, you're too old!
Remember Abraham and Moses, both of whom I used at an age when they
both wouldn't have expected anymore to be used by Me so greatly... You
must see in a completely different way than the way the world sees!
Pioneers must have vision to see what no one else believes! How much of your own life are you willing to pour into your child?
That's all Abraham had to work with to become the Father of faith: one child!
Abraham had to walk that way,
he had to climb that hill, he had to be willing to sacrifice Isaac, in
order for Me to stop him and say, "It is good. I know now that you
truly love Me." That's the road of faith. This doesn't mean that I will
ask the very same thing of all My children, but it means, be prepared
to sacrifice, be prepared to risk to lose everything, be willing to
give it all up, for only in this way will you obtain the great blessing
and inherit My promises of happiness!
Abraham saw his own body as
good as dead, but he staggered not at My promise through unbelief, but
still brought forth the fruit of his loins miraculously, the promised
heir, and so it is also with this tree that you see, as you see it, as
good as dead, no fruit, no life, no love, no Spirit. But stagger not at
My promise through disbelief, but believe that I am able to bring to
pass what I promised, even if the tree is as good as dead.
It took Abraham years until he
would see the fulfillment of the promise. And as Sarah mocked My
messengers in her heart, and doubted that I would bring it to pass, you
look & don't see it. It's impossible, you say. But you must not
give up prematurely!
Look at this tree, this body,
as good as dead, but stagger not at My promise through unbelief, but
believe that I am well able to perform that which I have spoken,
because all things are possible to him that believeth & with Me
nothing shall be impossible.
I know, it's hard to trust
sometimes, that a God of Love would ask you to do such irrational
things, or would use such unconventional methods, but that's why only
those with great faith can really trust Me - and My Word, for that
matter. Some people consider the Abraham/Isaac episode an atrocity that
doesn't really belong in My Word. They didn't really get the point.
Don't look at your body as good
as half-dead, as Abraham could have done. Don't mock My promise. If I
have said it, I can do it and I am more capable of doing it than you're
willing to have Me do it!