21 Days: Day 9

Hello and welcome to 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. I'm so glad you're back with us today. We have a great opportunity today. But first I wanna introduce myself a little bit. My name is Jen. I have the incredible opportunity of being one of the kids pastors here at B Hope, and it is one of the most incredible things, if not the most incredible thing that I have ever had.

The opportunity to do. Today, we're going to start off in the book of Genesis in chapter 22, and we're here with Abraham, and Abraham gets a call from God to take his son Isaac, his only son, the son that he loves dearly. And God calls him. He says, hey, I need you to take your son. Take him to the place that I will show you, and I need you to prepare him as a burnt sacrifice.

And in my head, I imagine Abraham is going to run far and he's going to run fast. He's going to say, absolutely no way am I letting go of my son, the one whom I love. But lo and behold, Abraham, without hesitation, bright and early in the morning, packs up Isaac, his donkey, and a couple servants, and they travel for a couple of days, and they get to this place where Abraham and Isaac are intended to go up on this mountain, where Isaac would be sacrificed.

And Abraham leaves the servants at the bottom of the mountain. And this is what he says. He says, stay here with the donkey. Abraham told the servants, the boy and I will travel a little further, and we will worship there. And then we will come right back in this moment of obedience, where Abraham understands the gravity of his decision to obey God, he still has this belief that his God is a gracious God.

He has this understanding that his God requires obedience. But we get to step in to the fullness of his grace when we choose obedience to God. And so what happens next? Abraham and Isaac go up to this mountain, and they prepare together the point of this burnt sacrifice. And Isaac asks him at one point he says, where is the thing that we are supposed to sacrifice, not knowing that it's he himself?

And Abraham replies to him. He says, God will provide what we need, and so Abraham, not knowing the end of the situation, not knowing the end of where they're at, believes that God will provide because he has stepped into this obedience from him. And I would imagine that he is afraid. He is terrified. I would be if I when I had to take the things that I care about the most, when I had to take the things that are most important to me in this world, I have to hand them over and say, God, do with this what you will.

It's terrifying. I have a really, really, really, high opinion of how people think of me. And when I have to say, hey, God, I understand that my reputation should not be mine but yours. And I want people to know you and not me. And the thing that I have worked hard to create around myself. That's scary. What will people think of me?

How will people see me? What do they think? But Abraham in Genesis 22 says, I don't care. This thing that I care about the most, I will commit to the Lord. And we see that because, Abraham, Abraham does this. God provides Abram, right. God provides provision. And so that Abraham, with his promise from God reestablished, would be blessed for many, many years that the nations and all of the people would be blessed through Abraham.

And what comes out of that? In Abraham's lineage, we see Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, to whom all people are offered salvation. That all stems from Abraham's obedience to the Lord. And so maybe for you, what is the thing that you hold on to so tightly that you haven't yet handed over to God? What is the thing that you're not quite able to say, God, not your my will, but your will be done with this situation, with these belongings, with this thing that I believe is so important.

What is it that's keeping you from trusting God fully? Let's pray. Lord, we are so grateful that we get to, meet you that we get to choose obedience to you. What? I pray that this week we would, have a clear understanding of what we are being held back by, of what we are not willing to let go of so that we can be fully obedient to you and your call that you have upon our lives.

What do we believe? That when we step into obedience, we get to experience the fullness of your grace, where we love you and all these things in your name, Amen.