Day 39 (of 40 Days of Reconciliation
Day 3 (of Family Leadership Series)
Focus on the Lord of salvation. Blessings will flourish in the lives of those who obey. Give God your life and teach obedience to your children. May the Lord help us to stay attuned to him.
Would you believe that we are almost concluding our 40 days of reconciliation? Thank you, everyone, who has walked this journey with us. I know some people have been following the course system. The course system helps us know who should get a certificate for those who want it.
Those who are walking with us on a general system, that is the open podcast, the blog posts or the videos, we assume for us we don't need certificates. Should anyone desire to have a certificate for this, they will have to go to the course page and possibly do a test, and then we can organize a certificate for them.
But the great news is, It's day 39 today in the 40 days of reconciliation, and Day 3 in the Family Leadership Series. We found a relevance between the two, so we decided to have an overlap. So, thank you so much.
Previously, we looked at the significance of raising our children in righteousness, that is in the fear of God, and the question, why do we have to do that? Because God has instructed us to do that. There is no excuse.
Today, we're going to look at the core of our foundation. One would argue that Jesus Christ is our foundation. Do we really have to look back to the Old Testament stories? But then before you go too far, you have to realize that the prophets came and taught the people about the Messiah.
The same Jesus we say is our foundation, also truly tells us he is our foundation, but we also need to understand the core of our foundation. He himself is rooted on God's plan, on God's purposes, because all from the history of Abraham, we know that the Messiah was coming. This is where God was leading the generations.
Abraham was brought from a community that you couldn't tell whether they were really for God or for someone else. Then God called Abraham, when he was still Abram, to walk with him and to demonstrate in him the true relationship that God desired between us and Him. At that point, it might have looked like it was only for Abraham, but today we've learned that actually the work of God with Abraham was an example for us to follow.
We see that later Isaac, because he grew up with a man who was predetermined to teach his faith and to let it continue, Isaac grew in the fear of God. Jacob did the same. Just as Abraham would communicate with God, in the same way Isaac and Jacob continued communicating with God, and they knew that nobody else in the whole world could take this from them. They had their identity in their relationship with God, the Creator.
Even when the people who were around them attempted to hurt them, they still had where to run, to the God of the promise. They had no earthly king, because the King for them was the Lord God Almighty. If you want to read the scriptures, you find this in Genesis chapter 6, 7, 11 and 12.
In Christ, we have been called as well.
"Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28
Secondly, everyone who has believed has also been baptized and given a new name that reflects God's glory.
The third, each one that has believed must separate themselves from the worldly comfort and follow Christ. We see this in Matthew chapter 16, verse 24:
"If any of you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me."
In other words, focus on the Lord of salvation. Don't come to God just to get a name and then you go about your own way. Have you ever seen a woman who desires to have the name of a man added to her name just for her business? She gets married one day and then goes back. Would you want such a kind of relationship with God? He doesn't want that kind of relationship. You need to completely surrender to God and make sure that you bring your children into righteousness. Talk to them, share with them. We looked at this on Day 2 of the family series, day 38 of the 40 days of reconciliation.
We'll end our today's article by looking at one promise that God made, but should be a scare for those who do not believe.
"I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse those who curse you. And through you, I will bless all the nations."
Genesis 12:3
God's blessings will flourish in the lives of those who obey Him, but basing on the same scripture, we understand that curses can also flourish in the lives of those who disobey God, whose minds are set on hurting Him.
If the mind is set on your hatred for God, it will hate God's people as well. If they love God's people, it could indicate they have a heart for God. It's hard to love God and hate His people. Those who love God will love His people. Thanks to God for anchoring His blessing on Abraham, who is the father righteousness; which is unreserved obedience to God.
Here is a question for us: Does God have space in your heart? How much is it? How much space do you think He needs from you?
How much space do you think Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob gave to God? They surrendered everything to Him. Did they lose? No. Look, today we are talking about them!
Give God your life and dedicate yourself to teaching obedience to your children. May the Lord strengthen us. May the Lord help us to stay attuned to him. May he bless every person who is focused on knowing Him and teaching their children righteousness.