Genesis 13-15
Born-again believers in Jesus Christ are to have Abraham’s faith in God, not Abraham’s fear of man.
Pray out of faith, not worry, not fear, but out of faith in what God has directly said ‘to you’ in His Word by His Spirit.
Abraham did some dumb things along the way but the Scriptures say that at the end Abraham believed and it was credited to him as “righteousness.”
Abraham and Lot had to separate because of the size of their herds; there just wasn’t enough land for food living with each other. As the story goes Lot chose to go live in Sodom, while Abram remained in the hills overlooking the cities. When four kings allied to overtake the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, and 3 other kings (four kings against five kings) they succeeded and seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and they carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions since he was living there. Abram found out about it and during the night with his men – he recovered all that these kings had taken. (Chapter 14)
God gave Abram victory in defending the city of Sodom and Gomorrah only because of Abram’s concern and responsibility over his family (Lot’s clan) who came with Abram when the Lord called Abram to the Promised Land. When the king of Sodom wanted to basically pay Abram for what he did, Abram said: “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’” (vs. 22-23)
Then the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Genesis 15:1
I wonder how many of God’s people here in America are looking to the president and the government for what they need and want. I wonder how much longer it will be until God’s people no longer get their non-profit tax relief from the government if they preach against certain things that God calls evil. Who makes the people of God to prosper anyway? Who gives God’s people the freedom to live the way that pleases Him? Man? Man can try to prevent it – but “it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the LIVING GOD!”
We know God and Abram were not defending the wicked lifestyles in the societies of Sodom and Gomorrah because later we see that God sent His angels to Abram with the warning of judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah and for the increasing torment upon Lot and his family there. Lot sat at the city gate each day to welcome visitors into his home so they would be protected from hostility. God favored Lot for this. (Chapters 18 and 19)
In America we (of the Christian faith) have slowly (progressively) been brought into slavery by America’s enemies, those who have been elected and placed into powerful positions of our governing branches that are NOT God-fearing and that are working against America’s Constitution. God is not going to defend the wicked lifestyles of our culture today. God will although defend His people who have repented of their own wicked ways and returned to Him, trusting in Him and what He says to them directly.
Then the Lord made His covenant with Abram, and you can read about it in chapter 15. But in a nutshell God ‘sealed’ His promise to Abram. Do you have a promise from God? Did our founding fathers have a promise from God? From what I have seen in the Bible, a promise from God always follows what He is asking us to do, or commanding us to do. When we are faithful to God – God rewards the faithful. When God is pleased – God is generous. And God was certainly generous to Abraham.
“Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to Abram as righteousness.” (15:6)
Lot and his family were told by the angels of the Lord who came to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah – to leave Sodom, but where on earth can the righteous flee today and be free to live out their faith in the Lord without any hindrance or enemies. America was pretty much the last place of religious freedom.
God said to Abram in a dream that “his descendants would be strangers in a country not their own and that they would be enslaved and mistreated there.” And He went on to say: “But I will punish the nation you serve as slaves, and you will come out with great wealth.” Genesis 15:13-14 (“you” meaning Abram’s descendants who became Egypt’s slaves)
Are we losing our country as it was? Old America is being transformed into a new America with strange thinking and abnormal lifestyles that never used to make up our culture. We are fast becoming the strangers in our own country, enslaved by a government that has removed Jesus Christ and the Bible out of everything – with the thinking that they are gods in control of how to live, who lives and who dies, and even the future of mankind.
Do we as disciples of Jesus Christ have a land with a promise from God?
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, who through faith are protected by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5