Weekly Devotion

Happy New Year! A new year brings excitement, it brings anticipation, it brings hope, it brings new beginnings. But for some of us a new year might bring dread, fear and anxiety over what lies ahead. Some of you might fear the unknown and might be scared of the path ahead. Some of you might be downcast, depressed at the way your life might have turned out, with no hope that this year will be any better.

Well, I would just like to give you hope. In Jesus there is always hope. In Him love abounds and in Him there is everlasting joy. And He gives us His Word to teach us and to lead us into all truths (All glory to Him!).

Therefore let us look at a couple of examples in the Bible of several people that gave up hope. Sarah gave up hope that she will ever have a child. She thought that she was too old and therefore she gave Hagar to Abraham to bear a child for her. Ishmael was born as a result. Later on as we know God kept His promise and gave Sarah her own son, Isaac. But then the trouble began. The family started fighting amongst themselves and until today this fighting continues. If only Sarah had kept on believing that God will deliver on His promises, they would have been spared a lot of heartache.

Zechariah and Elizabeth gave up hope that they will ever have children. And when Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him that he will have a son, John, Zechariah didn't believe him. And due to his disbelief Zechariah couldn't speak until John was 8 days old. It was therefore almost a year that Zechariah couldn't speak! If he didn't lose hope he could have had his voice during that time declaring God's goodness to them.

Martha and Mary lost hope when their brother Lazarus died. For four days they mourned for him, weeping bitterly. And when Jesus came they didn't believe Him when He said that He will raise him from the dead. But when Lazarus was raised all sorrow turned into rejoicing! If they kept on believing in Jesus' miraculous power, they would have been saved from their bitter mourning.

The disciples lost all hope when Jesus was crucified. They hid away, behind bolted doors, scared out of their wits. They lost all hope in the future, forgetting that He had told them that He will be raised again on the third day. They should have clung to the hope of His resurrection, but instead they were suffocating in sadness and fear. But joy was theirs forevermore because He was raised from the dead! Hope never disappoints!

And so I can go on with examples. Hope is always there. Do not despair, but be filled with hope and a wonderful expectation of good coming your way. This year can be your best year yet. Trust in God, learn to hear His voice and to walk in His ways. Spend time in the Word and develop faith, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The more you take in of His Word, the more faith you will develop and the more your situation will change. It will. God has given us faith as a gift, take it and be filled with more of Him.

This year could be the year of your breakthrough, the year you have been waiting for. Trust God for it. Place Him first in your life, number one, and then everything will fall into place. Do not become desperate, but exalt Him on high. The more you place Him in an honorary position in your life, the more breakthroughs you will see.

Smile, rejoice, God is your hope, and He never disappoints. Glory to Him on high. 2016, here we come, armed with God's armour, ready for the battle ahead, ready to glorify Him!

Lord Jesus, we look forward to this year. Thank you for the opportunities we can know will come our way, thank you for Your Spirit inside of us leading the way. Thank you for joy and peace and thank you for being our loving Saviour. We are so glad that You are by our side. Walk each step with us Lord, You are our Lord placed on High. Glory in the highest heavens! Amen

Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year. It is a time to rejoice, a time to relax and a time to spend with our loved ones. And most of all, it is a time to reflect on what we believe as Christians. It is not X-Mas for us, focused only on presents and partying, but Christmas, focused on our loving Lord Jesus Christ. And that is what my message is about today. And I am going to use a text verse that one not normally use for Christmas. Jesus was speaking here to Nathanael:

"The truth is, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down upon the Son of Man." John 1:51

Jesus was referring here to the dream that Jacob had when he fled from his brother Esau to go and live with his uncle Laban. Jacob stopped over at Haran and slept in the field with a stone as a pillow. And there he dreamed of a stairway that reached from earth to heaven and he saw the angels of God going up and down on it (Genesis 28:12). Jacob was in fact given a vision of Jesus as the ladder between earth and heaven. Jesus came to open up the heavens that sinful people like us can walk on this ladder into the Kingdom of Heaven. This ladder is also filled with angels helping and assisting us along the way.

Jesus came to make peace between God and man. He is now the perfect Mediator between the two parties, as He was fully man and He is fully God. He reconciled God to man. Isn't it wonderful? No wonder it is called the Good News. It is certainly something worth celebrating. We were supposed to die due to all our sins, we were supposed to be sent into the dark abyss never to return. We were slaves of sin destined for death. Death reigned over us, and the prince of this world, the devil, had the power over us all. But then Jesus came, our wonderful Saviour! He came and He demolished the power of sin in our lives, He came to give us new life and life in abundance. He opened the way for us that we can have access to the blessings of our Father. He came to free us from this world, to free us from the power of the evil one and to give us new hope and prospects of living with Him forever. He infiltrated us with His Spirit and gave us joy, peace and loving kindness within. He also equipped us with the power of the Spirit to serve Him and to spread the Good News.

Isn't Jesus just amazing? He is loving and kind, He is full of abundance and grace. And yet, He is the Judge of all and will not allow evil to continue forever. One day soon He will return and rid the earth of all evil once and for all. Then we will live with Him and be with Him forevermore. Allow joy and anticipation to bubble up. Meditate on this these truths this festive season. Give Him all glory and live for Him alone. He is faithful and just, our Saviour, our Bridegroom, our loving God.

Thank you so much Jesus for coming to our sinful world and saving us. Thank you that You are the ladder between us and our Father. We rejoice that we can come to You because You came to us first. We love and adore You and want to exalt Your Name on high this Christmas. You are the biggest gift that we have ever received. We love You. Amen

Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac on Mount Moriah, just as God instructed him to. Now today I want to show you something interesting about Mount Moriah.

Several hundred years later David was king of Israel. And towards the end of his reign, he sinned against the Lord and asked that a census be done throughout Israel. He asked for the census in order to determine his military strength. In other words, he ignored the fact that God was with them and wanted to determine how strong Israel was in their own strength. God was displeased with that and He punished Israel for it. But He in His loving mercy gave them a choice in their punishment. Either He will send three years of famine, or three months of destruction by their enemies, or three days of severe plague caused by the angel of the Lord throughout the land of Israel. David chose three days of severe plague:

"...let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is very great." 1 Chronicles 21:13

And that is what happened and 70 000 people died as a result. Then just as God sent the angel to destroy Jerusalem, God ordered him to stop. At that moment the angel was standing by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Then the angel of the Lord instructed David to build an altar to the Lord at that threshing floor. David immediately reacted, bought the threshing floor, built an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on it.

"And when David prayed, the Lord answered him by sending fire from heaven to burn up the offering on the altar. Then the Lord spoke to the angel, who put the sword back into its sheath." 1 Chronicles 21:26, 27

From then on David offered his sacrifices to the Lord there at Araunah's threshing floor and he declared that the Temple of the Lord should be built there. Why am I telling you this? Because the Temple was built by Solomon on that very sight. And in 2 Chronicles 3:1 we learn the following:

"So Solomon built the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to Solomon's father, King David. The Temple was built on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the site that David had selected."

The Temple of the Lord was thus built on the threshing floor of Araunah and it so happens to be on Mount Moriah, the very same spot where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac. Isn't that interesting? In both instances (Abraham and David) offerings were made which was acceptable to God. Their hearts were right towards God and they honoured Him with their actions. Abraham was prepared to offer his hope for having future generations, he was prepared to offer his plans for the future, he was prepared to offer the love of his life and he placed Isaac in God's hands. David on the other hand was sorry for what he did in ordering the census, and he asked God's forgiveness. He gave honour to God and placed Him above all once again in the nation of Israel.

Today we are the Temple of God and therefore when we approach God today we can be reminded of the example of these two great men of God and make an offering in our hearts too. We need to offer our future to Him; all our future plans should be placed in His hands. We need to offer of our time, we need to set aside all our ambitions and plans and give honour and glory to God Almighty. We should offer our family to Him as He knows best. We should offer our future to Him and place our lives in His hands. We need to have an eternal Temple perspective as we approach Him, our Holy God. We shouldn't place our hope on our own strength and capabilities, but rather trust Him to do the impossible through us.

Father thank you that we can now be Your Temple here on earth. Father, today we come and offer all our ambitions and plans before Your throne. You and You alone know best. You are strong when we are weak. Please take over our weaknesses and work in us with Your strength. You know best and we love You. In Jesus Name. Amen

Abraham was faithful and didn't even withhold his beloved son from the Lord. He was prepared to sacrifice him to God. He believed in a God Who can bring the dead back to life. But before he could even witness his son's death, an angel of the Lord appeared to him:

"Lay down the knife," the angel said. "Do not hurt the boy in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld even your beloved son from Me." Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering on the altar in place of his son." Genesis 22:12

God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son and even provided a ram for Abraham to offer a sacrifice. And not only that, God lavished Abraham with blessings due to his obedience:

"This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed Me and have not withheld even your beloved son, I swear by My own self that I will bless you richly. I will multiply your descendants into countless millions, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. They will conquer their enemies, and through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed - all because you have obeyed Me." Genesis 22:15-18

God showered Abraham with blessings due to his act of obedience. God is a God of more than enough, a God of extravagance. And today He is still the same.

God offered Abraham a ram to be offered as a substitute for his son, but God sacrificed His own Son as a substitute for us. He gave Jesus as an offer, so that we never have to die, but that we can live! God spared Isaac, but God didn't spare His own Son. He didn't spare Him, so that we can all come into His kingdom as His sons and daughters. He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us. And now all we need to do is to believe in the One He sent. And then we become part of Abraham's descendants and the promise that God gave him is now ours too:

"God's promise is given to us as a free gift. And we are certain to receive it, whether or not we follow Jewish customs, if we have faith like Abraham's. For Abraham is the father of all who believe." Romans 4:16

"Now this wonderful truth - that God declared him to be righteous - wasn't just for Abraham's benefit. It was for us, too, assuring us that God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead." Romans 4:23, 24

How wonderful, we are righteous if we believe in God! We do not even need to try, God declares us so, when we believe in His Son. And even more than that, we are the descendants of Abraham and all the blessings showered on him is now ours too. We just need to reach out and take it. We need to claim it for ourselves. What a wonderful privilege and honour. Praise Him for His wonderful plan, conceived at the beginning of time. We can now stand tall in a world filled with darkness knowing that we are richly blessed.

Thank you Father that we are part of Your family. Thank you for declaring us to be righteous, all because of what Jesus did for us! We praise Your Name and we honour You, our wonderful King and Father! Amen

Abraham was obedient and was on his way to sacrifice his son, Isaac, because God told him to do it. He didn't waste a moment and immediately acted on God's command. As we learned last week, Abraham was obedient, because he believed that even if he killed Isaac, that God can raise him from the dead. Abraham's faith was unwavering and a wonderful example to follow.

But one thing that I realised while reading this is that Isaac wasn't that young here. We don't know exactly how old he was, but some scholars believe that he might even have been as old as thirty. We don't know. They believe that he might have been older, because in the next chapter it tells us that Sarah died at the age of 127. We know she was 90 when he was born, so he was 37 years old when his mother died. So he could have been somewhere in his thirties in Genesis chapter 22. The fact of the matter is, Isaac wasn't a small boy anymore. He could easily walk the three days journey to Mount Moriah and he could easily ascend the mountain. And to top it off, he was definitely strong, as Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders to carry up the mountain:

"Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the knife and fire." Genesis 22:6

So I think it is safe to conclude that Isaac must have been a young man. Now what triggers me is how Abraham, a very old man by now, was strong enough to tie up Isaac, a young man, in order to sacrifice him? How was he able to do it?

"When they arrived at the place where God told Abraham to go, he built an altar and placed the wood on it. Then he tied Isaac up and laid him on the altar over the wood. And Abraham took the knife and lifted it up to kill his son as a sacrifice to the Lord."Genesis 22:9, 10

The only way that Abraham could have tied up Isaac, was if Isaac consented to be tied up. That is the only logical explanation. And if that is the truth, we have another hero of the faith, Isaac. If he consented to be sacrificed, he must have had the same faith that his father had. He must have respected his father's judgment so much that he was prepared to be tied up to be sacrificed. Isn't that amazing?

Isaac is also mentioned in Hebrews 11 as one of the greats in the faith. In the Old Testament God introduced Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Isaac's name is still famous today. Isaac submitted his will to the Father's will. Doesn't that remind you of Someone? Someone that was willing to die according to His Father's plan? Yes, Jesus. Jesus gave up His life willingly. He didn't die because He was helpless and couldn't do anything about His situation. No, He died, because He was doing the will of the Father, saving all those that He loved. I would just like to share one instance that shows without a doubt that Jesus gave His life willingly:

"Jesus fully realised all that was going to happen to Him. Stepping forward to meet them, He asked, "Whom are you looking for?" "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "I AM." Jesus said. Judas was standing there with them when Jesus identified Himself. And as He said, "I AM", they all fell backward to the ground!" John 18:4-6

They all fell backward to the ground when He used His title "I AM". They couldn't do anything to Him. They were the helpless ones, walking in the presence of the Almighty. No, Jesus gave His life for us willingly and the outcome is freedom for us all. Freedom to walk above this world's problems, because we are destined for a new world above it all. Freedom from our sins and freedom to walk in the new life that He came to give us. Isn't He just wonderful! May you walk in that freedom and fall in love with our Maker all over again.

Thank you Father for Your wonderful plan to save us. Thank you that Jesus is our Saviour and King. Thank you that You came, Jesus, and offered Yourself willingly for us all. We praise You, we love You and we adore You! Amen

Abraham's beloved son was born and grew into a lovely boy and Abraham loved him very much. Life couldn't be better. He was blessed with riches, he had an heir and a loving wife. And then one day God gave him the following instruction:

"Take your son, your only son - yes, Isaac whom you love so much - and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you." Genesis 22:2

That must have been a shock to Abraham and something every loving parent will dread to do. Any loving parent would much rather sacrifice themselves than their children. I know I would. The Bible doesn't tell us here what Abraham's emotions were or how he felt about the situation, all that it tells us is that he got up early the next morning, chopped wood to take along for the offering, took two servants and Isaac and were on his way. He didn't waste any time in being obedient to the Lord. The Bible doesn't say if he told Sarah where he was going. I personally don't think he told her the truth, as I am convinced that she would have tried to stop him.

Then for three days they travelled on to Mount Moriah. That must have been the most difficult three days in Abraham's life. He was walking with this secret on the inside that he had to sacrifice his son. He must have treasured every moment spent with him. He might even have cried before the Lord, we do not know. All that I know is that for me personally, a trip like that would have been devastating.

But then we read in Hebrews 11 how amazing Abraham's faith really was. Hebrews 11 gives us an insight into Abraham's thoughts that we do not find here in Genesis 22:

"It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, though God had promised him, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted." Abraham assumed that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead." Hebrews 11:17-19

How wonderful is that?! Abraham believed that even if he sacrificed his son, God will raise him from the dead again. What wonderful faith. When we read this whole event, we see that Abraham never wavered and never tried to get out of the situation. He simply obeyed. And what an amazing testimony to his faith!

Today God wants us to be prepared to sacrifice our dreams to Him as well. He wants us to place Him first always. Sometimes He will even test us to see if we will be willing to let go of our dreams in order to glorify Him. Think about that this week. Is God first in your life? Is He your everything? Is He more important than anything else? And if the answer is no, then start today by placing Him first, by loving Him more than anything else. And once you do, you will start to develop the faith that He wants what is best for you. He doesn't want to take things from you, but He wants to raise you up to a new level where your character is developed to such a point where you can make a real difference for His Kingdom's glory. Then you will start to realise that He can raise your dreams from the dead and give it new life. He can open doors for you that have been shut for such a long time. He can make the paths smooth for you. He can. But place Him above all else and live for the glory of His Name and for His honour.

Thank you Father that we can know that You want only what is best for us. Thank you that we can look at the example of Abraham and marvel at his faith. But most of all, thank you that we can realise that we are his offspring too and we can have the same depth of faith, imparted to us by Jesus Christ. Help us to believe in the impossible and to place You first above all things. In Jesus' Name. Amen

Abraham's beloved son was born and grew into a lovely boy and Abraham loved him very much. Life couldn't be better. He was blessed with riches, he had an heir and a loving wife. And then one day God gave him the following instruction:

"Take your son, your only son - yes, Isaac whom you love so much - and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you." Genesis 22:2

That must have been a shock to Abraham and something every loving parent will dread to do. Any loving parent would much rather sacrifice themselves than their children. I know I would. The Bible doesn't tell us here what Abraham's emotions were or how he felt about the situation, all that it tells us is that he got up early the next morning, chopped wood to take along for the offering, took two servants and Isaac and were on his way. He didn't waste any time in being obedient to the Lord. The Bible doesn't say if he told Sarah where he was going. I personally don't think he told her the truth, as I am convinced that she would have tried to stop him.

Then for three days they travelled on to Mount Moriah. That must have been the most difficult three days in Abraham's life. He was walking with this secret on the inside that he had to sacrifice his son. He must have treasured every moment spent with him. He might even have cried before the Lord, we do not know. All that I know is that for me personally, a trip like that would have been devastating.

But then we read in Hebrews 11 how amazing Abraham's faith really was. Hebrews 11 gives us an insight into Abraham's thoughts that we do not find here in Genesis 22:

"It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, though God had promised him, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted." Abraham assumed that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead." Hebrews 11:17-19

How wonderful is that?! Abraham believed that even if he sacrificed his son, God will raise him from the dead again. What wonderful faith. When we read this whole event, we see that Abraham never wavered and never tried to get out of the situation. He simply obeyed. And what an amazing testimony to his faith!

Today God wants us to be prepared to sacrifice our dreams to Him as well. He wants us to place Him first always. Sometimes He will even test us to see if we will be willing to let go of our dreams in order to glorify Him. Think about that this week. Is God first in your life? Is He your everything? Is He more important than anything else? And if the answer is no, then start today by placing Him first, by loving Him more than anything else. And once you do, you will start to develop the faith that He wants what is best for you. He doesn't want to take things from you, but He wants to raise you up to a new level where your character is developed to such a point where you can make a real difference for His Kingdom's glory. Then you will start to realise that He can raise your dreams from the dead and give it new life. He can open doors for you that have been shut for such a long time. He can make the paths smooth for you. He can. But place Him above all else and live for the glory of His Name and for His honour.

Thank you Father that we can know that You want only what is best for us. Thank you that we can look at the example of Abraham and marvel at his faith. But most of all, thank you that we can realise that we are his offspring too and we can have the same depth of faith, imparted to us by Jesus Christ. Help us to believe in the impossible and to place You first above all things. In Jesus' Name. Amen

Abraham and Sarah finally conceived the son promised to them by God. After waiting twenty five years after the promise of a son was given, Isaac was finally born. And what was interesting for me to notice is Sarah's absolute surprise at what happened:

"God has brought me laughter! All who hear about this will laugh with me. For who would have dreamed that I would ever have a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!" Genesis 21:6, 7

Sarah never truly believed that God's promises will come to pass. Do you remember how she laughed when the angels and the Lord Himself told Abraham that in a year's time they will have a child? She laughed because she found it very difficult to believe. I think there are two lessons to be learnt here. The Bible is filled with real life events to teach us things and to help us to learn not to make the same mistakes that they made. So the first lesson is that if she had believed the Lord's promise and held onto it she would have had peace throughout her trials that God will provide. She wouldn't have been sad, but she would have been filled with His joy that His promise will come to pass. Secondly, this real life story shows me that God kept to His promise and blessed them with a son whether she had enough faith to believe that it will happen or not.

God is faithful and true. His promises will happen and lead us unto new heights! And therefore it is better for us to hold on to those promises. We will have so much more joy if we trusted in God's promises. Fear and worry tends to consume us and then we forget all about His promises. We must rather place God's promises first. Go somewhere this week and write down all of God's promises that God has placed on your heart in the past couple of years. And then place them somewhere where you can see them on a regular basis and meditate on those text verses and claim them for yourself. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The Word spoken out loud will aid your faith and will give you peace that God will do what He had promised.

If you do not have specific promises, then read through God's Word and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and to show you which promises you should write down and speak those out loud. There is life and death in the power of the tongue and the more we speak God's promises, the more at peace we will be. Life will start to flow in seemingly dead situations. God's Word is full of life and power. Jesus is the Word. And when we speak His Word, we speak Him into all situations and He is more powerful than any in this universe.

May you be blessed as you stand firm in God's promises. He is mighty to safe and mighty to rule and change all situations for the good of those that love Him and are called according to His purposes for them. May God bless you and fill your heart with hope and love.

Father thank you for the multitude of promises found in Your wonderful Word. Thank you that we can hold on to those promises. Thank you that You are holy and always true to Your Word. We look forward to our future with You. You are our loving Father and our wonderful Bridegroom. In Jesus' Name. Amen

Right after Abraham's failure of lying, he reached the pinnacle moment of his life. At the age of one hundred, he had the son promised to him by God. Finally, after years and years and years of waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled God gave him a son. God didn't even think about Abraham's failure of lying anymore, but blessed him with the thing he wanted most, a son.

"Then the Lord did exactly what He had promised. Sarah became pregnant, and she gave a son to Abraham in his old age. It all happened at the time God had said it would." Genesis 21:1, 2

I really do not think that Chapter 20 and 21 was put together by chance. It was placed right after one another by the Holy Spirit to teach us a very important principle. God doesn't dwell on our mistakes, but wants to bless us at just the right time. God didn't ponder on Abraham's mistake and judged him for it, no; in fact God spoiled him by giving him what he wanted most. God knew Abraham's heart, He knew how much faith he had and He knew how much Abraham loved Him. And He blessed him for it.

And today God isn't pondering the whole day on your past mistakes. We might think He does, but He doesn't. God has forgiven us all our sins, past, present and future.

"And what a difference between our sin and God's generous gift of forgiveness. For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this other man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God's bountiful gift." Romans 5:15

God's forgiveness is a gift to take. Take it today. Stop pondering on the past. Forgive yourself for your past mistakes and move on. God has already forgiven you; therefore you need to forgive yourself now. Then you can move forward into God's blessings waiting for you.

I, myself, have received promises from the Lord and today I will look forward to them being fulfilled once again and will not become despondent. Abraham waited 25 years from receiving God's promise until Isaac finally came. Twenty five years. For us that might feel like a lifetime, but God is not slow in fulfilling His promises, no, He waits for the right time when all will work out perfectly.

God is in control of the impossible. He gave Abraham a child when he was 100 years old and Sarah 90 years old. And in God's eyes, the timing was just perfect. Abraham enjoyed his son for seventy five years. God gave him enough time to see his son grow into the man of God that God created him to be. Abraham's life worked out just the way God had planned it and so will yours. All you need to do is to love God like Abraham did, to follow His instructions and to rest in Him. It is not too much to ask. God wants to lead you to green pastures, just like a Shepherd. Allow Him to. Do not be wayward and get lost along the way. No, rather follow the tender, sweet voice of the Shepherd, and then you will never be lost. You will be safe and cared for. Isn't that just a marvellous place to be?

Thank you Father that Jesus is our Shepherd. Thank you that You sent Your lovely Son to come and guide us. Thank you that You have so many wonderful things planned for us. We are excited and we hold onto Your promises just like Abraham did. We love You and revere You as our God. Amen

Abraham lied and told King Abimelech that Sarah was his sister. King Abimelech then took Sarah to his palace to be with him. But before he could sleep with her, God intervened and told Abimelech in a dream that she was in fact Abraham's wife. God told Abimelech to return her to Abraham, and to let Abraham pray for him and his household, for God told him that Abraham was a prophet. Early the next morning Abimelech obeyed and immediately summoned Abraham and returned Sarah to him. And not only that, he also did the following:

"Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and servants - both men and women - and gave them to Abraham, and he returned his wife, Sarah, to him. "Look over my kingdom, and choose a place where you would like to live," Abimelech told him. Then he returned to Sarah. "Look," he said. "I am giving your 'brother' a thousand pieces of silver to compensate for any embarrassment I may have caused you. This will settle any claim against me in this matter." Genesis 20:14-16

I was amazed at Abimelech's reaction. God told him to return Sarah to Abraham, but he went even further and blessed Abraham with livestock, silver, servants and even gave them first choice in choosing a place to live. Abimelech met the living God and he turned into a generous ruler. He was confronted with Deity and gifts started to flow. We as Christians can learn from him and be as generous as he was. We have so much to offer as we have the Holy God living inside of us.

Then Abraham prayed for Abimelech, just as God instructed:

"Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and the other women in the household, so they could have children. For the Lord had stricken all the women with infertility as a warning to Abimelech for having taken Abraham's wife." Genesis 20:17, 18

I don't know about you, but I would have felt so stupid if I were Abraham. Here I was, a prophet of the living God, supposedly a representative of God and yet I lied to save myself. And then it turns out that the person I lied to is actually very nice and is now showering me with gifts and giving me the best choice of land. I would have felt like a failure in my witness to God. I would have felt as if I let God down. I don't even know if I would have had the courage to pray to God for Abimelech's healing. I would have felt like a hypocrite. We don't know if Abraham felt that way, but Abraham stepped forward and prayed for Abimelech and his household and God Who is faithful, heard Abraham's prayer and healed them.

Today we might feel like failures in our witness to God as well. We might swear at someone in frustration and later see them in the same church we attend. We might get irritated on the road and show all sorts of signs, and forget that we have an 'I love Jesus' sticker on our bumper. We might gossip about someone, and later when person finds out what we said, we might be so embarrassed that we never talk about the Lord to that person ever again. People might know that we are a professing Christian and then we suggest to them at some stage to cheat on their tax returns, because we don't get anything in return from the Government anyway. And so I can go on. We all fail some time and when we fail in our daily walk, the devil comes and reminds us of it and tells us that we cannot be a witness for Jesus anymore. He comes and tells us that our witness is tarred and that God cannot use us to further His kingdom anymore. On such days remember Abraham. Remember how he failed too and yet he stood up, prayed for Abimelech and continued as one of the greatest men of faith. In Hebrews 11 where he is mentioned as one of the great heroes of faith, only his successes are mentioned and not his failures. Why? Because he didn't dwell in them, but continued in his journey as a great man of God. He continued to believe in God and loved Him and that was his success.

Jesus died for all our sins and all our mistakes. The time has come to leave them behind and to look forward to all His promises that lies ahead. We need to shake off the past and walk anew as a witness of our glorious Saviour. Do not allow the devil to keep you down, but stand up for all that you are in Jesus. You are a powerful witness, start living as one.

Father, thank you so much that we can know that all our sins are forgiven by Jesus and that we can walk in Your loving ways. We want to be a powerful witness for You, please give us the courage to continue, even if we have failed. Thank you that we can know that Jesus took all our failures upon Himself, so that we can be free from them and be His hands and feet on this earth. In Jesus Name. Amen