Thursday May 04th, 2023
« I pray that God will take care of all your needs with the wonderful blessings that come from Christ Jesus! »
7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.
9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice.
11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven,
“Abraham! Abraham!”
“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said.
“Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket.
So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb:
“On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
It is amazing that in spite of the exuberant declaration of faith in today’s memory verse, some children of God still look up to financiers, godfather and other human providers to meet their needs.
We must take note that what this verse says and learn an eternal truth from it.
In it, the Holy Spirit lumped all our life requirements into singular form and simply called it ‘need’, because they are not a big deal for our God to handle.
Failure to understand this truth can cause a child of God to fall for the devil’s trick of supposedly turning stone into bread.
He tried to deceive Jesus with this tactic in the wilderness of temptation, but thank God he failed (Luke 4:3-4).
What does it mean to turn stone into bread? --- It means obtaining satisfaction through illegitimate means or outside God’s plan of provision for you.
Today’s Bible reading narrates Father Abraham’s encounter with the Almighty Jehovah-Jireh on one of the mountains in the land of Morah.
Abraham had been instructed to go to the land of Morah to sacrifice his only son of promise there.
In the course of their journey, Isaac, already accustomed to the rites of sacrifice, noticed that something vital was missing. In Genesis 22:7c, he asked his father:
« Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? »
This serves as a great lesson to all parents.
Do your children know what it takes to serve your God?
What have you taught them about Christian service in tithing and other areas of giving
What about the requirement of peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14)?
In response to Isaac’s question, Abraham demonstrated his faith in God’s ability to meet his needs, saying in Genesis 22:8:
« My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering »
Beloved, it is time for you to re-examine your walk with God to see if you possess enough trust in the One who is able to meet all your needs without you compromising your faith.
Do you need a job urgently?
God knew this even before you were born.
Do you need a promotion to take you over and above the tyrant boss who is hindering you from serving your God as expected?
Jehovah-Jireh will do without you being a sycophant or sleeping around with the personnel manager.
Are you in serious debt and your income is not able to pay it off?
Trust in Jehovah-Jireh and don’t attempt to use His tithes to pay your debt.
The one who paid your debt of sin is also able to pay your debt of money (Romans 8:32).
I say to you in the words of Apostle Paul,
« My God will richly fill your every need in a glorious way through Christ Jesus. »
Do you believe this?
Blessed are you if you do.
Prayer point: Father, help my unbelief and meet me at the point of my need today in Jesus’ name.
Author: Bishop Enoch. A. Adeboye.
Edited by Naomie
Freely you received, freely you must give (Math 10:8) , kindly share this devotion, and the Lord will bless you for it .
Spread the love of Christ by clicking on the ♥
