Daily Bible Portion (Thursday)
Daily Bible Portion - 5 of 7
"GET YOURSELF OUT"
(Weekly Reading>> Genesis 12:1-17:27, Isaiah 40:27-41:16, Romans 3:19-5:6)
The Word became flesh/Yeshua and revealed Himself to Abraham as the God who brought him from Ur and gave him the land to take possession of it. Abraham was concerned and asked how he could know that he would gain possession of it?
Yahweh asked Abraham to bring a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a pigeon. Abraham gathered these animals and proceeded to cut them in half, laying them opposite each other as directed, for he understood Yahweh was about to establish a Covenant with him. The birds he left whole, one on either side, lying with the animals. The blood flowed down between the cut halves as Abraham waited on Yahweh. As the sun set, Abraham fell into a deep sleep and saw the future of his descendants, who would be strangers in another country, enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. Yahweh would judge that nation, redeeming and delivering his people by His great power, freeing them and returning them to the land with great possessions (Genesis 15:9-16; Galatians 3:16-18).
When the sun had set and it was dark, Yahweh in the appearance of a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day Yahweh made a Covenant with Abraham and said,
A Covenant is not like a contract today, which can be broken. A Covenant stands in eternity, held by the guarantor, in this case Yahweh the Creator of Heaven and Earth. He alone walked between the pieces. Even when Abraham or his descendants should falter, which Yahweh knew would happen, Yahweh promised to be faithful to keep His Covenant of promise with His people. It was and still is an unconditional Covenant, a gift that cannot be earned. Nor is it conditional upon Abraham or his descendant’s behavior as it was given to Abraham and his generations absolutely forever.
The Abrahamic Covenant promised to Abraham and his descendants: a people, a land and a great blessing. Today we are learning to walk in the way of the Covenant through a redeemed lifestyle. Today we are being drawn back to the God of Abraham and learning to come home, first in our hearts and then physically. Today in the Nation of Israel, His people are only living in approximately one third of the land promised Abraham. One day it will all be restored, when the descendants of Abraham return to the Covenant of Yahweh.
Hagar and Ishmael
(Genesis 16 )
Ten long years passed since Yahweh spoke to Abraham about having a child. As Sarah still had not conceived, she concluded that Yahweh had kept her from having children.
This was the time for Sarah’s faith to be tested. Yahweh did not give the exact timing of this promised child, and Sarah may have based her expectation on the age of her body. A woman’s productive age is on a timeline and in Sarah’s eyes; her childbearing time had passed. Sarah thought the only other way Yahweh could possibly give them a child would be through another vessel. With that, Sarah made the grave decision of taking matters into her own hands by controlling and manipulating Yahweh’s promise of an heir for Abraham. This error of judgment would lead to future generations of conflict between the children of Isaac and Hagar’s descendants.
Doubt dishonors Yahweh and blinds our hearts. We often jump into action led by our own emotional preferences, anxieties or fears and initiate our own plans outside the original goal Yahweh has designed for us. We can work up our imagination and get caught in the counterfeit so much that our plans can look real to us, believing they are from God, when in reality they were sown in rebellion, independence and self-rule. We can manipulate and control others to get what we want. We can even become surprised or angry when our plans crumble and fall apart. When we take matters into our own hands we cannot translate into the Olam Haba/Heavenly nature Yahweh sees us in. We forget that Yahweh’s timeframe is different from ours. Yahweh’s time clock is eternal as He is outside of time itself. Waiting and resting on Yahweh’s plan is what matures us. We have to ask ourselves are we bowing down to serve ourselves or are we serving Yahweh’s plans? The spirit is willing but the soul may still be undisciplined and causing our thoughts to make preferential decisions for us instead of us prevailing over our soul and waiting upon Yahweh’s purpose and destiny in our lives.
If Sarah was feeling pressured about this promised child she should have gone to her husband Abraham for comfort and reassurance, to listen again to the prophesy Yahweh spoke over them. Abraham on the other hand, as Sarah’s husband, was to bring security to his wife. Abraham needed to remind Sarah of the fact that Yahweh said a servant will never bring forth the promised seed and that indeed she will bear this promised child. Due to Abraham’s soft leadership role in their marriage, Sarah became impetuous and convinced him to take her Egyptian maidservant Hagar to bear the promised child of Yahweh. Abraham listened to his wife without weighing her words against Yahweh’s promise, and Hagar conceived a son. We are now given another dimension that resulted from an ungodly hasty decision - that of the birthing of an entire people group forming many nations that bow down to a counterfeit god in preference over Yahweh (Genesis 15:2-5).
Are We Children of a Freewoman or Children of a Bondwoman?
During Hagar’s pregnancy, she and Sarah quarreled, resulting in Hagar being ejected from the household of Abraham due to her contentious nature. After her departure, the Angel of Yahweh (Yeshua) found Hagar weeping by a spring of water in the desert and He told her to return and humble herself to Sarah.
Comment: A biblical angel is not the traditional white robed Greek Mythology version that flies around with feathered wings. Angel in Hebrew is malak meaning messenger, one who is a leader who communicates the king’s wishes and represents the king as His ambassador (2 Samuel 5:11). In this scripture the "Angel" of Yahweh is Jesus/Yeshua.
The messenger then spoke prophetically over Hagar and her unborn son saying, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.” Then went on to say that the hostility would continue because Ishmael will be born into bondage whereas the promised seed, Isaac, is one born of freedom (Genesis 16:11-14; Galatians 4:21-31).
Through disobedience we also bring about our own bondage. Many believers in the Abrahamic Covenant still live as slaves to their fleshly unredeemed natures like Hagar. Believers, who have been set free by the Messiah’s atoning blood, may still choose to live as indentured servants as they continue to harbor bitterness, unforgiveness, judgments, resentments, criticisms and wrong associations. Those who still walk in the immoral and unrighteous ways of the world or who still hold on to arguments, conflicts, discord and quarrels, will never enter into the promises of Abraham as those attitudes foolishly block the blessings and keep them in a dormant state. The children of a bondwoman will struggle through a life of contention that will never leave them as their lives are out of (His) order.
On the other hand, Yeshua’s Bride, those who choose to be finished with a life of bondage, is not the child of a servant but are the children of a freewoman actively pursuing their future in full assurance to His Covenant Kingdom ways, eagerly looking forward to That Day which is not yet present, but living in it nevertheless (Galatians 3:29; 4:21- 5:1).
Today, if we listen to end times doom and gloom preachers, ones who constantly teach fear and doubt against Yahweh’s Covenantal promises - we listen to false prophets. They are propagating children of the slave woman Hagar who are under the law of sin and death and not raising up free children of Sarah.
Abraham was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him a son. His name was Ishmael, and he became the father of the Arab nations.
continues tomorrow...
"GET YOURSELF OUT"
(Weekly Reading>> Genesis 12:1-17:27, Isaiah 40:27-41:16, Romans 3:19-5:6)
The Word became flesh/Yeshua and revealed Himself to Abraham as the God who brought him from Ur and gave him the land to take possession of it. Abraham was concerned and asked how he could know that he would gain possession of it?
Yahweh asked Abraham to bring a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a pigeon. Abraham gathered these animals and proceeded to cut them in half, laying them opposite each other as directed, for he understood Yahweh was about to establish a Covenant with him. The birds he left whole, one on either side, lying with the animals. The blood flowed down between the cut halves as Abraham waited on Yahweh. As the sun set, Abraham fell into a deep sleep and saw the future of his descendants, who would be strangers in another country, enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. Yahweh would judge that nation, redeeming and delivering his people by His great power, freeing them and returning them to the land with great possessions (Genesis 15:9-16; Galatians 3:16-18).
When the sun had set and it was dark, Yahweh in the appearance of a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day Yahweh made a Covenant with Abraham and said,
“To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girga****es and Jebusites” (Genesis 15:17-21).
A Covenant is not like a contract today, which can be broken. A Covenant stands in eternity, held by the guarantor, in this case Yahweh the Creator of Heaven and Earth. He alone walked between the pieces. Even when Abraham or his descendants should falter, which Yahweh knew would happen, Yahweh promised to be faithful to keep His Covenant of promise with His people. It was and still is an unconditional Covenant, a gift that cannot be earned. Nor is it conditional upon Abraham or his descendant’s behavior as it was given to Abraham and his generations absolutely forever.
Hebrews 6:13 “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself.”
The Abrahamic Covenant promised to Abraham and his descendants: a people, a land and a great blessing. Today we are learning to walk in the way of the Covenant through a redeemed lifestyle. Today we are being drawn back to the God of Abraham and learning to come home, first in our hearts and then physically. Today in the Nation of Israel, His people are only living in approximately one third of the land promised Abraham. One day it will all be restored, when the descendants of Abraham return to the Covenant of Yahweh.
Hagar and Ishmael
(Genesis 16 )
Ten long years passed since Yahweh spoke to Abraham about having a child. As Sarah still had not conceived, she concluded that Yahweh had kept her from having children.
This was the time for Sarah’s faith to be tested. Yahweh did not give the exact timing of this promised child, and Sarah may have based her expectation on the age of her body. A woman’s productive age is on a timeline and in Sarah’s eyes; her childbearing time had passed. Sarah thought the only other way Yahweh could possibly give them a child would be through another vessel. With that, Sarah made the grave decision of taking matters into her own hands by controlling and manipulating Yahweh’s promise of an heir for Abraham. This error of judgment would lead to future generations of conflict between the children of Isaac and Hagar’s descendants.
Doubt dishonors Yahweh and blinds our hearts. We often jump into action led by our own emotional preferences, anxieties or fears and initiate our own plans outside the original goal Yahweh has designed for us. We can work up our imagination and get caught in the counterfeit so much that our plans can look real to us, believing they are from God, when in reality they were sown in rebellion, independence and self-rule. We can manipulate and control others to get what we want. We can even become surprised or angry when our plans crumble and fall apart. When we take matters into our own hands we cannot translate into the Olam Haba/Heavenly nature Yahweh sees us in. We forget that Yahweh’s timeframe is different from ours. Yahweh’s time clock is eternal as He is outside of time itself. Waiting and resting on Yahweh’s plan is what matures us. We have to ask ourselves are we bowing down to serve ourselves or are we serving Yahweh’s plans? The spirit is willing but the soul may still be undisciplined and causing our thoughts to make preferential decisions for us instead of us prevailing over our soul and waiting upon Yahweh’s purpose and destiny in our lives.
If Sarah was feeling pressured about this promised child she should have gone to her husband Abraham for comfort and reassurance, to listen again to the prophesy Yahweh spoke over them. Abraham on the other hand, as Sarah’s husband, was to bring security to his wife. Abraham needed to remind Sarah of the fact that Yahweh said a servant will never bring forth the promised seed and that indeed she will bear this promised child. Due to Abraham’s soft leadership role in their marriage, Sarah became impetuous and convinced him to take her Egyptian maidservant Hagar to bear the promised child of Yahweh. Abraham listened to his wife without weighing her words against Yahweh’s promise, and Hagar conceived a son. We are now given another dimension that resulted from an ungodly hasty decision - that of the birthing of an entire people group forming many nations that bow down to a counterfeit god in preference over Yahweh (Genesis 15:2-5).
Are We Children of a Freewoman or Children of a Bondwoman?
During Hagar’s pregnancy, she and Sarah quarreled, resulting in Hagar being ejected from the household of Abraham due to her contentious nature. After her departure, the Angel of Yahweh (Yeshua) found Hagar weeping by a spring of water in the desert and He told her to return and humble herself to Sarah.
Comment: A biblical angel is not the traditional white robed Greek Mythology version that flies around with feathered wings. Angel in Hebrew is malak meaning messenger, one who is a leader who communicates the king’s wishes and represents the king as His ambassador (2 Samuel 5:11). In this scripture the "Angel" of Yahweh is Jesus/Yeshua.
The messenger then spoke prophetically over Hagar and her unborn son saying, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.” Then went on to say that the hostility would continue because Ishmael will be born into bondage whereas the promised seed, Isaac, is one born of freedom (Genesis 16:11-14; Galatians 4:21-31).
Through disobedience we also bring about our own bondage. Many believers in the Abrahamic Covenant still live as slaves to their fleshly unredeemed natures like Hagar. Believers, who have been set free by the Messiah’s atoning blood, may still choose to live as indentured servants as they continue to harbor bitterness, unforgiveness, judgments, resentments, criticisms and wrong associations. Those who still walk in the immoral and unrighteous ways of the world or who still hold on to arguments, conflicts, discord and quarrels, will never enter into the promises of Abraham as those attitudes foolishly block the blessings and keep them in a dormant state. The children of a bondwoman will struggle through a life of contention that will never leave them as their lives are out of (His) order.
On the other hand, Yeshua’s Bride, those who choose to be finished with a life of bondage, is not the child of a servant but are the children of a freewoman actively pursuing their future in full assurance to His Covenant Kingdom ways, eagerly looking forward to That Day which is not yet present, but living in it nevertheless (Galatians 3:29; 4:21- 5:1).
Today, if we listen to end times doom and gloom preachers, ones who constantly teach fear and doubt against Yahweh’s Covenantal promises - we listen to false prophets. They are propagating children of the slave woman Hagar who are under the law of sin and death and not raising up free children of Sarah.
Galatians 4:30-31 “But what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.’ So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman [Hagar], but of the free woman [Sarah].”
Abraham was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him a son. His name was Ishmael, and he became the father of the Arab nations.
continues tomorrow...