Abraham had wealth and servants, but he didn’t have children. Was he going to be a father someday or were his servant’s children going to inherit his wealth?

The promises of God are great and energizing, but after years of not seeing them come into fruition, they can have a way of making us feel stuck. Although, Abraham had a nicely furnished tent, it was cold and empty. Over the years, Abraham and Sarah had prayed, hoped, and obeyed, but in this junction they were full of questions rather than excitement!

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Genesis 15:2-3

Abraham asked a specific question. He wanted to know if he was going to have a child born to him or were his servant’s children going to inherit his wealth. The above scripture reveals Abraham’s faith level and vision for having a child. He seemed relegated to the fact that the promise of having children was not for him but possibly for Eliezer the servant in his household.

Waiting has a way of making us repackage God’s promise in order to understand it. Since the circumstances don’t show anything on the horizon, we tend to reinterpret the promise. This can be a dangerous because it can lead us in the wrong direction. Outwardly it may look like we still have kept the faith, but we are really covering our doubt by trying to reinterpret the promise.

Fortunately, Abraham asked God a question rather than making his own decision about the interpretation of God’s promise. God honored Abraham’s question by giving him a visual lesson.

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”  He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Genesis 15:4-5

God preached through his creation by taking Abraham outside. Abraham was able to look at the skies and the stars and get a revelation of the vastness of God’s handiwork!

There are a few things we can learn from this visual lesson. I’ll share those lessons in the next devotional.

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”  Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”  And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”  Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”  And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.” Genesis 15:1-7

God spoke to Abraham after he refused to accept the wealth offered by the king of Salem. God told Abraham that He was his shield and his great reward.

This is a foundational truth for all of us. We all may desire various things in life, but our first and foremost priority is to have God’s hand in our lives. He is the ultimate reward. Without His favor and protection we may have much in life, but we will not have peace and security in life. Although, God met the most important need of Abraham, He didn’t stop there.

This reminds me of the story in Genesis 2 when God created everything, and then He created Adam. Adam was in a perfect bliss in his relationship to God. However, God knew that in addition to Adam’s relationship to God, it was good for Adam to have a companion like himself. As a result, God created Eve as a helpmate to Adam. He created Adam & Eve and gave them the mandate to be fruitful and multiply.

Abraham just like Adam was also blessed with much, but there was one thing he lacked. Abraham had no children! It was part of God’s design for a married couple to have children. Additionally, God had already spoken to Abraham in Genesis 12 telling him that He was going to make Abraham a great nation, but after all this time, Abraham still had no children! How was he going to be a great nation if he couldn’t even have one child!? This caused Abraham to have a question about God’s blessing. He wanted to know if having His own children was part of God’s reward to Him. He was looking for a clarification of God’s promise.

Have you ever felt barren in certain areas of your life? Did you used to get excited years ago when you read the scriptures or someone prophesied over you? Has waiting on those promises taken your excitement away? Does it cause you to have more questions rather than excitement? This is where Abraham was.

Abraham asked God to be more specific. He asked the Lord,

… “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

Have you asked the Lord to be more specific with His promises towards you? Pray and ask the Lord to clarify His word to you. This could be an important time to get clarity, so you won’t feel stuck anymore.

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.

I was in a deliverance teaching a couple of weeks ago. The speaker, a PhD in the field of mental health shared some exciting information with us about a relatively new science. She spoke about “neuroplasticity” which essentially means that our brains can get reprogrammed. In recent years, the medical field has come to the conclusion that while our brains are etched during childhood in a certain way of thinking or activity, they can get retrained later in life. We can change the way we think and the way we behave as adults. Our brains have the capability and the power to be reorganized.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2

The new discovery reinforces what the Bible has been telling us for the last 2000 years about our minds having the capacity to be transformed. The world tries to pressure us to conform to its set of reality, but we can overcome the conformity by feeding on the rights thoughts, etching new ways of thinking, and being transformed by the truth of God rather than being regulated by the people or circumstances around us.

We can choose not to be a victim of our circumstances and think differently. Like I shared in my last devotional, the more we practice God’s way of thinking, it will become second nature to us. Science now shows that we can reorganize our thoughts, go on a different way, and develop a new path of thinking and behavior. We don’t have to struggle with the same defeating or negative thoughts for the rest of our lives.

If you would like to find out more the science of neuroplasticity, the link below can provide you with some basic information. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87g

Good food is essential for healthy thought management. If an individual wishes to lose weight, they need to go through the discipline of exercising and eating healthier food. Similarly, when we put Philippians 4:8-9 to work on a regular basis, then our minds become healthier by being transformed. We put on a new reality.

Years ago, I used to enjoy greasy hamburgers along with some French fries and milkshake; at that time, I wasn’t too concerned about consuming bad food. Those days are behind me. Nowadays, if I were to eat a meal like that, my stomach would be protesting loudly. Bad food would also impact my level of exercise the next day.

In a similar manner, if we invest time in thinking right thoughts, over time when negative thoughts come, we will develop a degree of aversion and distaste for them. If we are tempted to entertain a thought, we still can get a handle on it quickly. It doesn’t have to take days or weeks to get over it. That’s the power of thought management which leads to transformation. At first it is hard, but the longer we do it the easier it becomes.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2

According to the above scripture, good thoughts allow us to discover God’s will. When I am in negative mode of thinking,  good or pure thoughts seem unreal or appear as wishful thinking. This scripture shows us that sometimes it may be difficult to think right thoughts, but if we press through, on the other side of the difficulty, we actually get to discover the perfect will of God!

Many believers would like to know God’s will and pray for it regularly, but they don’t seem to know His will. Is it possible that we don’t know God’s will because we haven’t renewed our minds!? Could it be that we are trying to align His will to our narrow or darkened view of a situation? What if we opened our minds and looked at the problem or the person with pure and good thoughts? What if the right thoughts are the doorway to God’s heart and desire for us?

God’s word gives us instruction on how to live a peaceful life. Let’s try good thought management by making the decision to not think negatively for at least a week. This could be very difficult for some of us but the results like a good diet plan will be worth it.

Just as unhealthy eating habits don’t cause immediate problems, neither do bad thoughts show their affect right away. A person with a weight problem can go on for a long time and think they are doing ok. However, overtime the body will show the signs of wear and tear from eating too much or not eating enough. Eventually, people can develop health issues that are directly related to their weight management. We also eventually end up having life and relational issues due to negative thoughts we have entertained over the years.

For example, if you take any of these individuals who terrorize and kill innocent people in malls or schools, the majority had been developing negative thoughts towards themselves or others for years. They become alienated from others. They begin to collect guns. The little steps don’t seem concerning to them or others. People close to them may begin to realize something isn’t right but not sure what to do about it. Their thoughts continue to feed on negativity and paint a picture of reality that has nothing to do with truth. They isolate themselves because they don’t think others understand them fully, so the enemy continues to put dark and demonic thoughts in their minds about what is “true”.

Fortunately the majority of people don’t act out in heinous crimes. However, people’s unchecked thoughts still have serious implications on their spiritual health and well-being. Weight management is not easy, and neither is thought management.

Our mind has gotten used to a certain path of thinking and when pressure comes or we feel hurt, we allow our minds to feed on the lies of the enemy or our own past hurts and become polluted all over again.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

The above scripture is a healthy diet plan for good thought management. Just as a healthy diet plan prescribes healthy food to eat in the right portions, we also need to learn to take healthy portions of good food for our minds on a regular basis.

We need to learn not to be passive about the thoughts we entertain but think about, “is this a good thought? Is this healthy for me? Is this going to make me stronger or weaker? Is this going to keep me isolated or more connected? Will it produce hope or hopelessness in my life? Will it cause discouragement or encouragement?” That’s hard work. It takes discipline, intentionality, and consistency. When we choose to take in good thoughts, over time we will begin to feel more at peace and lighter in the Spirit because we haven’t been feeding on bad thoughts.

How are you doing with your thought management? Do you have a healthy diet of good thoughts?

If you were having weight issues, are you supposed to stop eating altogether!? Obviously not. Thought management is very similar to weight management. We cannot avoid “thinking” in order to avoid harmful or negative thoughts. The question is, “how do we manage our thoughts?”

The scripture gives us direction in this area:

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7a

The above scripture could be good news or bad news depending on our thought patterns. If we have the right self-concept and think the right thoughts about ourselves, then we reaffirm the reality of who we are. The right thoughts keep us grounded and stable. However, if we have wrong thoughts about ourselves those thoughts shape our reality falsely.

For example, someone with anorexic eating disorder may look at the mirror and think they are fat. Others may even see this person as too skinny to be healthy, but what this person thinks of herself shapes her reality. No one can convince her that she is too skinny. You cannot even use an objective tool like a scale to prove to her that she is too skinny. Because she believes she is too fat, she will continue to starve herself or abuse her body to ensure she continues to lose weight or maintain the low weight.

Our mind is very powerful in creating a reality that may or may not be based on truth. People who have negative thoughts about themselves, think less of themselves and often times believe that’s how others see them too. There are times that due to pain or shame individuals are in denial of their condition. When you talk to them they are very convinced that they are right, and everyone else is evaluating the situation wrongly.

When our view of ourselves doesn’t match up with the view of those around us, we need to be open to the fact that we may not see the truth clearly. We should give permission for at least one trustworthy person to speak truth to us. 

Our negative or false thoughts about ourselves have a serious impact on our lives, and they are dangerous to our spiritual well-being as well. Just as we may need weight management if it’s causing health or quality of life issues, so should we pay attention to our thought management.

How are you managing your thoughts?

Jesus told the woman at the well , “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24

Up to the point of Jesus coming, the people did not have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of them. Additionally, the truth they knew was hidden and had to be developed further in the person of Christ. There were many prophesies about the Messiah that had not been fulfilled yet. As a result, people were not clear about the true nature of the Messiah. Jesus became the fulfillment of truth that the Jewish people had been looking/longing for.

God chose the nation of Israel as the forerunner to his plan of salvation. At the arrival of Jesus, the scriptures were fulfilled right before people’s eyes. Jesus declared that a time was coming that the culmination of full truth and the spirit of God were going to be the only valid way of worshipping God. God is looking for such a worshippers!

Through Jesus, we became adopted as spiritual children of Abraham because of the same Spirit living on the inside of us. Truth and Spirit are vital parts of our worship and relationship with God.

The true worship fulfills God’s requirements and as a result it moves from the tradition of worship to relationship. The great God of universe is not longer found in a tabernacle, a geographical location, a statue, or a tradition.  He desires for us to be in relationship with Him. We don’t talk to Him as if we were talking to a wall. There is no need for a “Wailing Wall”. He hears us from wherever and whenever we reach out to Him.

God is the inventor of relationships, and He allows man to be able to communicate in sophisticated ways. How is it that we desire and long to relate to our loved ones regularly but when it comes to God, we become cold, dry, and stoic!? Relationships are God’s idea. He not only designed relationship in order for us connect to each other, but we can also communicate to our heavenly Father.

Are you speaking to the Father as if you are relating to a dearly loved person? Is your conversation a monologue? Are you giving Him an opportunity to love you back and speak to you?

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:21-24

God is Spirit, and since we were created in His likeness we also possess a spirit. We are tri-part beings having a physical body, a soul (mind, emotion, and will), as well as a spirit. After the fall, our spirit man died and man lost his communion with God.

All of us are born with a spirit that is not functioning; it still exists but not alive and in operation. Before Christ, our spirit man was not awakened and could not commune with the God of universe. At the point of salvation, we received the Holy Spirit in our lives. Our spirit man came alive and began its operation. It is in this place, that we commune with a holy God.

In the past, we may have had a form of worship through our church tradition or religious practices, but when we become a born again believer, we have the opportunity to have a personal communion with our heavenly Father. We begin a relationship with Him where we worship him in spirit and hear Him respond to us. God begins to use the truth we have been studying to remind us who He is and what He desires in our lives.

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—  the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.The Holy Spirit is counselor and a comforter, and as we go before the Father, His Spirit brings peace, counsel, and revelation to us. John 14:16-18

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth who testifies to the Father. He makes us feel secure in our relationship with the Father; we don’t have to feel orphans any longer. The Holy Spirit gives us counsel, brings peace, and becomes our comforter.

Do you worship the father in the spirit? Are you willing to let go of your tradition and accept the Lord on His terms? Do you experience His leading and His comfort in your life?