01/08 Reading - Thoughts & Comments DX3

8-Jan Genesis 15-16, Matthew 15-16, Psalms 36-40, Proverbs 8

Gen 15:4-6 (NIV)4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Gen 16:1-4 (NIV) 1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her."  Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

God gave Abram and Sarai such a great promise, to give them a son who would multiply and increase their family line so far that it would look like the stars of the sky or the sand on the sea shore, simply UNCOUNTABLE.  This would require a miracle from Heaven because Sarai could not bear children and both of them were getting very old.  Yet Abram believed God when He promised him a son.

Sarai began to get some ideas on how to help God out with His promise.  She was thinking naturally rather than SUPER naturally.  She thought that she could bring in a servant girl who could have a son for her through Abram, and this could fulfill the promise that Abram was holding onto.  She was going to HELP God out, because He clearly didn't realize that she was getting older and couldn't bear children.  

Needless to say, their helping God backfired and Hagar gave birth to a "wild ass" of a donkey man, named ISHMAEL.  This Ishmael would end up being the seed that would torment Abram, Isaac and Jacob, and who would continue to torment the entire world through the MUSLIM ARAB movement which is still in full force today. Untameable, unteachable, unwilling as a wild donkey, this seed would target Israel (Abraham's Seed) to try to destroy it.  Today, we see that this VERY WRONG MOVE from Abram and Sarai has caused lasting negative impact on the world.

Gen 16:10-12 (NIV) 10 The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count." 11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."

I want to encourage you to STICK with your COMPASS GUIDE program, writing your goals, setting a daily course to accomplish those goals, and continuing to read the Word of God each day, which is your LIGHT AND LAMP for your feet and path.  When we activate God's Word with our goals, the fire burns, faith comes, and God will help you to keep your eyes focused on the SUPER NATURAL rather than just the NATURAL.  Abram and Sarai tried to help God out in the natural because they couldn't figure out HOW God could possibly give them a son, because of their natural age.  No one else they knew had a son at the ripe old age of 60 - 80 years old.  They were thinking NATURAL and it got them (and the whole world) in trouble!!

I have personally built ISHMAELS in my life, trying to help God out with His plan and promises over me.  The Ishmaels that I built were done because I didn't correctly apply God's Word, and I didn't look towards His SUPER NATURAL abilities to make His promises happen.  Don't make the same mistakes I have made. Stick with God's Word when living your life and charting your course!

Your plans and goals need to be BIG! They need to require the SUPER NATURAL intervention of God.  They need to be God sized goals, not man sized.  And God will help you to develop these seemingly HUGE goals, as you read His Word, His promises, and as faith arises.

Romans 10:17 (KJV) 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Don't be afraid to trust God for the miraculous.  Get your head out of the NATURAL realm and into the SUPER NATURAL realm, into HEAVEN where you honestly reside, seated with Him in Heavenly places, at the right hand of God the Father.  Remember that God can and will supercede your natural body, your natural health, your natural finances, your natural relationships, and the natural doors that you currently see before you.  He will give you a son, even if you are 90 years old when you have that son!  He will INTER-VENE SUPER-NATURALLY!      

Tomorrow's Reading:
9-Jan Genesis 17-18, Matthew 17-18, Psalms 41-45, Proverbs 9
10-Jan Genesis 19-20, Matthew 19-20, Psalms 46-50, Proverbs 10