01 Jan As we start a new year
“And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
Genesis 22v15-18
As we start a new year many of us will make resolutions about what we will or won’t do. Most of these will revolve around not doing something that is bad for us like smoking or conversely doing something that is good for us like more exercise. This year I am not looking to make any New Year resolutions but instead I am inviting the Holy Spirit to change the way I think. The Bible says as a man thinks in his heart so he is. If I can change my thinking then I will change my future.
As I have got older I have found that when I think about my future my hopes have become anchored in my recent past, in my own experience and the experiences of my peers. This has affected my expectations in God, which have not been grounded in the promises of the word or in the experience of those in the word but in what I have seen during my time in Wales.
However the Angel said to Abraham;
- I will surely bless you
- I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.
- Your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies
- In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed
Now Galatians 3v29 tells us that “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” If I am Abraham’s offspring and heirs of the same promise then I need to frame my expectations of my future within Genesis 22v15-18.
The Lord will bless me
The Lord will multiply my offspring
The Lord will cause me to possess the gate of my enemies
The Lord will use me to be a blessing to the nations
So this year I am inviting the Holy Spirit to change my thinking and expectations to resemble this. If I change my thinking I will change my world, after all if He is for us who can be against.
Expecting the best for us in 2016
Alex
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