Student Devotional Week 9: Abraham: The Extreme Test

Key Verse: Hebrews 11:17 (New International Version)

"By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son."

When their son was born, Abraham and Sarah were so tickled they named him Isaac, which means "laughter." They were so happy. I remember when our daughter Sophia was born and the joy and laughter that it has brought to us! But, one day, God told Abraham to sacrifice his son on an altar (Do you see any parallels to God sacrificing his only son on the cross?). Abraham's faith was about to be put to the supreme test. Remember, Abraham had doubted God's plan in the past by having a child with on of his servants, Hagar, who bore him a son, Ishmael. Would he follow God this time or do things his own way?
Abraham followed God's plan. He got up early, took Isaac and some servants to the land of Moriah, and prepared to off his son on one of the mountains. An interesting bit of dialogue took place between Abraham and his two servants just before he took Isaac to the mountain, "We will worship and then we will come back to you", Genesis 22:5. Did Abraham say "we" so he wouldn't upset Isaac? Or was Abraham's faith so great that he knew he wouldn't actually have to sacrifice his son? Or even if he did sacrifice Isaac, might Abraham have believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead? Interesting to note that culture of that area where Abraham was living practiced the sacrifice of their firstborn to the god's. We don't know the answer to these questions, but we do know Abraham had the faith to be willing to do whatever God told himn to do without question.
God tests our faith to prepare us for his purposes both now and in the future. God won't test you in the same way he tested Abraham, but he'll test your faith to strengthen it.

Student Devotional Week 8: Abraham: Faith or Consequences?

Key Verse: Genesis 15:6, "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness."

The second part of Abraham's story is about the need for patience. God initiated a covenant with Abraham. A covenant is a binding agreement between two parties. God promised Abraham many blessings. God blessed Abraham with incredible wealth. The one big question Abraham had, however, was regarding God's promise of many descendants. As Abraham got older, he couldn't see that happening. In fact, Abraham even asked God what good all the blessings would be if he had no son to pass them on to.
Even though God assured Abraham and Sarah they'd have a son, they still took matters into their own hands. Abraham fathered a son with an Egyptian slave girl named Hagar.
Just think of the personal time and the intimate conversations God and Abraham shared. Think about the blessings and the promises God gave him only to have Abraham doubt that God would give him a son by his wife Sarah.
God's promise would eventually be fulfilled in a miraculous way. When Abraham was 100 years old, his son Isaac was born.
Now more than ever, people want things immediately. Our temptation is to rush everything including God. Patiently wait on God and you'll see he always keeps his promises!

Student Devotional Week 7: Abraham: Channel For Blessing

Key Verse: Hebrews 11:10 (New International Version)
"For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

You probably learned about Father Abraham as I did singing the silly kids song "Father Abraham" during VBS or Sunday School, but it is true that God chose Abraham to be the Father of a great nation, the nation of Israel. What most of us don't know if we haven't read the story in Genesis 11:26-31, is that Abraham came from a rural area called Ur. God called Abraham's father to move to Haran and at the age of 75, God called Abraham once again to move to a land called Canaan. That's a lot of moving around, but the people of the Bible during this time were considered nomads or herders because they moved around a lot essentially to find the best land to raise cattle and grow crops. They lived in tents to make them more mobile. Abraham traveled with all of his family and even his extended family, traveling with his nephew Lot. When they got to Canaan Abraham and Lot had to divide up the land to settle in and Abraham allowed Lot to choose first and of course he choose the most fertile land, but it also was the land closest to the evil cities of Sodom & Gomorrah. Even though Lot had the better land, Abraham was promised by God to be a channel of Blessing to his descendants. What would you have done if you were Abraham having to choose between seemingly material wealth in a rich fertile land or trust God will provide if you make the tough decision and stay out of trouble by avoiding living in a land of evil? It is difficult to make the better decision even if on the outside appearances would seem otherwise. Abraham was also used by God to Bless others. As Christians we are to be Blessings to the people around us. How do you use your life to Bless others? It takes humility sometimes to live a life of Blessing, giving of yourself, your time, your talents and possessions so others might have. I heard a quote once that I think is very important to keep in mind in being a Blessing to others, "The ones who are hardest to love are usually the ones who need it the most." Don't let the outside tough layer that people show sometimes prevent you from showing them love because they probably are someone who needs to be shown love.

Student Devotional Week 6: Job: God's Proven Control

Key Verse: Job 1:21 (New International Version)

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

Have you ever heard the phrase the patience of Job? Well as it turns out Job wasn't very patient and even cursed God for having ever been born. Job was miserable with the situation he found himself in: livestock, family and most of his workers all dead and now he was covered in boils or soars all over his body. He lost his health, wealth and pretty much his possessions in life, but Job was quickly put in his place when God reminded him that it was He who created the earth, set the stars in their orbit and who could control the rain. Job remembered it would be alright because God was in control. Our key verse is a reminder that we will take nothing with us from this life except our eternal connection with God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Like Job, we will find troubles and difficulties in life, but we have a savior that has overcome the world and a God that loves His children and wants us to know he knows and is concerned about everything that happens in the lives of His children. Are you making the most of your time on earth? We are not promised a single day longer than today, yet most of us live as though we have eternity to live. Don't put off till tomorrow what can be accomplished today for Christ's Sake!

Student Devotional Week 5: The Flood

Key Verse: Hebrews 11:7 (New International Version)

"By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith."

Noah was a righteous man living in a time when the entire world was evil, not only their actions but their very thoughts were evil. Noah was an old man when the Lord came to him to build the Ark, 500 years old to be exact and it took Noah 120 years to finish the Ark. Think about all of the ridicule that Noah must have bore all of those years building an Ark the size of a football field in the middle of all of the evil and wickedness going on around him. It would have been easy for Noah to say I can't do it, it is too hard and I am too old. Excuses don't get a whole lot accomplished, and Noah was faithful to build the Ark and to take his entire family and the animals with him on the Ark. The water came and wiped out every living creature on the earth at the time and God basically started over with Noah and his family and of course the creatures he had collected. God made a covenant or promise to never flood the earth again and sealed it with a sign, the rainbow, a visual reminder of God's promise to us. Maybe nothing a major as what happened to Noah has ever happened to you, but you may feel persecuted at school for your beliefs and people laugh at you for believing in God. Not only do we have a great example in Noah of perseverance through difficult times, but we have a savior that was persecuted and tested just like Noah and was found faithful. How about you, are you faithful to do as God has commanded you even in the midst of everyone else doing the wrong thing? The Hollywood version of the Flood set to modern times is "Evan Almighty." It is a good example of how evil and corruption exist in the world today, not just politics, but look around and you will see evil just about everywhere you look, but there are those Evans that no matter how hard they may try to run from what God is calling them to do, they can't deny God's call on their life to make a difference in the world. I pray you listen to God's call on your life to take a stand for what is right and just despite what others may say or do to you!

Student Devotional Week 4: Cain & Abel: Unacceptable Sacrifice

Key Verse: Genesis 4:7 (New International Version)

"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

Do you have siblings? If so, you know that siblings fight over the dumbest stuff. I once got into an argument with my sister over the televison set, which broke out into an all out brawl that left our living room lamps broken on the floor. Now these were no ordinary lamps, these were first generation touch lamps that my parents bought to match the living room furniture. The good news was they still worked, the bad news was the touch mechanism did not. So you can imagine the punishment we received for not only fighting but for presenting broken lamps to my parents when they got home. I would imagine God's rejection of Cain's offering would have been like if my sister got praised for confessing the wrong doing and I got grounded. Cain was furious and like all siblings he blamed his brother Abel and took his anger out on him and killed him. Now, I don't think most of us would ever do such a thing, but I would assume we all have blamed others for our own shortcomings and laziness. It was Cain's fault that the offering was not accepted, because he had not given his very best. How about you, do you make excuses by blaming others for your faults? Maybe you need to ask forgiveness from someone you have unappropriately blamed.

Student Devotional Week 3: Adam & Eve's Deadly Decision

Key Verse:
"The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you." Romans 16:20

Last Sunday we discussed this passages from Genesis that talk about God as the creator of everything and from the beginning of John. Let's review them for a minute.

John 1:1-5, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."

Now skip down to verses 10-14. "He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed His name, He gave the right to become children of God-- Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

What an amazing passage! Where did all this begin? Well, now we can turn to the other book that starts with "In the beginning..." Genesis 1.

Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

This God of creation is the same Word of Creation spoken of in John. This is the same God that became flesh and dwelt with us. So this text could say In the beginning, Jesus created the heavens and the earth. So why did this almighty and powerful God become weak and powerless flesh? The answer is in Genesis 3. Here we have the story of the first human sin. The story of how Satan, using the guise of a serpent, tempted Eve, and she fell , then Adam fell and they blamed each other and they blamed the serpent. How does this story come to an end? God has to sort it out. In Genesis 3:14 and 15 we have the conclusion of this story and the beginning of the salvation saga. Here we find the first prophecy.

Genesis 3:14,15. "So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life."

"And I will put enmity.." I looked that up in the dictionary. Enmity: severe hatred. I will put severe hatred "between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel."

I like how Dr. Jack Blanco puts it in his Clear Word paraphrase that he has done. Genesis 3:14,15 Then God said to the serpent, because you were used as a tool of Satan, I cannot continue to let you be the most beautiful creature in the garden. You will now be lower than any of the animals and will crawl on the ground eating its dust. Also, I will place a hatred of sin in the heart of the woman and her descendants, and this hatred of sin will find its ultimate expression in One of her offspring. Satan, like a striking serpent, will try to kill Him, but as a man crushes the head of a poisonous snake with his bare heel to save his children knowing he will die, so the Savior will sacrifice His own life to save those who love Him, and He will utterly crush the serpent s head."

It's amazing grace. God's grace devised a means, way back in the beginning, whereby His banished children need not be expelled from Him but only from the garden. Adam and Eve were saved from the eternal consequences of their sin. Adam trusted in the promise of a coming Savior, the Seed of the woman. He was clothed in skins at the expense of an innocent victim a clear fore-view of Calvary. He confessed his faith by calling his wife's name Eve, which means Mother of all living , in the face of the death sentence recently pronounced.

Have you ever made a deadly decision? Maybe you haven't made a decision that has doomed all humanity, but we all like Adam and Eve has a choice to make to either cave-in and let temptations to sin win or put our foot down and take a stand against evil and against our human nature to sin against God. To sin is literal us telling God we know better and that our ways are better than his. Sin is a serious offense, but "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:9