Who Are the Children of Abraham?

 Who Are the Children of Abraham?

“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

You who hope in Christ and follow him in the obedience of faith are Abraham’s descendants and heirs of his covenant promises. 

God said to Abraham in Genesis 17:4, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.” But Genesis makes plain that Abraham did not father a multitude of nations in a physical or political sense. Therefore, the meaning of God’s promise was probably that a multitude of nations would somehow enjoy the blessings of sonship even though physically unrelated to Abraham. 

That’s no doubt what God meant in Genesis 12:3 when he said to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” From the very beginning, God had in view that Jesus Christ would be the descendant of Abraham and that everyone who trusts in Christ would become an heir of Abraham’s promise. Paul says in Galatians 3:29, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

So, when God said to Abraham 4,000 years ago, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations,” he opened the way for any one of us, no matter what nation we belong to, to become a child of Abraham and an heir of God’s promises. All we have to do is share the faith of Abraham — that is, bank our hope on God’s promises, so much so that, if obedience requires it, we could give up our dearest possession like Abraham gave up Isaac. 

We don’t become heirs of Abraham’s promises by working for God, but by being confident that God works for us. “[Abraham] grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20–21). That’s why Abraham could obey God even when obedience looked like a dead-end street. He trusted God to do the impossible — like raise his son from the dead.

Faith in God’s promises — or today we would say, faith in Christ, who is the confirmation of God’s promises — is the way to become a child of Abraham; obedience is the evidence that faith is genuine (Genesis 22:12–19). Therefore, Jesus says in John 8:39, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did.”

Children of Abraham are people from all nations who put their hope in Christ and, like Abraham on Mount Moriah, therefore don’t let the loss of their most precious earthly possession stop their obedience. 

You who hope in Jesus Christ and follow him in the obedience of faith are the descendants of Abraham and heirs of his covenant promises.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY JUNE 01, 2026.

SUBJECT : CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

Memory verse: "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life." (Proverbs 4 vs 23.)

READ: Luke Luke 6 vs 43 - 45:

6:43: For a good tree does not bear bad fruit; nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

6:44: For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from of a bramble bush.

6:45: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good: and evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

INTIMATION:

To change your life, you must change the way you think. Behind everything you do is a thought. Every behavior is motivated by a belief, and every action is prompted by an attitude. God revealed this thousands of years ago before psychologists understood it. 

Our speech and actions reveal our true underlying beliefs, attitudes, and motivations. The good impressions we try to make cannot last if we are being deceptive. What is in your heart will come out in your speech and behavior, and thus showcases your underlying beliefs, attitude and motivation. We should guard our hearts above all else, making sure we concentrate on those desires that will help us be on the right path. 

Your life cannot be changed by willpower, it can only be changed by your thought process, and the help of the Spirit of God. We have seen people make new year resolutions that are forgotten in a few days. This is a clear indication that your willpower, and best intentions are not enough. Only the Holy Spirit has the power to make the changes God desires to make in our lives. I have seen people say, "I'll force myself to eat less, exercise more, quit being disorganized and late." Yes, willpower can produce short-term changes, but it creates constant internal stress because you haven't dealt with the root cause—your thinking. The change doesn't feel natural, so eventually you give up, and revert to your old patterns. 

The better and easier way to change your life is to change the way you think, and this is your very first step in spiritual growth. Change always starts first in your mind. The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act. The apostle Paul, in Romans 12 vs 2, says, "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." Let God, through His Spirit, transform you into a new person by changing, with your cooperation, the way you think. There must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes (Ephesians 4 vs 23).

To be like Christ you must develop the mind of Christ. The New Testament calls this mental shift repentance, which in Greek literally means "to change your mind." You repent whenever you change the way you think by adopting how God thinks; about yourself, sin, God, other people, life, your future, and everything else. You take on Christ's outlook and perspective. 

The apostle Paul divides people into two categories; those who let themselves be controlled by their sinful natures, and those who follow after the Holy Spirit. All of us would have been in the first category if Jesus hadn't offered us a way out. Once we have said yes to Jesus, we will continue following Him, because His way brings life and peace. 

Daily we must consciously choose to focus our life on God. The Scriptures give us God's guidelines, and we should discover them and follow it. I advise, as a guide, to ask yourself this question when faced with a perplexing situation; "What would Jesus want me do?" When the Holy Spirit points out what is right, do it eagerly.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit. I earnestly desire that the spirit of Christ will dwell in me richly that I may renew my mind and think like Him in all I do, so help me God, in the mighty Name of Jesus I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Faith That Magnifies Grace

 The Faith That Magnifies Grace

I do not nullify the grace of God. (Galatians 2:21)

When I lost my footing as a little boy in the undertow at the beach, I felt as if I were going to be dragged to the middle of the ocean in an instant. 

It was a terrifying thing. I tried to get my bearings and figure out which way was up. But I couldn’t get my feet on the ground, and the current was too strong to swim. I wasn’t a good swimmer anyway. 

In my panic I thought of only one thing: Could someone help me? But I couldn’t even call out from under the water. 

When I felt my father’s hand take hold of my upper arm like a mighty vice grip, it was the sweetest feeling in the world. I yielded entirely to being overpowered by his strength. I reveled in being picked up at his will. I did not resist.

The thought did not enter my mind that I should try to show that things aren’t so bad; or that I should add my strength to my dad’s arm. All I thought was, Yes! I need you! I thank you! I love your strength! I love your initiative! I love your grip! You are great!

In that spirit of yielded affection, one cannot boast. I call that yielded affection “faith.” And my father was the embodiment of the future grace of God that I desperately needed and craved under the water. This is the faith that magnifies grace. 

As we ponder how to live the Christian life, the uppermost thought should be: How can I magnify rather than nullify the grace of God? Paul answers this question in Galatians 2:20–21, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God.” 

Why does his life not nullify the grace of God? Because he lives by faith in the Son of God. Faith calls all attention to grace and magnifies it, rather than nullifying it.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY MAY 31, 2026.

SUBJECT : WHO IS A CHRISTIAN?

Memory verse: "And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." (Acts 11 vs 26.)

READ: Romans 10 vs 8 - 13:

10:8: But what does it say? “The word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):

10:9: that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

10:10: For with the heart one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

10:11: For the scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

10:12: For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.

10:13: For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

INTIMATION:

A Christian is one who believe inwardly and outwardly that Jesus’ death has allowed God to offer them forgiveness and eternal life as a gift. A Christian is anyone who has the Spirit of God living in him or her. If you have sincerely trusted Christ for your salvation, and acknowledged Him as Lord, then the Holy Spirit lives within you and you are a Christian. You can be assured that you have the Holy Spirit because Jesus promised that He would send Him. A Christian has accepted that gift through faith and are seeking to live a life of obedient gratitude for what God has done for him. 

Christianity is both private and public, with heart-belief and mouth-confession. Since you now believe that Jesus Christ is God’s Son and that eternal life comes through Him (First John 5 vs 5), you will begin to act as Christ directs, and you will find help in your daily problems and in your prayer; you will be empowered to serve God and do His Will; and you will become part of God’s plan to build up His church. Our relationship to God and the power He provides result in obedience. Having received forgiveness and eternal life, you are now daily challenged to live that life with His help. 

Have you ever been asked, “How do I become a Christian?” The passage we read today gives you the beautiful answer. Salvation is as close as your own lips and heart. People think it must be a complicated process, but it is not. If you believe in our heart and say with your mouth that Christ is the risen Lord, you will be saved. Christ has provided our salvation through His incarnation (God in human form) and resurrection. God’s salvation is right in front of us. He will come to us wherever we are. All we need to do is to respond and accept His gift of salvation. 

A Christian, through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, is no more dominated by his or her sinful nature, but rather is controlled by the Holy Spirit. All of us would have been dominated by our sinful nature if Jesus hadn’t offered us a way out. Once we have said yes to Jesus, we will want to continue following Him, because His way brings life and peace. We are united with Christ in His death, our evil desires and bondage to sin died with Him. Now, united by faith with Him in His resurrection life, we have unbroken fellowship with God and freedom from sin’s hold on us. 

If you are a Christian, you should act like it. To be a Christian means more than just making good resolutions and having good intentions; it means taking the right actions. This is a straightforward step that is as simple as putting on your clothes. You must rid yourself of all evil practices and immorality. Then you can commit yourself to what Christ teaches. If you have made such a commitment to Christ, are you remaining true to it? What old clothes do you need to strip off? How would those closest to you describe your Christianity? Do they think you live so that God will accept you, or they know that you live because God had accepted you in Christ?

The Christian real home is where Christ lives (John 14 vs 2 - 3). This truth provides a different perspective on our lives here on earth. To “set your mind on things above” means to look at life from God’s perspective and to seek what He desires. This provides the antidote to materialism; we gain the proper perspective on material goods when we take God’s view of them. It also provides the antidote to sensuality. By seeking what Christ desires, we have the power to break our obsession with pleasure and leisure activities. 

Daily we must consciously choose to center our life on God. Use the Bible to discover God’s guidelines, and then follow them. In every perplexing situation, ask yourself, “What would Jesus want me to do?” When the Holy Spirit points out what is right, do it eagerly. Christ gives us power to live for Him now, and He gives us hope for the future. Once one has given himself to the lordship of Jesus, then it is his desire to follow after the directions of God’s word. 

Prayer: Abba Father, I believe in Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the substitutionary work He did for me on the cross. I confess Him as my personal Lord and Savior. I empty myself before You that You fill me in with Your grace to do Your Will at all times, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Gain of Serving God

 The Gain of Serving God

“They shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” (2 Chronicles 12:8)

Serving God is utterly different from serving anyone else. 

God is extremely jealous that we understand this — and enjoy it. For example, he commands us, “Serve the Lord with gladness!” (Psalm 100:2). There is a reason for this gladness. It is given in Acts 17:25. God is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” 

We serve him with gladness because we do not bear the burden of meeting his needs. He has no needs. So, serving him can’t mean meeting his needs. Instead we rejoice in a service where he meets our needs. Serving God always means receiving grace from God to do what we have to do.

To show how jealous God is for us to understand this, and glory in it, there is a story in 2 Chronicles 12. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who ruled the southern kingdom after the revolt of the ten tribes, chose against serving the Lord and gave his service to other gods and other kingdoms. 

As judgment, God sent Shishak, the king of Egypt, against Rehoboam with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen (2 Chronicles 12:2–3).

In mercy God sent the prophet Shemaiah to Rehoboam with this message: “Thus says the Lord, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak’” (2 Chronicles 12:5). The happy upshot of that message is that Rehoboam and his princes humbled themselves in repentance and said, “The Lord is righteous” (2 Chronicles 12:6).

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, he said, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak” (2 Chronicles 12:7). But as a discipline to them he says, “They shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries” (2 Chronicles 12:8).

The point is plain: serving the enemy and serving God are very different. How so? Serving God is a receiving and a blessing and a joy and a benefit. Serving Shishak is exhausting and depleting and sorrowful. God is a giver. Shishak is a taker.

This is why I am so jealous to say that the worship of Sunday morning and the worship of daily obedience is not at bottom a burdensome giving to God, but a joyful getting from God. That is the true service that God demands. In all you do, trust me as the giver.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY MAY 30, 2026.

SUBJECT : BELIEVERS BATTLE WITH THE DEVIL!

Memory verse: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (First Peter 5 vs 8.)

READ: Ephesians 6 vs 10 - 18:

6:10: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.

6:11: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

6:13: Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

6:14: Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 

6:15: and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

6:16: above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

6:17: And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

6:18: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to the end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints;

INTIMATION:

Our adversary, the devil, is relentlessly on a mission of attack on the children of God. He walks about seeking who or what to kill, to steal, or to destroy among the children of God. The attack is imminent for the followers of Christ whom the devil perceives as lost by him. Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan has been tempting people to sin. The battle with Satan is a difficult, ongoing struggle. If we obey Jesus and align ourselves closely with God’s purposes, Satan can have no power over us. Receiving Jesus Christ, that is, embracing the kingdom is eventually a huge loss to the devil, hence his destructive tendencies toward followers of Christ. In the vulnerable state of Christ’s followers, the devil comes to attack in various manners.

In the Christian life we battle against “principalities and powers” (the powerful evil forces of fallen angels headed by the devil, who are vicious fighters. These are not “flesh and blood” but demons over whom the devil has control. They are not mere fantasies—they are very real. We face a powerful army whose goal is to defeat the body of Christ. To withstand the attacks, we must depend on God’s strength and use every piece of His armor. All believers and the whole body of Christ need to be armed. As you do battle against “the ruler of the darkness of this age,” fight in the strength of the body of Christ, whose power comes from the Holy Spirit.

Beneath the surface of the routine of daily life, a fierce struggle among invisible spiritual powers is being waged. Our main defense is prayer that God will protect us from the evil one and that He will strengthen us. The following guidelines can help you prepare for and survive satanic attacks: (1) Take the threat of spiritual attack seriously; (2) pray for strength and help from God; (3) study the Bible to recognize Satan’s style and tactics; (4) memorize Scripture so it will be a source of help no matter where you are; (5) associate with those who speak the truth; and (6) practice what you’re taught by sound spiritual leaders. 

Although we are assured of victory through faith in Jesus Christ, not through our own efforts. we must engage in the struggle until Christ returns, because Satan is constantly battling against all who are on the Lord’s side. We need supernatural power to defeat Satan, and God has provided this by giving us His Holy Spirit within us and His armor surrounding us; the truth in God’s Word, God’s given righteousness in Christ, the gospel of peace, the spirit of faith, our salvation in Christ, and engaging the Word of God in prayers. We should not relent but persevere to the end because our adversary never relents. If you feel discouraged, remember the promise of Christ to be with us up to the end of age (Matthew 28 vs 20).

We are living in the last days, and Satan’s work has become intense. Even though the devil is very powerful, as we can see by the condition of our world, he is always under God’s control. One of the reason God allows Satan to work evil and bring temptation is so that those who pretend to be Christ’s followers will be weeded out from Christ’s true believers. Knowing that the last great confrontation with Jesus is near, Satan is desperately trying to recruit as great an enemy force as possible for his final battle. 

When you take away your focus off the Lord and is vulnerable to the devil’s attack. Such times are when you focus on your feeling, weakness, or troubles; focusing on your circumstances, instead of focusing on Him who controls circumstances. We all have areas where temptation is strong and habits are hard to conquer. These weaknesses give the devil a foothold, so we must deal with our areas of vulnerability by the strength that God gives us through His armor. 

Prayer: Abba Father, I submit totally to You. Let not the devil's machinations take away my focus on You. In all things You are my God, my Shield and Buckler. In You I live, and move, and have my being. Give me the grace to walk in Your strength and guidance always, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD!

Something to Boast About

 Something to Boast About

By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

The New Testament correlates faith and grace to make sure that we do not boast in what grace alone achieves. 

One of the most familiar examples is Ephesians 2:8. By grace, through faith. There’s the correlation that guards the freedom of grace. By grace, through faith.

Faith is the act of our soul that turns away from our own insufficiency to the free and all-sufficient resources of God. Faith focuses on the freedom of God to dispense grace to the unworthy. It banks on the bounty of God. 

Therefore faith, by its very nature, nullifies boasting and fits with grace. Wherever faith looks, it sees grace behind every praiseworthy act. So it cannot boast, except in the Lord. The author of grace.

So Paul, after saying that salvation is by grace through faith, says, “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Faith cannot boast in human goodness or competence or wisdom, because faith focuses on the free, all-supplying grace of God. Whatever goodness faith sees, it sees as the fruit of grace. 

When it looks at our “wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,” it says, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31).