Prayer Lessons On Abraham

Through Abraham we learn how to walk with our unseen God and prevail over life challenges. Faith is crucial to prayer because it is taking God at His word; if God has not promised it then we cannot obtain it by faith. However, today, we have a warped idea about faith as folks rate your faith by how much you receive through it.

The first and most important step in the ladder of faith however is sacrifice. Notice that James said faith without works (i.e. sacrifice) is dead; he didn’t say faith without receiving is dead otherwise, some folks in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 will be disqualified from the faith hall of fame. In fact, Abraham didn’t become the father of faith because he received but because he gave his covenant-son, Isaac for sacrifice to God. Now don’t misunderstand me, the ultimate purpose of faith is to receive the promises; however, the greatest dividend of faith to receive is deep relationship with God and not material benefit that often comes with it. We must not love money; but we shouldn’t hate it either because we need it to live well and also preach the gospel of Christ. That is why I am not against anyone trusting God for money; only that we must understand that it is the cheapest derivative of faith as demonstrated in the story of Isaac and Ishmael.

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And God said, Sarah your wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and you shall call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.

20
And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

21
But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto you at this set time in the next year” (Gen. 17: 18-21).

If you compare the passage above with other Bible passages you will discover a great truth: every material thing God promised Isaac was also promised Ishmael — twelve tribes descended from Isaac through Jacob and Ishmael also have twelve princes; again, God blessed Ishmael and made him fruitful and multiplied him EXCEEDINGLY as well as also made him into a GREAT nation. That was every physical thing promised to Isaac BUT there is only one big thing not given to Ishmael. That one thing is the only distinguishing factor and the real prize for faith. Look at verse 21 above again, “BUT my covenant will I establish with Isaac…” God didn’t commit Himself to Ishmael in a covenant relationship! Perhaps you’ve noticed that the richest men in the world aren’t Christians; so if material acquisition is a sign of faith then we should all cover our eyes in shame. That is why God only committed Himself to Abraham; and that is more than sufficient, “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” (Gen. 15: 1).

Today, the church is committing adultery with cash and kind and some of the most dangerous people to do business with are some folks in the church. We celebrate gifts from God but have no time for the giver Himself. We may own the whole world but what we will certainly take out of it is our relationship with God; without which we shall exit empty-handed. I challenge you to pick up your Bible concordance and look up all the faith passages in the Bible, copy all the confessions on those verses written in this Bible, arrange them such that it flows as a continuum, and prophesy it into your life. Seek after God; His gifts will surely also come to you.