Offered Up

Here’s Abraham’s response to God providing another sacrifice when Abraham was about to slay his own son – the promised heir – to obey God.

Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.  Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”

He worshiped.

He named the place where God answered his prayer.

He reaffirmed God as his provider.

What a story!  We have all heard it probably a dozen times.  But have we ever read it in the context of prayer/dialogue with God?

God initiates a convo with Abraham telling him he will have descendants as numerous as the stars. Decades go by and that promise is unfulfilled so Abraham and his wife meddle in God’s plans and mess things up – the maid conceives a son.  Abraham and Sarah lie out of fear.  However, God’s relationship with Abraham is untainted, and his promise still intact.

A son is born, and God initiates another convo with Abraham instructing him to offer that son – the promise – to slay him.  Abraham has walked with God for years now, realized that God is faithful even when man isn’t, and he believed that what God said to do must be done.

He obeys, and the Lord provides what Abraham needs, so that his son – the promise – is spared.

Abraham worships.

What a beautiful picture of a life of prayer/dialogue/relationship with God.

Hear I Am

Genesis 22 now shows us of the amazing progression of relationship between Abraham and God, now that mistakes have been made and forgiven, and promises have been kept. 

Here’s a prayer, a conversation, that none of us as parents ever would want to hear from God.

Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”

The same God that promised Abraham a son and now fulfilled that promise is now asking him to take him and offering him as a burnt offering.

The next verse says Abraham got up early to obey.

What!?

We know what happened.  Abraham believed that if he obeyed, God would provide a sacrifice and spare his son.  And that’s what happened.

God saw the potential in Abraham way back years ago when he promised him descendants.  He knew that Abraham believed in the Lord, and he stayed with him, until Abraham grew to believe and obey without question.

Our relationship, our prayer time, and our lives are a progression of a faithful God to ALL that he says he will do in his word.  It takes a lifetime of walking with him, falling down and reaching out to be picked up by his hand of mercy, and experiencing his faithfulness over and over again for us to then lay it all down when he says to do so.

Prayer does that…when God speaks and we listen…and we believe…and we obey.

He Hears

Remember the maid that Sarah sent in to her husband who bore a son?  Now Sarah wants her banished.

Genesis 21 says, God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”

I’m amazed at God’s mercy and love, and we are learning SO much about prayer in this first book of the Bible.

God likes to initiate it.  He hears our cries.  He sees our screw-ups.  He still loves us and wants to bless us.

The little boy born of the maid was crying, and God heard him and his mother.

It wasn’t the little boy’s fault that he was born and sent away.  And the maid had only done what was instructed of her by her mistress, Sarah.  But now here she was with a little boy, a single mom, being sent away without a prayer.

But wait, just the crying out was heard by God.

Not only did God hear, but he gave a promise to this little boy that a great nation would come from him.

Sometimes, we think because of our situation, our own mistakes, or just our place and lot in life, that we don’t fit in, good things are not in store for us, and that God doesn’t even really see us.

Not so.

Cry out to him.  He hears every cry.  And he answers.

Quite a Story

Genesis 20 is quite a chapter.

After Sarah made her big snafu and got the maid to sleep with her husband, because of the time and improbability of God’s promise, now her husband tells her to lie to people and tell them that they are brother/sister, because of fear.

We have seen now that the couple God promised star-quantity descendants to, the man who God called righteous, have both failed in their faithfulness to God.

Unfaithfulness always has consequences, but our faithful God is always true to his word, and extends mercy to those who see their wrongdoing and turn back to him.

God speaks to a man (Abimelech) in a dream, when he’s about to take Sarah from Abraham, and reveals their true identity – husband and wife.  The sin of deceit is revealed, the wrongdoing is righted.

You see, Abimelech and his wife had been unable to bear children because of the sin of Sarah. Her wrongdoing had affected others.

Now God uses Abraham to pray for Abimelech, and he and his wife are able to bear children.

Communication with God requires honestly and humility and repentance, if we want to see improbable things take place, our prayers answered, and our families restored.

Messy Unbelief

Surely Abraham told Sarah of God’s promise.  But even if he did, years have passed now and Sarah realized she didn’t have a child still, so she decided to help out God with his promise.  She sends her maid into her husband so she can conceive and give them a child.

Read Chapter 16:2

So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Wow, she believes it is God who has kept her from being blessed – having children. 

Interesting to note that God promises descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, then after what seems like a long delay in fulfilling that promise, and when it seems like there’s no way that promise can practically come to pass,  human hands get in the way and mess things up.

Sometimes, God promises things for our children, gives us hope for the future, inspires us with his words of promise and wisdom and answers…and yet we see nothing in the way of fulfillment of those promises.

God knew what he was doing, and it didn’t matter to him that Abraham and Sarah were getting old, past the age of normal childbearing.

What mattered was his word which was true.  Then.  Now.  Always.

And we are wise if we believe it.  Hold on to it.  And not mess with it.

God Speaks

God speaks to Abraham again,

And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”  Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 

Can you imagine hearing God give you a promise like this one?  Descendants more numerous than the stars in the sky.

I don’t know that I would have even considered that that kind of promise would be real, I think I might wonder if I was hearing correctly.

However, the verse says Abraham believed it.  It says he believed in the Lord, and then the Lord counted that as righteousness.

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard in my prayer time a promise of such huge proportions.  Maybe it’s because I don’t expect that sort of thing. 

I believe in the Lord, but do I believe he might speak to me with promises of generations to come?

Again, prayer seems to be awfully full of God’s voice here in the Old Testament times, with mankind listening to what He says and then believing it, and acting on it.

Today, prayer seems to be awfully full of our voice with most of our time spent in crying and petitioning, and very little listening.

Let’s see what happens next…

The Word Came

Genesis 15 is our first glimpse of a desperate plea from man to God because of a perceived need.

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

Just like we’ve been reading, God speaks to Abram first, speaking of his character, directing him to faith, promising him to guard and bless him.

But this time Abram talks back and speaks out of a realization that he’s missing something – a son.  He has no child.  No heir.

I find it interesting and comforting that God speaks first, relaying to Abram again of his faithfulness.

This puts Abram in a position of trust and rest when he petitions God and asks him his question.

If we take time to listen, to read his Word, and receive the truth of who God is, our petitions will then be asked in faith, expecting an answer and fulfillment of our desire.

But…if we ask Him out of desperation, fear, and wondering if he’s real or even concerned about us…our prayer will most likely leave us exhausted and tired from pouring out our hearts.

Effective prayer.  I want to know how to pray like that.

So He Built

Genesis 12: 7, 8 says The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

Here’s a great pictorial description of effective prayer.

God appears to Abram and speaks.  Again, God-initiated conversation is the BEST, isn’t it?  It’s because when he initiates the conversation, he starts out with a dialogue of what we need to hear, not what we think we need to say, which is what happens we initiate the conversation.

God speaks and offers Abraham a promise.  Wow.

And Abraham’s response is to build an altar, to worship.

It’s hard to worship in prayer when we begin the conversation with disappointment, shaking our fist at God, or demanding that he move on our behalf.

But when he starts by speaking hope into our spirit, offering us a future and blessings, it’s easy to respond with worship to a God who loves us that much.

God always offers us hope, and if we hear anything other than those words, it’s not God who’s speaking…

Listen for his voice of love and hope, and then respond in worship. 

That’s effective prayer.

The Blessing

Let’s move on Abraham, in our journey of learning about effective prayer.  If prayer is dialogue with God, and it is, it seems that when he initiates the dialogue and we listen and obey, prayer is certainly effective! 

Genesis 12: Now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country,

And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”  So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him.

Maybe you’re wondering why I’m calling these types of dialogue prayer.  If prayer isn’t dialogue, then I don’t know what it is.  Most of us pour out our hearts to him in petition and repentance if we’ve wronged someone, and we cry so much that we don’t even hear what He has to say to us.

But so far, in Genesis, we’re seeing that God is initiating conversation and directives to man, and man is listening and obeying.

And awesome things happen!

Who wouldn’t want the kind of blessing God promises to Abraham?

But those blessings required obedience on Abraham’s part.

And those blessings didn’t come without obstacles.

A good lesson for us all.  God does speak, if we will listen.  God wants to bless us and take care of all that concerns us.  But we have to listen to him and follow him.  And even if circumstances don’t look like what we “think” they should, according to His directive, we know that it will all come to pass because he said so.

That kind of prayer (dialogue) is effective, don’t you think?

A Sign

Genesis 9:16, 17 is more of God’s response to Noah after the flood:

When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

We still see the rainbow today, and we still think of the promise made behind that rainbow.

We are experiencing the effects of effective prayer from thousands of years ago.

So how is this related to prayer?

Let’s look at this again.

If prayer is a solemn request for help or an expression of thanks, then there must be a relationship we are desiring with God.  We want to call on him and have him listen and answer.

But in Genesis, we see that God is asking something of man first, and when man responds by believing and obeying and trusting, God then is pleased and man responds in thanksgiving.

I want to try this today.  I think it might be a bit scary, to sit down and listen to see what God is saying first.

But then I think it might be quite amazing to see what happens when I listen in prayer and obey, before I petition and plead and beg.

The First One

The storm was over, Noah sent out a dove to see if the ground was dry, and it was time to exit the ark. 

God spoke again. Noah listened.

He heard what God said to do and he obeyed…again.

And not only that, but after this huge storm that rocked their world took place for 40 days and 40 long nights, he built an altar to the Lord and offered up a sweet aroma to Him.

Noah’s response to the biggest storm in history was to praise His God.

And this, my friend, was an effective prayer – the first one recorded in the bible.   Look what happened.  God promised to never curse the ground because of man again, and he set up the four seasons that continue to this day.

That’s amazing.

Maybe we have prayer all backwards.

God speaks to us if we will listen for his voice.  He gives us purpose and direction that we then have a choice to obey or not.  There will be storms even in the middle of direct obedience to what he tells us to do. But we can emerge unscathed and grateful and worshiping Him, with results that are life-changing and lasting from generation to generation.

Maybe prayer all starts with God speaking first…

So Noah Went Out...

The doors are shut, Noah and his family and all of the animals are safely inside, and the floods come – just like God said they would.  Everything God told Noah is now happening – storms and all.  Do you think during that 40 days that Noah ever wondered about God’s directions and how it would all turn out?

If he was human, I’m thinking he did.  But then, maybe not.  Maybe, living a righteous life and hearing God’s voice to build,and obeying that purpose in his life, brought him a peace that is elusive to so many of us.

Maybe responding to God’s voice in obedience settled his soul for the storm ahead.

And maybe God speaks to us before storms occur that will wreck our boats if we don’t listen. And if we just simply obey his voice, we experience peace even though our boat rocks back and forth in the waves…

Read this passage from Genesis 8:

Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may ^[breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.  “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”

We’ll comment more tomorrow….

The Missing Key

We find in Genesis 7 that God didn’t start talking to Noah, telling him to build an ark, and then stay silent.  He kept talking, as long as Noah kept listening and obeying. 

Read this:

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.  You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female;  also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.  For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.” Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.

He told him of certain danger coming to the earth, but if Noah obeyed he and his family would be saved.  He kept talking to Noah because Noah kept obeying what he had heard.

Here we read again that Noah continued to do all that God told him to do.

I don’t think prayer is just our petitions and praise going up.  I really think it starts with His directions and his voice going down…if we will just listen.

This is making me totally rethink prayer.

We often pray while driving, before eating, when our kids are sick, when we have a decision to make, and we are the initiators of the conversation to plead, beg, and ask for all that we need.

But it seems like in the beginning, God initiated the conversations and gave them purpose and directions on how to achieve those purposes, and all they had to do was agree and listen and obey.

Perhaps this is a missing key in our prayers?

Then He Did

The next conversation we read about in the Bible (we’re looking at the beginnings of prayer) is that of God talking to Noah, when the earth is so full of evil that God is sorry he ever made man.

We’re looking at prayer, and how to be effective in prayer.

And it starts with looking at the way prayer was initiated back at the beginning of God’s relationship with man.  After all, prayer is a conversation with God where we speak and he answers, or maybe he speaks first and we listen. 

Noah found favor in God’s eyes.   God spoke to him with pretty amazing directives to build an ark, something that had never been done, because it was going to rain, something that had never occurred.

And here’s Noah’s response:

Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did. (Genesis 6:22)

What if…prayer is supposed to really be generated with God speaking to us first?  It seems most of my prayers are me falling on my knees in petition to God to speak to me, heal me, provide for me, help me, etc.

But what if prayer is more than just a one-way monologue?

What if prayer is God initiating a conversation with us with his plans and purposes for our lives, and then us responding back to him by obeying all that we hear?

If prayer begins with Him speaking, we won’t need to wonder what to pray about.  He will speak His heart and we will listen and choose to obey, and we will be satisfied because we are obeying Him.

Wow, who knew God initiated so many convos with his people?  And these convos initiated responses back that then created dialogue for prayer time?

The Choice

It’s interesting to note that in Genesis 3 another being begins a dialogue with man/woman, after God has already spoken in chapter 2 directing Adam what to do, in order that he might live.

The serpent speaks and defies God’s character, planting doubt about his genuine love for his creation.  He too is calling now Eve into conversation, and she listens.

The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!  For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Now Adam and Eve have a choice:  listen to God’s directives or listen to the enemy’s accusations about God.

These two instances occur before Genesis 4, when Adam and Eve have children, and one of them murders the other.  They now have a choice to call out to God, the One who created them, fashioned them to enjoy his presence and live or…to call out to the serpent, the one who brought them separation from God forever.

And they chose to call on the name of the Lord.

Sometimes, we have to see and realize those things that are lies and that which is the truth.

Which is it for you?

Will you continually doubt who God is, his love for you, and his goodness in your lives?  Or will you call on his name because you know He loves you and has a hope and a future for you and yours?

It can’t be both.  And what we choose to do is the foundation of prayer – our communion with Him.

Back Up

I want to back up today.

If prayer is communion and conversation with God, let’s back up and look at those dialogues back in the garden BEFORE Adam and Eve departed, where they learned what it meant to have real communion with Him…before it was broken.

God spoke first.

Genesis 2:16, 17 - The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;  but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

He told Adam where to eat so that he might live, and what to avoid so that he might not die.

God initiated communion with his creation, the ones he created in his image, and the first thing he told them was of his provision to live and his directions to stay alive.

God is always the initiator.  He pursues us, he gave his life for us, he is always waiting on us to turn to hear his voice as he speaks life to us.

Since the first call to communion with God was his call to obey so that we might live, let’s think about that for a moment.

Perhaps prayer starts with an invitation from Him to live, to eat from his provision, and to stay away from that which he tells us to avoid.

Perhaps this one thing – listening to our Father speak – is missing from the beginning of most of our prayers – and it’s why we start out with a heavy heart and get up with the same loads we were carrying…when we pray.

How Did They Know?

Look at something else in yesterday’s story from Genesis 4. Stop and read the entire story if you have the time.

One of the most devastating occurrences takes place prior to the first mention of prayer.  A child is killed by his own brother.  Seriously, can you think of anything worse to happen to a family?  And it all happened because of jealousy and anger and pride.

Out of that sorrow, observing the enmity that can rise between even family members, and realizing that life is truly a gift, men begin to call on the name of the Lord.

Yesterday, we saw that humility is necessary as we enter into dialogue with God.  And today we see that the realization that we have a need greater than that which we can fix by ourselves is another component – when we have brought tragedy upon ourselves that is too great to overcome.

Right here, in Genesis, we see the need for a Savior. Sin has occurred.  Untimely death has happened.  Murder and hatred have surfaced.  And broken hearts are laid open.

How did these men know to call on the Lord?  Could it be that Adam and Eve shared their experiences of having walked with God in a beautiful garden where all of their needs were met, and everything was beautiful and pure?  Could it be that their vocalization of a God who provides all things for his children stirred a desire in their offspring to know Him?

They called…and He heard…because he always does.

Praying Effectively

One of my New Year’s goals is to understand what it means to pray effectively.  It’s got to be more than making petitions to release my burdens and asking forgiveness for the wrong’s I’ve done.  

So here we go, together:

The first mention in the bible of men “calling upon the Lord” is in Genesis 4.

Here is the story of the birth of Cain, Abel, and Seth – three sons of Adam and Eve.  Cain offers to the Lord but with a haughty spirit, so his offering is not received.  Abel’s offering is received, because it’s offered in humility.  Cain is angry and kills his brother.  Another baby boy is given to the parents…Seth.

I find it interesting that after all of this takes place, the chapter ends with this phrase…

“Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.”

There’s a lot to be noticed here in this chapter about prayer.  We must come to the Lord in humility and not with a haughty spirit.

Lots of times our prayers begin with anger against the Lord for things not going well in our lives.  We’ve lost a job and we’re upset with the Lord that we’re now in need, so we come to him demanding that he be faithful to us.  We think we know the best way to answer our prayer, so we come to Him with a preconceived idea of what the answer should be, so we are super disappointed when it doesn’t follow our guidelines.

Maybe the first step in effective prayer is entering the dialogue in humility, acknowledging his sovereignty and his will, realizing that His ways are best, as we begin our petitions and praise.

Something to think about…