Good morning to you all. Today I was taken to the beginning of one of my favorite stories of the Bible: Abram. I absolutely love this story. Please read Genesis 12:1-8 ESV with me:

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

⁶ Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

⁸ From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

How I love Abram! I love that this foreign God comes to him and tells him to go, and Abram just goes. I love that he simply believes.

A friend was telling me the other day that in Abram’s day, each country or nation/tribe had their own “god” that they worshiped – religions were not cross-cultural at this point. Therefore, by God calling Abram out of Ur and into Canaan, God was telling Abram that He alone was the sovereign God over the entire world. Boundaries could not contain Him; nationality could not define Him; He alone was God over the world and everything in it and the heavens above and below it. How I love this sentiment ❤ Because, Beloved, God is still sovereign! Nationalities cannot define Him, and borders still cannot contain Him!! Every country that burns the Bibles and outlaws Christianity finds that it simply won’t die; every country that kills and persecutes followers of Christ finds that for every one killed, two spring up. Because He is real; He is all-powerful; He is sovereign. No matter the country, no matter the border. He is God Most High, and His love is worth every sacrifice. Amen!!

I keep wondering, however, were there any men that God called before Abram who turned Him down? I think about this with so many of the faith “heroes” of the Bible. We hear about the success stories, but were there any who didn’t have the faith to leave their family? Did God call Abram because Abram had the faith to say “yes” when asked to leave? How many men did God call to rise up as a hero during the time of the Judges who turned him down out of fear? I wonder about us now. How many of us miss out on our God-given destinies because of fear and faithlessness? Could you be the next person to be hailed a hero of the faith if you simply had the courage and faith to do what God is asking you to do? Will I miss out on my destiny because of my own personal failings? How I pray that we never be the ones to turn God down. How I pray that we grasp at the opportunities He presents us with the spirit of Abram; one full of faith and excitement! One that does not wait, but takes hold the the new adventure with courage. Like Abram, we may get it wrong sometimes. We may stumble or loosen our grasp, but like Abram, we serve a gracious God that will take hold, stand us back up, and set us back on the path so that we are again walking beside Him. My prayer for today is that we would have the courage and faith of Abram to do each things God asks of us today – be it something as small as saying an encouraging word to one in need, or something as big as changing careers or saving a life. God asks something of us each day, will today be the day that you say “yes?”

Thank you, Lord, that you are a God who calls us to big things. Thank you that you provide the courage so that we can say “yes.” I pray that we would be a “yes” people today. In your precious and holy Name, Amen!