Greetings! Thank you for sharing some of your time with me today. The Word of God is Living and active. It is my prayer today, as you delve into the truths He has given for His body, that the Holy Spirit will quicken His Word to your spirit giving you the revelation He desires to share with you today. Eric

As I write this blog post, I realize that a number of my readers live in countries and cultures where believers in Christ are severely persecuted. For you, I know that you are living a life where you understand what it means, you experience it, and choose to sacrifice everything for Christ. Thank God, He is ever Faithful. I pray for God’s divine hand of protection to continue to be upon you. I pray for His supernatural provision to be poured out for you, that His joy would strengthen you, and that you would constantly experience the peace of God that passes all understanding.

For those who live in cultures where persecution has not yet reached that level in which a physical life giving sacrifice is demanded, understand, that the time is coming and all believers need to be prepared to make that complete commitment to our worthy Lord and Savior.

In countries with religious freedom, it is easy to ‘think’ that we are devoted to our faith and God. Look at what Scripture reveals about the devotion we are to have to the Lord. 1 Corinthians 7:35 (ESV), “I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 11:3 (NASB20), “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” Our devotion to the Lord is to be undivided, sincere, and pure. What happens when we lose that freedom and the cost of serving Christ requires all that we have, including our life? What happens when even what we think is safe is required of us?

That is what I want to challenge you with in this blog post.

The apostle Paul recorded that he counted all of his worldly gain in this life as rubbish in order that he might gain Christ. Philippians 3: 7 and 8 (ESV), “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” The word translated ‘gain’ in vere 7 is kerdos in the Greek, which means: gain or lucre. Lucre is wealth or riches. Paul stated that any wealth or riches he had. he counted as loss. Then in verse 8, he expressed that he counts all of that wealth or riches as “rubbish’, skybalon in the Greek, which means: worthless or detestable Why does he count those things as rubbish? He stated that their value compared to the value of having gained Christ is worthless! ‘Gain’ in verse 8, is translated from the Greek word, kerdaino meaning: to gain Christ’s favor and fellowship. Where do you stand comparatively to Paul and his attitude toward riches as opposed to his relationship with God?

What are the top priorities in your life? What consumes your thoughts, your time, and your finances? Are they thoughts of your possessions? Homes? Cars? Wardrobes? Entertainment? All rubbish in the mind of Paul.

Romans 8:18 (ESV), “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”

In Matthew 16:24-26 we read, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” ‘Deny’ (aparneomai) in verse 24 according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance means to “deny utterly”. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon gives us added insight by adding: “to forget oneself, lose sight of oneself and one’s own interests.”

Likewise, the word ‘follow’ in verse 24 (akoloutheo) is defined in Strong’s as: to be in the same way with. Then, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon adds: “to cleave steadfastly to one, conform wholly to his example, in living and if need be, in dying also.

In dying to self, we surrender all we are and all that we have. Nothing is held back. The phrase, ‘taking up our cross’ means to submit to the purpose and plan God has for us and to renounce self-centered ambitions. Have you denied yourself and taken up your cross, having the plans and purposes of God for your life as your number one priority? Is your mind consumed with thoughts of past hurts, anger, hatred, or unforgiveness? We must be willing to sacrifice even these things to the Lord. Allow Him to help you remove these self destructive emotions so they are no longer a part of your life. Do your priorities include the need of the lost to come to right relationship with God, your beautiful favor and fellowship with Christ, or the needs of the family of God?

The best example I know of that demonstrates what it means to “hold nothing back,’ is found in the following Scriptures: Genesis 22: 1-3, 7-13, and verses 15-18, “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ...7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 8 And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together. 9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am."12 And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ... 15 Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son-- 17 "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

Human sacrifice has never been required nor acceptable to God. In this account, God gave a directive to Abraham, as a test, to see whether or not Abraham would obey Him. Abraham simply took action to obey God’s directive while trusting God to make it right. We saw that God did ‘make it right’ in verses 12 and 13 by stopping Abraham from killing Isaac and by providing the sacrificial lamb. Let’s look at Hebrews 11:17-19 (NLT), “It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, 18 even though God had told him, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted." 19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.”

It will be very valuable for us to understand the full significance of Abraham’s obedience to God. In order for us to see that, we need to look at what Isaac represented to Abraham. I will share a condensed version of the story through the Scripture.

Genesis 17: 5,16,17,19 and 21, “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. ... 16 "And I will bless her (Sarah) and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her." 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" ... 19 Then God said: ".., Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. ... 21 "But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year."

Genesis 18:1, 10 -14, “Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. ... 10 And He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" 13 And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' 14 "Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."

Genesis 21:3-5, “3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him--whom Sarah bore to him--Isaac. 4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.”

Isaac was Abraham’s:

• Promise kept

• God’s known will for his life

• Reward for faithfulness and obedience

• Heritage from God

• Faith child received

We also have ‘Isaac’s in our lives. (Things which God has promised, given, and what we know to be the will of God for our lives.)

Our Isaacs:

• Ministries

• Families

• Homes

• Finances

• Health

Abraham knew that his son, Isaac was God’s will for him and yet when God gave him the directive to sacrifice Isaac, he immediately responded with obedience. There was no railing against God, no questioning, no anger, no argument, just simple obedience. The next morning, Abraham left with Isaac and all that was needed to fulfil God’s directive!

When we read Genesis 22:15-18, we saw that Abraham obeyed and God blessed. What is extraordinary is what we read in verse 18, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” Romans 4:16 and 17a (NLT) reveals, “So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham's. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. 17 That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, "I have made you the father of many nations." Abraham is the father of our faith!

Let’s look at Deuteronomy 8:2 (ESV), “And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.” The word ‘humble’ according to Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon means: afflict as a discipline. Then ‘testing’ according to the Gesenius Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon means: to try or prove man by adversity, in order to prove their faith. The Lord will test you to know what is in your heart and to find out whether or not you will keep His commandments, just as He did with Abraham and the Israelites.

James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Trials means: adversity, affliction, trouble or trial to test, or prove one’s faith, holiness or character. In the phrase, “that you may be perfect” the word perfect (teleios) means: finished, lacking nothing, necessary to completeness. “Complete” (holokleros) means: free from sin, faultless. (What happens to us when we do sin.) We must confess and repent to maintain the fellowship we have with God. Going through trials and tribulations proves our faith and causes us to mature in the Lord.

How do you respond when God requires you to sacrifice even what you know to be His will?

Only God knows what is necessary in our lives to produce His likeness (nature) in us. None of us desire the hard tests, however, we find they are necessary for us to be honed and conformed to His image so we are made useful for the Master’s work and service.

When Job lost everything, he questioned God. We find God’s reply to Job in Job 40:1 and 2, “Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said: 2 "Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it." “Contends” means: strive, quarrel noisily or shouting. “Rebuke” means: to argue and accusative of thing. In the remainder of that chapter you will find that God reveals that He is God and Job is not.

There are trials and testing that will come into our journey. Many of these, we will not understand nor will we receive an explanation for them.

God does what He knows is best for us. What we don’t always grasp is that what He does serves an eternal purpose.

Jeremiah29:11 (NIV), “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Our response always needs to be like Job’s as we read in Job 13:15a, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”

When difficult things are asked of us by God, are we eager to obey immediately?

Are you willing to sacrifice your Isaac?

You can absolutely trust God!

Allow Him to hone you!

Obey immediately, even if you don’t understand the command!

He desires that we are willing to sacrifice everything for Him.

His will, instead of ours!

With Him you gain everything!

He loves you and will never abandon you.

Walk closely with Him, obey His commands, and it will be well with your soul!

Feel free to leave comments. I would love to hear from you.

Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is taken from the New King James Version.

ESV English Standard Version

NASB20 New American Standard Bible 2020

NLT New Living Translation