“Now the Lord had said to Abram:
‘Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.”
“For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’” –Romans 4:3
One of the most significant men in the Scriptures was Abraham. He is the man we know as the “father of many nations” and the “father of the faith.” He was the man who was not afraid to sacrifice his only son in obedience to God’s requirement (see Genesis 22:1-19). He is the man so full of faith that he has become our model. Abraham also serves as the first example of a man expressing his worship to God.
Before he became Abraham, Abram was 75 years old when he encountered God and received His calling. Yet despite his age, he moved, followed God, and left his country and kinfolk. He had to go through tremendous changes to receive God’s blessing. Upon this first meeting, God made His great plans known to Abraham. But to get to a place of blessing after blessing, Abraham had to fulfill God’s requirements.
If we want to be blessed, we must be worshipers. As we take on this role, we must entrust the rest of our lives to Him. We must be ready to follow Him. We must allow our Master to change our ways and let Him mold our identity. To receive blessing upon blessing, there is a cost. We must allow God to put us in positions that will bring a change in us. In this season, do not resist the changes God is requiring of you.
Change is Coming
For us, human beings, going through changes can be the most difficult thing for us. We like to stay where we feel secure. We like to remain in our safe zones. When we encounter Abram in the Old Testament, God takes him out of his home, his country, and God promises to make another race out of his loins. All these promises from God sound strange to an ordinary man. But Abraham believed the God who made a covenant with him.
As seen in the life of Abraham, God’s power can work through a person regardless of their gifts, talents, social standing, and age. “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts (see Zechariah 4:6).
God can do radical things in the life of a person who understands that their lifestyle has to be a walk of faith. To experience this, we must practice using our faith and not our physical sight (see 2 Corinthians 5:7). We have to make a choice.
If you think you’re too old to do great things for God, imagine Abraham, who had to make changes in his life even as he witnessed the loss of loved ones, friends, income, health, and all other aspects that make for a good life. During this time, Abraham also had to deal with idolatry. He had to be set apart from his culture of idol worshipers and leave that kind of lifestyle to go through the radical change God is asking of him. He was reformed and transformed into an entirely different person as he walked with God. Our walk with God will never leave us the way we were.
When God gets a hold of us, we can expect a radical reformation to take place in our lives. In this process, people will see the difference–some might not like it while others will be attracted to the great things our Lord is doing in our midst.
If you are a believer, change is the doorway to growth in God. Change in the Kingdom of God is a commanded lifestyle. If we allow Him, He will set every detail in order. God will bless you despite how other people treat you.
What Is God Asking of You?
As God makes a promise to us, we must understand the requirements for us to walk on it. Before we declare it and shout it out, it is crucial that we are aware of what He wants from us. Many people become discouraged because they are only aware of God’s promise but don’t follow the requirements. Many people are never blessed the way God intends them to be because they refuse to change.
If we want to be fruitful and productive just like Abraham, we must put the divine principles of leaving and cleaving into place. If we do not let go of our past, we will not be able to connect with God’s future for us.
Our walk with God should not stay stagnant. It must have movement. It is a progression. It must keep going forward. If we’re not careful, our old concepts and traditions might lock us down into a place that will hinder our progress. Let us not allow old tradition and old mindsets to render God’s Word powerless.
So many Christians never understand; they don’t know what is inside them that they can never release without God’s divine assistance. We must always be careful to follow God because when greatness is untapped, it might turn into aggravation and frustration, which might destroy the gift we should have nurtured. Wasted potential will not just ruin an individual—it can also significantly affect relationships. As we walk with God, we must understand that promotion does not come from man but the Lord Himself.
When the storms rage, we will be standing if our faith is in the Lord. No matter how hard the winds blow, we must hold on to the promise that God will bless us, as He said to Abraham. In our own lives, let us remember Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
To receive blessing after blessing, we must do what it says in 1 Peter 5:6:
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”
This is our “suddenly” season as a church, and God will put His people at the forefront. God will build platforms for us where people will see His work in our lives. But before we get to these places, we must learn to humble ourselves. God is the one who will open doors for us. And when He does, no one can shut it (see Revelation 3:8). So there’s no need to be anxious or depend on people, for the Lord will be the one to make us great.
Are we ready as a corporate body to make some radical changes? If we say yes, this will enable us to bring forth fruit corporately. What we did in one season will not be the same in the next. In our walk with God, we will have to face the new.
