The Saint Communes: Blessings

Read: Genesis 25: 29:34

(Link to the passage: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2025:%2029-34&version=NIV)

God made a covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:19), for Isaac and his descendants — and that included Esau.

When Esau sold his birthright, he was holding God’s promise to his grandfather Abraham and then to his father Isaac in contempt.

–“Men of the Bible” (Sprangler and Wolgemuth, 2002)

Esau was not just carelessly giving away what to him seemed unimportant (Gen. 25:32), he was disregarding the covenant God has with his ancestors — a promise of blessing that could have been his.

I bet for a lot of us, we’d go like: “Okay, I won’t be stupid enough to let go of huge promises of blessings like that for any bowl of soup!” But have you ever thought of that “bowl of stew” as being something your flesh craves for? Like money, food, sex, fame, power, and the likes?

At that time, Esau was hungry. He only responded to his flesh’s longing. What about us? Do we always put His promises and blessings in front of our pressing desires? Think of the time you were really, really tempted to do something — something that is not glorifying to God and something that is rooted from ungodly desires?

Can we seriously say we have NOT committed Esau’s carelessness?

It’s easy to focus on God’s design, His plan, and His promises when we’re going through good times. But when we’re in danger of falling, do we hold on to the promises in-spite of the really tempting things that could gratify us immediately?

A lot of times, God’s promises and blessings seem so abstract, so distant, and so detached. Which is why, personally, it usually is so easy for me to disregard it and pursue my plans for my own gratification. When the cravings are too strong, abstract promises tend to fade into the background — no matter how great they are.

But we can counter this by always putting God first.

If our desire for Him is greater than our desire for anything in this world, the devil will not be able to entice us to stray from His love.

Make no mistake about it: God intends to bless you. … If you want to receive all good things God has planned for you, don’t be seduced by promises of pleasure or power that may tempt you. Don’t compromise your life in Christ by letting worldly desires smother your hunger for God. (Sprangler and Wolgemuth, 2002)

Saintly Identity

“Lord, remind me again and again WHO I NOW AM.”

Remind Me Who I Am (Jason Gray)

I just realized, I’ve been overplaying the “prodigal” part of my being a prodigal saint. What happened to the “saint” part?

Today, God reminded me saying:

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be my Child? The prodigal son only had to come home once — and that’s because he only left home ONCE. Didn’t you know that if anyone is in Me, he is a NEW creation. The old has gone, the new has come. Son, you’re not who you were anymore. You’re mine now. You’ve come home now. Start living as My son. You have to stop living like the wandering lost kid that you were, you’re back with Me now.”

Sure, I’ve made the choice to follow Him. I’ve always been saying that I would be letting go, that I would be obeying Him. But I realized, I haven’t been acting out what I’ve been saying. I feel so stupid right now. Imagine living in my Dad’s mansion and still acting like that homeless fool who left home years ago!

Nothing else matters if I lose my Christ-centered identity — I am nothing if not His son. My status as his beloved saint is what I should be holding onto now.

You only have to let go of the world ONCE and follow Him.

However, the choice to obey His every command, still has to be done daily. The prodigal son only had to make the choice of coming home ONCE; after that, he lived as a son in his father’s house — and we all know what living with our parents entail.

So to all you saints out there, make the CHOICE of coming back to the Father. He’ll take it from there. 🙂 His love is far greater than all our worries and doubts combined, and that’s all we have to hold on to.