If And Then

Posted by Dion Todd August 22nd, 2016 10,833 Views 0 Comments

Now Yahweh said to Abram, 'Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. Genesis 12:1 WEB

Abram came to a crossroad in his life and had to make a choice: Obey God, or continue on with his life as it had been going. He was going to have to move away from his hometown, abandoning the life he had built and even leaving his family behind. As a son, he would also inherit his father's property, so he had every reason to stay.

Yet...the Lord had given Abram a promise that required an action. If he would leave his father's house and country and go to the land that He would show him, then God would bless Abram and make him into a great nation. Abram had to take the first step to make that dream happen. Abram chose to make the move and God did fulfill His promises to him, just as He had said.

God has a code much like we use in computer programing. The 'if and then.' Many of His promises come with an 'If you will do this, then I will do that' like these:

'if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land' (2 Chronicles 7:14).

'Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,' Says the LORD of hosts, 'If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it' (Malachi 3:10).

'Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you' (Matthew 7:7).

'Give and it will given unto you' (Luke 6:38).

'Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets' (Matthew 7:12).

All of these promises first call for action. If you will do the first part, then He will do the second. You are not given chapter two until you complete chapter one. Sometimes God gives us a dream or a promise which requires an action on our part, but nothing will happen until we take that first step. Abram would not have become Abraham if he had not first obeyed God.

Prayer: Father I am sorry if I have overlooked a step that I should have taken. Remind me again of anything that I have missed and make Your will clear to me. I want Your way and to follow Your path, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.

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