FRIDAY, August 29th, 2008

UNBELIEVABLE!!! I spent the last hour writing all the details to each of you and then explaining the devotion and it was ALL DELETED!!!!! I am FRUSTRATED!!!! AAAHHHHHH!!!!

I will shorten this now: Sorry!

A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Kacey: Pastor is probably planning on renting a theater or two in Port Charlotte to use that Movie as an outreach!! Cool Huh!
Alex: Thanks for pwning me about my spelling!
NICK!!!!! I am so glad that you cam on here! Stay faithful! Love ya brother! Link 18
Bethany F:I will come to Lunch sometime soon: What lunch do you have?
Bethany B: I am so glad that God answered our prayers!! I am so thankful that you are so involved in our youth group now!! We should try to get Sarah on the devo blog!


Genesis 15

1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
2 But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”
5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
6 And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
7 Then He said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
8 And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”
9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.
11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.
13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.
18 On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—
19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Ahh! I have to explain this all over again!! I hate stupid computers!

Well here it is: Abram is hanging out and God tells him: Abram, do not fear, I will be your shield! That is pretty cool stuff! Imagine hearing God say that to you!! Wowzers!!

Well, Abram was obviously thinking about something else, because instead of getting really excited about that... He starts questioning God and Gods faithfulness... let me explain...

Gopd promised Abram that He would be the father to many many nations! Well... that cannot happen unless He HAS A CHILD!!! So that is what He asks God....

God tells Abram: Yes, I am going to give you a child... Here is where Abram goes off the deep end.

He basically says: "Prove it" in verse 8.

Can you imagine asking God to prove what He has just told you? Abram has already seen God do so many WONDERFULLY AMAZING THINGS in his lifetime, and now Abram wants evidence that God is going to give him a child...

Ok, God decides to make a covenant with Abram. (I remember that pastor Chip preached a message about something like this)

When people would make a covenant in the olden days, one of the things that they would do is cut a bunch of animals in half and then walk between the animals... The idea was that if the animals could come back together and live again, then the promise would be canceled...

Well, that is what God does here... God shows himself as a burning torch going through the middle of those dead animal carcassas on the ground!! Gross! But I am sure that Abram got the point...

I dont know about you, but if I saw a floating torch burning and smoking and FLOATING through middle of a bunch of dead carcassas I would DEFINITELY BE BELIEVEING SOMETHING!!

Well, we often act just like Abram... we have seen God do so many faithful things in our life, but when God tells us to trust Him... many times we do not! Many times we ask God to prove himself to us in some way. When the truth is that he does not need to prove himself to us. We should jsut believe Him. He is God!!!!!

So unless you want to be smelling a bunch of dead animals... Like Abram :)

TRUST GOD!!!! HE IS FAITHFUL AND WORTHY OF YOUR LOVE AND TRUST!!!