Abraham, The Friend of God

Abraham the father of faith was also known as the friend of God.
Right from the first time Abraham is mentioned in the Bible, we see a life filled with faith. God asked him to leave his family and go to a land that he did not know. After which he received various promises from God and it took a while for those promises to come to pass. However, in all these time, Abraham maintained his relationship with God. Like David, he had his own shortcomings; for example, because he wanted economic favours, Abraham lied that his wife was his sister. Yet he is described as a friend of God.
Is it that God has a liking for people that seem to fall below the moral standard
The stories in the Bible are the stories of men and women with a need for a Saviour, Jesus said that those who are whole do not need a physician. God is in the business of taking broken vessels and molding them into the image of His Son.
We are told that Abraham believed God and he was called righteous.

Lessons From Abraham

1. Prompt obedience is always better. When Abraham was called to leave his family to a place he did not know, Abraham believed God and he put his trust in God, knowing that as long as it was God leading, everything would be fine
2. Learn to let go of any relationship that stands in the way of God’s purpose. Abraham’s nephew, Lot, was becoming a hindrance in Abraham’s journey and Abraham asked that he move away. Please note here that the relationship was not destroyed rather the level of importance changed.
3. When you sin, God has not abandoned you. John the Apostle tells us that we have an advocate with the Father when we sin. It is just like when we offend our natural parents, there would be a slight breakdown in the relationship but that does not mean they cease to be our parents, we reconcile and everything is okay. So it is with God, we can always go back to Him.
4. Do not withhold anything from God. Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice Isaac, the child of promise. When you read the account given in Hebrews 11, we see that in Abraham’s mind he had already given up Isaac even before they got to the place of sacrifice. It speaks to the character of Isaac too and how he must have been trained in the way of the Lord by his father because we see no record of rebellion in Isaac. And this brings me to the next point.
5. Train your children in the way of the Lord. God chose to reveal secrets to Abraham so that Abraham would teach his family to observe God’s way of life and that there would be a fulfillment of all that God had promised Abraham. It is not enough for you to know God, that knowledge of God should become the culture of your family, it should be what your family is known for.
6. Allow God be your source. After the battle of the kings in Genesis 14, the king of Sodom offered Abraham spoils of war but Abraham refused. Abraham knew who he was and knew the God he was in covenant with, so he refused to allow anything spoil his testimony. Some of us allow our immediate wants rob us of the inheritance that God has prepared for us.

Questions

• Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son after all the years that he waited for the child to be born?
• Is there any “prized possession” that you feel God is leading you to sacrifice?

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Knowing God intimately is both a function of our position (as children) and our level of maturity in Christ. Abraham was a man like us but he obeyed God and never withheld anything back. I would like to charge you today to search yourself;
Is there anything you are holding back from God because you feel you would be incomplete without it?

Let me assure you that you are already complete in God and whatever it is that you think you need to make you feel complete can become a source of temptation.
Trust God today and release everything into His hands.