DAY 90 - BIG PICTURE IN A YEAR - THE PROMISE
I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you..
Genesis 12: 2
Reading: Genesis 15:1-6, Romans 4:18-25, Ephesians 2:1-6.
God promised Abram a land of his own. But this land would not just be for Abram but for his descendants as well. Yes, God promised Abram many descendants and Abram faced another huge obstacle in attaining to this promise.
God told Abram that He would give him many descendants or children, making his family line into a great nation. Yet we are told that when Abram left Haran he was seventy-five years old and Sarai his wife was barren. How was the great Promise of many descendants going to come to pass? Once again the integrity of God’s character was under question. This affliction of barrenness continued to be an obstacle in the lives of Abram’s son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob, because both of their wives were barren as well. God graciously set about teaching Abram and Sarah how to overcome this obstacle - by believing that God could make life come from the “dead” womb of Sarai.
The same test confronts you and I today. Can you believe that God made life come out the tomb where Jesus’ lifeless body lay? The resurrection power of God can bring the dead to life, and even when it seems impossible, as it did to Abram, God asks you to partner with Him in believing that this is possible. God asks you to believe that because of the work of Jesus, sin and death are defeated and you are spiritually alive right now. Once you were dead, but now you are alive through faith in Christ. Believe it.
Prayer
Lord thank you that neither sin nor death can hold me any longer. Praise you that even when I die physically you will raise me back to eternal life.
FOR THE FAMILY
Explain
Explain what it means when a couple can’t have children. Perhaps you know a couple like this and you can sensitively share their story. But God had promised that they would have a child. Explain to your children that NOTHING is impossible for God. Even if a woman is not physically able to have a baby, God can still cause that woman to fall pregnant and have a child. Explain that the only thing that Abram and Sarai needed to do was patiently believe God.
Engage
Ask individual members of the family if they sometimes struggle to believe God? Share some of your own struggles openly.