18 KEY LESSONS OF GENESIS 22 (6)

18 KEY LESSONS OF GENESIS 22 (6)

Lesson 11: Abraham prepared an Altar on the Mount (Gen 22:9): Abraham prepared to go to the land of Moriah, this place name in the Old Testament refers to Jerusalem, a city built upon several hills on the ridge of the north-south mountain chain (2 Chronicles 3:1). While Abraham is fully prepared to offer Isaac, he also is confident that God will keep the promises that Isaac himself will be heir to the covenant and has descendents (Genesis 17:19, 21; 21:12). Here is obedient faith in action. The writer of Hebrews reflects on the quality of Abraham's faith, "By faith Abraham, when God tried him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.”

The place where Abraham prepared for the sacrifice was a place outside the city of Jerusalem during Jesus’ days and a place referred to as Golgotha where our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. Please note whatever you might be going through today in your daily and Christian journey is a reflection of what’s going to happen tomorrow. Abraham might thought the sacrifice of Isaac is personal to me, but God was actually looking beyond and was given a picture of the sacrifice of His only begotten Son for the sins of the entire universe. God will definitely use what you are going through to His glory, if you faint not.

You and I are the temples of the Living God; we must therefore prepare our hearts for Him. Preparing our heart to seek God is a principle found throughout the Scriptures. It is what a thirsty soul does over and over again. We seek to prepare our heart daily, in order to walk in sincerity before God and to do those things that are pleasing in His sight. The prophet Samuel told the children of Israel to “…prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve Him only” (1Samuel 7:3b). This exhortation to prepare ourselves is telling us to make our heart receptive and willing to love, obey, and serve the LORD God.

To prepare our heart is to have a heart that is yielded to Father’s will, a heart that is willing to be repentant and obedient to Father’s written WORD. This requires that we apply effort, and give ourselves to the needed forethought, adjustments, and time required accomplishing our goal. Acquiring a prepared heart is a process that includes thinking about our goal and planning ahead. It includes making adjustments to our schedule, so that we can have the necessary time to fulfil our goal.

Anytime Ezra would seek the law of the LORD, he would excuse himself from distractions, cares, worries, closed the door to all distractions – distractions within, without and around him. It is not a time to allow your problems or past to set in or weigh you down. It is not the time to think about your debts, difficulties, challenges or assignments undone. Let all business appointments wait, for it is time to seek the LORD - Ezra 7:10.

“To prepare our heart is to have a heart that is yielded to Father’s will, a heart that is willing to be repentant and obedient to Father’s written WORD.”

Central Truth