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Three Voices

In the fifteenth chapter of Genesis there is a very interesting story about Abraham, who is known as the Father of Faith.  Earlier in the Biblical record God had spoken to Abraham and instructed him to leave the idolatrous city of Ur of Chaldees, and go to a land that He would show him. 

The Bible has a great deal to say about Abraham.  He is called the “friend of God, a man of faith, and a man of prayer.  In Genesis chapter 14 he takes three hundred and eighteen trained servants from his household and attacked the four kings who took his nephew Lot, and the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah.  He defeated these forces and rescued Lot and all the people taken captive. 

In Genesis chapter 15 he encounters God in a vision.  Genesis 15:1 reads, “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.’”  The Bible reveals that God spoke to Abram.  In this encounter Abram heard three very important things:

First, He heard the voice of peace.  The first words that God spoke to Abram was “Do not be afraid.”  “Fear not.”  What is God saying to His children in a world filled with war, violence, and confusion?  “Do not be afraid.”  “Fear Not.”  Paul wrote to his young son in the faith, Timothy, in Second Timothy 1:7.  “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Second, He heard the voice of power.  “I am your shield.”  The shield is used to protect us when we are engaged in battle.  Paul wrote in First Timothy 1:18 that the believer is engaged in warfare.  How do we protect ourselves in this spiritual battle?  We take up the shield of faith that will enable us to stop the fiery darts of the wicked one (Ephesians 6:16).

Third, He heard the voice of promise.  “I am your exceedingly great reward.”  When Abram conquered the four kings in Genesis 14 he refused to take any of the spoils.  He understood that God was His source.  As believers we are a people of promise.  Second Peter 1:4 reads, “By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”


In Genesis 15:4 we learn, “And he (Abram) believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”  How do we enter into our promises?  The same as Abram.  We take God at His Word.  We simply believe. 
Pastor W. Terry Bailey

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