Legacy Faith

Abraham is one of my most favorite Bible characters. We know he was known for his great faith, even faith for God’s promises that would extend beyond his lifetime on earth; and especially for a restored family for God and himself.

In this light, I believe Holy Spirit has been highlighting some promises to me that He’s about to fulfill in my own family lineage, including for those who have gone before me. And I believe this is also for whosoever is willing to receive.

Our Lord highlighted Isaiah 55:11-13 TPT, which says,

So also, will be the word that I speak; it does not return to me unfulfilled. My word performs my purpose and fulfills the mission I sent it out to accomplish. For you will leave your exile with joy and be led home wrapped in peace. The mountains and hills in front of you will burst into singing and the trees of the field will applaud! Cypress trees will flourish where there were only thorns and myrtle trees instead of nettles. These will stand as a testimony to Yahweh’s renown, everlasting signs that will not be cut off.

These passages describe the goodness of God in motion. We know from Ecclesiastes 3:11 AMP that “He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart…”

God is taking us from captivity to captivating. This is grace for reward for those who patiently endured and follow Jesus (He 11:6). What used to be barriers will no longer be. We can enter into His promises with peace, rejoice and wisdom. We can experience God’s beauty for ashes in many forms as He brings us into a more complete freedom with expressions of restored beauty—even material beauty—that stand as testaments to His extraordinary goodness. Reflections of Him.

These material things are divinely purpose and will be important to our hearts, because they are important to God’s and necessary for our assignments. Some of these material things were important to those who lived before us and are now gone—things that they did or didn’t receive in their lifetimes, for which they held faith in their hearts, like Abraham, believing God would deliver as promised.

Hebrews 11:1 MSG says that “The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.”

Romans 8:14 AMP reminds us that “For all who are allowing themselves to be led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” As sons and daughters of God, we have a blessed heritage.

Our God doesn’t forget His promises yet to be fulfilled (Nu 23:19). His way for us is always prosperous. His restoration includes gracious and miraculous multiplicity as He calls us out of former places through His wide-open doors for expanse that will require an Abraham kind of faith for restored legacy in our families and in God’s family-at-large.

As God fulfills these desires of the heart, He will establish greater grace in our lives and extend family legacy for our benefit and His glory.

Are you seeing God work in your life this way?

We know that Abraham grew in faith. He was commanded by God to come away from his father’s unholy house and go where God would send him.

The irony of it all was that God miraculously led him into an increase of family and blessings that he couldn’t contain or attain through his first family, only through God.

As God graciously removed Abraham from hindrances and facilitated miracles, Abraham soared, including as a father of many nations (Ro 4:18).

Like Abraham, as we extend faith, we can expect some big shifts for greater legacy beyond what we’ve previously known.

Just as mountains of the soul have been removed, and hope has been restored, God’s redeemed ones are now beginning to enjoy an increased expanse of freedom to live in the full purpose of His manifest plans for their futures unafraid (3 Jn 1:2).

God is reminding us of Jeremiah 29:11 AMP, which says, “For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’”

So, let us pray…

Dear Lord,

Thank You that in Your Presence is fullness of joy (Ps 16:11). Thank You for bringing us to a place of captivating beauty in You. Please continue to help us to engage with You and let lesser things fall away. Continue to show us Your glory and experience it in new ways to us.

Help us to remember who we are as in 1 Peter 2:9 TPT, which tells us that we are Your “chosen treasure—priests who are kings, a spiritual “nation” set apart as God’s devoted ones.” Thank You for calling us “out of darkness to experience” Your “marvelous light.” Thank You for claiming us as Your very own. Thank You for Your purpose, which is to broadcast Your “glorious wonders throughout the world.”

Let us be a showcase of Your mercy and grace. Thank You for making all things new.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

Amen.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

Captivity to Freedom – Part 2

God’s Word tells us that true freedom is victory in Jesus (Ac 2:24, Lk 4:18). 

And God’s Word never fails (Is 40:8).

In Jeremiah 1:12 AMPC God says, “…I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it.”

So, although the enemy of our soul may try to ensnare us, God’s anointed Word cannot be bound (2 Ti 2:9). It is continually at work in us and around us to deliver us into more of His freedom by His Spirit. 

2 Corinthians 3:17 AMPC says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).

Since Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, who lives in God’s saints, when we believe Him at His Word by faith, He guides us into all truth, which sets us free from bondage (Jn 16:13). 

Matthew 11:6 AMPC says that “…blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) is he who…is not hindered from seeing the Truth.”

Hebrews 4:12 AMPC says, “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.”

Friends, we need to wrap our “minds around the riches of God, the depth of his wisdom, and the marvel of his perfect knowledge” as He wraps His Presence around us (Ro 11:33). We need to wear our blood-bought hope (assurance) of salvation like a protective helmet against doubt, unbelief and giving up as Holy Spirit renews our minds with the washing of His Word

With God, we always have a hope and a future (Je 29:11).

Jeremiah 29:11-14 NIV say, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the LORD. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,’ says the LORD. ‘I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.'”

Friends, revelation brings transformation. 

John 16:13 NLT says, “When the Spirit of truth comes…He will tell you about the future.”

God may reveal some events and timelines to us as we move further into His freedom. He’ll reveal strategies, wisdom and course corrections along the way. 

So, even if we find ourselves held in captivity—like Paul and Silas, who were released from jail after they praised God (Ac 16:25-26); or like Daniel, who was delivered from lions in a closed off den as he trusted God (Da 6:22); or even like Jonah, who was expelled from a whale of an encounter as he turned to God (Jon 2:10)—we can trust God and know that captivity can be a platform for glorious miracles, a turning point of breakthrough for greater freedom and higher purposes. 

These saints experienced that, with God, captivity gets reworked by His authority to further mobilize their divine legacy (inheritance) and their divine destiny (pre-determined plan for them).

Like these saints, God intentionally and specifically enables us to come out of captivity by faith when we praise Him, trust Him and turn to Him in humility in impossible situations. 

The grace work God does in our soul, during what feels like limited times, is cleansing and will make a way for His explosion of new (resurrection) life that will prove His faithfulness, His Word and His love as limitless. 

Even if we were to find ourselves exiled, like the Israelites in Egypt, we could be certain that God ultimately has our restoration in mind. This is His covenant promise to us.

Acts 13:17 TPT says that “…While they were enslaved in Egypt, he made them great, both in numbers and in strength, until he unveiled his mighty power and led them out of bondage.”

So, God can purpose captivity to be like a cocoon to do deep works in us, and cause us to be made stronger in Him. He can make us more grateful and receiving of His purpose for our new-found freedom once released.

Exodus 12:13 reminds us of our blood covenant of protection and provision when the Israelites remained in their divinely-designated safe place, which was behind closed doors, for a time.

They may have felt like they were held captive within captivity for a moment, but God had their greater deliverance in mind all along.

Friends, always remember, the greatest resistance will give way under the mighty arm of sovereign God, and we have access to Him through grace by faith. Jesus sits at God’s right hand, the hand of authority. And we are seated with Him as He is established with us on earth—liberating us from the captivity of darkness. 

Psalm 16:11 tells us that, at His “right hand there are pleasures forevermore. [Acts 2:25-28, 31],” and that in “His presence is fullness of joy, also that He will show us “the path of life.”

Romans 5:17 TPT says, “…now, how much more are we held in the grip of grace and continue reigning as kings in life, enjoying our regal freedom through the gift of perfect righteousness in the one and only Jesus, the Messiah!”

I believe God is releasing His recompense: I believe He is about to deliver multitudes into a new level of freedom from the immorality of their past, like never before. What once choked out their blessings, will be no more. I believe what 2 Timothy 2:26 AMPC says, which is “…that they may come to their senses [and] escape out of the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him, [henceforth] to do His [God’s] will.” I believe God will launch His pure-hearted ones into deep, abundant life that will extend to others in miraculous ways, meeting them at awestruck. I believe God is promoting His saints, who will continue to pursue holiness in any and every circumstance, even like Daniel (2 Ti 2:22, Da 6:20, 22-23).

And I pray that you will be one of them. 

To God be the glory. 

This video-devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.