Daughter of Faith

Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had father Abraham
And I am one of them
And so are you
So let's just Praise the Lord!

     This is one of those songs that we sang in church growing up-- or actually we sang it in Sunday school, and at youth camps because it's fun and interactive, and gets you moving-- all good ways to keep kids attention. But this is one those songs that I appreciated as a child, and endured as a teenager, but am just NOW grasping the concept.

      I love reading the Bible, and I love my God. His ways are perfect. I can never out-do him. I can't understand more than Him- all of what I truly understand is a gift from him, not something I hunted out and reasoned. His truths are truths. They never change. And sometimes he reaches out and touches us, opening our eyes to a truth that has always been there, but we only just realized. He is eternal. Just because I wasn't always conscious of Him, does not mean He met me the day I met Him. He knew me before I was in my mother's womb, before my mother was in her mother's womb. Before the foundation of the earth, God thought of me. And God loved me. In my human self, I can't love the way God loves. It's a gift to taste that eternal, unconditional love. He is a giver. He has perfect timing. He gives us that touch, that nudge at just the right moment. Exactly when he for-ordained it to happen. He is constant. I am not. My feelings are up and down, and they are deceiving. One moment, I'm in love with everyone, the next, everyone is annoying. He loves me anyway.  He gave me, and everyone on this earth a gift when He gave us the Bible. Because the Bible gives us an absolute when our feelings muddle our thoughts, and our intellect is confused. His Word never fails. If there is any good in me, it comes from God. He is so good. And I'm learning to trust Him, I'm learning about Him, and I want to draw so much closer to Him. He knows my heart. He is my God.

    So back to Abraham, the father of faith.  Recently, I've been pondering this thought, being a child of Abraham, not by genetics, but by faith.  The more I consider this truth, the more amazed I am, the more excited I get. I am in awe. There are depths to this truth that I am sure I am not reaching, but what I've tasted of it has brought me joy, ecstatic joy.  Because you see, God promised to bless Abraham. Not because Abraham was good, or because he wouldn't fail God, but because God said He would do it, and God cannot lie. And Abraham's promise extended to his seed, not just natural seed, but to the seed of his faith, and that's me. Because I believed God when He said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). 
      I know that there is nothing good in me. I know I am a filthy, wretched sinner, and no better than any other person. But God's Word says "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)  And Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promises is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:38-39).
     And I believe that, because He touched me, He worked on me. He changed my heart. He saved my soul. He filled me with the Holy Ghost, and it keeps me. I believe He has more for me, I want to be filled to overflowing. I believe that every promise in His Word is for me. I won't try to wrap my pea-brain about how He's going to accomplish all that He is promised, but I know that He is able, and He will do it.
    And that's why I am a child of Abraham- by faith. That seed of faith is in me. Glory!

Galatians 3:
vs 6-8 "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be bless. So then they which be of the faith are blessed with faithful Abraham."
vs 14 "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
vs 26-29 "For we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

Isn't this just marvelous? I just can't describe what a joy, and peace this little revelation, this thought gives me. Because, as I read Genesis, I begin to think of these people- Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah, Rachel, Joseph- as family. And this family of faith that I have encourages me. Because they weren't perfect, and they didn't always make the right choices or do the right thing. But the promise of God stuck. It was fixed. It could not move. So when I look at my life, and I'm not quite sure what to do, or what's going on, or how it's all going to work out, or if I 'm going to make it, I look back at how perfectly God worked it out for my family of faith, and peace fills my soul.
There's something about being part of this family of faith that makes you a little bit crazy, because recently I've had this audacious thought that Almighty God is just as mindful of me as he was of Adam and Eve, of Noah, of Enoch, of Ruth, of Esther, of Abigail, of David, of Joseph, Isaac, and of Abraham and Sarah. Of this, I am sure, I can trust Him that whatever His plan for my life, it will be accomplished, and it will work out perfectly.

So these past few days i have been singing that old camp song about Father Abraham and his many sons, and I smile, because when you catch that thought, you really are ready to praise the Lord.