THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM
22nd Oct 2014
Last Saturday I was privileged to be at a very special celebration to mark a 90th Birthday. This was for Kathleen Sibthorpe, who is a first cousin of my father and the oldest surviving member of our family. It was a wonderful occasion and brought together many family members, some who I had never met.
As we pored over the family tree, I realised that we had so many generations of our family who had been fully committed to Jesus. This reminded me of the promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12, when God told him that “all families on earth will be blessed through you.” This was again underlined by Paul in Galatians 3:14 when he said, “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles.”
Why had this happened in our family? We all agreed that it was through prayer, and in particular three aunts, who shared a house, had never married (probably because of the slaughter of men in the First Word War) but dedicated themselves to pray for their very large and scattered family.
I also know that my mother was totally dedicated to praying for her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, that they would find a living faith and follow Jesus all of their lives, and her prayers are being answered.
At a time when we could see the conflict in the lives of our own children, God showed Joyce and me that we needed to daily take hold of the promise in Isaiah 44:3, “I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”
The promise is clear but the answer is not automatic, there are times when we need to hang on to what God has said to us in spite of what we may see before our eyes. We now have grandchildren, growing and maturing and handling all the pressures of life, and we need to keep believing.
God’s promises are not limited - so keep your faith active for your family.
by Charles Sibthorpe
