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Daily Devotional

Day 39: Devotional- "Where are your Isaacs?'"

"Where are your Isaacs?’”

February 8th 2024

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Mark 10:23-31

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And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

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And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is

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to enter the kingdom of God!

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It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

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And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him,“Then who can be saved?”

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Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

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Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”

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Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel,

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who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

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But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Luke 14:26-33

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“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

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Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

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For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

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Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

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saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

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Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

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And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

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So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Deuteronomy 6:5

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“Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.

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You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

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And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

Genesis 22:1-2;12

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After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

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He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

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He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

I heard the Lord say, "I am calling you to complete obedience and total surrender."

Friends, you are marked.

God has set His eyes upon you. You have been chosen to bear His Name in the hour of His Second Coming. You are destined to be filled with the "fullness of Messiah."

But the Father is asking you to wrestle with a question this morning. And the question is this:

"How can you be filled with "all the fullness of God" if there still remains much of you?"

Beloved, you cannot "fill a container" with a new substance if it is partially filled with the old. The old must be completely purged if the new is to be poured within.

The same is true of the Spirit.

God is calling you to complete obedience and total surrender. This means you must give up all of your rights. You must empty yourself of every earthly desire.

God is taking you on a journey which requires you be incredibly "light on your feet." All baggage must be left behind. It is a great mystery but God requires you even lay down His promises at His feet.

When Abraham offered up Isaac, not only did He offer up his Beloved son, but He gave to God the very promise that God Himself made when He said, "I will make your offspring as numerous as the sands on the seashore." Abraham knew even if Isaac was killed, God could raise Him from the dead. But this act on the part of Abraham was a divine declaration that He knew God was better. And with His willingness to sacrifice Isaac came his willingness to sacrifice even His understanding of how Gods promises would be fulfilled.

Beloved, The Lord is calling you to the same level of commitment. He says to you this day, "Where are your Isaac's?"

He says to you this, "it is time to find them and head up the mountain."

Are your Isaac's financial security? Bind the sacrifice.

Are they a desire for personal fame and influence? Bind the sacrifice.

Are they to be liked and well respected by your family and friends? Bind the sacrifice.

This ruthless searching out is not in vain. God is searching after your Isaac's for a deeply redemptive purpose. Your Father knows that if you do not offer them up, you cannot fulfill His promises.

Hebrews 11:8 says

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By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

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By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

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For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

Friend, are you looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God? If so it is time to bind the sacrifice. It is time to head up the mountain and offer back to God what belongs to Him.

It is time to find your Isaac's and raise the knife.

The divine irony is this, in doing so you will not slay the promises of God, you will enable their fulfillment.

So today, as you walk with the Father, count the cost of being His disciple. Let the Spirit shine light on all that cannot accompany you on this journey. And you will find that any pain you experience by letting go of something God is asking you to forsake, will pale in comparison to the glory that you will experience when He fulfills His promises to you.

Remember Beloved, "No eye has seen nor ear has heard what God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Cor 2:9)

Our Prayer

Father, we acknowledge you have called us on a great journey. To follow Yeshua in complete and total obedience is our desire. We want to worship you and you alone. Father, show us our Isaacs! Reveal to us anything in our lives which hinder us from running the race with you. Destroy anything in our hearts which war against our total allegiance to you. Show us your glory and your goodness that we might forsake everything to follow you. Make us "light on our feet" Father. We desire to walk with you to the city whose Builder and Architect is God. For the glory of Yeshua. Amen

A Word from Our Father

My child, you have lived in a culture which has defined what it means to be a "Christian" by its own understanding and not by mine. To be a Christian does not mean to be well liked in the community. It does not mean to sing worship songs on Sunday and then pursue your own ways the rest of the week. To be a Christian means to surrender everything to me. Its time to "drop your nets" and follow me. I am Provider. I am Healer. I will sustain you. Your call to total obedience and surrender is the only way for you to fulfill your destiny. Lay down everything which wars against your obedience at my feet, and I will give you a hundredfold. I don’t want to search out your Isaacs and rip them from you. I desire you give them to me of your own accord. It is time to stop limping between two opinions. It is time to give everything to me. I love you and have good plans for you. I promise your choice to lay it all down will be worth it. I have spoken.

Devotional Song

Friends, let us worship God this morning in total obedience and surrender. Let us lay everything down at His feet!

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