Anything?

If there is one theme that is weaving itself through my life right now it is surrendered dreams.  The beautiful thing about going through a difficult season is having God do what seems like cartwheels in front of you—it makes the pain worth it to see God show off in front of you.

Just tonight I got off the phone with a dear friend of mine Mallory who lives in Houston, TX. We meet last summer at Redeemed Girl Institute (a discipleship and ministry training program for women) in Destin, FL. She was my roommate and we hit it off almost immediately and her friendship is one that I dearly love and cherish and thank the Lord for.  As she and I were talking about the present seasons we find ourselves in Mallory talked about the story of Abraham and Isaac.

God had promised Abraham a son and after years of waiting on that son, God provided—he was faithful—but only to then ask Abraham to lay him down by sacrificing him. I admire Abraham and his faith because can you imagine the one thing you had been waiting for all these years finally being provided only for God to then ask you to go sacrifice it?

Abraham didn’t know God was going to provide a ram—but he went up to the region of Moriah to the mountain the LORD showed him in faith believing that one way or another they were going to come back down. In that moment all Abraham knew was God was asking him to lay his son down. He didn’t know what the outcome was going to be.

Right now I am in the process of learning to lay some dreams down—over and over again God has been making it clear that some things and some people had become more important than Him.  As I read through the story of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22:1-19) there are two things that stood out to me almost immediately

1)   The Heading

“Abraham Tested”

2)   Vs. 12,15-18

“Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” – vs. 12

“The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”-vs. 15-18

If you look back a few chapters in (Genesis 15:1-21) when God made the covenant with Abraham in verses 5, 7 ,18. God had already made a covenant with Abraham that all the things in verses 12, 15-18 were going to happen, but it seemed there was one last piece to this puzzle. Was Abraham willing, in faith, to lay down the very thing God had promised him? I can only imagine the amount of faith it took to take what Abraham thought was “the heir” to the mountain and be willing to sacrifice him on the alter.

Isaac didn’t even know what was going on, but when God saw Abraham’s faith and willingness to not withhold ANYTHING from him, he then provide a sacrifice and gave Isaac back to Abraham as the promised son whom a line of descents as numerous as the stars in sky would come.

I am not saying that if we lay things down or let things go that God will always give them back, but sometimes God is testing us to see: are you in faith willing to lay this down at the alter and trust me?

As I have been reading tonight, I am continually reminded that the Lord will not compete for my heart. I will share with what I read tonight, and just as the Lord was saying this to Jennie, he was speaking it to my heart as well.

Jennie, you hear me now so loudly and clearly because…

 “I am the LORD, that is My name; my glory I give [or share] to no other.”(Isa 42:8)

And that is what you have been asking me to do until now. To share my glory. And I knew, Jennie that “

"no servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Luke 16:13)

So I was waiting. I was waiting to be the only thing. As with Martha, when I was in her living room while I was here in the flesh. She was worried and upset about many things, but only one thing was needed. Mary had chosen the good porition, and it would not be taken away from her (Luke 10:41-42).

Mary had chosen me above every other thing—nothing was more important to her than me. Nothing mattered here but me.

When the rich man wanted me but wasn’t willing to do anything, I had to show him he still loved something more, that he had another master, so I told him,

“You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21)

And he wouldn’t. He left me. He chose this life. See, I don’t compete. I was waiting, Jennie, calling you. I was waiting for you to see that while you wanted me all of these years, you had another master. Your heart was divided. You loved something else more, and I will not share my glory. I had to become your one thing…your only thing.

And so now…you will be hearing from me a little more. – Anything by: Jennie Allen

I wonder if the reason that Abraham was so willing to be obedient—even to the point of sacrificing his son was because he understood this? It wasn’t because he didn’t love his son, but because he loved God more.