The qualities of Abraham that distinguished him

Messages for October 2017: Our Month of THE BLESSING

Message for Sunday 8^th October, 2017

Theme: Walking in the Footsteps of Abraham

Topic: The qualities of Abraham that distinguished him

Introduction: Our desire this month is to get to know the secret of Abraham and to learn from him and live in such a way as to leave behind his kind of enduring legacies when the time comes for us to bid farewell to time if the Lord tarries. Last week we saw what Abraham did and today, we are going to be looking at the qualities that made him to stand out in his generation and posterity.

The qualities of Abraham: Qualities are a peculiar and essential character, an inherent feature, a degree of excellence, a distinguishing attribute etc. in other words; the qualities of Abraham are his distinguishing attributes or the attributes that set him apart from others in his lifetime so that we still celebrate him thousands of years after he is gone from time. The reason we are looking at this is to find out who and what he was that made him live such a glorious life that has penned him down in history as the faith champion that he is today. Then we can walk in his footsteps as we intend to do beginning from this month. The following are therefore some of his attributes that we can glean from the word of God:

1.     He was a man of faith: We learn from the beginning of the story of Abraham’s life that what gave him favour with God was that he believed God even in the most unlikely circumstance so that God credited it to him for righteousness. He became the first person to receive the gift of righteousness by faith. See Gen.15:6; Rm.4:1-3 and Heb.11:8.

2.     He was passionately obedient to God’s word: Every time God spoke to him, he was prompt to do what he was instructed to do if it was an instruction. For instance, when he was told to sacrifice his only son, he promptly obeyed even though it was to cost him a three days journey and he therefore had three days within which to change his mind but didn’t. Eventually, it all turned out to be a test and Abraham was sensitive enough to know it and received another instruction that has gone down in history as a lesson to us all to stay sensitive to divine guidance so that we can always amend in the event of any adjustment to God’s instructions. See Gen.22:2 and 12-18. Please understand that if Abraham had not heard the second instruction in this story to use a ram caught in the bush in exchange for Isaac, he would have slain his son for nothing.

3.     He was an intercessor: An intercessor is someone who stands on behalf of another to plead their case before a higher authority figure. In the case of Abraham, he stood for instance; on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah when the Lord told him he was going to judge the city. We can find this account in Gen.18:17-33.

4.     He was generous: He was so generous that he even welcomed angels without knowing they were angels before he served them. For instance the angels that brought him the message of the wife’s conception and birth of Isaac appeared to him as ordinary travelling men. Abraham in his characteristic hospitable manner welcomed them and washed their feet and fed them. Then, they delivered their message from the Lord to him and as a matter of fact, the Lord was one of them. See Gen.18:1-5 – Note that when the Lord appeared to him here, all he saw were three men. His usual generous habit showed up and he got blessed.  

5.     He was a resilient man: A resilient person is one who never gives up no matter what. Abraham was a resilient man. This is why he never gave up in spite of the length of time it took for the promise of God to him to come to pass. The first time God promised him a son by his wife was twenty five years before Isaac was born yet he waited and received the promised son. Many in his shoes would have given up before it came to pass, but not Abraham. See Gen.12:1-6; 15:1-6; 17:15-21; Rm.4:17-22 and 21:1-3.

6.     He was a warrior: Abraham trained three hundred of his servants for war and when the time came, with them and his friends; he routed the army of four countries and delivered his Nephew Lot from their hands and all that they carted away in victory was also restored to Abraham and his confederates. See Gen.14.

7.     He was a lover of God: A lover of God is one who fears God and if a person walks in the fear of God, he or she would determine to live in such a way as to please the Lord all the time. For instance the bible says in Prov.8:13 that the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance. Abraham walked in the fear of God so much which is why God cut an enduring covenant with him which has outlived him to many generations of his offspring.  

8.     He was a friend of God: A real friend is someone who will always be in agreement with you on principle and never contradict you. Please understand that this is a heart thing; it is not paying lip service to friendship. Abraham always agreed with God even though he experienced times of weaknesses that made him look like he wasn’t. God who cannot lie testified concerning Abraham in Isa.41:8 that Abraham was his friend.

9.     He was a responsible parent: God said concerning Abraham that he knew him, that he would order his children to walk in the ways of God so that he would bring his covenant to pass in their lives. The proof of this is the existence of Israel as a nation today. See Gen.18:16-19.

10.                        He walked in the ways of God: Truth that he walked in the ways of God is testified to by God when he kept calling Abraham his servant. In other words, God called Abraham his servant because his life bore the testimony that he was walking in the ways of the Lord. See Isa.41:8.

11.                        He lived in such a way that God recognized him as a mentor to others: In the book of Isaiah the Lord told the children of Israel through the prophet to look to Abraham their father and Sarah that bore them. He said that he called him alone and made him a great nation in fulfillment of His promise.  See Isa.51:1-2.

We shall draw the curtain on this message here for today. We shall be looking more into the life of Abraham in subsequent messages to learn more about this great asset who became the heir of the world through whose offspring – Jesus Christ we must all be saved.

Someone reading this may be contemplating becoming a seed of Abraham through Christ but does not know how; I have good news for you. If you want you can become a member of the family of Abraham right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be born again:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.