Dear Sisters and Brothers in Jesus the Christ,

 “35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised . . . 38 But the righteous will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” Hebrews 10:35-39 (NIV)

 Oh! For the faith of Abraham. Oh! For the perfect obedience of YESHUA/JESUS. Abraham is called the father of faith; he is the father of all reconciled unto the Family of God by the blood of Jesus. Relative to commonly accepted worldly descriptions, “. . . He is not our racial father—that’s reading the story backward. He is our faith father” Romans 4:16 (MSG). That Abraham believed GOD straightway is evidenced by his forward movement in stepping-out, sight unseen, un-wavering; the application of faith strengthened and empowered him (Romans 4:20). The same way faith worked for Abraham back then is the same way “faith takes” today; even more so because of the finished work of Christ Jesus. By the Teaching of the Holy Spirit, Scripture reveals that Abraham wasn’t the first person of faith: the faith of Abel was based on his love for God; the faith of Enoch resulted in God taking him alive; and the faith of Noah built a ship long before it rained. There is nothing new about the fact that earnestness in regard to producing the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) is contrary to the world’s way. For the only thing Abel did was worship God with the firstborn of his own herd – “choice cuts of meat”, yet his brother became jealous to the extent of committing the first murder (Genesis 4:4,8). God warned Cain: “Why are you angry? Why is your face with rage? If you do what is right you’ll be accepted. Otherwise, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you, you’ve got to master it” Genesis 4:6-7 (NIV & TLB & MSG combined). The focus of the enemy is to rid this world of any sign or semblance of God – all aspects of God. Nevertheless, the One who is Omniscient and Omnipresent and Omnipotent set His plan of grace in motion before the beginning of time (2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 2:1-10) – His Name is YESHUA/JESUS. Therefore, regardless of the manipulations of the thief that only comes to steal and kill and destroy, Abraham’s walk didn’t require perfection, it involved his diligence and infallibility in regard to teaching family the way of faith in God through to the seed – Jesus the Anointed One and His Anointing was born as man on earth (Gal 3:29). For the Sovereign Lord God Almighty gave dominion over the earth to man (Genesis 1:26-28); and “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man, that He should change His mind” 1 Samuel 15:29 (also Numbers 23:19; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). Nothing the LORD GOD speaks returns void (Isaiah 55:8-11). Therefore, every promise of Abba Father is true unto us by the redemptive work of Christ Jesus.

Speak the promise . . . Harriet