Move away from the Familiar

Genesis 12
¹Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee:
²And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
³And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
⁴So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
⁵And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
⁶And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
⁷And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
⁸And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
⁹And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.

The real Blessing is beyond the familiar and comfortable.

Real growth is beyond the Familiar and comfortable.

The familiar is where you are the unfamiliar is where God wants to take you.

Where God wants to take you require trusting Him.

As the Egyptian army approached, the people of Israel saw them far in the distance, speeding after them, and they were terribly frightened and cried out to the Lord to help them. And they turned against Moses, whining, “Have you brought us out here to die in the desert because there were not enough graves for us in Egypt? Why did you make us leave Egypt?”

(Exodus 14:10-11, tlb)

Trust often requires courage. Trapped against the sea, the Israelites faced the Egyptian army sweeping in for the kill. The Israelites thought they were doomed. After watching God’s powerful hand deliver them from Egypt, their only response was fear, whining, and despair. Where was their trust in God? Israel had to learn from repeated experience that God was able to provide for them. God has preserved these examples in the Bible so that we can learn to trust him the first time. By focusing on God’s faithfulness in the past, we can face crises with confidence rather than with fear and complaining.

The blessing is your destiny but the journey is what will make you.

When Israel saw the Egyptians approaching it was not their destiny coming but the journey which was coming to make them.

God needed to see how well their faith would hold up.

What you are going through now is not your destiny but a part of your journey which is here to make your faith in God stronger.

Verse 3 speaks of blessing and cursing that you will experience but neither will defined you but the journey will.

Verse 4 says, Abram departed. He began a journey to a New Place.

The American Indians once said, May you stay in the same Place. They were not just talking about geography. They used these words to curse their enemies.

They meant stagnant personal journey, family would not grow, your future would be less than prosperous. They wish you to stay in the same place, same condition, without moving, without growing and without changing.

The enemy to the church is stagnation. Doing the same thing and getting the same results.

The old farmers knew that planting the same crop in the same place year after year affected the soil by robbing something from it that would affect the crop so they would rotate the crop or allow the soil to rest in order to restore that which was taken from the soil.

This is called change. Look at your neighbor and say change is good! Change is necessary!

A leader needs a clear vision to bring true change. The word said the Lord said to Abram. A true anointing will move the Leader who will then move the people.

It is so easy to get in a better place and get stuck. Abram had moved from Ur with his father, Lot and wife Sara. They were in Haran Genesis 11:31 say that Abram’s father Terah, Lot and Sara moved from Ur going to Canaan. They stopped in Haran and at 205 years of age Terah died.

His death was a sign that it was time to get moving again. When we see things dying it is a sign to move.

Dead relations, Dead end jobs, you know death don’t you. There is a time to resurrect and their time to just have a Christian burial and move on. Death has an odor. Joshua 1 the Lord said Moses is death!

Moses being dead was a reality.

Verse 4 says Abram was 75 when they left Haran. I see in this text it is never too late for God. Your life just begins when you obey God.

Verse 5 Tells that Abram takes his wife, his nephew and the souls he had gather with his substance and moved.

You can’t take everybody with you. When Terah left Ur he only took those he knew he could count on. Now as Abram leaves Haran he is only taking those he can count on. He neither his father tried to take the crowd.

To be honest God told him to move away from the familiar.

You must always keep your jour journey separated from your destiny. If Abram didn’t have a clear voice from God Abram would have settle in Haran. Too many of us have settled in a place that God never intended. Your Best is Still ahead of you. There is no excuse for not moving ahead. Age does not matter. Length of stay doesn’t matter just what did God say.

Verse 6 Abram passed through Sichem. There will be some places along life’s journey you will be tempted to settle but keep it moving for it is not your destiny.

Verse 7 This is the right verse because 7 means complete. When Abram got to Canaan the Lord appeared again. This is what I call confirmation. God will confirm Himself.

When God confirmed that this was the place for Abram it was Abram who built an Altar. God didn’t instruct him to build but Abram understood the will.

David understood the will: David said I will bless the Lord at all time for His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

If the Lord is going to bless you with a home, a car, a house, food, clothes, money, job, health, a spouse, shouldn’t it just be your second nature to bless the Lord with the fruit of your lips.

Verse 8 tells that Abram didn’t just settle for entering the Land but he keep moving through out the land because Abram wanted ALL that God had for him. How many you want all that God has for you in this life. You cannot have all as long as you keep settling for good when God wants you to have Great! Moving from Good to Great is where my life is heading.

When Abram got to the other side he again built an Altar and worship God. Our problem is not that we don’t have but we don’t worship. The power of release is in our worship. When your worship gets real and sincere then God will get real and sincere with you.

But if you act complaced with God you will get little for the size of your faith will determine the size of your miracle.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. (Psalm 146:1-2, niv)

Praise is focusing our heart on God. The last five psalms (146-150) are filled with praise. Each begins and ends with “Praise the Lord!” They show us where, why, and how to praise God. What does praise do?

(1) Praise takes our minds off our problems and shortcomings and focuses them on God.

(2) Praise leads us from individual meditation to corporate worship.

(3) Praise causes us to consider and appreciate God’s character.

(4) Praise lifts our perspective from the earthly to the heavenly.

Verse 9 teaches that Abram journey goes farther.

No amount of wishing, dreaming and or visioning is ever going to get where we want to go. Reaching our destination requires us to disengage from places and people who are familiar to engage with new people and new places. 

Abram disengaged from Ur

David had to disengage from the sheep to engage to the kingship.

Daniel had to disengage from the high level of government to engage to stand for righteousness.

Peter had to disengage from fishing for fish to engage for fishing for men.

Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior had to disengage from heaven with the Father and the angels to engage with his earthly mother Mary and the 12 disciples. He had to engage the cross. He had to engage death and the grave. Because His destiny was to died for the sins of the world and redeem mankind back to the Father.

I am glad he didn’t allow the journey of rejection to define him but he finished his assignment.

Are you glad if so let us worship him in spirit and truth.

Jesus left the familiar and the comfortable and went to his destiny and so can you.