Lynn Mosher

Encouraging the Heart~Uplifting the Soul

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There’s a Ram in the Thicket Just for Me!

November 10, 2016 By Lynn H Mosher

abraham-and-isaac-2-cWhat is faith if it is not tested?

Years after the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham of a son, Abraham experienced a test that squeezed his faith to the max in the most frightening of all ways for any parent. God told Abraham to take his long-awaited, beloved son Isaac to the land of Moriah and to offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which God would tell him.

Gulp! Did Abraham run in the other direction or pretend he didn’t hear God? No! He listened to God’s instructions and obeyed.

When Abraham, Isaac, and the servants reached the mount of God’s choosing, Abraham spoke out of the abundance of a faithful heart, for he told his servants at the bottom of the hill, (one of my favorite faith-filled verses), “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.” (Gen 22:5 NLT)

Up the hill of sacrifice they went to worship! Abraham’s faith started at the bottom of the hill while the rescue plan was yet to be unfurled. Once they reached the top, Abraham laid all on the altar, all that was valuable and precious to him, his only son, trusting that God would raise him up again.

Isaac asked his father the whereabouts of the sacrificial lamb and Abraham replied, “God will see the lamb for Himself,” (Gen. 22:8 Masoretic Text), meaning to perceive something apart from seeing it with one’s eyes. Or “God will provide for Himself a lamb.” (Gen. 22:8 NKJV)

The origin of the English word for provide comes from the Latin providere, which means to foresee, before seeing, to take measures with due foresight, to get ready beforehand, look after, and so on.

God is so good at before seeing and providing.

Can any parent image it?

Abraham held his dagger high in the air, his hand quivering as the dagger glistened in the sun. Sweat poured down his forehead. He held his breath in anticipation of committing the most horrifying act for a parent and, instead, heard, “Abraham! Abraham!” The Angel of the Lord commanded him to stay his hand of destruction.

Then, God said, “For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Gen. 22:12 NKJV)

Abraham raised his tear-filled eyes, turned, and saw the ram in the thicket. God presented a sacrificial replacement, a male sheep with its horns entangled in the bushes, as the foreshadowing of a crown of thorns upon the head of the Lamb of replacement.

Abraham then called that place “The-Lord-Will-Provide.” (Gen. 22:14 NKJV)

On our refrigerator is a white board. Some time ago, as financial woes hounded us, I wrote this on it:

Faith is not moved by what it sees.
“There is a sound of abundance…” (1 Kings 18:41 NKJV) $
Elijah spoke it…
prayed it…
believed it…
and after the drought, the rains came!!!

Then, up in one corner, I wrote: There’s a ram in the thicket!

After I wrote all that, I made up a simple, little chorus to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands.” It goes like this:

There’s a ram in the thicket just for me,
There’s a ram in the thicket just for me,
There’s a ram in the thicket that’ll be just the ticket,
There’s a ram in the thicket just for me!

And there has been!

Abraham passed the faith test. His hill of sacrifice became his pinnacle of obedience and his summit of provision. All Abraham did, the Bible says, he did by faith, and the promises of God were, thereby, fulfilled.

Do you have some hill of circumstance before you? Do you believe God has already foreseen and provided an answer, awaiting your unfaltering, Abrahamic obedience, even when you see no way of escape? Mount that hill with praise and worship!

God provided the lamb of rescue for Abraham. And He will do it for you. There’s a ram in the thicket just for you.

***Dusted off this oldie and reworked it.

Hooking up with…
Jennifer Dukes Lee
Holley Gerth
Carissa Shaw
The Missional Call
3-D Lessons for Life
Equipping Godly Women
Sandra Heska King’s Still Saturdays

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Are You an Abraham or a Jonah?

July 23, 2015 By Lynn H Mosher

Are You an Abraham or a Jonah

“That very same day, as God had said to him.”
Gen. 17:23 NKJV

Abraham. When I think of him, I think of obedience.

God asked him…

*…to go to an unknown place, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Gen. 12:1 NIV) “So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed.” (Gen. 12:4 NLT) Without questioning or “knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8b NKJV), he went.

*…to circumcise his son Ishmael at the age of thirteen. and every male in his household. Abraham was also circumcised…at 99 years old. Abraham obeyed, “On that very day.” (Gen. 17:23 NIV)

*…and the biggest commandment of all…to kill his only son of promise, “offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Gen. 22:2 NKJV)

Luther wrote that a “true believer will crucify the question, ‘Why?’ He will obey without questioning.”

Abraham “believed in the Lord” and the Lord trusted Abraham, saying, “For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.” (Gen. 18:18-19 NLT)

Abraham did not delay his obedience. And the Lord blessed him mightily.

Delayed obedience is disobedience; however, it is still better than not obeying at all. Just think Jonah!

God asked Jonah to do one thing…

*…go preach to Nineveh.

As the center of the Assyrian empire, Nineveh was a great and wicked, but beautiful, city. Because Nineveh was Israel’s enemy, Jonah didn’t want to see them spared, so he refused. He turned left out of Nineveh and went in the opposite direction, two thousand miles away to Tarshish. Major runaway!

However, he didn’t get to see much of the city as his accommodations ended up being in the dark crypt of an enormous fish. With seaweed in his hair and the smell of plankton on his skin, he changed his mind and decided to obey.

God spared Nineveh when all the people repented and turned to Him. The book of Jonah ends abruptly, as if part is missing. It ends with Jonah in a huff over God’s goodness to Nineveh.

When God gives a command or a duty to perform, He expects immediate obedience, unless He has specifically given a timeframe.

When God asks us to do something, we need to ask ourselves…

*Who suffers if I do not obey?
*What will not get done if I procrastinate?
*Will God give the task to someone else?
*What will be my discipline for not obeying?

What makes God’s heart happy? His child with an Abraham-heart of obedience. What breaks His heart and puts a kink in His plan? His child with a Jonah-heart of disobedience.

Immediate obedience is the only true obedience.

Which outcome is preferable: Abraham’s or Jonah’s? Which do you choose?

“So all who put their faith in Christ share the same
blessing Abraham received because of his faith.”
Gal. 3:9 NLT

Hooking up with…
Soli deo Gloria Sisterhood
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Purposeful Faith
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Are You an Abraham or a Jonah?

May 17, 2013 By Lynn H Mosher

Abraham or Jonah

“That very same day, as God had said to him.”
Gen. 17:23 NKJV

Abraham. When I think of him, I think of obedience.

God asked him…

*…to go to an unknown place, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Gen. 12:1 NIV) “So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed.” (Gen. 12:4 NLT) Without questioning or “knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8b NKJV), he went.

*…to circumcise his son Ishmael at the age of thirteen. and every male in his household. Abraham was also circumcised…at 99 years old. Abraham obeyed, “On that very day.” (Gen. 17:23 NIV)

*…and the biggest commandment of all…to kill his only son of promise, “offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Gen. 22:2
NKJV)

Luther wrote that a “true believer will crucify the question, ‘Why?’ He will obey without questioning.”

Abraham “believed in the Lord” and the Lord trusted Abraham, saying, “For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.” (Gen. 18:18-19 NLT)

Abraham did not delay his obedience. And the Lord blessed him mightily.

Delayed obedience is disobedience; however, it is still better than not obeying at all. Just think Jonah!

God asked Jonah to do one thing…

*…go preach to Nineveh.

As the center of the Assyrian empire, Nineveh was a great and wicked, but beautiful, city. Because Nineveh was Israel’s enemy, Jonah didn’t want to see them spared, so he refused. He turned left out of Nineveh and went in the opposite direction, two thousand miles away to Tarshish. Major runaway!

However, he didn’t get to see much of the city as his accommodations ended up being in the dark crypt of an enormous fish. With seaweed in his hair and the smell of plankton on his skin, he changed his mind and decided to obey.

God spared Nineveh when all the people repented and turned to Him. The book of Jonah ends abruptly, as if part is missing. It ends with Jonah in a huff over God’s goodness to Nineveh.

When God gives a command or a duty to perform, He expects immediate obedience, unless He has specifically given a timeframe.

When God asks us to do something, we need to ask ourselves…

*Who suffers if I do not obey?
*What will not get done if I procrastinate?
*Will God give the task to someone else?
*What will be my discipline for not obeying?

What makes God’s heart happy? His child with an Abraham-heart of obedience. What breaks His heart and puts a kink in His plan? His child with a Jonah-heart of disobedience.

Immediate obedience is the only true obedience.

Which outcome is preferable: Abraham’s or Jonah’s? Which do you choose?

“So all who put their faith in Christ share the same
blessing Abraham received because of his faith.”
Gal. 3:9 NLT

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Who’s Your Faith Hero?

July 19, 2010 By Lynn H Mosher


Whenever the question is asked…Who is your favorite biblical hero of faith…most people pick Paul. However, my heroes of victorious faith are those in the Old Testament, those whose faith held to the backside of the cross, having the faith to see what was yet to be. They had no anchor of hope in Christ as we do.

Abraham is probably my number one hero of faith. When Paul wanted to convey righteousness through faith to the Romans, he wrote about Abraham, telling them to “walk in the way of that faith which our father Abraham had.” (Rom. 4:12 Amp)

Then he said, “It is clear, then, that God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not based on obedience to God’s law, but on the new relationship with God that comes by faith.” (Rom. 4:13 NLT) All he did, the Bible says, he did by faith.

From the beginning of God’s promise of his son Isaac to Abraham until the time of fulfillment was about twenty five years. Then, Abraham’s faith was tested to the max. When he obeyed to the point of nearly sacrificing his own son, a Ram in the thicket was provided.

That thing dearest to his heart he released to God and received it back multiplied times over. Abraham’s faith seed was planted there on Mount Moriah, and his seed produced seed upon Seed, and all of us have been blessed and rewarded since that time.

Look at the results produced from that one extraordinary act. If we follow this out, we will see the culmination of a progression of a life of faith, obedience, and sacrifice, from the seed of Abraham’s obedience, to David’s purchase of the threshing floor, to Solomon’s building of the Temple.

As the hill of these sacrifices and obedience, Mount Moriah (meaning ‘seen or vision of Jah’) is the same area, and thought by some scholars to be the very sight, of the greatest sacrifice ever, the crucifixion of Christ.

Our faith walk should be like Abraham’s, for he knew God kept His promises, “He drew strength from his faith, and, while giving the glory to God, remained absolutely convinced that God was able to implement His own promise.” (Rom. 4:21 Phillips)

When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he wrote about living by faith as Abraham, “It is [really] the people [who live] by faith who are [the true] sons of Abraham.” (Gal. 3:7 Amp) Therefore, “Those who are people of faith are blessed and made happy and favored by God [as partners in fellowship] with the believing and trusting Abraham.” (Gal. 3:9 Amp)

Paul also said of Abraham, “No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God.” (Rom. 4:20 Amp) His words of praise strengthened his faith, connecting Him to God’s power.

Paul said, “Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith and depends [entirely] on faith.” (Rom. 4:16 Amp) He said our faith should rest “in the power of God.” (1 Cor. 2:5 NKJV)

When you come before the God of the universe, do you believe that He is the God of all creation, that He is able to do what He says, that He will be with you in whatever you are going through, and that He rewards those believing in Him?

*Is there an Isaac in your life that you need to release by faith?
*Does your praise empower your faith?
*How long have you waited for an answer to prayer or the fulfillment of a promise from God?
*How do you walk, how do you behave, while you are waiting, in faith or doubt and worry?
*Do you rest in the power of God?

Does Jesus say to you, as He did to Peter when he began to be overwhelmed by the waves, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matt. 14:31b NKJV) Or does He say to you as He did to the woman that came to Him on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire”? (Matt. 15:28 NKJV)

If God is looking for victorious faith in His children, does He find it in you?

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