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His mocking which shows pride and lack of respect. She is righteous in this. To mock the son of their shared father is lack of respect not only to the son but also to the father and his mother. I can't say that I've ever forced my spouse to ever act against his own principles. I have been asked and strongly encouraged to tell "little white lies" (which I refused to do).

The first laugh was due to unbelief ("yeah, right") the second was due to being overjoyed and probably unbelief mixed in ("I can't believe He did this!") God has a great sense of humor. I love that He does things no one would ever expect, i.e. walls of Jericho, tax money in fish's mouth..beware of the leaven of the Pharisees (knowing they didn't have bread)..just to name a few examples. Also, the Jewish people I have encountered all have a great sense of humor - it seems innate.

They took it upon themselves to preserve their father's lineage instead of praying and relying on God. When our will takes priority over God's will, nothing good results. God's values were most likely not ingrained in them while they were growing up. Living among sin, it is extremely important to guard your mind and spirit by praying and obeying daily if we don't, we weaken and accept rather than resist the evil around us until, we too lose hope and harden. Lesson: Keep feeding the spirit and not the flesh lest we live in the flesh.

Her heart was still in Sodom. Where your heart is there your treasure will also be. There are some sins in my past that I haven't totally let go of. It is quite the struggle but I know that God is transforming me. I also have the responsibility of desiring (willing) to let it go, making God my ultimate priority so He can use me. I think Jesus is saying that we must be willing to follow the Lord's commands. If we are not willing and are rebellious, we must suffer the consequences which ultimately leads to death if we keep quenching the Spirit.

Perhaps because, in part, they didn't believe judgment would happen. Perhaps because they were among it so long they became somewhat indifferent to it. Absolutely I've hesitated. I did so in part thinking I have victory over the temptation and my confidence deceived me. The lesson is to flee at even the littlest sign of danger. Don't let thoughts let you linger (we know their source).

We are also sinners, so we must have compassion on others, believers and non-believers alike and not judge lest we be judged. As God demonstrated His love for us sinners with His Son's blood, we must also have love for all. We can condemn sin but we too fail sometimes, for no one is perfect, we're all as filthy rags, so it's important that while we condemn sin we don't do it in a judgmental fashion but in a loving and compassionate way. We should act out the "I love you, but I hate what you are doing. If the church was silent it would then be condoning this abhorrent behavior and saying to God - we value what men think more than what You think, God. The church would then be subject to God's judgment. We should be saying what the bible says: God hates homosexuality and in no way is it acceptable. God also hates lying, stealing, etc. The church's responsibility is to lay out God's law and obey it being a model for the secular community to look up to. We should be saying it in our daily lives-everyone, the pastor and congregation. We should all live like lamps lighting up the darkness. which means living in total obedience and having compassion on those who don't because we too are subject to falling and temptation and judgment.

God is righteous and Abraham appeals to His righteousness because Abe knows Lot is a righteous man who doesn't deserve the punishment of the wicked. God expects us to love, be just and merciful just as He is. We must pray on behalf of others because we desire justice and mercy for all. Abe's intercession was a righteous thing to do. Had Abe gone along with the death sentence served to the righteous, Abe would not have been acting justly and mercifully and may have been disciplined severely. We should desire to know God and His will so we can pray in accordance to His will. We must come to Him in prayer with humble and sincere hearts desiring to be forgiven and to forgive others. If we live a disobedient life and are unrepentant, God will not listen. If the husband mistreats his wife, God will not listen. If we are double minded and doubting, God will not listen. God listens to the righteous.

Being honest and just means not taking anything (like supplies) from the office..a little here a little there doesn't SEEM like stealing, but it is. Copying music to cd's is another form of stealing. Telling little "white lies". A lie is a lie no matter how small it may seem or even if it doesn't hurt anyone it hurts the person doing it. As we continue doing these seemingly small things it grows and we become hardened so it really hurts us. It's difficult to maintain today because everyone does it and if we don't we stand out like a sore thumb and get labeled "miss goody two shoes" or something. In a society where everything and anything is acceptable and shock is a thing of the past, morals are a hard thing to hold onto. It takes conviction and strength and requires daily reading - for renewing our minds (cleansing it) and prayer for strength to overcome all these temptations that bombard us. In short, we have to separate ourselves and come out from among those who prefer to live in darkness. This takes strength that the Holy Spirit provides if we allow Him to, lest we be weighted by peer pressure and sink down into the crowd.

The formula Jesus demonstrated in His leadership was by being completely obedient to His Master, Our Father, and yet also a servant to us. This is the formula we should adopt. Be obedient first to the Lord and then to love our families as Christ loves His church. Sometimes it takes rebuking and discipiline but that is not to be confused with acting out in anger but in love. If any of our thoughts, actions or words dishonor the Lord, we are out of line. When a couple strives in their obedience to God, everything will fall into place, just as we strive individually to fulfill the 1st commandment we automatically fulfill everything else.

If we say in our hearts that "it was the chemo...or it must have been this..." If there is any doubt at all, we don't really believe. We must analyze ourselves and our beliefs. It's also easy to believe that God performs miracles on others and think it'll never happen to us. There is nothing in scripture that says God will stop doing miracles. In fact the bible states that miracles will continue until the end. One example being that the sun will darken and stars will fall before Christ's second appearance. That's miraculous! God continues doing miracles: people are being healed in our church and financial problems are miraculously being taken care of - God and His miracles are alive and well today. To regain an active faith is to continue feeding our spiritual man more than our fleshly man so our mind is renewed and not hardened through sin and unbelief. We must not only read the bible daily but meditate on it and ACT on it and of course pray.

Circumcision of the flesh was according to the old covenant. The new covenant is Christ's blood which He shed for us. To accept this we must believe in Christ. If we believe in Christ, we must obey Him. If we obey Him we follow His example in that He was baptized to fulfill righteousness and that He commanded us to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Even though Christ died to sin, He was still baptized in water to show us that it was necessary for us to do it also. He showed us and then gave us the verbal command to do it to others. Baptism is symbolic of our fleshly death by going under water and coming out of water to our new spiritual bodies indwelled by the Holy Spirit. The water is symbolic of burial and cleansing. God's Word is also water that cleanses us.

To desire in your spirit to obey the Lord. To find out His will (reading the Bible) so you know Him. You can't love someone with all your mind, heart and soul if you don't know them. The bible is God's invitation to us to get to know Him. We must have a willing desire to know Him otherwise it will be onesided. God loves us and doesn't change. We must fulfill the other half of the covenant by willfully obeying Him (reading, praying and walking with Him). If we truly believe in Christ, we will obey His words. Belief is synonymous with obedience throughout the entire bible. If we confess with our mouths and do not do anything to back it up. We decieve ourselves only, because God will not be mocked. We will be the one to whom the Lord says " Go away, I never knew you". All believers (Jews & Gentiles) must willfully grow to love God thru Christ. No one can come to the Father unless it is through Christ. We keep our faith active by daily reading the word, daily prayer and sometimes fasting and by fellowshipping. If we don't feed our spiritual man our flesh man will become stronger. In order to withstand the fiery darts of the evil one, our spiritual man must be fed. We do this by reading, praying and fellowshipping DAILY. Yes, I struggle because I sometimes rely on my feelings. Well I don't "feel" saved, or "feel" forgiven. It is a faith walk and to not believe/act on God's word is to call Him a liar. It's a constant struggle between my flesh and spirit to walk by faith and not by sight, sense, smell etc.. If faith was easy - every one would do it and there would be no hardships which equals spiritual growth.

That they belong to God. A permenant sign in the flesh serves as a constant reminder of God's covenant with Abraham and his descendents. Abraham must be a willing participant in the agreement. Both sides must willingly agree for an agreement to be binding. Abraham's immediate obedience shows an eager attitude to serve God. It also shows reverence. Had he waited the next day it would have indicated pride or doubt and would have brought the same response from God that Cain did with his disprespectful offerings.

I believe God is commanding him to walk in faith, to trust and love God and to love others. If we walk this way, we obey all the laws and the prophets. Moral perfection is impossible with humans. Our entire walk is a striving toward perfection but perfection cannot be obtained on our own as we are all sinful dirty rags but it is by our faith in Christ, who is our perfection. Praise God!

That God forgives (Hagar's pride) if we repent and submit to His will no matter how humbling it may be. We must be humble to enter His kingdom. I'm not sure at this point what God is calling me to do. However, once I am certain of His will, I would love to perform it.

Perhaps unlike other gods she is familiar with, who do not see, this is the God who does see. The God who called her by name and knows her personally and understands her situation. Knowing that God, the Creator of this awesome world, also stoops down to take us by our little hand to lead us in the way we should go because He cares for us and loves us. Knowing this, despite our situation, should lead us to hold onto Him tighter and grow in our faith and strength. We look back on past trials and realize He was there. That should also get us through our present trials and should have strengthened us so we could grow more and produce more for His kingdom. I trust the Lord and know that He is working behind the scenes for a better outcome than I could ever imagine. When I feel discouraged, I pray more and pray harder and I realize that the trial has brought me closer to Him and made me stronger. I haven't yet rejoiced in my trials as the apostles encourage us to do....perhaps there's still time.

It must have been for Hagar's benefit because there's nothing new for God to learn. Hagar tells where she came from but does not say where she is going. For her to hear herself speak may have caused her to realize she did not have a plan. Hagar is sent back to submit. As pride is a downfall that can banish us from eternal life with God, God offers her the opportunity to get back into the flock by submitting. God wants all of us to learn submission to His will. It's our only way back into the flock. Unfortunately, I have wandered far from the flock. Thank and praise God, he brought me back!

The possibility of a family was planted in her mind by Abraham. Even though it initially started with God she may have been too afraid to direct her anger at God. Her anger toward Hagar was initiated by Hagar's pride. Here Sarah couldv'e chosen to be angry with God because God allowed Hagar to become pregnant. She also must be angry with herself for being impatient and not waiting or listening to God that SHE would bear the child. She almost sounds like she's an impatient spoiled old brat. Abraham should've listened to God and not Sarah. (Like Adam listened to Eve). We all grow impatient and want something now. We get in trouble when we don't wait for God's time as He works everything for good to those who love Him. When we put our will in front of His will we are being disobedient and must suffer the consequences. Everyone in my family, including myself, are guilty of doing things our own way, not waiting for God and then suffering the consequences.

That was the way treaties were honored in the Near East. God wanted Abraham to know that it was a sure promise/covenant He was making to Abraham. God doesn't delight in killing innocent creatures in vain. God bound himself for our sakes. God knows who He is. We, in our feable minds, need assurances. His promise to us is that if we believe and obey, we will spend eternity in heaven with Him. The blood of the unblemished lamb (Christ) atones for our sins once and for all. In times past it served as a symbol of things to come. The practice of sacrifice for so many years ingrained it's importance into our heads so that when Jesus became the final sacrifice we might understand more the depth of His love for us.

Sure I have but recognizing that His timing is the right timing, I have become more patient. God works in a multi-tiered fashion. He is efficient. We don't know what He's planning, but we can be sure He's bringing together all good for those that love Him.

Just by believing God he obtains righteousness. God declares Abraham righteous because he believed God. If we believe God, who sent His Son to atone for our sins, that belief in His Son becomes our righteousness even though we ourselves are not righteous. Our belief, faith, is not only an oral profession, this faith is synonomous with our actions. We must prove our faith in deed othewise it's lip service, we're hypocrites, and deceiving only our selves. God will not be mocked.

That He not only protects but rewards us for our obedience. He does not protect or reward disobedience. My great reward will be eternity in His presence. I cannot comprehend how awesomely wonderful that will be, but I'm sure it'll blow my mind. To know that God protects me is a reward in itself. God, being above all, is the supreme protector which means how can we fear anything else. However, being stuck in this body with physical sensory perceptions it's hard not to react in fear.

The King is wicked and Abraham doesn't want any future ties to such a man. Why get mediocre from a human king when you can get gold from THE King. Abraham is focused on honoring God. Abraham trusts God enough to reject everything that is not from God. Lesson learned: don't store up treasures on earth that rust and decay.

Abraham is showing reverence for God by honoring God's high priest, just as Abel showed reverence with the first fruits. Today's tithing is worship and showing God you trust Him. By giving, even if out of the little we have, we show God that He comes before money. We must trust Him in every area of our lives. To tithe to God first shows Him and ourselves, that He is our priority. Seek ye the Kingdom first...

He was interested mainly in rescuing Lot, Lot's family and their belongings. He wasn't interested in killing (revenge) or taking more materials. The fact that the plan was well thought out, well executed, swift and successful indicates that Abraham was wise and most likely was aided by God. He dealt very fairly by taking only what belonged to Lot. He took back what was stolen and nothing more. Abraham could have killed the enemy and taken all of their possessions, but he didn't let his anger or his ego take control of him. We could learn to treat others as we would like to be treated.