{"id":1717,"date":"2019-09-05T11:23:12","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T01:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/?p=1717"},"modified":"2019-09-05T11:23:12","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T01:23:12","slug":"take-hold-of-what-god-has-promised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/take-hold-of-what-god-has-promised\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Hold of What God has Promised"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.\u00a0<\/em>~ 2Peter 1:4<\/em> (NIV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This morning, as I read the story of Genesis 14, the above verse suddenly became very clear. And I’m so glad to understand how good God is. Here the account of Genesis 14 that I read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer\u00a0and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom\u00a0came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King\u2019s Valley). Then Melchizedek\u00a0king of Salem\u00a0brought out bread\u00a0and wine.\u00a0He was priest of God Most High,\u00a0and he blessed Abram,\u00a0saying,<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBlessed be Abram by God Most High,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Creator of heaven and earth.
And praise be to God Most High,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0who delivered your enemies into your hand.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. \u00a0<\/sup>The king of Sodom\u00a0said to Abram, \u201cGive me the people and keep the goods\u00a0for yourself.\u201d<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/sup>But Abram said to the king of Sodom,\u00a0\u201cWith raised hand\u00a0I have sworn an oath to the\u00a0Lord, God Most High,\u00a0Creator of heaven and earth,\u00a0that I will accept nothing belonging to you,\u00a0not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, \u2018I made Abram rich.\u2019<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
It is so interesting how the story was told. In that valley, two kings met Abram: King of Sodom and King of Salem. One blessed Abram in God the Creator of Heaven & Earth. The other offered Abram wealth and riches as possession. The order also is very interesting, the blessing from God came first before the offer of the worldly riches.<\/p>\n
And Abram’s response is very telling. He rejected the offer of worldly king by clinging<\/em> to the promises God had given him.<\/p>\n
Isn’t this tell what Peter meant in beginning of his letter? God has given us His great and precious promises. Many promises, not only one or two. Not small or insignificant, but great and precious. So that we would escape the corruption in and of this world through sinful desires, and become partakers of divine nature (God’s nature).<\/p>\n
Isn’t it so beautiful? That God has given to us what we need in order to live according to His will? He doesn’t ask us to live up to His standards without first giving us what we need. Abram could reject the luxurious offer only because God had given His great and precious promises.<\/p>\n
What are some of God’s promises that you could hold on this week?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.\u00a0~ 2Peter 1:4 (NIV) This morning, as I read … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[337,89,8,11,19,110,67,69],"tags":[122,128,323],"class_list":["post-1717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2-peter","category-blessedness","category-encouraged","category-excited","category-genesis","category-richess","category-thankful","category-touched","tag-bible-character","tag-blessing","tag-walk-with-god"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":358,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/peaceful-afternoon\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":0},"title":"Peaceful Afternoon","author":"clay","date":"April 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Word of God came at the right time... This afternoon, took a time to read from Psalm 33. Nevern been such comfort and peace from reading it before. The\u00a0Lord\u00a0looks down from heaven; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0he sees all the children of man; from\u00a0where he sits enthroned he\u00a0looks out \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0on all the inhabitants\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Assured"","block_context":{"text":"Assured","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/emotion\/assured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1985,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/covenantal-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":1},"title":"Covenantal God","author":"clay","date":"January 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. Genesis 9:16 New Year 2024, and somehow I didn't have anything to offer. There is no vision, no dream, no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genesis"","block_context":{"text":"Genesis","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/bible\/genesis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/files\/2024\/01\/Rainbow-full.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/files\/2024\/01\/Rainbow-full.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/files\/2024\/01\/Rainbow-full.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/files\/2024\/01\/Rainbow-full.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/files\/2024\/01\/Rainbow-full.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/files\/2024\/01\/Rainbow-full.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":452,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/crossroad\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":2},"title":"Crossroad","author":"clay","date":"May 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Tonite as I was preparing for this Sunday, a passage on Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac. God provided a ram as substitute. So that Isaac need not to die. However, many years later, when Jesus walked to the cross. God didn't provide a ram as substitute. Jesus was the substitute\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genesis"","block_context":{"text":"Genesis","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/bible\/genesis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":870,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/walking-with-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":3},"title":"Walking with God","author":"clay","date":"October 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Do\u00a0two\u00a0walk\u00a0together\u00a0unless they have agreed to do so?\" ~ Amos 3:3 Tonight devotion is from Oswald Chamber's about walking with God. He takes Gen 5:24,\"Enoch\u00a0walked faithfully\u00a0with\u00a0God; then he was no more, because\u00a0God\u00a0took him away.\" The idea of walking with God is not new. Interestingly, it was mentioned only of one man,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 John"","block_context":{"text":"1 John","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/bible\/1-john\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1120,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/new-year-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":4},"title":"New Year 2016","author":"clay","date":"January 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Our risen Lord Jesus be our Shepherd. I'm extremely grateful for the long weekend and good beginning of the year. Got time to sit down and reflect and reminded of God's goodness. The resurrection of Jesus from the death. What a powerful, earth shaking moment. That power and assurance despite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genesis"","block_context":{"text":"Genesis","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/bible\/genesis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":360,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/the-god-of-abraham\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":5},"title":"The God of Abraham","author":"clay","date":"April 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Often heard and said in the Bible, the phrase \"God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob\". It doesn't seem to trigger anything, except that He is a covenant God. This afternoon, as I was preparing for Gen 24, the idea came....this man keeps calling Him, as God of his master Abraham....or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blessedness"","block_context":{"text":"Blessedness","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/truth-vs-lies\/blessedness\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1717"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1718,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions\/1718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}