Are you willing to follow Instructions?

Instructions will always lead you to a desired end, if you are keen enough to follow them through. As we know very well, it’s a season in Kenya where most students are sitting for their final exams to shift to the next level, from Primary school to High school or from high school to College. I have been a candidate before and I know most of you reading this, you have been candidates.
We have a clear idea of what goes around in an exam room and one important thing is, each paper, there are instructions which must be followed Right!!!Failure to follow instructions, will one way or another, cause you to get disqualified even though you are an A student. Instructions in any exam, act as a blue print for the examiner to access student’s performance. In Kenya, ignoring simple instructions can disqualify any student, from attaining his final results even though he did the paper correctly.
Over the decades, several students have missed their final results and they are forced to repeat the final class, which ain’t a walk in the park, considering time and energy one has to put, in sitting for any exam. From such an experience, sitting for the exam the second time, they have to follow instructions to detail or else they get disqualified but honestly, who on Earth wants to go through such a process a third time??
Using the above real-life illustration, how many of us fail to follow God’s instructions and end up birthing things that God did not ordain? Let’s look at The life of Abraham, who God used in establishing a covenant with, in entrusting him with a promise that has spanned for generations. Abraham was a man of faith and God accounted it to him for righteousness, however as humanly as Abraham was, he failed to obey God’s instructions to detail, which had unpleasant consequences.
Let’s reflect on several scriptures, of how Abraham was obedient half way and what was birthed from not following God’s instructions to details.

1.

Genesis 15:2-4 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.
Genesis 16:1-3 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai
God gave Abram a promise for a son but along the way, his wife came up with a suggestion which was not in line with God’s instructions . What takes me aback, is how Abram agreed to Sarai’s suggestion without consulting God, if that was the right thing to do. We all know Ishmael was born and what seemed as a good idea, ended up birthing a substitute.
How many times do we feel that God is taking too long that we end up settling for substitutes??You know you are called as an entrepreneur but you are stuck in an 8am to 5pm job, you know very well God has called you into ministry but you are busy running away like Jonah, you know very well God will give you a spouse who will be in line with God’s will upon your life but because your clock is ticking, you end up settling for a spouse who will offer you temporary satisfaction but with no capacity whatsoever, to handle your vision and purpose.God desires to give us the best but due to discontentment, impatience, discouragements and doubt, at times we might end up birthing Ishmael’s.
Galatians 4:22-26 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

2.

Genesis 12:1 Now the Lord had said to Abram:“Get out of your country,From your family And from your father’s house,To a land that I will show you.Vs.4So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Genesis 13:14-17 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you
The above instruction from God to Abram was very clear, Get out of your country,from your family And from your father’s house  however Abram tagged along Lot. Abram had a void for a son and he thought lot would fit in as a 2nd best, considering he was his nephew. Whenever we don’t deal with any form of void in our own lives, the void will deal with us. Address your emotional issues, or you will make the wrong decisions where relationships are concerned.
It’s exigent to note, God did not give Abram another instruction, until he separated himself from Lot. Be fully aware, not everyone who is in your circle now, can go where God is taking you in your next season, If they don’t have the carrying capacity to handle your next level,they gotta leave.

Your tendency to hold on people, who you need to let go, is an indicator you don’t trust God to bring along the right people in your life. You have to separate yourself from your substitute. God had the blessings to give to Abram but he could not, since he still held on his substitute Lot. The degree you are willing to release what you have been holding to, will determine the degree to which God will reveal stuff to you

3.

Genesis 12:7-12 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South. Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.
Genesis 12:17-20 But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” So Pharaoh commanded his me Genesis n concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.
Abram was obedient to follow God’s instructions to go to a land that God would show him but he could not stay in the promised land, due to famine. He trusted God to a certain degree but decided to trust his idea, when faced with a challenge which failed miserably. God knew there would be famine in that land and am fully persuaded, He had a solution for Abram, if Abram would have consulted Him.
How many dreams have been tarnished by our mistrust, impatience, fear of the unknown and people’s opinions? God gives you a dream, He reveals to you your purpose, you trust him with the first step in obeying Him but when faced with challenges, you compromise your faith and end up doing, what God never instructed you to do in the first place. God will never reveal to you, your purpose without having a way of how you will navigate through your dreams and assignment here on Earth. But where most people miss out is, when they fail to understand God’s refining process through different seasons of tests in life.

Parting Shot: -Despite of how Abraham missed out on some of God’s instructions, God still fulfilled His promise with Abraham. In the midst of unexpected things, the character of God remains unchanged. This only shows, God’s loving nature and His faithfulness to fulfill his word despite our shortcomings and imperfections is eternal. Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

You might have made a wrong choice, settled for a substitute, compromised your vision or your values but God is asking you today, are you willing to let go of what is holding you from experiencing your best life now??The best time for new beginnings is now. Don’t be afraid of new beginnings, new people, new challenges, new energy and new surroundings, be optimistic in embracing new seasons in life by obeying the last instruction that God gave you. Let’s all learn from Abraham and avoid some mistakes he did.

Love Reina Beaty.

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