Genesis 17 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Genesis 17.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/gen/17/1/s_17001

Meditate on verses 5a and 15.

 

“No longer shall your name be called Abram,

but your name shall be Abraham.”

Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall

 not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.”

 

After passing between the pieces of the sacrificed animals in Genesis 15, God continued establishing His covenant with Abram by introducing the name change aspect of covenant in Genesis 17.  God’s covenant relationship with Abram and Sarai changed their identity; so much so, God changed their names to Abraham and Sarah to signify they were in a relationship with Him.

God does the same thing to you when you enter into a covenant relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.  Before Jesus, you were called child of wrath and son of disobedience, and your father was the devil (Ephesian 2:3; 5:6; John 8:44).  After Christ became your life, you were called child of God and Christian (Colossians 3:4;

1 John 3:1-2; Acts 11:26).

 

God made everlasting promises to Abraham (Genesis 17:7-8, 13, 19).  When He changed your name to child of God, it came with His promise to be your forever Father.  What an amazing name change you received!

Pray Genesis 17:7 over those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7) who need to be in an everlasting covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

“LORD, establish Your covenant with _________.  Be their God!

 Be God to their descendants after them.

Through Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

Genesis 16 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Genesis 16.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/gen/16/1/s_16001

Meditate on verse 13.

 

Then she called the name of the LORD, who spoke to her,

“You are a God who sees”; for she said,

“Have I even remained alive after seeing Him?”

 

God reveals Himself by many names throughout the Bible.  A few of them are:

 

            God Most High – Genesis 14:18-20

            The LORD Will Provide – Genesis 22:14

            The LORD Who Heals – Exodus 15:26

            The LORD Is Peace – Judges 6:24

            The LORD Our Righteousness – Jeremiah 23:6

 

God allowed an Egyptian slave girl named Hagar to give Him one of His names—The God Who Sees.  She was a despised and mistreated maid.  Her jealous mistress, Sarai, treated Hagar harshly because she was pregnant by Sarai’s husband, Abram.  The whole affair happened because of a plan hatched by Sarai to hasten God’s covenant plans.  Oh, the messes we create when we think we know better than God!

So, Hagar fled from her abusive mistress to the wilderness where God met her.  After the angel of the LORD spoke to her, Hagar said, “The LORD spoke to me. You, God, see me! Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” (v. 13).

The “angel of the LORD” was God in physical form.  Ponder this as one of your Jesus sightings in Genesis.  Ponder also that God sees you.  No matter your life situation, God sees you, hears you, and desires to speak to you.  Call on the name of the LORD; call Him by the name You need: God Who Heals, God Who Provides, etc.

Pray Genesis 16:11b and 13 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, please pay attention to ________ and my affliction!

You are the God Who Sees!


Thank You for seeing us.


In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Genesis 15 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Genesis 15.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/gen/15/1/s_15001

Meditate on verses 17-18a.

 

It came about when the sun had set,

that it was very dark,

and behold, there appeared a smoking oven

and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. 

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram …

 

God reiterated His promises to Abram of land and descendants and sealed the deal in Genesis 15 by making a covenant with Abram.  When covenants were made in the Old Testament, they were literally cut.  An animal was killed, cut in half, and the two people making covenant promises to each other walked between the pieces of the sacrificed animal stating that if either person broke their covenant vows may what happened to the dead animal or worse happen to them.

Amazingly, God entered into a covenant relationship with Abram, but He did not require Abram to pass between the pieces of the sacrificed animals.  Instead God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Abram, and while he slept, God appeared as a smoking oven and a flaming torch and passed between the pieces, cutting covenant with Abram.

Only God passed through the pieces (not Abram).  By doing this God declared to Abram, “If I break this covenant, may what happened to the animal, or worse, happen to Me.  And Abram, if you break the covenant, may what happened to the animal, or worse, happen to Me.”

And it did—on the cross.

Pray Genesis 15:1 and 17-18a over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

Word of the LORD, You have come to _________ and me.


Thank You that we do not have to fear.

You are our shield, our very great reward.

 Jesus, You not only passed between

the pieces of the animal for us;


You were the sacrificed animal.

 Thank You for making a covenant with us.

In Your name and blood, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Genesis 14 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Genesis 14.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/gen/14/1/s_14001

Meditate on verse 18.

 

And Melchizedek, king of Salem,

brought out bread and wine;

 now he was a priest of God Most High.

 

After Christ arose from the dead, He met two men on the road to Emmaus and began walking with them.  Jesus asked them a few questions, then “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27).  All the Scriptures means all of the Old Testament.  Genesis 14 was probably one of the passages Jesus explained to the two men because the writer of Hebrews recorded it in reference to Jesus Christ in Hebrews 7.

Abram won a battle against four kings who had taken his nephew Lot and other people captive, rescuing Lot and the others.  As Abram returned from the battle, the king of Sodom and the king of Salem came to greet Abram and thank him for his kind and courageous deed.  The king of Salem was Melchizedek who was also a priest.  He greeted Abram with bread and wine.

Why would God have this strange encounter between Melchizedek and Abram recorded?   God was giving a picture of Messiah.  Jesus is King and Priest.  He gave His disciples bread and wine to symbolize the covenant relationship He had with them.  Melchizedek is not listed in any of the genealogies of Genesis; he has no date of birth or date of death.  Hebrews 7:3 says God did that on purpose to show the Son of God has neither beginning of days nor end of life.

God’s Word is amazing—every Word handcrafted by the Almighty to show you the Savior.

Pray Genesis 14:14 and 16 in thanksgiving of what Christ has done for you.

“LORD, as soon as You heard

 I had been taken captive by sin, You pursued me.


Thank You for bringing me back to You.


In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Genesis 13 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Genesis 13.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/gen/13/1/s_13001

Meditate on this phrase from verse 5.

 

Now Lot, who went with Abram …

 

There is a repeated phrase in Genesis 12-13: “Lot went with him” (Genesis 12:4; 13:1, 5).  Lot was Abram’s nephew, the adult son of Abram’s deceased brother, Haran (Genesis 11:27-31).  God told Abram to go forth from his country and his relatives to the land He would show him (Genesis 12:1).  Well, Abram obeyed part of God’s commands.  He left his country and went to the land God showed him, but he took Lot with him.

Partial obedience to God is disobedience, with resulting consequences.  Abram gave up the best of God’s gift of land to selfish Lot in order to appease him and put an end to family strife.  Abram finally obeyed God in Genesis 13:11, “thus they separated from each other.”  But by this point, the consequences remained, and you will continue to read about Lot in the days to come.  In fact, to this day, the descendants of Lot occupy the land east of the Jordan River (v. 11), and there is still strife, 4,000 years later, between the descendants of Lot (Jordan) and the descendants of Abram (Israel).

It really does matter whether we choose to completely obey God or not. 

Pray Genesis 13:18 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, help ________ and me to move our tents as soon as You tell us,


to the place You tell us, and in the way You tell us.


Then and there we will build an altar and worship You, LORD.

 Because of Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

Genesis 12 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Genesis 12.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/gen/12/1/s_12001

Meditate on verses 1-3.

 

Now the LORD said to Abram,

“Go forth from your country,

and from your relatives,

and from your father’s house,

 to the land which I will show you;

 and I will make you a great nation,

 and I will bless you, and make your name great;

and so you shall be a blessing;

and I will bless those who bless you,

and the one who curses you I will curse. 

And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

 

Genesis 12 contains a prophecy from God to Abram about the Messiah.  When God told Abram, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (v. 3), God was prophesying that the Savior for the entire world would be a descendant of Abram.

As you continue reading Genesis, look for Jesus.  Genesis was part of the Scriptures Paul used to give evidence Jesus is the Christ and to explain salvation through faith in Him (Acts 17:2-3).  The New Testament was just beginning to be written when Peter, James, Paul, and the other New Testament preachers were teaching. The Scriptures the writers of the New Testament used are the same Scriptures used today known as the Old Testament.

Look for evidence that Jesus is the Messiah in Genesis. It is a great treasure hunt!

Pray Genesis 12:3b, 4, and 8 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, thank You for blessing __________ and me.

Help us go forth just as You command us to go.

 Wherever we go, may we worship You


and call on Your name, LORD.


Because of You, Jesus~”

 

 

 

 

Genesis 11 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Genesis 11.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/gen/11/1/s_11001

Meditate on this phrase from verse 4.

 

Let us make for ourselves a name.

 

Moses recorded God’s Words in Genesis, according to genealogies, beginning with the genealogy of the earth (Genesis 1-2).  God continued His pattern in Genesis 10-11.  Genesis 10 is the genealogy of the nations of the world beginning with Noah’s three sons.  Genesis 11 gives you a closer picture of Nimrod and his city, Babel, which were part of the genealogy in Genesis 10.

Nimrod’s rebellion before God continues in Genesis 11.  The people in Nimrod’s city of Babel decided to make a name for themselves by building a city with a tower reaching into heaven.  As they were saying, “Let us ... let us ... let us ...,” the LORD said, “Let Us go down there and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech” (Genesis 11:7).

God does not tolerate rebellion!  When we try to make a name for ourselves, we stand in opposition to God, and He will come down into our business and confuse what we are doing until we choose to let God’s name be glorified instead of our own.

Pray for God not to have to do Genesis 11:7 to you and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, Your name is above every name in heaven and earth!

As _________ and I bow to You, I pray You do not need


to come down and cause confusion in our lives.


In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL, 4 – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell