March 7, 2014

If you have not yet joined us in our Monday-Wednesday-Friday healing prayer calls at 7:00 PM eastern, and are in need of healing in your body, please join us so we can minister to you. The number to call (and it is repeated at the end of this Coffee Break) is (805) 399-1000. Then enter the access code: 124763#.

Thanks to all those who joined us by telephone for our gathering this past Sunday. We trust that it was a blessing to you. That said, that number to call (should you choose to join us) is (559) 726-1300, and the access code is: 308640#. We are usually "live" on the conference call by 12:30 PM Pacific (3:30 PM Eastern) or very shortly thereafter.

Let's take a bit of a different direction today in this continuing discussion. Our understanding of the Blessing of Abraham takes on a whole new dimension once we begin to watch it unfold in Abraham’s life. There is a direct bearing on the picture of this blessing to the Table of the Lord and the healing available to us. Let’s revisit God’s promise to Abraham from the beginning.

Genesis 12:1-3: Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Once we begin to look at the word “bless” and its counterpart “blessing” in the Hebrew, a whole new realm of understanding begins to unfold.

The Hebrew word, barak, is where we derive “bless.” This word consists of only three letters, Beth, Reysh, and Kaph. The syllable “a” is added for the sake of pronunciation.

Beth has a host of meanings and a huge picture from which we can easily draw the beginning place of “bless.”

· House, Household, City, Place

· Origins, Fountain, Material from which anything is drawn, made or comes forth

· Belonging to

· Place from which determinations are made, limits are set, boundaries are established

· The Presence of

· Denotes Motion to a place

· In the Manner of

· Price, Reward, Exchange

· Having Regard for, or Respect

· Accompaniment, Going With

· An Instrument or Agent of

The second Hebrew letter, Reysh, contains the following pictures:

· The Scepter (this Hebrew letter was considered to be a picture or literal figure of a ruler’s scepter.)

· The Head

· To Emit Rays, or Radiance

· To Exercise Dominion or Rule

· To Subdue

· To Stand Proudly

The Third Hebrew letter, Kaph, finishes out this picture of “bless,” making abundantly clear just what God originally commanded upon Adam, then Noah, then Shem, and — now — Abraham:

· Signifies a Wing

· Also draws a picture of The Hollow of One’s Hand

· To Spring From

· Having Great Strength

· To Be Great

· Having indefinite (or incalculable) numerical qualities (e.g., To Multiply beyond one’s capacity to number)

· To Resemble (in the sense of “Magnify,” or

· To Show as Larger

· According to, In the Manner of

· Having the Likeness of (e.g., see Nehemiah 7:2)

The Hebrew word for “blessing” simply adds a fourth letter, “He” (hay), which is the second and fourth letters of God’s name: Yowd, He, Vav, He.

Rabbinical scholars believe that the sound of this letter, He, is what God breathed at the beginning of Creation when He first decreed, “Light BE.”

The letter, He, therefore connotes the following:

· It is first and foremost a picture or representation of “A Window”: hence, a Window by which one Beholds or Sees Manifestation (See Malachi 3:10)

· A Breathing [Out]

· Demonstrative Power

· A Declaration of Life

· An Answer of Completion

· A Challenge to Non-Existence

· THE Master

· A Call Forth

· An Interrogative Which Demands an Answer

· Beckoning

· A Summons

· Numerically, He has the value of “5”; hence “Grace”

Now you’re beginning to see both “Barak” and “Berakah” from God’s perspective.

“Barak” is to bless. It is the decree, the declarative Word that came forth from the mouth of God.

“Berakah” is the end result of what God commanded. It is the Blessing; and the addition of the second and fourth letters of God’s name become the proof, the manifestation that the source of the Blessing is God Himself.

The Hebrew language has an interesting character to it in that when you finish a word with the letter “He” it adds the linguistic feminine denominative to it, meaning: “to be fruitful, to multiply, to reproduce.”

Are you now beginning to see what it means when God says, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion….”?

The very word “Bless” contains all these elements. The “Blessing” is the proof that God is the source, the energizer, the force which empowers all these elements of His command decree.

Now, let’s take another look at how this unfolds in Abraham’s life.

Remember how he began life with the shortened “Abram”? There was no “He” in his name. Hence, Abram was simply “Exalted Father:” a title without any teeth or authority or empowerment to become that “exalted father.” Not until God made His Covenant with him did the proof of God’s Blessing have evidence or manifestation that others could see.

The apostle Paul writes of Abraham like this:

Romans 4:17-22: (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Now, watch the Blessing unfold in sequence in Abraham’s life.

(1) The Blessing manifestation begins with a demonstration of extreme wealth.

Genesis 13:1-2: And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

(2) The Blessing manifestation now becomes visible in the miraculous might and power demonstrated in Abraham’s great military victory of the most powerful kings in the earth.

Genesis 14:14-17, 18-20: And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

(3) The Blessing enlarges with the promise of children, and the inheritance of land and territories belonging to God’s enemies.

Genesis 15:1-6, 18-21: After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

(4) The Blessing now takes on the character and nature of an everlasting covenant.

Genesis 17:1-8, 19-21: And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.

And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

(5) The Blessing gets put to the test. As Abraham passes the test he now receives the promise and enlarged covenant that his generations will multiply as the sand of the sea and the stars of the sky. With this expanded covenant, God now makes clear that the promised Messiah, the Redeemer, the Deliverer will come forth of Abraham’s seed.

This is the fifth promise and evidence of the Blessing, and it is the proof of Grace — that fifth element inherent in the name of God — in the Blessing.

Genesis 22:1-8, 13-18: And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

The Blessing and the Covenant of Blessing was not one-sided; it had a two-fold requirement upon the recipient. Abraham never thought of it as a requirement until God actually spelled out for him what he had already demonstrated:

(1) Absolute Obedience, and

(2) Keeping the Covenant with a visible sign that every recipient and heir of the Covenant Blessing must have upon himself.

This sign would be an embarrassment since it would be upon the reproductive part of his body, and something which he could not visibly display under normal circumstances: circumcision.

Return to Genesis 17:10-14: This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

The non-keeping of this sign of circumcision would separate any would-be heir from the Covenant and block the Blessing in his life.

Next week we’ll explore this sign of circumcision as it applies to us as believers in Jesus Christ and joint-heirs with Him of The Blessing of Abraham, and show you the relationship to the Table of the Lord and the healing that is available to us.

If you are in need of healing please join our prayer conference calls on either Monday, Wednesday or Friday of each week at 7:00 PM Eastern. Once again, the number to call is (805) 399-1000. Then enter the access code: 124763#. Let us minister to your need for healing!

 

Blessings on you!