Delights of Christmas – Day 5

Welcome to day five of our Christmas devotional. Today we're going to talk about the blessing of covenant and we're finishing up Genesis chapter 22. We're in verses 15 through 21. It says, and the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said by myself I have sworn declares the Lord because you have done this and have not withheld your son your only son I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. I love that. More blessings than the grains on the shore. Offspring that outnumber the stars. That was Abraham's reward. It was the beginning of the earthly line of Jesus, And Abraham had passed that test of faithfulness and obedience when he did not withhold his son, when he loved God more than his earthly possessions. And so God promised blessing. And, you know, there would be a lot of wandering and turmoil to happen before Messiah would come. But God's promises are sure. And when he made this promise to Abraham, because God is faithful, because he is a covenant-keeping God, you can bank on his promises. And I love that word covenant. It's such a powerful word. It has so much depth about it. I mean, it brings such confidence and blessed assurance because God's name is behind covenant. He is the promise keeper. For the believer, you know, the covenant of God isn't a possibility or a probability. It is a certainty. It is our reality, in fact. God can't break his covenant with us. When he cuts covenant, he means business. And we can rest assured that whatever he says he's going to do, he's going to do. Just like he said he was going to bring forth his son, he did. and that's what we're celebrating this season. What an incredible blessing. We have so many blessings to be grateful for, and Jesus is the number one blessing. So I want us to think about that today, and we're going to pray and thank God for the blessing of covenant and for the blessing of Christ's coming. Father, thank you so much for the fact that you are a covenant-keeping God, And the fact that when you say something, you mean it. We can rest assured on it. What a blessed assurance. Thank you for sending Jesus, for keeping your word, for doing what you said you were going to do, Father. Help us to be people of your word, women of your word that keep our promises. And God, thank you for this season that we get to celebrate the birth of your son, The one who did indeed cut covenant with us when he went to the cross and he sacrificed himself so that we could have eternity with you through salvation that comes through his blood. God, be with us today. Help us to walk about and do what we do with thankful and grateful hearts, remembering what an amazing God and Savior we serve. In his name we pray. Amen. So today, as you prepare your heart for Christmas, I want you to take a few minutes and just write down a list of your blessings. Just write down what you've been blessed by. And then I want you to pray and thank God for those gifts because a grateful heart is a joyful heart and a peaceful heart and a content heart. I hope you'll have a wonderfully blessed day. See you tomorrow. Thank you.

Originally published at warren.church.