"Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father. . . ." --Matthew 18:10

AnGeLs that guard children know that it's a very serious sin to hinder a child from coming to Jesus.  Recently our local newspaper ran a front page article on an active "club" of agnostic/atheists in our city that meets on Sunday mornings to "nurture unbelief" in their children.  I immediately wrote a letter to the editor (something I rarely do), commenting on the fact that if there is one, true, living God who created us for a personal, loving relationship with Himself, then parents who nurture unbelief in their children are guilty of the ultimate child abuse since it may prevent a child from receiving eternal life.  If parents want to go to hell, that's their terrible but sovereign choice.  To take their children with them is unthinkable.

The article itself seemed to be accepted.  But my letter stirred up a small firestorm of controversy led by a divinity professor at a local university, who suggested that I had "choked on my own salvation."

This experience seems to confirm the disturbing trend noted by the pollsters that God is being forsaken by what one recent national poll-taker classified as the "nones". . . those who have left their religious affiliation for none whatsoever.  Like the professor, many people see "mutual care and supportive relationships" as the goal of society, not the favor and blessing of Almighty God. Yet God's blessing is paramount to not only a nation's peace and prosperity, but to that of an individual as well.

I was raised in a home where my faith in God was nurtured.  It never occurred to me, as I was growing up, to question or doubt His existence, because His presence permeated our family's life.  Yet my parents weren't the primary ones who have motivated me to pursue a God-filled life.

I can trace my passionate pursuit of God to someone I have never met in person . . . someone with whom I have little else in common.  He lived in a long-ago time, in a foreign culture, in a patriarchal society, in an idolatrous home.  His life was full of twists and turns, riches and losses, deceit and redemption, failure and success.  Nevertheless, he has become a spiritual mentor to me.  His name is Abraham.

While three different religions consider Abraham their "father," he himself left his religion to pursue a personal relationship with God.  The pursuit led him to be fully blessed by God. In the end, Abraham did not claim to be God's friend; it was God who stated that Abraham was His friend.  Since the Bible says that God does not change, that He is the same yesterday, today and forever, then I decided if I don't know God as Abraham did, nothing is wrong with God . . . there must be something wrong with the way I am living out my Christian life.

It was this thought process, triggered by my first in-depth study of the life of Abraham thirty-two years ago, that redefined my life as I began to make Abraham's goal - to have the fullness of God's blessing in an authentic, personal relationship with God - my magnificent obsession. 

God has burdened my heart to share Abraham's example with others so that his goal might become yours, too.  And so I have traced Abraham's life's story in my new book, The Magnificent Obsession.  If you have a restlessness in your spirit, believing that there must be something more to life than what you're experiencing; if you yearn for the fullness of God's blessing on yourself and also on your children . . . then join this AnGeL on a faith journey and discover for yourself that you, too, can experience the God-filled life!

Instruction

Read Genesis 12:1-3

• Count the times some variation of the word "bless" occurs.  Write out each blessing, and give it a practical, personal application.
• What is the condition Abraham had to meet in order to receive these blessings?
• Did Abraham desire God's blessing for his children?  Give phrases from Genesis 17:18-20; 18:17-19.
• How is this promise of blessing and the conditions restated in the following passages?  Give phrases along with the personal application from: Deuteronomy 28:1-14; Joshua 1:7-8; Psalm 1; Ephesians 1:3; Galatians 3:14.
• What do you need to do to meet the conditions so you can claim the blessings?  Write out what you plan to do, starting today.
• Ask God to use you to nurture faith in a child so that he or she can be blessed, too.  Write their names down and begin to pray for them.  Luke 18:15-16.

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