August 23, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“God also said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.‘” (Genesis 17.15-16)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

God made Abraham, and his descendants by birth and by price, worth living. He did so by entering into a personal covenant relationship with Abraham as Abraham was to do so with God. Do not be confused nor distracted from the truth. This personal covenant relationship was both physical and spiritual. These two posits between God and humanity were, and are what defines and refines all other aspects of human life: social, corporate, emotional, psychological, mental and intimate. The truth of what God was establishing was the paradigm of righteousness on earth. The object of this covenant was to align everything in the human life between the physical and the spiritual. [Note: I cannot speak directly to how the doxa, the “glory body” which we will put on after death is realized in a similar kingdom paradigm, but that body we have no real tangible description testimony. We know that in His resurrection body, which had not yet ascended into Heaven, was tangible, fleshly and still defined by all the points mentioned above with the additional power of the Spirit which could transform reality of time and space. For the purpose of today’s reflection, I can only speak for the life we are blessed to live on earth; even in the midst of trial, tribulation and sin. It is the place of spiritual warfare which human beings on this side of heaven are called to engage knowing they, like Jesus, have overcome the world.] So, God entered into covenant relationship with Abraham by changing his name (from Abram- father to Abraham- father of many), reaffirming His promise to give him the land that had been shown him and to bless him to be a blessing into and for all the world. It was a covenant extended to Abraham and his descendants (born and bought with a price.) Notice this is different from Adam and Eve who would be the parents of many. Their covenant relationship of grace allow them to be fruitful and multiply (bear children), shepherds and stewards of God’s creation (as was their first command and calling) and bear witness to the truth that their existence existed because God had mercy on them when death should have been extended from transgressing against the Word of God believing Satan more than the Father. With this in mind, I believe that the “father” image becomes the most important of all. Abraham was created to be a father (which he would be to eight sons; two of which flourished under a special covenant with God- Isaac through whom the first pronounced covenant was to be realized and Ishmael through whom we still see God’s mercy in overcoming what man had done to fulfill the covenant with God.) Abraham was also then to be “the father of nations” who would honor God and serve Him throughout the world. This would be the identity and calling of Israel, both old and new, as they were commissioned to go into all the world and make disciples. Israel was to be the light of the world. Its focus became the Temple and sought to attract all the world to it. This was not ever meant to be the purpose of either the Temple or the people. I believe this was the greatest spiritual tragedy for Israel because it was not what they understood. So it was in the days and under the teaching of Jesus that the Church would thus be called into being as a “new” Israel, the chosen people of God, to be both people and building (flesh and spirit). The dual identity was to be in alignment with Jesus as He was in alignment with God in the flesh and in the spirit. This is the great challenge of the Church today in seeking to fulfill its covenant relationship with God through Jesus the Christ.

Now what does this have to do with Sarai who would be called Sarah by God and Abraham according to the covenant established between God and Abraham? It would be impossible for Abraham to fulfill the covenant of God without Sarah his wife. She would become “the mother of nations from whom kings of those people would arise.” Abraham proved he could bear a child as with Hagar to bring forth Ishmael. But the covenant and promise of God could not be recognized through Ishmael, though grace and promise were granted to him because of God’s loving nature. When God proclaimed early on to Abraham His full intention it was with Abram and Sarai in mind and no one else. Abraham would be nothing of true consequence without God and Sarah. [Oh, if only men as husbands would truly grasp the fullness of this truth with their wives and vice versa!] God was, is and will always be faithful to deliver according to His purposes on earth as it is in Heaven. Jesus is the evidence and validation of “the way, the truth and the life” which leads to the blessing of staying in the covenant relationship with God and trusting Him with our own heart instead of leaning upon our own understanding. Ah, the wisdom of Solomon calls us to revisit the building and the Temple and the blessing of the people who would worship God before all else. It would be Solomon, who sadly had many wives and concubines, who would refocus the attention on the value of a godly woman (Proverbs 31). Her industry was for the honor of her husband in partnership accomplishing all that God fully intended for a husband and a wife as leaders in the community. They would find the balance between the two posits of physical and spirit and bear witness to the world of what kingdom success truly looks like. Without Sarah, Abraham would just be another story of what might have been.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness endeavor, but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.