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Hear From the Prophets

The lessons of this course record the life-changing experiences of eight of God’s prophets. Careful study of this course and obedience to the words of the prophets will help you know how to submit to God.

Promises and Requirements

Do you feel a tremendous urge in your heart to please God? Do you find yourself reaching out to Him, with a great desire to know Him better? It may seem to you that you are calling out to God, but the truth is that God is calling out to you. The feeling you have of need and desire for a better understanding of God-this is a type of call which is the result of God’s great concern for you. God reaches out, or calls in this way to all people. Some of them do not hear because they do not listen. Others hear plainly and are willing to obey the urge to put everything else aside and seek the will of God.

The call which came to Abraham was in some ways like this call which comes to all those who listen for the voice of God. But, in another way it was a very special call, such as no other man has ever hear With this call to Abraham, God began a new day for all people.

God said to Abraham:

I will make you into a great people and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

There were three main promises in the call of Abraham.

God promised:

  1. Show Abraham a land which would belong to his seed.
  2. Make Abraham into a great people and make his name great.
  3. Bless Abraham and through him bring blessing to all peoples.

When God calls people today, He gives them similar promises. He will show them a new way of life. He will make them into new persons with different and finer qualities. He will bless them and make them a blessing to their families, their friends, and many other people.

Along with the promises, God gave requirements. He asked Abraham to leave behind what had been familiar, traditional, and secure. He asked Abraham to trust God to provide daily needs. Most important, He expected Abraham to believe that a son would be born to him. Otherwise the promise of blessing through his seed would have no meaning. Abraham had no son. His wife was barren. It seemed that she was not able to have children.

Therefore we see that the requirements were three in number also.

Abraham responded to God’s call in these three ways:

  1. He believed only in the one true God.
  2. He accepted God’s promises completely for himself as an individual.
  3. He acted in submission, obeying all of God’s instructions.

This meant leaving his country and most of his relatives, to go into a strange land and start a nation of a kind that had never existed before.

 

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