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Claiming the New Creation

Words of Faith Final

Claiming the New Creation
Words of Faith 5-10-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL    
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Genesis 26
    [6] So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
    [7] When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful."
    [8] When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. [9] So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "She is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?"
    Isaac answered him, "Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her."
    [10] Then Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."
    [11] So Abimelech gave orders to all the people: "Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."

         Haven't we heard this story before? Twice?! Yes, you remembered correctly. Isaac told precisely the same lie that his father Abraham had told twice before.   Rather than trust that God would protect him and his family, Isaac jeopardized his wife to save his own skin. And this happened not long after the Lord Himself had appeared in person to Isaac. So what is the lesson here?  
         One lesson is that while we cannot create faith in a new generation, we can certainly pass on patterns of fear! Isaac probably observed the way that Abraham vacillated between trust and fear. Isaac observed Abraham's pattern of being strong in faith for a while, only to cower in fear for his own wellbeing. Children learn from their parents. Our children watch the way that we respond in a crisis. Do they see us go to God in prayer? Do they see us confess our helplessness before Him? Or do they see us try to solve a problem in our own strength? What we DO often speaks so loudly that children cannot hear what we SAY. Patterns of fear are passed on.
         Another lesson is that patterns of sin are often passed on as well. The consequence of sin can be passed on to another generation. Still, more importantly, a pattern of sin can become viewed as "normal" within a home. What a child observes in the home will often be recreated in another generation. Is it any surprise that a pattern lying under pressure would appear in the next generation? We reap what we sow. This is why abuse, neglect, and addiction are difficult to break from one generation to another.
         These are essential messages dating back to the very beginning of the people of God.  
         But there is also Good News in Scripture that generational patterns of fear and sin can be broken! The Good News is that "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17)! We do not have to carry patterns of fear or sin into a new generation. We can become the New Creation as we are born again in Christ.  
          Is there a pattern that needs to be broken in your life? Maybe it is a simple pattern such as not fully trusting the Lord to provide needs. Maybe it is a pattern of fearing rather than surrendering as a family to the Lord. Perhaps it is a pattern of anger or rage.
         Is there a pattern of sin that needs to be broken? Maybe a pattern of "white lies" or "fudging" on taxes? Or another pattern that needs to stop? Hear the Good News! In Christ we are a New Creation, the old is gone, and the new has come. We do not have to pass on patterns of fear or sin to another generation.

         Lord, I confess to You the failings of my faith. I love You and trust You, but I also fall back into fear. Give me faith! Sometimes I fall back into the patterns I learned as a child. Forgive me. Make me into the New Creation. Make me into the person You always designed me to be. In Jesus’ name.  

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.