THE COUNTERFEIT BEFORE THE REAL

‎

"THE COUNTERFEIT BEFORE THE REAL"

{GENESIS 16:1-4}- 1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

Ishmael was the child of ABRAM and SARAI's birthed out of the flesh. The child birthed through impatience, and not waiting on nor believing in God. Isaac, on the other hand, was the Promised Child sent from God to ABRAHAM AND SARAH (Note the name change: With the name change came promises from GOD.)

{GENESIS 18: 9-15}- 9 "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?" "There, in the tent," he said. 10 Then the LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 13 Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD ? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son." 15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh." But he said, "Yes, you did laugh."

Just like Sarah, we often laugh right in God's face when He promises us something that seems to good to be true, or something that seems to be impossible! While we are waiting for our promises from God to be fulfilled, it may seem as if time has stood still! It may seem as if God has forgotten us! It is in those 'waiting rooms' that we become impatient, and we tend to take matters into our own hands, thinking that maybe the Lord needs a little help. We think,"Maybe I'm supposed to be DOING something here!" Now that MAY be true SOME times, but we have to be SURE that we are hearing GOD tell us to move! {Genesis 16} He ALWAYS fulfills His promises at the APPOINTED TIME! The best time...the right time... ON TIME!

You see my friends, Satan will often send an "Ishmael" before our "Isaac" is due to arrive! He knows the "Promised Child" is about to be birthed, and so he wants to confuse us and attempt to thwart God's plan! He does any and everything he can to cause us to lose our blessing! Yes, he will send in that "Ishmael", that counterfeit- and it will look so good and so real, that we accept it as our 'promised child'! And once we do that, Satan has entered into our lives, and we are in a whole world of trouble!!!

BE SURE THAT YOU ARE HEARING FROM GOD! The flesh can be deceitful, and the enemy plays on our weaknesses and our desires! BEWARE! Do NOT walk through every single door just because it LOOKS or SOUNDS good to the NATURAL eye/ear (flesh)! Pray on it and ask the Lord to show you CLEARLY, if this is what HE has for you! Ask Him to stop you and close ANY doors that are NOT opened by Him! Ask Him to enable you to see/hear out of your SPIRITUAL eyes/ears! Everything that looks or sounds 'good' is not necessarily from God and by that same token, not everything that looks or sounds 'bad' is from the enemy! DISCERNMENT!!!

REMEMBER: IN ORDER TO DISCERN THE REAL FROM THE COUNTERFEIT, YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHAT THE REAL LOOKS LIKE! MAKE TIME TO DEVELOP AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD THROUGH PRAYER AND BIBLE STUDY.

~BELOVEDS, MANY TIMES THE COUNTERFEIT WILL APPEAR BEFORE THE REAL! THE 'ISHMAEL' BEFORE THE 'ISAAC'...THE CHILD BIRTHED OUT OF THE FLESH, BEFORE THE 'PROMISED CHILD', BIRTHED THROUGH THE SPIRIT! BE CAREFUL!

Copyright © 2011