God Finishes What He Has Begun. During his first 70 years of life, the Bible gives us only two quotes from Isaac. In Genesis 22:7 and Genesis 26:22. The first is a question to his father about the location of the sacrifice. This marks the beginning of Isaac's struggle.

The second quote is a statement by Isaac that marks his deliverance out of his struggle. Both statements are based on actions that were initiated by the voice of God. First, to Abraham to sacrifice his son to him and second, to Isaac to go to a land that I will show you and I will bless you there. Those of you who have been blaming God for what has happened to you, rejoice, for the same God that let you get into the mess can get you out of it. The God who has begun a good work is able to finish it. We may not like what He started but we will love what He finishes.

Six times the Bible quotes the Lord speaking to Abraham. He speaks to Isaac only twice, but the words are memorable. The Lord gets Isaac's attention with a famine and then speaks to him. Isaac responded by going to the place God directed him but he wasn't delivered. Many of us may be listening to God's Word and even responding to it but still missing our joy, missing our freedom and missing our peace. We must realize that the God we serve not only changes our environment but can also change our hearts. He not only heals our bodies but also heals our hearts. And He not only speaks peace to the winds and the waves but also to our hearts. When His Word comes, know that it will get the job done. I may have to walk through a valley of darkness and death, but I will pass through. I didn't go into it to stay.

After Isaac got the Word of the Lord the second time, he did what he should have done the first time. The first time the Word came, the Bible says he dwelt in the land. The second time the Word came, the Bible says he built an altar there and called upon the Name of the Lord. When God speaks, there ought to be a worship that proceeds from our spirit and our mouth. His Word comes not to return unto Him void, but to accomplish its task. If you feel a Word in your spirit, listen to it and decide to respond to it that day and let there be a praise of thanks and a worship of “Yes, Lord.” What will need to come to pass, WILL COME TO PASS!

All of us have people who hate us, who would do us harm. We even have people that love us that do us harm. Hurting, and in pain, we have been forsaken for dead. However, God was good to us and allowed us to survive on an altar prepared for our demise. The altar may have been a plan to stop us from college. It may have been a trick to destroy our marriage. It may have been a scheme to ruin us financially. The altar was to be where you would be sacrificed and your life taken away from you.

You did not go there willingly and if you survived, you will never forget. But it is also a place of grace and mercy. It is where you can experience the love of God and understand more fully how He protects those that are His. It is a placed that if survived, you can leave it confused, but yet encouraged. Confused, because you do not understand why you had to experience the pain, but encouraged because you were saved anyhow.

Isaac, even though loved by his father, Abraham, was put on an altar by Abraham to be sacrificed at the request of God. The testing of Abraham’s faith came at the expense of Isaac’s well-being. Life is like that too many times. It took decades for Isaac to get over the pain of his father almost killing him. However, the lesson to be learned was that Isaac had survived a brutal experience on the altar and even though he escaped physically, mentally he spent too many years lying on the altar he survived.

If you have been on an altar that introduced a struggle into your life that you cannot seem to shake, you too can feel the plight of Isaac. Here is what you should always remember. It is not you that belongs on the altar, but rather, the struggle. As long as you stay on the altar and feel sorry for yourself (better known as a pity party) nothing gets better. It is not until you get down off the altar, leave the pain and anger behind (forgive) and move on with your life that a bad experience can be turned into a good one.

In Genesis the Fiftieth Chapter, Joseph, in effect, told his brothers – you tried to kill me. You put me on an altar and left me for dead. You robbed me of my parents, my youth, my peace and my freedom. But what you meant for evil, God meant it for good.
Joseph got down off the altar and became the deliverer of a nation. Isaac got down off the altar and became a deliverer of a family that would birth a nation.

Get down off the altar and become the change agent needed to deliver a generation. It is time to use your pain to the benefit of your ministry to others. But you can’t do it lying on the altar. Get down from off it and stand before it. Turn you altar from a place of sacrifice to a place of worship. Be a true Altar Survivor that turns complaint into praise.
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Love Is A Decision! I have lost count of all the people who have come into my office and declared that they have fallen out of love with their spouse. Of course, they are hoping by making such a declaration they cannot be held responsible for the continuation of the relationship. It doesn’t work like that. To love is adecision . Marriage is a decision . If the marriage does not continue, it is because there were some very conscious decisions made to let the marriage die.

It is true that you may not feel the same emotions you did on your wedding day, but you can experience the joy of marriage if you decide that is what you want and you are willing to do whatever is necessary to make it happen. All it takes is a decision. Paul instructed a husband to love his wife in Ephesians 5:25 . The order to love was not based on how the man felt but based on a decision by a man wanting to do and be his best for the woman he calls "WIFE".

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it". Ephesians 5:25.

 That decision may cost, but love says I am willing to pay the price . Now, we begin to see love is not what I get, but what I give. Gary Smalley writes,

"Genuine love is honor put into action regardless of the cost. He continues, The most effective way to open the door to needed changes in a relationship is to honor a loved one. And once we’ve made that decision to honor, love is the action we take no matter how we feel."

That is why it must be a decision. The cost of love very often tries to hinder us, but our decision to use our will, and not our emotions, helps us to override any reluctance and to move forward!

I am responsible for my relationships. I can make them work . Success at marriage is not a chance or luck thing. It is a commitment thing. I am committed to make it work . I may have to struggle with issues, but that is expected. I am determined to struggle and overcome the obstacles and to keep on loving until my feelings come in line with my decision . Isaac did not see Rebekah his wife before she was selected to be his companion, nor did Rebekah see Isaac. Genesis 24:64-67 . However, their decision to love each other withstood the storms and problems life brought to them.

And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel. For she had said to the servant, Who is that man walking across the field to meet us? And the servant had said, He is my master. So she took a veil and concealed herself with it. And the servant told Isaac everything that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and he took Rebekah and she became his wife and he loved her ; thus Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. Genesis 24:64-67 (Amplified Version)

Decide now that what seems to be a mess can be turned around by the Hand of God. All God wants from you is the willingness to give of yourself to your partner. With that commitment, the laws He has supervising the marriage principles will bring all things into divine order. Love is a decision!

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