Let Go & Receive His Promise

God promised Abraham that he would have a son with his wife, Sarah, but God took many years to fulfill his promise. During the wait, Abraham had Ishmael with Hagar, Sarah's maid. Ishmael represents anything in our life that we produce with our strength to fulfill God's promises. Should you have an Ismael in your life, God wants to remove it. He wants everything in your life to come through his Spirit and by Grace.

 Let's read Genesis 17:18-20:

"And Abraham said to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!" Then God said: "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation."

Sometimes when we think about Ishmael, we only think about how he wasn't the promised son, but we forget that Abraham loved Ishmael and wanted him to fulfill the promise. Abrahams's response to God and God's response to Abraham reveal this. The Lord saw Abraham's concern for Ishmael and did not condemn him for it. Instead, God lovingly reminded Abraham that he had a more excellent and glorious way to fulfill his promise and blessed Ishmael. The same goes for our Ishmaels.

My Ismael was a business. However, your Ishmael might be something different, maybe a mindset, a career choice, or a relationship. When it is time to let go of our Ishmael, the Lord understands it is difficult even though it does not fulfill his personal and scriptural promises. Nevertheless, he wants us to see that his way is higher and choose his path by letting them go. However, will God bless our Ishmaels as he did for Abraham? Let us seek the Lord and allow him to make that choice.

There are different ways to let go of our Ishmaels. In Genesis 17, Abraham had to let go of the desire in his heart for Ishmael to fulfill the promise. It wasn't until later in Chapter 21 did Abraham have to part ways with his son. The same goes for us; letting go can be a matter of the heart or a physical parting. Either way, let’s be sensitive to the Spirit as he leads us to release our Ishmael under his guidance.

The Lord wants us to let go of our Ishmaels because the promise is on the way, and the wait is over. It is a beautiful sign when the Lord removes the Ishmaels from our life! Letting go frees us to receive God's promises and see his perfect plans manifest in our lives. Within a year of Abraham letting go, the Lord fulfilled his promise, and Sarah conceived their son, Isaac.

I want to encourage you to sit with Jesus and ask him for the Grace to release the Ishmael(s) in your life. The Lord is good, and whatever he wants you to let go of is because he wants to release his goodness in your life, and his blessings are not just for you; it is also for others. All the world's nations are blessed because of Abraham's faith and the promise of his Seed.