Yesterday I was considering Abraham and how the Lord appeared to him again and again to restate His promise to him. First he appeared to him in Ur of the Chaldeans, according to Acts 7:2-3; and again in Genesis 12:1-3; then in Genesis 12:7, and then in Genesis 13:14-17. Each time his promise was restated:

Acts 7:2-3
2 And he said, Men, brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,

3 And said to him, "Come out from your land and from your relatives, and come into the land which I will show you."

Genesis 12:1-3:
1 Now Jehovah said to Abram, Go from your land And from your relatives And from your father's house To the land that I will show you;

2 And I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.

3 And I will bless those who bless you, And he who curses you I will curse; And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

Genesis 12:7

7 And Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, To your seed I will give this land. And there he built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him.

Genesis 13:14-17
14 And Jehovah said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, Now lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;

15 For all the land that you see I will give to you and to your seed forever.

16 And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then your seed can also be numbered.

17 Rise up; walk through the land according to its length and its breadth, for I will give it to you.

I read the footnotes for these verses and one especially touches me with regard to the third appearing of God to Abraham in Genesis 12:7:
This was the third time God appeared to Abraham. Here God's reappearing confirmed to Abraham that he had answered God's calling and had arrived at the place where God intended him to be. God's reappearing also strengthened Abraham to live by faith (Heb. 11:8-10) as an anti-testimony to the godless living developed by mankind at Babel.

God appeared to him again and again to call him progressively and also to strengthen him. Many times we may feel that our faith is failing or even gone. We need to pray for the God of glory to appear to us! We need to hear God's promises again and again so that we do not get discouraged and lose hope. Also we need to pray for revelation. I was touched with verse 15, where Jehovah says All the land that you see I will give to you. How much we need a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Lord, take the veils away from our eyes. We want there to be no separation between us and You!

There is a wonderful hymn about this experience:

1 Remove my covering, Lord,
That I may see Thy light,
And be deceived no more,
But all things see aright.
Chorus
Oh, may Thy living light, Lord,
Scatter all my night, Lord,
And everything make bright, Lord,
For this I pray to Thee.

2 I hardly know myself;
Deceived so much by pride,
I often think I’m right
And am self-satisfied.

3 I know Thee even less;
In doctrine, shallowly;
True revelation lack
Of Thy reality.

4 As for Thy life within,
In darkness I mistake-
If spirit or the flesh,
One for the other take.

5 As for Thy way, O Lord,
I often am not clear;
I toward seclusion tend
And from the pathway veer.

6 As for Thy will for me,
I do not know it well;
I substitute my own
And often would rebel.

7 As for the church, I need
Thy revelation more,
The Body-life to know,
Thy wisdom to explore.

8 I long to be unveiled,
In everything made clear,
No more to be deceived
Or to my pride adhere.

Here's a link to the tune if you want to sing along:
http://www.hymnal.net/Hymns/Hymnal/midi/e0359_i.mid

Oh, may Thy living light Lord scatter all my night! How much we need Your appearing!

I haven't been able to write on the blog because I have been kind of exhausted lately - just doing too much during the day, I guess. It is so great to be able to work at the school library but I do need the Lord to regulate me day by day. The next step for me is to have a follow-up CT scan in mid-March. As soon as I have the date, I will let you know. I have a blood test and port flush on January 31st. The blood test is for the CA-125 level. This is the cancer marker level in the blood. I am trying to eat those veggies but they do not stay fresh very long - perhaps I should just cook everything on the weekend and then eat it during the week. We'll see. I'm also taking supplements to boost my immune system.

Thank you dear ones for all your prayers and support.
Much love to you,
Joanne