Genesis 14 Scroll ALL the WAY Down! :-) TODAY

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Genesis 14:1-24 -
Abram Rescues Lot
1About this time war broke out in the region. King Amraphel of Babylonia, F48 King Arioch of Ellasar, King Kedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim 2fought against King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (now called Zoar).
3The kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela formed an alliance and mobilized their armies in Siddim Valley (that is, the valley of the Dead Sea F49 ). 4For twelve years they had all been subject to King Kedorlaomer, but now in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5One year later, Kedorlaomer and his allies arrived. They conquered the Rephaites in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in the plain of Kiriathaim, 6and the Horites in Mount Seir, as far as El-paran at the edge of the wilderness. 7Then they swung around to En-mishpat (now called Kadesh) and destroyed the Amalekites, and also the Amorites living in Hazazon-tamar.
8But now the army of the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (now called Zoar) prepared for battle in the valley of the Dead Sea F50 9against King Kedorlaomer of Elam and the kings of Goiim, Babylonia, and Ellasar—four kings against five. 10As it happened, the valley was filled with tar pits. And as the army of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some slipped into the tar pits, while the rest escaped into the mountains. 11The victorious invaders then plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and began their long journey home, taking all the wealth and food with them. 12They also captured Lot—Abram's nephew who lived in Sodom—and took everything he owned. 13One of the men who escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was camped at the oak grove belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre and his relatives, Eshcol and Aner, were Abram's allies.
14When Abram learned that Lot had been captured, he called together the men born into his household, 318 of them in all. He chased after Kedorlaomer's army until he caught up with them in Dan. 15There he divided his men and attacked during the night from several directions. Kedorlaomer's army fled, but Abram chased them to Hobah, north of Damascus. 16Abram and his allies recovered everything—the goods that had been taken, Abram's nephew Lot with his possessions, and all the women and other captives.

Melchizedek Blesses Abram
17As Abram returned from his victory over Kedorlaomer and his allies, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). 18Then Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought him bread and wine. 19Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing:
"Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.
20 And blessed be God Most High, who has helped you conquer your enemies."
Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.
21The king of Sodom told him, "Give back my people who were captured. But you may keep for yourself all the goods you have recovered."
22Abram replied, "I have solemnly promised the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 23that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from you. Otherwise you might say, 'I am the one who made Abram rich!' 24All I'll accept is what these young men of mine have already eaten. But give a share of the goods to my allies—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre."
FOOTNOTES:F48: Hebrew Shinar; also in 14:9. F49: Hebrew Salt Sea. F50: Hebrew in Siddim Valley; see 14:3.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.


~ Lena’s Journalin’ ~
Whether we are aware or not, war has broken out. I’m not speaking of the war in the Middle East or anywhere else, man against man. I’m speaking of a spiritual war between light and darkness, truth and lie, God and satan and for the souls of human beings destined by God to be with Him both now and forever.
There is a Destiny designed by God, it will come to pass, no matter what we ever do or do not decide. The motion of the spiritual world is set and no one can stop its forces from executing its judgments.
Where does that leave us? With choices. As freewill beings we have been given the freedom of choice by God. Yet one choice gives true freedom, while another gives complete eternal bondage. One likes that they are “free” to choose, yet if they are wise, choice is a test of wisdom, they will seek guidance and the expression of obedience when choosing.
The thing about this war is we know the outcome. Knowing the outcome, let’s choose a side.
One cannot serve God for a period of time and then rebel without consequence; One must go all the way. Some say, but it is hard to obey God, it is hard to serve God. Really? How hard? This is where one must look to the end, fast forwarding the destiny tape. Now, what is hard? Exactly. One must look at the outcome, not the circumstantial evidences. Those are only distractions and smoke screens to the truth revealed.
This is serious, the time is very, very serious. Do not be deceived by situations in life that seem hard, nothing is truly hard except being eternally separated from God’s redeeming presence!
Abram went out from his place of sanctuary and reached into darkness to save a soul from an eternally dark destiny. Abram had a whole kingdom unto himself and could have stayed comfy cozy there, but he chose to come outside of where he was dwelling for himself and his family, take some reinforcements and get a soul out of the destiny of darkness and lies. He was not satisfied until he recovered all that was to be recovered.
Lot was quite possibly enjoying where it was he was living also, maybe he never saw a threat of warfare, until it came. He was in darkness and in darkness it is quite hard to see things from afar off.
Sodom means burning and Gomorrah means immersed. That was/is the destiny of those who live there under the ruler of Sodom. Salem means peace- as in eternal peace.
Notice Abram blessed God for the salvation of souls. It was not unto himself this victory was had, it was unto the purposes of His Father, and God blessed him in return. I think of seek 1st the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things will be added unto you.
Abram recovered and that meant he had a few extra things than he’d had before. In honor of the Lord he gave, he gave a specified honorable and significant amount, a tithe. Representative of the whole without requiring the whole. In giving a tenth of the whole off of the top, first (seek first) he was saying , “Lord, all of this, all of this reward, all of this effort, all of this life, and the souls of men I’ve gained is for YOU!”
The king of Sodom wanted in on that, he wanted his portion, he came for what he could recover out of what was recovered. One would think they’d captured the people, ahh take a deep breath, but no the war was not over and will not be over till death. This war will go on till the end and one must be all in until then. The enemy was there at the time Abram was making this significant gift. The enemy was there hoping to negotiate at least some of the plunder. I mean aren’t you happy to have at least some of the victory, at least you and those you love are safe, right? It’s ok to settle, right? NO it is NOT. That is not enough as we can well see, if the enemy wants more it is not enough, it is not over.
What have we promised the Lord? Have we promised to give Him our whole lives? Do we sing songs like, “Take All of Me”? Did we commit to serve and love Him forever. What did we do at that church altar, the day we got saved? Did we only want part and give some of the rest to the enemy, or did we want Him to save us to the uttermost? We can’t have some of this and some of that, it’s impossible.
Did you ever hear the brownie story? Makin’ a batch of brownies, yum yum. My kids would ask, when are they done? There’s one catch, there’s some doggie doo-doo in the brownies. What, are you crazy? Why would you do that? That does sound crazy doesn’t it? That is what it is like when we say a mere prayer to God and do not go all of the way through with our commitment. When we give parts of our lives to God and save other parts back for sin.
It sounds stupidly ridiculous to put just a pinch of doggie doo doo in the brownies, but that is exactly what we’ve done with our Christianity when we mix it up with the pleasures of self and the world.
Abram said, absolutely NOT, NO, period. I will not give anything to the prince of evil, nothing.
So the enemy offers him things, lots of things, things that would make Abram appear rich in goods, in stuff gained, but the enemy asks for it in exchange for souls. Abram says,No, absolutely not!
Please listen to me, this is exactly what is happening today, exactly. Don’t be deceived, don’t be fooled. It is true.
I’ve got to work? Why? For money.
Ok, that is true. But how much money do you have to work for? How much money do you have to give your life in service for? Has the god of this world lied to you, enslaving you to debts and told you that you have to? Are you living your life to get things, more and more things, riches? Or are you living to serve God and save SOULS? What about your kids, do you lose their souls in exchange for money, or do you tell them by your actions and example, that money is the one to serve?
If the saving of souls is important, the most important thing to you, how long will you take to join the company, the assembly for the righteous who strategize this and so for souls, disciples who go all out in everything they do, whether they work or don’t work? How long until your children, naturally and spiritually speaking, will see THAT example. The example that speaks louder than words and say I’m all for God’s kingdom. All in?
The King of Sodom (satan-god of this world) says go ahead and give me the people(-s) souls) and you get and keep the goods, ok? Are we as Abram and say NO absolutely NOT, or have we said no, and turned around and given our children to the world, the world system, and because of having more things and more fun things to do, we’ve sacrificed the souls?
When was the last time you and your child missed Church & Bible Study group? Why did you miss? If we re-arranged to make church and study, we spoke to them of what was truly important. They are smart, they know.
I remember when I was a youngster and rebellious in nature I wanted things proven in order to believe them. My mom would say don’t do such and such or she’d tell me such and such was important. I would not believe her at all, if she did not do it herself. Her words were cheap to me, because I wanted to see her walk out what she said. She was older than me and wiser. I wanted to see an older and wiser person do what was important or not do what wasn’t. Kids need living proof of what is truth and what is a lie. To them we are the living truth.
We can’t say God and church are very important and miss weeks at a time. If we go to church 3 times a week we’ve given 3% of our time in a week to God, on purpose, that’s not even a tenth. Do we really think that if we miss for this that and the other, that our kids or others we tell that God is important to us will believe us? Would you believe something was important if someone gave 1% to it? 1%! ½ %? Yet they give 50% to making money and like 20% to watching TV. The percentages speak for themselves.

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12 – in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.