The ritual in this chapter is one that was practised in the Ancient Near East, usually between a king and a vassal, to make a covenant agreement. The meaning for the one walking between the pieces of animals was that s\/he would suffer the same fate if the covenant is broken. It was almost always the vassal who walked between the pieces. <\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Abram has come to God with questions and doubts (vv 2-3, 8). How does God respond to his doubts?<\/p>\n
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What does it mean when God (represented by the smoking fire pot and flaming torch) passes between the pieces? What would it mean for God if Abram failed?<\/p>\n
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Why is it necessary for God to be the guarantor of both sides of the promise? What does this show about God\u2019s love for Abram?<\/p>\n
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This story points forward to the cross, where God really did die to fulfil His promise. Are there ways in which you find it hard to trust in God\u2019s love (and therefore His promises to you)? Share how you bring the reality of God\u2019s love into your every-day.<\/p>\n
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Respond (20 mins):<\/h2>\n
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Spend a few minutes in personal reflection. What is the Holy Spirit impressing on your heart? (3 mins)<\/p>\n
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Take time to share how the Holy Spirit is challenging you. How can you be accountable to each other? Consider keeping a record for the purposes of prayer and accountability. (12 mins)<\/p>\n
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Pray for each other. (5 mins)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discipleship"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5683,"href":"https:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5682\/revisions\/5683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlec.org.au\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}