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God kept his promise to Abraham

Title page of The D. L. Moody Year Book

Today's Devotional

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing —Genesis 12:2 (ESV).

There is no name in history so well known as the name of Abram. Even Christ is not more widely known, for the Mohammedans, the Persians, and the Egyptians make a great deal of Abram. His name has been for centuries and centuries favorably known in Damascus. God promised him that great men should spring from his loins. Was there ever a nation that has turned out such men? Think of Moses, and Joseph, and Joshua, and Caleb, and Samuel, and David, and Solomon, and Elisha. Think of Elijah, and Daniel, and Isaiah, and all the other wonderful Bible characters that have sprung from this man! Then think of John the Baptist, of Peter, of James, and John, and Paul, a mighty army. No one can number the multitude of wonderful men that have sprung from this one man called out of the land of the Chaldeans, unknown and an idolater, probably, when God called him; and yet how literally God has fulfilled his promise that through him he would bless all the nations of the earth. All because he surrendered himself fully and wholly to let God bless him.

About the author and the source

When Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899) determined to let the world see what a man wholly devoted to the Lord could accomplish, he was already a successful evangelist. Following his filling by the Spirit, he led half a million people to Christ, founded a pastoral training school, a church, and a printing house, and authored several books. Others compiled works based on his writings and sermons, too—among them the devotional from which we took today’s entry.

D. L. Moody. The D. L. Moody Year Book: A Living Daily Message from the Words of D. L. Moody, selected by Emma Moody Fitt. East Northfield, MA: The Bookstore, 1900.

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