This is exactly what God commanded Abraham to do.
Abraham Is Our Example
Reading the story of Abram, who was later called Abraham, in light of Paul’s teaching in Romans 12:2 provides a whole new insight into the Scripture:
Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran (Gen. 12:1-4).
God’s first instruction to Abraham was to get out of his country, away from his family and his father’s house. A country is a particular geographical region with boundaries; its people and its culture also distinguish it. Abraham’s father, Terah, was a sun worshiper, a man who didn’t know God—and who had raised Abraham in a culture that didn’t know or honor God. Terah had passed certain opinions and beliefs down to his son. But God had a different lifestyle planned for Abraham—a lifestyle of faith and favor.
God knew that if Abraham was ever going to enter into the kind of life He had planned for him, he would have to make a departure from his culture. He would have to be willing to move away from his kindred. It’s not that God didn’t want Abraham to be around his family; He just didn’t want their beliefs to hinder Abraham and prevent him from entering into the new mindset that would bring him to the life God had prepared for him.
For many years, I’ve enjoyed reading one particular commentary, written by theologian Arthur Pink, on the book of Genesis.
Pink points out that God actually spoke to Abraham when he was 70 years old, but Abraham waited until his father died 5 years later to depart—and that the meaning of the word terah, which was the name of Abraham’s father, is “delay.”
The fact that it took Abraham five years to depart after hearing God’s call indicates that he had a strong attachment to his father, his family and his culture. Notice that Genesis 12:1 says that the LORD “had said” His words to Abraham. The use of the past perfect tense indicates that God’s instructions were given some time prior to Abraham’s departure.
The problem with many Christians today is that they’ve never left their country. I’m not talking about physically removing themselves from the United States; I’m talking about leaving the culturally prevalent ideas, ideals, opinions and beliefs responsible for creating negative mindsets that are contrary to the Word of God.
I had to do what God told Abraham to do. I had to leave my father and his opinions. I’m not saying that my dad was a bad man; he was actually a wonderful, God-loving man. But there were important truths that he didn’t know. He’d never been taught the Word of God like many of us have been taught today. Consequently, he was still controlled by the world’s standards.
I was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on the farm that my grandpa bought in 1927, and where my daddy was raised during the Great Depression. Grandpa owned the farm, and he and Grandma raised cattle and hogs in addition to having their own source of fresh produce. Even though Grandpa saw to it that the family made it through the Depression, the Depression never left my grandpa’s thinking. He remained Depression-minded for the rest of his life.
For instance, he buried his money in different places all over the farm. He hardly ever bought anything, and when he did, he paid cash for it. Grandpa was still driving his 1939 Chevrolet in 1957, when my daddy made him buy a ’53 Chevy.
There was no indoor plumbing on the farm. To get a drink of water, we had to lower a rope with a bucket tied to the end down into the outdoor well and then crank it back up and take the water inside. When Grandpa finally had a pump installed, I remember thinking that we were now a really uptown and civilized family.
I don’t believe my daddy would have ever left Vicksburg if left to his own devices. But God had a plan for my life, and He worked it out so that my parents left the farm and settled in Louisiana. I can’t imagine what I’d be like today had I stayed in my grandparents’ environment all these years. Because my daddy left his country and his kindred, he moved up to a new level of living—and yet it still wasn’t the level of living that God had planned for my life.
Once I learned that God had a different standard for living, I had to make the choice to leave behind the old restrictive mindsets that had been part of my family for generations. I’m telling you, leaving old mindsets behind is not an easy thing to do, particularly when you love your daddy like I did mine, and everything he does represents what you like to do.
So when I began to renew my mind to the Word of God, for the first time in my life a wedge appeared in my relationships with my daddy and my mother. We disagreed about mindsets, opinions and culture. I didn’t think I was any better than my parents; I just didn’t want to live like them anymore.
It’s funny now, but wanting to leave behind old mindsets and my culture got me labeled as a “nut” by some members of my family. Of course, once good things started happening, and everyone saw the favor of God operating in my life, guess who they called when they were in trouble? The nut. They’d say, “He’s a nut, but God answers the nut’s prayers, so see if you can get him on the phone.”
Today, a bunch of my family members are just like me—despite their initial resistance to my strange new ideas.
One time, I happened to be preaching near where one of my cousins lived. I had been particularly close to this cousin while I was growing up, but it had been years since I’d seen him, so I went to visit him while I was in the area.
“They tell me you’re a preacher now,” he said.
“That’s right.”
“That’s too bad,” he told me. “You used to be cool.”
I said, “I’m cooler now. I call not going to hell cooler. It’s hot down there.”
Well, that irritated him, so he said, “Yeah, well, you used to be cool and fun to be with, but I don’t think I can hang out with you now. You’re a preacher, and we don’t have anything in common.”
“I’m glad you brought that up,” I said. “I’ve been praying for you, and one of these days you’re going to be just like me.”
“I don’t want to be like you.”
“Too late,” I said. “I’m already praying. In fact, that’s why I’m here. I’ve come to share the Word with you. When the time comes for you to make Jesus the Lord of your life, do you know how to do it?”
“No, and I don’t want to know. It’s not going to happen,” he insisted.
“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “You just listen, and then I’ll leave you alone. If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. Good to see you again; looking forward to hearing your testimony.”
I left the house, got into my car, and closed the door. The next thing I knew, my cousin banged on the window and repeated, “I don’t want to be like you!”
I just smiled and said again, “It’s too late.” Then I started up the engine and backed down the driveway. All the while, he was following me and hollering, “I don’t want to be like you!”
That was the last I saw or heard from my cousin until years later, when I preached at Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As I looked out into the audience, I spotted this same cousin, his wife at his side, sitting there and smiling. I knew that look, and after the service I gave him a big hug and said, “You’re just like me, aren’t you?” He smiled and confirmed that he was indeed just like me.
Since then, he has worked with me for more than 30 years in ministry, serving as my international director. He flies all over the world representing this ministry, overseeing our offices in Europe, Canada, Africa and Australia. And guess what? Some members of the family have called him a nut, too.
A
s I mentioned before, there was a time when I wasn’t as close to my parents as I once had been. I had become a preacher, which pleased them, but they’d never had the opportunity to hear me preach. That is, until one night when I was holding a meeting near their city. I called my mom and dad and asked if they’d like to attend the meeting with me, and they said yes. So I drove over and picked them up.
The power of God showed up at that meeting. Miracles started happening, and lots of people got healed. My dad and mom didn’t know Jerry Savelle the preacher—the man who had once been their little boy. They had never seen me like that.
After the service, as we were driving back to their house, my dad couldn’t keep his eyes off me. He was riding in the front seat with me, and from time to time he would reach his hand over and just pat me on the leg, saying, “I don’t know this boy. Son, God’s done something in you. Whatever you’ve got, son, I want it, too.”
Shortly thereafter, my parents became a part of this ministry, where they worked for 20 years until they retired. Anytime God took me to another level, or another dream came to pass, or another vision was fulfilled, my dad expressed how proud he was by standing there, shaking his head and saying, “You are blessed, son. You are blessed.”
But you know what? My dad was blessed, too, and so was my mom. In our own ways, each of us had left our country—our culture—where our mindsets were concerned. We were transformed by the renewing of our minds, and as a result we’ve experienced the blessing of walking in the favor of God every day of our lives.
I promise you that what God has done for me and my family, He can do for you and yours, too.
Pay the Price—Reap the Reward
Obviously, changing your culture and your mindset in order to live by a different standard is going to take some work. It’s going to take discipline, and it’s going to take “stickability,” for lack of a better term. In other words, you’ve got to stick with it, but I assure you that renewing your mind is well worth the time and effort involved.
Anything worth attaining requires that we pay a price of some kind. We generally don’t like that part of the equation. For instance, I’d like to look like Hercules, but do I really want to pay the price it would take to make that happen?
ANYTHING WORTH ATTAINING REQUIRES THAT WE PAY A PRICE OF SOME KIND.
My friend Dennis Tinerino was a four-time Mr. Universe, and he loved the Lord. He also loved to preach, and he became known as “the Sermonator” before he died in 2010. At one point, I owned several horses, and one day when Dennis came by my house, I asked him if he’d like to go horseback riding. He said yes, so I loaded up the horses, and we drove to Benbrook Lake, where there was a beautiful park that was ideal for riding and enjoying other outdoor activities. I had just saddled my horse, and as I started to saddle Dennis’s horse, he told me he wanted to ride bareback. Who am I to argue with Mr. Universe?
Dennis hopped onto his horse, and then I watched as he proceeded to take off his shirt. All at once, people all over the park stopped everything they were doing and stared at him. He looked like the movie version of Hercules on a horse.
Although Dennis had lived in California for many years, he’d never lost his New York accent. So he said to me, “Yo, Jerry! Take off your shirt; let’s get a tan.”
I said, “You’ve got to be kidding. I am not taking off my shirt and riding next to you. You look like Hercules, and I look like Pee-wee Herman.”
Is it fair for somebody to look the way Dennis looked? It is if they are willing to pay the price.
Am I willing to pay the price? No.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Evander Holyfield, who is one of my favorite present-day boxers. Evander looks like he is chiseled out of stone; even his ripples have ripples. One time, not long after Mike Tyson bit his ear off, Evander and I attended a meeting together. While we were on the way to the meeting, I asked him, “Evander, what did you think when Mike bit your ear off?”
He said, “I wanted to bite his ear back, but I knew he was going to get disqualified, and I didn’t want to get disqualified too, so I just took control of myself and went to my corner. Once they disqualified him, I thought, That’s the quickest multi-millions I’ve ever made in my life.”
Because Dennis Tinerino and Evander Holyfield were willing to pay a price to achieve something most people only dream about, they each reaped the rewards produced by their discipline and stickability.
This is where most of the Body of Christ misses the point. We want a comfortable Christianity. We don’t want to have to sacrifice anything. We don’t want to have to put out any more effort than is absolutely necessary. Instead, we prefer to just make it by the skin of our teeth. We will never experience the fullness of the favor of God if our attitude says, What’s the least I can do? We simply cannot have God’s best with that kind of a mindset.
WE WILL NEVER EXPERIENCE THE FULLNESS OF THE FAVOR OF GOD IF OUR ATTITUDE SAYS, WHAT’S THE LEAST I CAN DO? WE SIMPLY CANNOT HAVE GOD’S BEST WITH THAT KIND OF A MINDSET.
Several years ago, I wrote a book titled Thoughts: The Battle Between Your Ears. In this book, I talk about the battlefield of the mind. That’s where many of our most important battles take place. We lose these battles if all we do is sit in our living rooms, not engaging.
For instance, how many times have you watched a television program where you see people exercising, eating right and losing weight? You may think, Wow, that’s just what I need to do. I can do that. But then, by the time the program is over, something else comes to your mind: I’ve never been disciplined. I’ve never been able to lose weight. I can’t do that. The next thing you know, you’re going to the kitchen for a piece of pie. You lost the battle of the mind before you even got out of the chair.
That’s why it’s so important that we renew our minds to what the Word of God has to say. We need to take on the attitude Mary had when she said to the servants at the wedding in Cana, “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5). Our motto needs to be: “Whatever He says to me, I’m going to do it. I’m going to live a lifestyle of obedience.” Anytime we are willing to pay the price of obedience, we will reap the reward of that obedience.
Obedience was the key factor in the deliverance of the children of Israel from their captivity in Egypt. After 430 years of slavery, these people had most certainly been thoroughly assimilated into the culture of their captors. Their mindset was one of subservience. Along with the Egyptians, the Israelites had already experienced the plagues that God had brought against the land in which they were held captive. But then, before God brought about the tenth and final plague, He gave the following instructions to Moses:
Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: “On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.…
“Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.…
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exod. 12:3,6-7,12-13).
God was about to bring Israel out of captivity, but in order for Him to accomplish this great task, the people had to be obedient. The price of their freedom was their obedience. To experience deliverance from slavery, they would be required to leave the only culture they had known and venture forth to a place that they did not yet know. They would be required to renew their minds to new customs and a new culture that God Himself would establish in their lives.
And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck a
ll the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”
And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock (Exod. 12:29-38).
Most of the teaching we hear on Exodus 12 focuses on the miracle God wrought for His people when He delivered them from more than four centuries of bondage. But as we dig deeper into this portion of Scripture, we uncover other valuable truths, beginning with the judgment that was executed upon Egypt.
There are basically two reasons for biblical judgment to be triggered. The first is sin, including disobedience or rebellion. The children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt for 430 years as a result of their sin of rebellion. One of the definitions of judgment is “to inflict a sentence,” which is just what those four centuries of slavery represented.
The Favor of God Page 8