One of the major things God promised Abraham was to make “his” name great—not just to hype His own fame (though Abraham’s elevation would glorify God too). “I will make your name great,” the Lord straight-up declared (Genesis 12:2). Boom. Direct promise. No footnotes, no fine print about waiting until heaven. Right there in the covenant, God hands Abraham a destiny of renown that the world would notice.
Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ—who took our curse upon Himself and redeemed us from it (Galatians 3:13)—we’ve inherited that exact same Abraham package! Christ became our curse, as a substitute, to give us the gospel of Abraham. The full Gospel isn’t just forgiveness of sins (which is more technically the doorway to the gospel); it includes God making “your” name famous on the earth. Fame, favor, and footprint are baked into the blessing of Abraham we now own by faith. In Systematic Theology 2025 I lay this out plainly: the Abrahamic blessings convey much health, prosperity, and favor—tangible, visible realities that display God’s power through the lives of His elect. You don’t get the half-gospel of sin-forgiveness alone and call it complete. The Spirit and miracles were part of the promise preached to Abraham (Galatians 3:14), and that promise lands squarely on us who believe.
Dying unknown, in total obscurity and absurdity? That’s no holy humility badge—that’s a curse straight out of Satan’s playbook. It’s the ministry of his dark priesthood, the thief who comes to steal your fame, rob your health and wealth, kill your destiny, and destroy your impact (John 10:10). He loves keeping you small so the world never sees the Royal Priesthood in you. Let’s be honest: some folks wear “I’m just a nobody” like a merit badge, but the Bible never calls obscurity a virtue. It calls it defeat. Satan’s strategy is simple—keep the heirs of Abraham hidden so the nations never see what the living God can do through flesh-and-blood people.
As Vincent Cheung points out in Our Prosperity in God’s Program, “Receive things from God for your own benefit. If it stops there, God is honored because he has blessed one person. You can then consciously participate in the expansion of the kingdom of God. However, even if you do not concern yourself with the situation any further, you will naturally further God’s program. He will take this and increase the effect to benefit more people and to magnify himself with it. Just by receiving from God for yourself, more and more, again and again, you will do more for God than the counterfeit Christians who seem to suffer much for their religion, but who refuse to receive from God and forbid others to receive. They hinder the gospel and bring shame to the name of Jesus.”
Even if we were only focused on our own fame, by faith in Jesus, it will always have indirect effects in magnifying God’s kingdom. Thus, it is good to seek the fame God promised in Abraham’s gospel, when it is given to us in Jesus’ gospel. The gospel preached to Abraham was about his fame, his wealth, his health and him being highly favored in all he did, and not God’s. The gospel has many aspects about it that are concerned with your fame and increase, not God’s. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:7, the gospel was predestined for your glory. Because we deny pantheism, thus, directly referring to these aspects of the gospel that help, increase and bless the elect, the gospel is for our glory not God’s. Now of course God has designed it so that our glory and increase ultimately glorifies God. But the point remains. The gospel makes you famous. This is gospel. Without it you don’t have the gospel.
Once you are walking in faith, health, wealth, answered prayers and miracles, you will find you stop thinking about yourself, because you are doing so well, and all fear and stress to climb up are gone, and this freedom will lead you to show compassion and help others. Seeing your own heart’s desires come into reality will help and free you to say, “God you have blessed me so much, I want to more directly focus on expanding your Kingdom against the remaining darkness. How can I help?” The point is simple. Simply by receiving the good things promised, such as health and wealth, you expand God’s kingdom. Anything done in faith, no matter what it is, establishes God’s kingdom more and more. On this point alone, receiving miracle health and miracle money for yourself still establishes God’s kingdom.
By seeking your own fame and increase in faith, you directly bless yourself, your family and friends. This is why I remind us: How little the faithless value the Gospel and God Himself. They think so small of themselves and then force the promises of God through the tiny pinhole of their limited self-view. But newsflash—you are “not” the measurer of reality. God and His promises are!
We must measure our ability and destiny by God’s Word and our new identity in Christ Jesus: Abraham’s seed, co-heirs with the King, destined for greatness. God will boast about you. Publicly. He doesn’t whisper your victories in secret; He puts them on display so the nations tremble and the devil flees. Stop playing small, saints. Let the Father boast about you. Step boldly into the fame He promised and make some divine power plays for His glory!
Look, I get the pushback. Some twisted cross-centered types act like wanting your name known is selfish. Funny how they never apply that logic to wanting their sins forgiven or their bodies healed. Selective humility is just pride wearing a fake halo. The same God who said “I will make your name great” to Abraham is the God who predestined the gospel for our glory (1 Corinthians 2:7). He didn’t stutter. He didn’t say “I’ll make your name great after you spend eighty years anonymous and broke.” No—He redeemed us from the curse so the blessing of Abraham could come on the Gentiles by faith. That blessing includes the kind of visible success that makes people ask, “Who is this God they serve?”
Think about Joseph for a second. Sold into slavery, falsely accused, forgotten in prison—yet God elevated him until the whole nation knew his name. Why? Because God works all things for our good, not for our obscurity (Romans 8:28, that promise is laser-focused on the elect who walk in faith). The devil meant it for evil; God meant it for good—and that good included fame, favor, and footprint that fed nations and preserved the covenant line. Same pattern with David. Same pattern with Esther. Same pattern with every hero of faith listed in Hebrews 11. They obtained a good report—meaning their names rang out—because they believed God for the impossible.
So when you confess the promises, when you command sickness to leave, when you decree increase in Jesus’ name, you are being “name-it-and-claim-it,” just as Abraham did when he confessed, “I am the father of many nations,” before he was. You’re being Christians; you are being like Abraham the father of faith. The gospel isn’t a call to pretend you’re insignificant; it’s a call to realize you’re significant because of whose you are. Co-heirs with Christ means you inherit the same package. And yes, the ultimate goal is God’s glory—but God’s glory shines brightest when His kids aren’t hiding under a bushel.
Here’s the fun part most miss: the moment you start walking in the fullness—miracle money showing up, miracle health locking in, doors flying open—you actually stop obsessing over yourself. The fear evaporates. The scramble disappears. You find it easier to not think about yourself. Suddenly you’ve got bandwidth to look around and say, “Okay, Lord, who also needs this same freedom?” That’s when the kingdom multiplies. One blessed life becomes ten, then a hundred, and then a million. Satan hates that math. He’d rather you stay “humble” and broke so the world never sees the difference Jesus makes.
I’m not suggesting you chase fame for fame’s sake like some carnal influencer. I’m saying chase the promises like Abraham did—by faith—and watch God handle the rest. He’s the one who swore it. He’s the one who sealed it with blood. And He’s the one who will make your name great so that His name is magnified through you.
The faithless will keep shrinking the gospel down to fit their tiny expectations. Don’t join them. Measure everything by the Word. You are Abraham’s seed. You carry royal blood. The Father is ready to boast about you—publicly, powerfully, permanently. So step up, speak up, and let the world see what the gospel really does. Fame, favor, footprint—yours for the taking.
