Month: September 2020

“Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Hebrews‬ ‭7:25‬ ‭KJV. These words describe the full extent to which Jesus Christ is able to save, and the reason why He can do so.‬‬ He does not save a person merely to go halfway. He did not suffer and die so that we could be mediocre Christians, who are in and out, up one day and down the next.  Jesus is able to save to the uttermost, which means to the fullest extent! He is able to remake and renew every area of our hearts and lives. He doesn’t save us to leave us in our sins, but to deliver us and make us saints of God, which is why God’s Word says we “are called to be saints”. (Rom. 1:7).  And the reason Jesus can do this for us is, that He defeated sin for us. He arose triumphant over death, hell and the grave, for us. And now He ever lives to make intercession for us! He is at the Father’s right hand praying for us! Jesus, our great High Priest, is talking to the Father about our needs! So in those times we wonder, “Can I do this, am I able?” Remember, Christ in me is able to do the uttermost.

“And He said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Luke‬ ‭18:27‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Many times when we read these words our minds go to the big things that we know for certain are impossible to us. But we seldom get to those big things because we have not dealt with the impossible things within our own lives. We try to bring our thoughts captive, into obedience to Christ, but find it impossible. We try to focus our minds and think on good things and discover it is not possible to do. We try to love our enemies and it is impossible. We try to change ourselves to be a better person only to realize it is not possible. We endeavor to live a holy life and soon learn it is impossible for us. And so we begin to realize that none of these things are possible in our own strength. And yet, Jesus says of all these inward impossibilities, that they are possible with God! May God help us to know, we can’t, but HE CAN! And He will, with every soul that humbly calls upon Him.

“For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” Psalms‬ ‭107:9‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Do our souls hunger for the goodness of God? Do we long to get our eyes above all of the bad things of this ungodly world and see true goodness in Christ? If we do, God’s Word gives this promise. If we hunger and thirst for Him, and His righteousness, we shall be filled! If we seek for His goodness, we will be filled with the goodness of God, because there is no other good, but God. But the key is in seeking for the right things. Let us turn our attention away from the bad things and negative thoughts that bring us down, and look to the One Who is perfect and good. Because only His goodness will lift us up and satisfy our souls.

“Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness…” Psalms‬ ‭107:8‬ ‭KJV‬‬. We are living in a day when the enemy of souls is trying to take our minds off of everything that is good, and drag our thoughts down to the gutter. And the more we fill our minds with negative thoughts, the more we give in to bad thoughts, the less we see of God’s goodness. But what if God’s children would truly learn to praise our Lord for His goodness? What if we got our eyes off of the bad news, off of our problems, quit complaining about what we don’t have, and actually learned to praise God every day for HIS GOODNESS? Perhaps it would not change everything around us, but it certainly will change all that is within us! Our God is a good God! He is good in every way. He is good all the time. He is never anything except good. His works are all good. His Word is good. He is a good Father. May we take time to consider how good God is. “O taste and see that the Lord is good”. Psalm 34:8

“God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.” Psalms‬ ‭46:5‬ ‭KJV‬‬. The Psalmist is writing this about the ‘city of God’, mentioned in the previous verse. In the Old Testament that was Jerusalem. But now it is the New Testament church. Now we as children of God are part of this spiritual city. And what a joy to know that our security is still because of God’s presence in our midst. We are not secure because of our sound doctrine or material resources. Our security does not lie in political freedoms nor government protection. Our security is in this truth, God Himself is in our midst! And because the Mighty God is with us, there is no power that can move us from this blessed refuge for our souls. Society may change around us. Governments will rise and fall. But the church that Jesus built will forever stand! In time, all of these earthly cities will crumble and fall down. But the city of God is the only city that is going up! How wonderful it is that we can be a part of this city with unshakable foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God!

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear…” Psalms‬ ‭46:1-2‬ ‭KJV‬‬. One of the things we should realize when we read or hear these familiar words is, they are not simply nice words of comfort. Rather, these are eternal truths we can rest our souls on! And for the true believer, they speak of a real experience with a very real God. We do not overcome fear by happy religious thoughts. No, we can overcome fear only as we find personal refuge in the Living God! It is when we come into this relationship where we find Jesus Christ to be our only Refuge and our only source of strength. One of the problems with so much fear in our world is, that people are trying to find refuge in things that are failing and unstable. Things like science, medicine, money or governments of men. They try to find strength in the arm of flesh. But when we do this, what else could we do except fear? Because none of these things are reliable! None are sufficient! None are what we need. But thank God, we have a Refuge that is secure and unfailing! We have a Strength that is greater than anything we can ever face. We have Jesus!

“O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles.” Psalms‬ ‭43:3‬ ‭KJV‬‬. One of the great needs we have in this fallen world is to be continually led by God’s Word and Spirit. We face many perplexing situations and need always to ask our Lord to lead us in the right way. And thank God He does lead us! As the song says, ‘He leads His dear children along’. But let us keep in mind, when God sends His light and truth upon our dark places, He always does it with a twofold purpose. First of all He seeks to direct and lead us, but always in ways that bring us closer to Him. He will never lead us into a path or any situation that takes us away from Him. He will never lead us into things that hinder our walk with Him. But also, when He sends His light and truth, they reveal our condition. They expose the needs of our own heart and life. They reveal that where we are is not all there is! That He has so much more for us! God does this, not to hurt or condemn us, but to show us our needs and the wondrous possibilities of His grace, so we can be led closer to Him. 

“And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest Thou not that we perish?” Mark‬ ‭4:37-38‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Yesterday we saw how we must guard against speaking too quickly. Here on this stormy sea, we find the disciples doing that very thing. They reacted in fear. They allowed their emotions to be overcome. And in that moment they spoke hastily. They asked Jesus, “Don’t You care…?”. They had already discovered that He loves and cares for all people. They had learned that He cared more deeply than anyone! And yet in their lapse in faith, they questioned His care for them. But Jesus never answered that foolish question. He did what He always does, He proved again that He cares. He proved that His love for them never ceases. He met their need. May we get this forever settled in our hearts. Jesus cares! May we never speak too quickly and bring reproach upon His holy Name by doubting Him. Nobody cares for us like Jesus.

“For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before Thine eyes: nevertheless Thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto Thee.” Psalms‬ ‭31:22‬ ‭KJV‬‬. So often in our lives we are guilty of these opening words. We speak too quickly. Whether through some great trouble, sorrow, or personal failure, for a moment we feel as if there is no hope. We allow our emotions to get the best of us and cause us to speak as one who has no faith. We wrongly imagine that God has done with us like sinful men do with one another. But then we rediscover, that God is not like man! He is a God Who delights in mercy. He is patient and long suffering with His children. He does hear our feeble cries. His arms are always open to us. He is working good for our souls even in the worst of situations. Let us learn, when our soul is troubled, to be slow to speak but quick to pray.

“For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother.” Mark‬ ‭3:35‬ ‭KJV. In these words Jesus declares who it is He has kinship with. ‬‬ But do we ever pause to think of the great blessings of kinship with Jesus? To know that He loves and cares for us far more than we do our own families. To know that He will always do the very best for us. We all know that our physical kinship lifts the relationship to an entirely different level than that with others. Our love towards our families causes us to do things for them that we don’t do for others. But do we ever pause to personally consider, that I am a child of God? I am a joint heir with Christ! I have such kinship with Him, that He is not ashamed to call me brother. Oh may God help us to understand this! The Almighty Infinite Creator is our Father. The One Who hung and died on that cross is our Brother. We are children of the King! We are a part of the royal family, the greatest family there is! May we thank God today, that we have this awesome privilege to enjoy spiritual kinship with Him.