Month: August 2023

“Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by Myself;” Isaiah‬ ‭44:24‬ ‭KJV. What a profound and wonderful thought this is. To know that the One Who had such infinite power and wisdom to be able to create this world and universe, to hang the stars in place, He is the same One Who formed each of us in the womb! To know that the same mighty hand which shaped this world is the same tender hand which holds each of us. He is the One Who designed us for a specific purpose, which is to live for His glory in a loving relationship and in daily fellowship with Him. He is the One Who has redeemed us from the hand of the enemy. He is the One Who promises us that He will provide all our needs according to His riches in glory! And when we know this awesome God as our Father, why should we ever worry that He will not take care of us as His children? How blessed we are to know that He Who made all things, will always make a way for us through every trial and difficulty we ever face! What a mighty God we serve.

“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Corin‬ ‭7:1‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Every true child of God is thankful for the promises our Heavenly Father has given us. We have many great and precious promises regarding our salvation, our provision and our eternal home. But do we also realize that God has given us great promises regarding our spiritual cleansing and living a holy life? Do we recognize all that Jesus Christ has done, and all the Holy Spirit does, to make a holy people for His glory? As Paul writes here, he encourages us to lay hold of ‘these promises’. Too many today ignore these promises. They make excuse for sin and tolerate it in their lives. They look only at the promises of God’s mercy and fail to believe His promises about spiritual victory. But God promises us we can be more than conquerors through Jesus Christ! He tells us that His grace and power will enable us to live Godly in this present world. He promises that with every temptation He will make a way of escape. By God’s grace, let us discover these promises, believe them and lay hold of them. Then our souls will be cleansed from all that is not pleasing to God. And then we can live a holy life that brings glory to our Holy God.

“When I cry unto Thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: This I know; for God is for me.” Psalm‬ ‭56‬:‭9‬ ‭KJV‬‬. As the psalmist describes the many enemies that are against him, he confesses his own insufficiency. In verses 1 and 2 he admits, if it wasn’t for God’s mercy, his enemies would ‘swallow him up’, which means they would destroy him. But then, in verse 3, he says, “I will trust in Thee!” So we learn it is the trusting soul who can be sure that ‘God is for me’. And let us consider these words: GOD IS FOR ME. What an incredible thought! What an amazing truth this is for us, to know that the Almighty Creator, the God of all power and glory, is for me! We all know it is a great blessing to have someone on our side. To have someone stand with us and be for us as we face the battles of this life is a tremendous benefit. But this is not talking about a mere mortal being for us. Your best friend might be for you, but lack the resources to do what you need. Your family might be for you, but lack the power to help you in the way that is needed. But these words remind us that God Himself is for us! Hallelujah!! And what makes this such a blessing is the knowledge, that when God is for us, no one can successfully be against us. (Romans 8:31) Let us rest our souls in this awesome truth: GOD IS FOR ME.

“One thing have I desired from the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord…” Psalm 27:4 KJV. David went through some difficult times when he could not come to the Tabernacle to worship God. His heart grieved because he loved God and longed to be in God’s presence. It was there that he could behold the beauty of the Lord as he was reminded of God’s goodness and mercy. Many of God’s children face similar things today. They are unable to go to church, but their soul longs to worship God, be with His people and enjoy the blessing of His sweet presence. They desire to be in God’s house where they can hear His Word and be reminded of the beauty of our God. But how blessed we are to have this opportunity each day, if we will only take the time. We can get alone with our Father and open our heart to His Word. We can look upon the majesty of His creation above us and all around us. We can open our eyes to see the beauty of what He has done through His Son Jesus Christ. We can look upon our Blessed Saviour and know the personal reality of what the songwriter expressed in song: ‘He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star, He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul’. Let us take time daily to worship our Lord and we will discover how beautiful He is.

“He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: For there were many with me.” Psalm‬ ‭55‬:‭18‬ ‭KJV‬‬. God’s true children are going to face many spiritual battles in this world. And at times, a big part of the battle is simply feeling alone. We look around at the condition of religion today and we realize there are few people who are serious about the things of God. The vast majority of church members have little thought of God and show no interest in putting Him first in their lives. For a true Christian, who lives to please God, this can produce an intense feeling of loneliness. And even in most families, a true Christian will be a lonely individual. We realize that we are a people called out, to be separate from this world and consecrated entirely to God. But thank God, He still has a remnant who are true to Him! At times, we must simply trust God’s Word that many are with us. But even more than people here, we have the assurance that God’s angels are all around us. And best of all, we know the Divine Trinity is with us! God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are with us and we are not alone! By God’s grace, let us take courage in God’s promise, “…Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” (2 Kings 6:16)

“He brought me forth also into a large place: He delivered me, because he delighted in me.” 2 Samuel‬ ‭22‬:‭20‬ ‭KJV‬‬. At times it is difficult to comprehend how our Holy God could delight in us. With all that we know about His absolute perfection and purity, we wonder how He could ever be pleased with unworthy creatures like us, who all have been tainted by sin. But we should understand that God is our Father. His delight is not because of our perfection, but it is the delight of love! He delights in the relationship of love that He has brought us into. He delights to see the image of His Son being formed in us. He delights because He has bought us with a price and we belong to Him. And He delights when He sees in us that childlike desire to please our Heavenly Father. As earthly parents we can relate to this. Our delight in our children has nothing to do with their level of perfection. But it has everything to do with our love for them and the fact that they belong to us! We delight to see their efforts to please us even when they are not perfect. Let us take comfort in this amazing truth: Our Father in Heaven delights in His children.

“And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.” Genesis‬ ‭42:36‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Because Jacob was not able to see the big picture he made the false assumption that, “all of these things are against me”. As people tend to do, he thought the worst. But there would come a time that he would praise God for these very things. So many times in our lives we see only what is in front of us and we react according to what we feel in that moment. And as we do, it seems like so many things are against us. But may God help us to look through the eyes of faith, with God’s promise in our hearts, that all of these things, God is working for our eternal good and for His Glory! (Rom. 8:28) Let us have the faith and trust in God that looks further than these immediate things, and see our Sovereign God Who is greater than all and rules over all things. For Jacob, when he finally saw the reality of how things were, scripture tells us “his spirit revived”. May our spirits be revived today, as we lift our eyes to Jesus. These things around us are not the end of the story, because our God is still on the throne.

“If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God…” John‬ ‭7:17‬ ‭KJV‬‬. One of the profound truths in spiritual life is, that the ability to comprehend the things of God, is not based on intellect but on obedience and purity of heart. This is why Jesus pronounced blessing upon ‘the pure in heart’. In the secular things of the world a person with a high intellect will usually be ahead in understanding. But in spiritual life it is the soul that sincerely seeks to do the will of God. This is the one to whom God grants a clearer understanding of truth. We can be sure that our intellect does not impress God. In fact, Paul said that God does not choose many wise in this world. But one thing that our Heavenly Father cherishes is a pure heart that loves Him and seeks to obey Him. That is the person to whom God’s Spirit will reveal spiritual truth because they desire to walk in it. By God’s grace, let us be those ‘doers of the Word’ who can understand what our Father desires to reveal to us.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9‬ ‭KJV. There are going to be many times in our lives, when we do not understand what God is doing. The ways in which God works and moves in this world are beyond our ability to comprehend. In His infinite wisdom He allows things that only He can see the purpose for. But the call on our lives is not to figure everything out. Rather, it is to always trust His heart of love! It is then, by faith, we can rest in His unfailing goodness. We must understand that we are like little children and He is the infinitely wise Father, Who never fails nor makes a mistake. Trusting when we don’t know why is not easy. But sometimes we simply need to accept, that it is not for us to know at this time. In 1905, Charles Tindley wrote the song ‘We’ll understand it better by and by.’ Let these words sink into our hearts: “We are often tossed and driven, on the restless sea of time, somber skies and howling tempest, oft succeed a bright sunshine; in that land of perfect day, when the mists have rolled away, we will understand it better by and by. By and by, when the morning comes, when the saints of God are gathered home, we’ll tell the story, how we’ve overcome, for we’ll understand it better by and by.”

“…whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.” Proverbs‬ ‭16:20‬ ‭KJV‬‬. There are many times as children of God that we forget how blessed we are to be able to put our trust in God. So many times we have trusted in other things, other people, and most of all we have trusted in ourselves. And when we did that, we always wondered if it would work, if they would come through, or if we would be able to handle things? And always wondering robbed us of peace. We could not help but worry. But when we put our trust in God those questions no longer are relevant, because He always comes through! He never fails! He provides faithfully for every trusting soul. Our God is well able to handle whatever it is that comes our way. So this kind of trust brings joy and peace to our hearts. To trust God completely brings a happiness to our lives that can never be experienced when we trust in any other. This is why the songwriter wrote the beautiful old hymn, ‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. Oh for Grace to trust Him more’.