Month: August 2024

“And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.” Matthew‬ ‭14‬:‭25‬ ‭KJV‬‬. After feeding the multitudes, Jesus had sent His disciples away, to take their ship to the other side of the sea. They were doing what Jesus said to do. But as they went, they encountered a great storm. It was nighttime and their vessel was tossed with the waves. They were fearful because they had no power over their ship in such terrible conditions. And yet, here in these same conditions comes Jesus, walking on the water to them. This great miracle proved the divine power and authority that Jesus has over all of His creation. But also, it reveals to us that He has power over all the storms of our lives. Thank God, He is still the Master of the storm! It also reminds us that He is a present help in our time of need. His presence is very real even when everything seems dark and the storms are raging around us. Every child of God is going to experience some storms in life. They come even when we are walking in obedience. We don’t usually understand the purpose of these difficult times, but we trust our Lord, Who is still the Master of the storm. And we know that He is with us even as we go through them. By God’s grace, let us have the faith to continue trusting Jesus, even in the storms of life. There is never a storm we face that is beyond His control.

“The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.” Psalm‬ ‭146:10‬ ‭KJV‬‬. These words assure our hearts of the Sovereign reign of God over all of this world and universe. Many people misunderstood and therefore fear because they see and hear of things happening that seem to be out of control. To them it looks as if evil has the upper hand. They lose hope because in their eyes evil men are in control. They forget that God has made man with only a certain degree of freedom in which to make his own choices. And when those choices are evil, there will be consequences. Both men and nations will reap what they sow. But let us never think that any of this is beyond God’s Sovereign rule. He has such infinite power, wisdom and foreknowledge that He can still work all of these things for His glory and for the good of those who love Him. How could we have rest in our soul or real peace as God’s children if we were not certain that our God reigns? We ought to thank God for this knowledge, that He Who created and sustains this world, does forever reign over it. And that same Sovereign God is the One Who loves us, guides us and watches over our lives. Let us praise our Sovereign God.

“The LORD preserveth the strangers; He relieveth the fatherless and widow: But the way of the wicked He turneth upside down.” Psalm‬ ‭146:9‬ ‭KJV‬‬. The strangers, fatherless and widows are those who are special recipients of God’s mercy and compassion. Spiritually they represent the helpless condition of the sinner. When we lived in a life of sin, we were strangers and aliens from the family of God. We were without knowledge of our Heavenly Father and the relationship He wanted with us. By our own sin and rebellion we had become orphaned and separated from the God Who loved us. But thank God He had compassion on us! He preserved our life. He kept us until we could be brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. But for those who persist in sin and refuse to turn from their wickedness, we can be sure that God will turn their lives upside down. He does this in His great mercy to humble them so they can recognize their need and turn to Him. One day, every child of God will thank Him that He allowed circumstances to turn our lives upside down to where we could see spiritual realities. Because only then could we begin to see our need of a Saviour. Thank God, in His great mercy He preserved us and then relieved us from the terrible emptiness of spiritual orphanage. And now we can rejoice that He has made us His beloved children. By God’s grace, let us show our appreciation to our merciful Father in Heaven.

“…The LORD loveth the righteous:” Psalm‬ ‭146:8‬ ‭KJV‬‬. We should know that God loves all souls. Probably the most well known words in all the Bible are “for God so loved the world…” And thank God He loved us while we were yet in our sins. He loved us when we were so unworthy of His love. But let us also realize that God has a special love for the righteous. He loves that we have chosen to serve and follow Him. He loves that we choose to obey and honor Him. And He loves that we choose to do what is right and walk in paths of righteousness. He loves to see us trusting in and clothed with the righteousness of Christ. He knows, as souls who were created free, that we could be going our own selfish and sinful way like most do. But He loves that we freely chose Him. He loves that we believe Him and trust Him. He loves that we take time to spend with Him in His Word and personal prayer and times of devotion. As a Father, He loves for His righteous children to express their love for Him. And He loves that we desire to come and publicly worship Him with His family and that we are not ashamed of Him before others. What a joy is ours to be able to rest in and enjoy this special love that God has for the righteous.

“…The LORD raiseth them that are bowed down…”Psalm‬ ‭146:8‬ ‭KJV‬‬. These words remind us of the great mercy and compassion our Lord has for us. Even when we did not know it ourselves, He saw us stooped over under a burden of sin. He saw our souls weighed down by that awful guilt and condemnation that sin brings. He saw us trying time and again to stand upright and yet always we would bow down to our own sin. And He saw the cruel taskmaster we were bowing to. He knew how the enemy of our soul used greed and lust and our own pride to cause us to bow at his altars. But when God opened our eyes He showed us there is a Way for us to stand upright and become the person we were created to be. And when we looked to Jesus, He lifted us up! He lifted the burden of sin and shame that had us bowed down. He broke the fetters of sin that kept us down. And now by His grace, we can stand with Him as redeemed children of God. Now we can live upright lives. And every time that problems and discouragements come our way that would try to bow us down again, we can trust Him to keep us standing in liberty.

“The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind…” Psalm‬ ‭146:8‬ ‭KJV‬‬. One of the worst things about the life of sin is that it brings a moral and spiritual blindness to our hearts and minds. More than ever before, this blindness is obvious in our world. Everyday our political and business leaders are making immoral and ungodly decisions because they are blinded by sin. Most of higher education is leading our youth down a path of liberalism and moral decay because they are blinded by their own intellectual pride. And the reality is, that all of us were once spiritually blind. We were walking in darkness thinking that the pleasures of sin and this world would satisfy our hearts. But thank God, in His mercy, He shined the light of truth upon our sin darkened minds. He opened our blind eyes to the truth of our lost condition and the blessed hope we have in Jesus Christ. He opened our eyes to the reality that nothing or no one in this world could ever satisfy our hungering souls, except Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. And now, one of the joys of walking with Him is, that He continues to open our eyes to see more of His beauty and grace. Let us praise God today with the songwriter, “I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see”.

“…The LORD looseth the prisoners:” Psalm‬ ‭146:7‬ ‭KJV. What a wonderful thing it is to know and to personally experience the soul liberating power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Most religious people do not know it. Church members may be blind to it. But true children of God recognize that we were all bound in a life of sin. We were held captive in the prison house of sin. The chains of our own sins were always binding us and keeping us from the freedom that we were created for. But thank God, one day Jesus passed by our way! And He Who is the Great Emancipator asked us if we would like to be free. He let us know that we could never get loose on our own. He reminded us that religion cannot set us free. But through faith we believed that He alone had the power and authority to open the prison doors of sin and set our souls free. And then He did! Then He reached down His strong hand and broke the chains that had us bound. Then He lifted us up out of the prison house. And now we are His redeemed children. By God’s grace, let us walk in the liberty wherein Christ has set us free.

“And He said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” Luke‬ ‭7:50‬ ‭KJV‬‬. One of the joys of true saving faith is that it causes us to ‘go in peace’. As we go through this life with all of the challenges we face, true faith keeps us in perfect peace, because we have placed our trust and confidence in Christ Who cannot fail. But shallow, superficial belief will not bring peace. The kind of belief that most religious people have today leaves them constantly searching, always seeking in this world for something to bring peace. Today, most church people are still running hard after the things of this world and trying to be like the world, because they have no genuine peace inside. But it is a wonderful thing to have a simple childlike faith that leaves us satisfied in Jesus. This is part of the meaning of real spiritual peace. It relieves us of those vain worldly pursuits that people imagine will bring satisfaction. We can go through life with real contentment in our soul. True faith reveals to us that only Jesus can satisfy the longing in our hearts. So even as we face difficult days, when so many are disturbed and unsatisfied, let us go in the peace which Jesus gives.

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭31‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Every true Christian knows that there are forces working against them as they strive to live a Godly life. The Bible identifies the world, the flesh and the devil as powers that work against our souls. And of course, those forces often work through individual people and institutions trying to hinder us spiritually. But here in this verse a very important question is asked: “If God is for us, who (or what) can be against us?” Now the first thing we need to be sure of is that we are in right relationship with God, so that He can be for us. That means we cannot be tolerating known sin in our lives. But when we have this blessed assurance, that the Living God is for us, who or what should we ever fear? How can we be overcome by worry and anxiety when the Almighty God is for us? However big our enemy may appear, we can be sure that our God is bigger! If God would stop the motion of this entire universe, so His children could win a battle, how can we doubt that He will take care of us? Dear ones, we serve the God Who has never failed His children and He will not fail you. By God’s grace, let us rest in this wonderful truth.

“Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto His people Israel, according to all that He promised: there hath not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant.” 1 Kings‬ ‭8:56‬ ‭KJV‬‬. This was a part of what Solomon declared to the people at the dedication of the temple. Not one word of God’s promise has failed! Today, this should still be the testimony of every true child of God. People around us should know that we have this same kind of unwavering confidence in the promise and faithfulness of God. Everything we say and do should make clear that we have absolute trust in God’s Word. Nothing about our lives or our attitude should hint at doubt or unbelief as is so common in religious people today. When we live with this kind of supreme confidence in God, others will want to know about Him. People are not looking for a halfway religion that only helps a little. Rather, they long for a faithful God Who cannot fail and Who has kept every word He has spoken. May we realize, that many others around us are forming their opinions of God based on what our lives are declaring. As the saying goes, “You are the only Bible some people read”. By His grace, let us be good testimonies to our unfailing God.