Precious Promises

When we are discouraged or face unexpected adversities it is good to pause and think of the greatness and goodness our God has shown in His promises to His people in His book.. He has not promised to supply all our wants, but all our needs. We sometimes get the two concepts confused. Parents normally know what is best for their children and are able to discriminate between those things they desperately want and the things that the really need. They are aware that some wanted things will be hurtful rather than helpful. Our heavenly Father is much more able to make such judgments.

Someone else has said, " Burdens, too, can often be stepping stones to higher ground." A biologist tells how he watched an ant carrying a piece of straw which seemed a big burden for it. The ant came to a crack in the earth which was too wide to cross. It stopped for a time as though pondering the situation, then it put the straw across the crack and walked over upon it and then grasped the straw and went upon its way!  What a lesson for us! A burden can become a bridge for spiritual progress if we endeavour by God's help to live the overcoming life!

Yes, our God has given us so many great and precious promises and shown us that He is faithful and His promises never fail. "There hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant." (1 Kings 4:56b) Perhaps of all His promises, those that speak of brighter days and a heavenly future are the most thrilling to the soul of those who are going through tough times. He tells us that all things do work together for the ultimate good of those who love Him. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Many may be the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver him out of them all. He may pass through the waters and rivers of trials and tribulations, but no matter how swift and terrible the flood, he will not be overwhelmed. He may walk through the fire of trouble and testing, but he will not be touched or singed by the flame. He may suffer the pain and constant irritation of a thorn in his flesh, but God's grace will be sufficient in every situation; even the valley and shadow of death.

Perhaps the most precious promises of all relate to our ultimate deliverance not only from the penalty and power of sin, but from its very presence as well. There will come a day when we will enter that city whose builder and maker is God. We will go to that dwelling place for a prepared people. Then He shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there will be no more crying, sorrow, pain or death. His ultimate precious promise of His eternal presence with His people will have come to pass!

A Battle Rages

A declaration of war is the document that heads of state often use to unite and galvanize a people into common action against an enemy that is threatening the very life and existence of a nation. Those who remember the terrible days of World War Two will never forget the words of Churchill as he declared war upon the Nazi powers and called the peoples of the British Commonwealth to unite in a valiant effort to defend their homeland.

After the infamous day of Pearl Harbor, the words of Roosevelt were equally challenging to the American people. Even the Old Testament is replete with examples of prophets, judges, and kings calling Israel into counsel and making a declaration of war against her enemies.

In His Word, God states what should be the obvious; we Christians are already at war. Satan has declared war upon the saints and against the souls of mankind. He is a terrible foe. A powerful and dreaded enemy. As a lion, he vengefully walks the face of the earth seeking whom he may devour. He is called the adversary. The accuser. The wicked one. As someone said long ago, “ Evil is not something, it is someone!”

A paraphrase of Ephesians 6:12 clearly states the situation of war, “For our wrestling match is not with persons with bodies, but against ruler-ship, and the realms of authority, against the world dominators of the present darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies.”

It is obviously a worldwide conflict. Wherever God’s people are gathered, Satan’s war strategy involves hindering and harming the cause of Christ. Just as in days gone by, Christian soldiers who are in God’s army on the earth today have a real and continuing battle on their hands. No hold is barred and no quarter is given by the forces of evil arrayed against the saints of God. His weapons of sin, temptation and compromise have never been more powerful or fearsome than in our day and time.

This war is also a personal confrontation. Hand to hand combat of the dirtiest and most difficult sort is the order of the day. It’s person to person and eyeball to eyeball. Satan is not confined to hell or Hades, nor is he residing solely on the surface of the earth. He has a headquarters in the heavenlies. He rules over a band of rebellious angels. He controls myriads of demonic spirits. Apparently he has sub-rulers in delegated areas of authority on earth. Neither empires, kingdoms, nations, states, communities, or cities escape his malevolent attention. Sovereigns, dictators, princes, potentates and democratically elected officials are all subject to his power and control. He promotes anarchy and is delighted with the breakdown of law and order. He is known as the lawless one in the scriptures.

In all out war there can be no neutrality. In the spiritual warfare that still rages the real issue is whose side are you on? Jesus said no man can serve two masters. Someone has said that the hottest fires of hell are reserved for those who in times of great crisis try to maintain their neutrality.

How Does God Measure Success?

We must never mistake quantity for quality. Neither must we confuse physical prosperity with success and happiness. A wise grandfather once asked his grandson when a man was rich enough. The grandson replied, “When he has a million dollars!” “No “. “Ten million?” “No.” “A hundred million?” “No”. And on and on the little boy raised the ante. When he finally gave up the old gentleman gravely said, “”When he has a little more than he has, and that is never!”

The Bible clearly expands upon the error of the principle of pursuing prosperity, pleasure or popularity as our primary purpose in life. In the Old Testament, God chose the small despised nation of Israel for his special people and special channel of blessing to the world. He then chose the small town of Bethlehem and a manger as the cradle for His Incarnation.  In the New Testament He chose what some would see as a motley collection of common folk as the first witnesses of His glorious gospel. And then a diminutive disciple named Paul was chosen to be the powerful and peerless preacher of His gospel.

God is not always the God of the crowd or the majority. If you recall a unanimous vote called for His crucifixion. God is more often than not interested in the dedicated two or three. He looks on the inward man. He’s a heart-reader, not a head-counter. Success achieved at the cost of compromise is no success at all. Conscripts can scarcely be classed as converts nor draftees as devotees; no matter how many may swell the ranks of popular religion. When the pressure is applied by Satan, they too will turn back in the day of battle.

At the crucial moment of crisis many would be disciples are willing to slide along on the coat tails of those who are prepared to pay the price. They sometimes decide it is just all too much. They turn back in the time of trouble. Evidently their possession  doesn’t measure up to their profession. They put on a good show until the testing time comes. They construct an impressive facade, even to the point of being outwardly indistinguishable from genuine disciples.

They are of the same sort John spoke of in his first letter, “They went our from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” They are of the same caliber and character Jesus spoke of on another occasion when He said, “No  man having placed his hand to the plough; and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” They are of the sort often called, “On again, off again, Fennigan types.”

Gypsy Smith once asked such a man in an after-meeting, “Are you a Christian?” “Yes,” the man replied, “For twenty-eight years, on and off.” “More off than on, I guess,” replied the evangelist.

The Master was fully aware of the inevitable decrease in His popularity with those who were pseudo-disciples. The waning popularity of His heaven sent ministry and message would culminate at the cross. Is it any wonder He once said, “Woe be unto you when all men speak well of you.”? Numbers are not always a correct criterion for claims of spiritual success or is a crowd of people a perfect gauge of powerful preaching. Let us never be caught up into the contemporary pseudo- Christian movements that clearly seem to mistake quantity for quality and size for success!