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Fulfilling God’s Promises

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Andrei Rublev, 15th century

February 10 (Galatians 4:23)

The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.  (NLT)

God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation.  When his wife, Sarah, did not have children, he fathered a son by his slave, Hagar.  Later, God provided a son through Sarah.  You can read this story, which sounds something like a soap opera, in Genesis 16 and 21, but it is far more than a tale of an illicit relationship.  It pretty much describes how you and I relate to God and the world.

How many attempts have you made to bring about the fulfillment of something you sensed God leading you toward?  We are such do-it-yourself people that we usually toss a quick prayer God’s way and then roll up our sleeves as if He had no hand in the matter at all.  We plan and work, we fret and devise, we arrange and control.  Sounds rather like what Abraham did with Hagar, doesn’t it?

Notice how Paul describes what God did in the birth of Isaac, Sarah’s son.  He says it was “God’s own fulfillment of his promise.”  Read that again.  God fulfills His own promises.  He doesn’t need us to orchestrate things or force them to happen.  Were Abraham and Sarah frustrated that they had not had a child?  Of course, but that was no reason to take matters into their own hands.  The path of faith usually is the path of patient waiting.

Father, from where I sit, I have a list of things that need to be done and by certain deadlines.  Everything in me screams out to take care of those things myself, even though experience has shown me this often does not bring the best result.  To be honest, I can’t even turn them over to You without Your help, so help me do that.  Help me to surrender to You the things that are Yours to handle and to wait patiently and in faith until You do.  I ask this in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Logical Love

February 3  (Galatians 2:20)

So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  (NLT)

For some people, experiencing the love of God is like reaching the conclusion of a logical syllogism that begins with John 3:16.  God loves the world.  I am part of the world.  Therefore, God loves me.  While this is certainly true, it is rather cold comfort.  Replace God in that syllogism with the name of your friend or your spouse and you’ll see what I mean.

In this verse, however, Paul is completely open and honest about his own relationship with God.  It is not based on logical reasoning but intimate interaction.  He says it plainly.  God loves him, Paul.  As a result, he can live his life on earth trusting in Jesus.

In 1851 Herman Melville famously wrote to Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The reason the mass of men fear God, and at bottom dislike Him, is because they rather distrust His heart, and fancy Him all brain like a watch.”  You can sing “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so,” all you like.  You can convince others of your loving relationship with Him and may even trick yourself into believing it once in a while.  The proof will be in whether and to what extent you live by trusting Him.

Jesus, as You well know, I am a great faker.  I can convince just about everyone that I have a wonderful, Christian life.  The fact of the matter is that I need to feel You.  I need to sense Your love around me.  If there is anything blocking the way, show it to me so I can confess it and release it to You.  I want to be able to say what Paul said.  I want to live by trusting You.  Amen.

A Divine Conference

January 27 (Romans 8:27)

And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.  (NLT)

God talks to Himself about you.  Did you know that?  The Greek verb for “pleads” in this verse means to meet with, to get together with, and since the Holy Spirit is God, this means that God talks to Himself about you.

Imagine this scene.  You’ve applied for a job and have met with one of the heads of the company who says, “Wait here while the board talks this over.”  As you sit outside the closed room, you know that everyone inside is talking about you.  They all have copies of your resume and references.  They also know what the company is all about and are now talking about you and your potential role.  Now, what if every single board member and executive was your close friend, or better yet, a close relative?  How confident would you feel?

Friends, that is what it is like for us with God.  He knows His own will perfectly.  He knows exactly what He wants to see happen in His creation and what He wants you to do in it.  More than just knowing your resume, He knows you, inside and out.  On top of that, He loves you deeply and longs to see you flourish just as He designed you to do, playing the role you were made to play.  And so God talks to Himself about you.  I ask you again.  How confident does that make you feel?

Father, I often lay out a long list of things to you…fears, worries, concerns, dreams, hopes, problems….  Today I ask You nothing.  Today I will rest in the confidence that the Holy Spirit is already interceding on my behalf and in a way that is in harmony with Your perfect will.  Today I will simply thank You and wait to hear what You have to say to me.  Amen.

Conquering All

jesus_conqueror

January 20 (John 16:33, Romans 8:37)

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.  (ESV)

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  (ESV)

Nike.  We know it as a sporting goods company with 2018 sales totaling over $35 billion according to Forbes.  At least it is staying true to the Greek verb nikao at the root of its name, a verb that means to conquer, prevail, vanquish, and overpower.  And that is the same verb used in each of these two verses.

First, when Jesus tells us, “nenikeka ton kosmon” in John 16:33, it is the perfect tense of the verb nikao.  He is telling us it is a done deal.  It is finished.  It is an accomplished fact.  He has conquered, prevailed, vanquished over, and overpowered the world.  And it should be noted the word for “world” here is the word from which we get “cosmos.”  He has prevailed over the order and arrangement of all things.  Then, when Paul describes our new role and identity as Christians, he says that we “hypernikomen,” we more than conquer, prevail, vanquish, and overpower, and just as Jesus did, it is with regard to all things.  This makes sense, given that we are able to do this because of Jesus, or “him who loved us.”

Do you see the connection here?  Jesus achieved total victory over everything.  There is nothing of which He is not the rightful Lord, and He has extended to us that same victory.  We march in His victory parade, not as the conquered, but as fellow conquerors.  Now ask yourself this.  If you do not feel victorious, is it because you think Jesus has not really done what He said He did?  Is it because you think you do not belong to Him?  Or is it perhaps that you have listened more to the lies of the world and our enemy than the truthful proclamation of Jesus Himself?

Jesus, I renounce right here and now, and again tomorrow if I have to, the false belief that I am anything less than what You have made me to be.  Please blind me and deafen me to the lies of the enemy that would keep me enslaved.  Help me to walk in newness of life and freedom so that, with You, I may indeed prevail over all things.  Amen.

Faith When Faith Fails

January 13 (Matthew 24:12-13)

Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.  But the one who endures to the end will be saved.  (NLT)

Think it is hard to maintain your faith?  Read again in Matthew 27 how Jesus was mocked on the last day of His life on earth.  Anyone who tells you that keeping your faith in God is easy is lying.  Now think about the daily paths of your life.  As you live your time at work, at the grocery store, at home…how often is your faith under attack?  Whether from problems that seem daunting, an environment that is not particularly supportive of faith, or outright hostility to anything having to do with God, it is a day by day struggle for any Christian to keep the faith.

And you know what?  Jesus knew that.  He told His disciples directly that times would come when sin would be “rampant everywhere.”  Take one look at the news headlines or any social media feed.  Sound about right?  He also said that the love of many would grow cold.  He nailed that one, too.  We are living in incredibly divisive, hate-filled times.  And then He offered a word of encouragement to those who endure to the end.

There are days when I hope Jesus returns before dinner, but neither you nor I know when that will happen, and it may not happen in our lifetime.  We have to dig in.  We have to steel ourselves against the blows that come day after day after day by holding onto Jesus in spite of everything…everything…that tells us to give up.  Fortunately, faith is not a matter of emotion.  If it were, I would have lost it a long time ago.  Faith means crying out with the man in Mark 9:24, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

Holy Spirit, breathe into me the breath of life that comes from faith.  Fill my mind and my heart so that whatever comes my way, it encounters Jesus.  And when I cannot see Him, when I cannot feel Him, when I doubt that He is even there, help me to cling to Him all the more.  Amen.

 

Experiencing God

January 6, 2019 (Luke 2:15)

When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” (NLT)

What would you do if you were visited by an extraterrestrial army?  That’s what happened to the shepherds.  These average guys going about their job were visited by the angelic army of heaven.  And what did they do?  They wanted to experience for themselves what they had been told about the newborn king.

We have been told many things about God…through sermons, conversations with others, even from our own reading of the Bible.  If we stop there, it would be like the shepherds saying, “Wow.  That was cool,” and going right back to tending the sheep.  Stop and think about some of the amazing things you have heard about God.  Wouldn’t you like to experience God as intimately as people in the Bible did?

Fortunately, we can, but just as with the shepherds, it will involve leaving and going somewhere.  I have to leave the busyness of my life in order for my spirit to hear from God.  I have to detach myself, if only for a few minutes, from the demands of life.  As Psalm 46:10 puts, I have to be still and know that He is God.  The question, then, is quite simple.  Are you interested enough in God to leave what you think is so important in order to seek Him?

Father, You promise that if I seek You with all my heart, I will find You.  That is what I want more than anything this year.  I want to draw closer to You.  I want more than to know about You.  I want to know You and to experience deep, abiding relationship with You.  Thank You, Jesus, for making that possible.  Help me to push aside the things that crowd my attention so that my heart may be fully open to You.  Amen.

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