After a lifetime of reading, studying, and teaching the Bible, I’m still amazed at the promises of God. There are so many promises that it can become easy to take them for granted. Certain promises such as the ones concerning our salvation are probably the most important, and the ones that we hold most dear. But there are so many other promises that make our lives rich, promises that are fulfilling and give us hope.
Becoming a senior citizen causes one to think about our future in a different way than it does when we were young because after all, we have less time to fulfill our hopes and dreams. When you are young, you have forever. Or so it seems. But here’s another promise…
"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).
God has already allotted for you all the time which you need. And He’ll be with you all the way!
The Bible says, “You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and did that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.“ (Deuteronomy 5:32-33)
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
God’s promise is true, but look what we must do. Humble ourself, pray, seek the face of God, and turn from our wicked ways. Will we do it?
The cares of life so easily encompass us. Life can become like a tidal wave of challenges that lifts us up and pushes us away from where we want to be. We can come to the place where our enthusiasm for our faith wanes and we ask ourselves, “Am I just burried here?”
“I want to do more, but all my dreams of service to the Lord seem unattainable, nay impossible. Are they just dreams, burried here with me?”
Take the lowly acorn for instance, wedged and burried underground. If it could, it might say the same thing. But what the acorn doesn’t know is that it’s not burried, it’s planted. Therefore there’s an expectation of growth. There’s an expectation that one day the tiny acorn will become a mighty oak, and it’s leaves will provide shade for those who are weary of the sun, and its branches, a home for those who need a place to build their nest.
No my friend, you’re not burried, you’re planted with an expectation of growth. Cheer up! It will happen. God has a plan and you’re a part of it. The Bible teaches us,
“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God” (ESV) (Psalm 92:12-13)
Give yourself some time and you’ll see yourself burst through from the ground when you least expect it.
Wake up world! Those who are the called of the Lord wake up! I was watching television and saw a “man on the street” interview of various people. He was asking political questions. Some people walked right on by without responding, while others stood and gave lengthy opinions. Watching it made me wonder, what would it be like if Jesus walked out amongst the crowd with a microphone and asked questions of passersby?
What if he asks, “Who is your God?” I suspect some people would quickly walk by and ignore him without responding, while others might stop and try to answer his question about their God. Various gods may be mentioned, but the Christians would have a more personal story, a testimony of how God helped them in one situation or another.
Then there’s the young man who would pause, look Jesus in the eyes and fall to his knees with head bowed. I can see Lord Jesus gently put his hand under the young man’s chin and gently lift it until their eyes meet. Their surroundings seemingly disappear as Lord Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?”
With trembling lips the young man says, “You are Jesus, the Son of the living God.” The glow of the Holy Spirit shines from around the countenance of Jesus as He replies. “Man has not revealed this to you my son, but only God our Father. Hide this truth deep in your heart.” And then He was gone!
I have to ask myself if I would recognize Jesus? Would you? Are we close enough to Him? Or is He just a character in a book? I ask myself and so should we all, because He is coming soon. Not as a nan on the street interviewer with a microphone, but in the clouds with the last trump sounding and the shout of the Archangel.
Jesus asked this question of Peter as recorded in the Bible.
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”
In a world where evil is called good and good is called evil and standards of truth are seemingly dissolved, truth is optional, so how do we stand? How do we get our bearings? Where is our firm foundation? The only firm foundation that I have found is in the word of God, the Bible. God’s word never changes, he never changes, and it brings about the truth that I may not know about tomorrow, but I know who holds tomorrow. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.
As I said, God‘s word never changes and he never changes. Ira Stamphill penned these words in 1950 in his song that says,
Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow, And I know who holds my hand.
The Bible tells us in Malachi 3:6, “I am the Lord, I change not.”
Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus is the same “yesterday, today, and forever.”
Hebrews 7:24 says, “But He [Jesus], because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.
Now friends, in this world of uncertainty, we may still stand on the foundation of the certainty, of the Word of God.
Song, I know who holds tomorrow, by Ira Stamphill, American songwriter.
Reading today’s headlines, we learn of constant challenges to our liberty. Terrorists’ threats against our nation, economic turmoil, and political struggles are on our minds. But hasn’t that been a constant in the history of our country?
From the very outset of our nation’s birth, our forefathers passed the test of liberty in places like Bunker Hill and Valley Forge. But there has come a steady stream of trials and tests to our nation that we have had to pass in order to remain free. We mustn’t forget the Alamo, the battle of New Orleans, or Gettysburg, and our current heroes who fight a war against global terror.
There has been a test that each generation has had to pass for liberty. And these tests are always given to the individual. A woman, who we’ll call Maria, had always wanted to become a United States citizen, but could not pass the test. Well, after praying with a CBN prayer representative, Maria passed the test of liberty and became a United States citizen!
There once was a young boy named Tommy who was brilliant at an early age. Born and raised in a rural area, he read all of his father’s books by the age of six and had a hunger for knowledge that was unquenchable. He was tested many times in his life but at the age of 14, his father passed away, leaving him to assume the role of head of the house.
In spite of life’s circumstances, he entered college at the age of 17. Maintaining his home with his mother and siblings, at the age of 24, Tommy passed the bar exam and became a lawyer. When he was 27 and away working in another city, his home burned down and he lost all his prized possessions, including his extensive library. In time, he rebuilt his library, had an illustrious career, and passed the test of liberty.
Harriet Powers, a woman freed from slavery after the civil war, suffered hardships and struggled to pass the test of liberty. She was an expert seamstress who made quilts to help support her family of nine children. Few black women could write in those days, but Harriet told the stories of the Bible with the figures she sewed into the panels of her quilts. To see Harriet’s quilts was to get a visual of the great stories of the Bible. She passed the test of liberty and led her family into the free world.
The greatest test of liberty, however, came in a garden in Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus passed the test of liberty for all mankind when He submitted Himself to His Father and said,
“Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Luke 22:42).
He sacrificed His liberty for ours, even to His death on a cross. Now we have liberty in Christ, eternal life that no man or devil in hell can take from us. When we accept Christ Jesus as our savior, we are free!
The test of liberty is an individual test, which we must pass daily. Our struggle, whether spiritual, physical, or financial, is not in vain. Just as we reap the rewards of those who have passed the test before us, we pass the rewards of our tests on to those who come after us.
The Apostle Paul wrote,
“As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good” (2 Thessalonians 3:13).
So, pass the test of liberty and be an over-comer like Harriet Powers, the freed slave whose Bible quilt hangs in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC today. Or Maria, who passed the test of liberty and became a United States citizen at 96 years of age! And finally, let’s not forget Tommy, who at the age of 33 passed the test of liberty when he penned these words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (Thomas Jefferson, July 4, 1776).
I was reading, in the Bible book of Leviticus, the instructions concerning lepers and the cleansing of the lepers by the Priests. It gave instructions concerning the cleansing of the lepers’ garment.
It says, “the garment, or the warp or the woof, or any article made of skin from which the disease departs when you have washed it, shall then be washed a second time, and be clean.” (Leviticus 13:58)
I asked myself what is the warp or the woof? I found that in a woven cloth, the warp is the thread that runs lengthwise and the woof is the thread which runs horizontal across and through the warp. Christian writers compare this to the Bible, in which the woof is the word of God, the foundation in the fabric of truth. The woof is like the Spirit of God which weaves in and out of scripture giving it life, and the power of God.
I learned long ago that the Bible, the written word of God, is the only book which is alive. It’s because the woof of the Bible, the Holy Spirit, gives it life. Never underestimate the reality of the Word of God. So like a coat or garment with which we cover ourselves, let us cleanse and cover ourselves with the Warp and the Woof of God.
