Simple Thoughts On Promises

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So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed. (Isaiah 28:16)

If you have trusted in the tested and precious cornerstone Jesus, you will not be dismayed. People in authority often oppress subordinates and get away with their mischief. Often God doesn't punish the miscreants immediately, but that doesn't mean he favors them. He has his day of judging and when his time comes, he deals with them. But God's faithful eyes are always on those who trust in him.

Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them. Isaac's servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, "Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land." (Genesis 26:18-22)

Isaac trusted in God and his persistence despite opposition paid rich dividends. Trust in the Lord and look ahead. A shut door doesn't mean the end. It signals the opening of several doors for a child of God. God bless you.

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The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." (Judges 6:16)

The Lord's call for service often comes in the most unexpected of places. Gideon was not exactly in a "fasting & praying" session when the Lord called out to him through an angel.

The following is what happened:

The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" "But Lord, " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." (Judges 6:11-15)

To the question ""how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family", God answered and gave the promise--"I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

God's call for service in his kingdom can come at any age in a person's life. Jeremiah's call came when he was young and so also in the case of the prophet Samuel. But Moses and Aaron were called when they were in their 80's. I guess they were already in their retirement age.

If God calls you today, what will you reply? Hope your reply will be like what Isaiah said.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8)

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She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: 'Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.'" (Judges 4:6, 7)

After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD. So the Lord gave them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who had nine hundred iron chariots and cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. So the Israelites cried to the LORD for help. And help came in the form of this prophecy uttered by Deborah, the prophetess.

God was going to lure Sisera and bring about his downfall.

The Lord will give you victory over the evil forces that are causing trouble in your life. Many times the enemy brings impediments to even small matters that involve believer's lives. This is to bring discouragement and despondency. But the Bible exhorts us in this manner:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

The enemy will not win because Jesus is on your side. He says,

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)

Jesus loves you and he will give you victory. God bless you.

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Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

The Bible says that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. More than man, evil powers fear God, because they know that they are utter failures when they confront God. The Apostle James writes,

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder. (James 2:19)

Though we see people ignoring Jesus and the Word of God and some living in utter rebellion to God, a day will come when they realize the truth that they ignored but then it will be too late. Perhaps it will only be at the White Throne judgement that some will realize to their dismay how foolish they were not to confess the name of Jesus while they lived here on earth.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15)

But, how blessed are they, who, while living here on earth, confess the name of the Lord Jesus and live for him. About them the Bible says,

Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)

Praise the Lord.

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As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10, 11)

God's word that goes out of the his mouth cannot be stopped in fulfilling what it has been sent to do; it accomplishes what God desires and it has been so from the beginning. When God said, "Let there be light", light just came into being; no questions asked. No arguments entertained, even if there were any.

We read the following in Psalms 107:

Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. (Psalm 107:17-20)

When we pray, God sends his word and that brings healing, deliverance and peace. The word that God spoke during creation brought everything into being and we read in Genesis 1:

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good........ (Genesis 1:31)

The "let there be..." and "let the..." words spoken by God were so powerful that what was once "formless and empty and dark" became "very good". God, by his awesome power is able to change what is "formless and empty and dark" even in our lives into something "very good".

It's my prayer for you today that he may do such an awesome miracle for you in the coming days, that you praise his glorious name even more all the days of your life. God bless you.

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But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:6)

Doesn't seem too complex a strategy to receive rewards from the heavenly Father. Simple on the surface but tough as well, because some believer's find time for everything else but prayer. Victory lies in being in the heavenly Father's presence and being sure that prayer for a specific request has been made in totality.

Go into your room, close the door.....Close the door and keep it closed till there is inner satisfaction that "prayer" has been complete. Only then open. There's often a tendency to rush to other things when in prayer. The door bell rings, the children call, things in the kitchen and a whole lot of other things mundane to be looked into. So close the door and if need be inform others that the door will remain closed till prayer is done with. Prayer is serious business and the diligent are rewarded.

Personal prayer is very important. Family and corporate (church/fellowship) prayers cannot replace the necessity to be alone in the Father's presence. Jesus set the example.

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. (Mark 1:35)

If one lacks a private room for private prayer, early mornings, when everything else is quiet, is the best time to get in touch with the Father.

The secret of success in Jesus' life and ministry was his prayer strategy and because he found it effective, he wanted all who believe in him, to follow it. The strategy is simple and if employed regularly can bring great rewards from the heavenly Father.

So shall we invest some more time in private prayer??

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Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. (Matthew 7:24,25)

Great crowds followed Jesus when they saw him do miracles. Sicknesses were healed, demons were driven out, food and wine were provided miraculously. They wanted more. But when Jesus started preaching about God's requirements to enter the kingdom of heaven, there were few takers. We read in John Ch.6:

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." (John 6:66-69)

Hearing God's Word is not enough; Jesus said, we must put them into practice. But some believer's do not really grow in the Lord. Of these the writer of Hebrews said,

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!

Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. (Hebrews 5:12,13)

Is your spiritual life built on a rock solid foundation? If it is, then it will be stable when the wind blows against it. God will strengthen you and uphold you with his righteous right hand. God bless you.

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If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. (2 Peter 2:9)

While speaking of God rescuing godly men from trials, the Apostle Peter mentions a couple of examples- that of Noah & Lot.

If he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)... (2 Peter 2:5-8)

After Daniel was thrown into the den of lions, king Darius who gave permission for the same, spent the night restlessly.

At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" (Daniel 6:19,20)

And Daniel's answer was: My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king." (Daniel 6:22)

Yes, the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials. If you have been going through trials these days and you have been thinking why you are going through it even when you have been living close to the Lord, be strengthened this day. The Lord who rescued Noah, Lot and Daniel will rescue you too. God bless you.

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And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

The Bible is replete with examples of how God rewards them who have displayed their faith to the Almighty. One of the wonderful things that God does is that he uses simple things through which he displays his power. Things very ordinary, like the staff that Moses had been using for quite a few years. Little did he know about how God was going to transform that staff. While in Exodus 4:2 it is the "staff of Moses", by Exodus 4:20 it has become the "staff of God".

The "staff of Moses" did ordinary things like herding sheep and directing strays, but the "staff of God" helped to do extra-ordinary things like swallowing other staffs and splitting a sea. And imagine Moses' surprise when he threw his staff down at God's command. It became a snake; must have been some poisonous kind, for Moses ran from it.

How true then what the Apostle Paul writes to the Church at Corinth:

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, (1 Corinthians 1:27,28)

30 miracles with a staff. Wonderful. Excitement plus plus....

So what's that in your hands? the Lord asks. A pen, a guitar, a violin, a keyboard? Whatever! Give it into my hands, let me bless it, the Lord says and let the miracles flow..........

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Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. (Psalm 37:5, 6)

2 things: commit your way and then trust in him. Whatever the problem, first lay it at the Lord's feet and then trust in him that he will make a way where there seems no way.

The Israelites often fell into the hands of their enemies because of a lack of commitment to the Lord. During the times of Samuel, the prophet, they suffered at the hands of the Philistines. Samuel advised them to commit themselves afresh to the Lord.

And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, "If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." (1 Samuel 7:3)

If you need continual deliverance from the enemy, you need to remain committed to the Lord. The Apostle Peter writes:

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

And to escape his snares every believer needs to remain committed to the Lord.

Peter's advice to escape the devil's snare is this:

Resist him, standing firm in the faith...... (1 Peter 5:9)

And to stand firm in the faith, we need to remain committed to God and his Word.

The promise for today states- commit and trust- and the result will be- he will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

Let that be a reality in your life. Praise the Lord.