He Promised ALL Things

In 2 Pet 1:3, the apostle Peter spoke of the divine power of God having given us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness. The apostle Paul echoed a similar message in his writing to the Romans in chapter 8 verse 32. He said that if God did not spare his own Son but gave him up to die for us, that he will also through his son give us ALL things. Little wonder Paul himself proclaimed that he could do ALL things through Christ who strengthens him when he wrote to the Philippians.

The keyword throughout these statements is ALL. Not some, not many, not few but ALL things are promised. That is a precious promise of a never-failing God. One who would rather see the earth come to an end to avoid the unfulfillment of his word; and yes, he is that serious. He is the one that is reliable, capable and specialises in the impossible.

Despite ALL these promises, it can sometimes become difficult to appropriate the blessings to ourselves.  And that happens mostly because we do not possess the prerequisite for receiving the promise – faith.

One element within these promises that is important to note is that all these promises are to be experienced through the knowledge of the word of God. Because faith comes through the knowledge of God. When we build our faith to the point of taking God by his words even when our present physical experiences or circumstances do not align with the word of God, then we start our journey towards receiving the blessings that come with the promises.

The fact that God makes his promises with a very strong and certain language without mincing words or trying to give caveats is really interesting. When he says he has given us everything we need for life and godliness, do we believe it when our situations are not aligning or when we are not seeing physical evidence to support that assertion? What about when he talks about giving us everything? Does he really mean it? What does everything or ALL things really mean? What does it include? Is it just eternal life? What about material things?

You see, we can discuss all the what abouts or what-ifs. It won’t change the fact that those certain statements of promises were made. To experience them, we need to reflect on our lives and our ways to make sure that we are in tune with God, to ensure that we are obedient to his words and that we are seeking him with all our hearts. Because whoever seeks God with all their hearts will find him. Instead of asking the what abouts or what-ifs, we should be looking inward and surrendering ourselves to him, to allow him to use us, to allow him to direct and guide us through his words. When we do this, we will be well on our way to enjoying the blessings of the promises.

DISAPPOINTMENT: A BLESSING IN DISGUISE?

Disappointment sadly is common to all; in fact, it can be said to be a daily experience as it happens everywhere around the world. It could be caused by people we love or from social or even religious institutions. Sometimes we expect something from someone and they fail us. Or maybe we tried and failed a test or examinations. Or it could even be a spouse or kid or parent that did not do what they said they will do. Perhaps a boss at work did not make good on their promises. The effect of disappointments can be very telling. But imagine going out to do the job you do daily without any success or should it be said, imagine putting out your wares and spending all day without selling anything. Tough!

Well, consider a group of fishermen who perhaps had come to master the art of casting nets and catching fishes doing so all night but catching nothing at all. How terrible could they have been at their job to catch no fish at all for over 10 hours perhaps? What could they have done wrong? A bad day at the office maybe?

This was the experience of one Peter over two thousand years ago in the Lake of Gennesaret in ancient Palestine (Luke 5:1-11). They went all night across the lake fishing without catching anything. They were professionals, who probably had a terrible day at work. I am struggling to imagine how that happened, could they not have caught anything at all? Disappointing. Don’t we all have such disappointments in life sometimes, when we spend so many hours doing something only for it to become effort in futility?

What is interesting here is that, at this moment of frustration, a certain man, Jesus who was teaching a large crowd came along and asked to borrow Peter’s boat for his purpose. Basically, he just wanted to put himself where his crowd could hear him better. How insensitive, you could say, these men are here washing their nets and getting ready to leave and you want to borrow their boat? What if they finish and are ready to go, would they have to wait for him to finish his teaching?

Now after having finished teaching, he turned to Peter and his crew and said, “put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Imagine his effrontery, is he not just a Rabbi [teacher] perhaps, what would he know about fishing? Peter’s response to all this drama is quite interesting because he protested first of all and said, look we have toiled all night without catching anything but now we are washing our nets and getting ready to go, nevertheless at your word I will let down the net. It has to be said that there was no guarantee given that they had caught nothing all night, yet Peter obeyed – Peter took the risk, he obeyed and cast his net and then witnessed a miracle.

Wow, just wow. What obedience! That is awesome. It is even more interesting that when they caught more fish than they could handle, Peter soon realised that no ordinary person could do that.

You see, with their knowledge of that Lake and having fished there on numerous occasions perhaps, they could not fathom how this man would just ask them to cast their net once and they caught all that. He instantly realised that this man was not ordinary and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”.

Let’s pause a bit and reason and learn a few lessons;

1. God sometimes let us catch nothing so as to get our attention

Had it been that Peter and his crew caught some fish, they may not have realised what Jesus did for them. Imagine catching nothing all night and then just obeying Jesus and then you catch more than you could handle in a few minutes. When God shows up, the evidence will be clear, and you will know that he has showed up for you.

Perhaps that disappointment is God showing up for you and saying, I will give you something better. Can you trust me despite the disappointment? Can you hang in there and keep believing and not give up? Can you turn it over to me and let me handle it?

2. Obedience is Key

Peter never complained but borrowed his boat to the Rabbi who needed it. He also obeyed by casting his net when told to do so. He however let the Rabbi know that they had toiled all night without catching. So when next you toil all night without catching anything  or when next you experience a disappointment, just know that it may be that Jesus is near and you need to listen and let him use your ‘boat’ and cast your net at his command by surrendering to him and letting him lead.

3. Willingness to let go of the blessing

Peter and his crew left everything and followed Jesus when Jesus said, come follow me, I will make you fishers of men. He did not care about the great fish he caught anymore but wanted to follow the one at who’s voice he had a great catch. Sometimes, when the blessings show up, we need to be willing to let them go for the cause of the one who gave it to us in the first place and he can then use us in even greater ways. Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, his only son at the request of the one who gave him. Maybe God just uses the things he blesses us with to see if we would be faithful in that little so as to bless us with more. Maybe the disappointment is an envelope for a blessing.

You are a Blessing!

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.” – Gen 12:1-2

God said that he will bless Abraham and make him a blessing. To do so, he instructed Abraham to leave his present country into the land for which he, God was going to show him. Now, this instruction or commandment came with promises.  It is quite significant to notice that whenever God calls his people, he instructs them on what to do and gives them a promise. A similar thing is noticed throughout the scripture.

For Abraham, he promised a great nation and numerous blessings. For Moses and the Israelites he promised a land flowing with milk and honey. And for Christians today, he made a number of promises, and one significant promise is:

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” – Matt 19:29

Being a Christian may require you to make sacrifices; sometimes you may be a loggerheads with family members when you choose to become a Christian, sometimes you may be picked on by work colleagues, you may be called a weirdo. And permit me to say that if the world does not question some of our resolves and believes then it may be worth having an introspection to see if we are really living for God, because Christians ought to be transformed and not conform to the world. So, the question is, has God called you out of the world into his marvelous kingdom of light? Then you can be rest assured that he will take care of you, he will bless you in ways you can never imagine. And most importantly, he will make you a blessing to your generation.

See, God makes us instruments for which his blessings flow to other people. Therefore, we are conduits or instruments or vessels. We are stewards of his blessings, so whatever he gives us, he expects us to use it to our benefit as well as to other people’s benefit. Notice also that when God blesses, he uses people to do so, hence he wants to make use of every one of his child to bless the world.

Worthy of note also is that Abraham’s blessings lay in the land for which God had sent him. If he did not go where God was leading him, the promises of course would not have been fulfilled. So, he had to leave his comfortable home and go into his land of promise. In his land of promise were several challenges. So the story of Abraham also teaches a significant lesson about perseverance. Abraham had to go through a lot, he went through childlessness until his adult life. But God came through for him. It shows that even when we are where God wants us to be, sometimes we may have tribulations, but we need to be of good cheer because Jesus Christ rightly said that he has overcome the world (John 16:33).

Today, we are all Abraham’s descendants because he obeyed God and went to his promised land. Imagine what will happen if we just let go, follow God and let him lead us to our promised land. The promised land could be a job/career, school, location, marriage, friendship. It could well be giving up bad habits, trusting God more, worshipping him in spirit and in truth, fellowshipping with one another or praying more. Or it could be starting up a business or charity organization, or even witnessing to more people about God. Whatever it is, be encouraged and walk into your land of promise this new year 2019 you will be filled with his blessings, hence you will become a blessing to others.