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.

The Promise of Eternal Life

And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

1 John 2:25

One of the greatest things that Christians have is the hope of eternal life promised by God. It is awesome to know that there is life after death. That the earth is but fleeting. We pass through this transient state on earth to reach eternity. And the amount of time spent here on earth is incomparable to the infinite number of years that is eternity. If there is something God did promise us that should get us excited, it is the promise of eternal life. It is not just an eternity that has some semblance to what we experience on earth but utopia. Yes, the eternal life God promises is utopic, it has everything that makes life meaningful and abundant and joyous. And it is devoid of pain and suffering and evil which is what makes the present life difficult.

This life is like a bridge which we must cross. This bridge is not ideal, it is filled with all sorts of obstacles and obstructions. A walk on it is not smooth, therefore courage and steadfastness is required. Sometimes we stumble amidst the many huddles. But we remember that the righteous person may fall several times, though they fall, they will rise again and keep going. And that is the winning mentality that we all need to have while walking this bridge. There is no going back on this journey, we choose to either fall and then rise and keep walking or we can crawl or sit and watch others go through it. The courageous souls walk through it without fear but with confidence knowing that he who made all things had given us a guide-map on how to navigate the bridge. The bible is that guide, it provides hope and reassurance when things get tough. As we are walking through this bridge, we set our minds on the end goal – eternal life and the joys that awaits us. Consider this:

I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his children.  For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God. For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth. But it is not just creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God’s gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us his children and set our whole being free. For it was by hope that we were saved; but if we see what we hope for, then it is not really hope. For who of us hopes for something we see? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Rom 8:18-25

We all hope for eternity as we walk this bridge and when we get to the end of the bridge, we arrive at eternity where our master eagerly awaits to openly welcome us to himself and say well done good and faithful servant. Oh how wonderful that day will be, a day in which we shall all behold him in his full glory. A day where the pain of birth shall culminate in the joy of delivery. A day where we will all heave a sigh of relieve and say, it was worth it.

May God grant us the grace to trust and obey him as we walk in righteousness in anticipation of that which he has promised us – eternal life through his son Jesus Christ. Amen!

Who will roll the stone away?

Bible stories are interesting because they sometimes serve as a mirror of my person or my actions or inactions. A story about a claim that Jesus made to his disciples in Mark 9:31 is one we need to look at; he told his disciples that he will be killed and on the third day he will resurrect. This claim was not just known by the disciples, it was known by the whole community and the Jewish authorities.

So, when Jesus died on the cross, a whole lot the apostles went hiding. A lot of them lost hope and perhaps forgot what Jesus said, that he will rise on the third day. I suppose there hoped that they will always have Jesus with them, because they saw all the miraculous things he did. When Jesus was with them, they were powerful, they could confront any Jewish religious leader or proponent of their time. Jesus made them feel powerful, confident and fulfilled. Isn’t that what we feel when we trust God and things go well for us, we tend to feel God’s presence ever more. It is easier to feel the presence of God amidst plenty but less so if things are not going well.

To show perhaps how Jesus’ disciples did not fathom or dare I say believe that he will resurrect on the third day; three women went to the tomb with spices and for the purpose of anointing the dead body of Jesus (Mark 16:1-11). They did what was customary. The interesting thing to point out in this story is what they did on their way, they wondered and asked the question: “who is going to roll away the stone?” You will think that Jesus having raised Lazarus from the dead will be a poignant point from which they could believe. But your guess may be as good as mine; the mere fact that the Jews were able to kill Jesus could have dampened their faith in him. He is dead, now it is over, they may have wondered.

Isn’t it fascinating to note that the authorities or the people who did not believe in Jesus tried to preempt a resurrection albeit a possible fraudulent ploy? But the believers did not? The Jewish leaders at least remembered Jesus’ saying and anticipated it. You see, sometimes we who believe may sometimes struggle with God’s commands and promises even more than those who do not believe. So, the Jewish authorities sent guards to the tomb. They were looking out for any foul play by the disciples. But you could argue that the disciples should have perhaps thought about going there just to see if Jesus will rise as he said. But the three women went there to anoint a dead body.

How often do we find ourselves doing something similar? Even after seeing all the promises in scripture, we rationalize. “You do not know my situation; it is too grave.” “I do not think I can come back from this.” “My burdens are too great, or my situation is unique, no one will understand.”

Jesus did rise from the dead just like he said he will; in fact, the angels asked the three women. “why are you looking for the living among the dead.” So, the question for us then is; why do we so often lose hope when God has said we shouldn’t? Why do we give up too easily? Why do we not take the word of God on face value? Why do we not often give thanks in all situations? You can go on and on about the different scenarios that make us question God’s promises. But the encouragement is that we should be calm, and trust that the one who has promised will never fail.

Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day, just as he promised. His blood cleanses and continues to cleanse us of all sins, just as was promised. He will always help when there is trouble just as he promised. He will give when we ask; he will open when we knock just as he promised. Is it not an amazing thing to know that we serve a promise keeping God!

Count the Stars

Sometimes in our own lives, we go through moments where it feels/looks like there will be no light at the end of the tunnel, as though our world is falling apart. The challenges of life which we all face can be so daunting that some people choose different ways to either cope with or deal with whatever situation they are in. Whether it is grief, pain, loss or whatever. In fact, some people accept their deplorable conditions sometimes and for good reasons too. When the physical evidence/fact is so convincing, how can you dare to believe otherwise? It is a difficult and a near impossible thing to do from the natural point of view. But for those who believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the impact the word of God has, there is often another way. The fact/evidence can always be weighed in relation to what the word says. Because whatever we go through, there is a word that God has spoken concerning such challenges or situations.

For example, James 5:13-15 says:

Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up…. (James 5:13-15)

When in suffering, pray; when you are cheerful, sing; when sick, call for elders to pray and you will be healed. There is that certainty that the Lord will do what he says he will do, but how often do we find the courage to believe! You see, God gives us a new frame of reference concerning any difficult situation and surely with regards to other life issues more of such can be sought out in the scriptures. A frame of reference is said to be a set of criteria or stated values in relation to which measurements or judgements can be made. For the believer, the word of God is the frame of reference. Every judgement or decision should be made with that as the bases.

Consider the man Abram, who had no child and both he and his wife had grown old to the point where they could no longer naturally bear children. But God changed their frame of reference from the natural using a natural phenomenon as a physical reminder – God asked him to count the stars. Basically, he gave them something else to consider. Abram was to count the stars if he could; because his offspring were going to be as much as the stars (Gen 15).

But how did this help Abram? Well, certainly it did because he believed and it was counted for him as righteousness. And I’d like to believe that Abram would go out in the night day after day to count the stars after he received that promise. He must have attempted to count the stars and realised it is was an impossible task. And this must have brought about renewed hope and joy at the thought of having that many children.

But what do stars have to do with babies? There was not a single “star” in Abram’s life yet and the situation naturally did not favour him. Yet he believed against the staggering odds and it was counted as righteousness. For Abram, there was no hope prior to God’s word to count the stars, hence accepted the fact/evidence that the servant will become the heir. But then God showed up and gave a word. Not just a word but a physical frame of reference too. Something that Abram could look up to every night to remind him of the promise. And eventually, he had Isaac, the child of promise.

You see, the difference between the fact/evidence is the word; what changes facts into other facts is the transcendental – the word of God, which is alive and is like a two-edged sword and capable of dividing asunder to the very soul. If we lift the word of God concerning any situation or fact/evidence, we obtain another frame of reference, another evidence that says, count the stars because even in childlessness, there are children, in sickness, pray and you will be healed; in joy, sing praises.

Your stars may be different depending on your circumstance, there could be the physical elements that you can look at and remind yourself that God had made a promise that can never go unfulfilled. Your stars could be a mental picture of what has been promised or a physical thing that helps you visualise what has been promised. It could be your blessings, as the popular hymn says; count your blessings and name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. So, get in the habit of ‘counting your stars’ to obtain a new frame of reference while you are waiting on God.

 

 

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.

Why Doubt?

So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” – Matt 14:29-30

As mortals, we do not know what the future holds, but how nice would it be to know what the future holds for us? And if we knew, could we stop worrying because we know what is going to happen anyway? Would that solve the problem of doubt and worry. Some may say, if only I knew tomorrow, then I would stop worrying. But hang on, what if what you were to know about tomorrow was to cause you grief. One author said, “if I knew the future, I would change it, but then it wouldn’t be the future anymore.” What if you knew and can’t do anything about it? You see, the difference between what we know today, and the future is time. And another writer said that time is perhaps the greatest mystery.

As an example, Jesus knew what would happen to him on the cross. What did he do about that knowledge? He sought to avoid it because of the grief he was to bear, but glory be to God he sought the will of God to hold sway for our sake. The physical body does not like pain or sorrow. So, if we knew our future, am sure we would seek to avoid the pain, suffering and sorrow that may be there at some point in our lives as part of the refining process.

The lack of knowledge or certainty about the future creates doubts but a knowledge of what the future holds will equally create doubt and fear. Could I bear what will happen to me in the future if I knew it? Will I walk down that road, if I knew I were to die there even though I know I would die anyway? We do know that we are all going to die and some still worry about it. Tough one, isn’t it?

You see, a future hidden from us is a blessing. It is a blessing because the future is kept secure by one who is certain, one who promised a good future – Jer 29:11.  The future is secure anyway, so why doubt? Why fear? Why not just believe the infallible promise?

Well, I suppose it is because we like the feeling of being in control of the situation or being safe and taking as little risk as possible. Risks involve going into unfamiliar territory.  Believing what is not seen is taking a risk. Faith in God and his promises is a risk. And I dare to say it is a risk worth taking.

Peter found himself in a dire situation and decided to take a risk – he requested to walk on water with Jesus. How interesting it was to do what the master did. Am sure he was excited to be able to walk on water, a feat no mere human can achieve. In the middle of the excitement he looked around his environment, and must have thought for a second, “how is it that I am able to walk on water!”. The environment scared him. He must have started thinking, what if I drown, of course having been a fisherman, he knew what such wind could do. He probably had seen the aftermath of shipwrecks caused by such boisterous winds. And that got to him, for a moment he took his eyes off his source, Jesus. He forgot the one who instructed him to join in on the “water walking quest”. Just a moment’s slip was all it took for him to sink.

Sometimes, we find ourselves walking in faith and looking onto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith only to consider the winds around us. We all go through these moments, don’t we? Moments when we rely on God’s promises and rejoice in his goodness. You see, Peter believed and achieved one of the greatest feats in human history – apart from Jesus, he was the only other known human to have walked on water.

Imagine the impossible feats that we could achieve without doubt and fear. Peter only began to sink the moment that doubt crept in. We sometimes look at our accomplishments, and we are amazed like Peter’s amazement at his water-walking feat. It was amazing and God does great things through us in many ways and is ever willing to use us to his glory.

So, if only we can think of what God can do through us, if only we could ask Jesus to bid us walk on water with him, if only we could believe his promises enough to lunch out and take that risk, we would accomplish great things to the glory of God.

The question that Jesus asked Peter was, why doubt? So, why doubt when you know the one who promised is all-powerful and all-knowing. Why doubt when you know he is unwavering? Why doubt when you can rely on his promises? Why doubt when you know he can never let a single promise of his go unfulfilled?

Why doubt when you can believe for the seemingly impossible. Why doubt when you can pray? Why doubt when you can believe God for your healing? Why doubt when you can believe God for your financial needs or any need whatsoever? Has he not promised? Will he not fulfil it?

Hope in God’s Promises

God cannot Lie

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? – Num 23:19

What has God said will happen that has not yet happened? Often times as humans we make promises, sometimes we fail to make good on those promises; usually not because we do not want to make good of such promises. That is, we often fail to meet deadlines, give out what we promised, keep our word in any way or concerning anything. Am sure you can look back and imagine when you were so certain you were going to do something only to forget or hit a wall of some sort and not make good on such promise. Or when you did everything within your power to make good on a promise, yet circumstances outside of your control meant you could not do so. Oh, how frustrating it feels when you cannot seem to do what you set out to do.  What am trying to say here is, we sometimes fail to keep our words either because of happenstances or just because we forgot. And it feels terrible when it happens. Why it happens you may guess is because we are fallible. As much as we try to avoid such situations, we find that sometimes it happens. Even the most organised person may forget. A mother’s love for her child is one so great that the scripture uses it to draw a parallel with God’s love for humanity, yet a mother may forget to care or provide for her loving child for various reasons despite her love for such child.

Well, the point here is that we are fallible. But imagine what it will feel like if we never failed to make good on our promises. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? I bet it would.  God on the other hand is not like us and he has really made it clear that whatever he promises, he will do. He is all-knowing and of course can never forget. He is above circumstances, and there were times throughout the scriptures that ‘circumstances’ attempted to invalidate his promises but every time that happened, he went outside of the realm of nature to ensure his words came to pass and we call that a miracle. Basically, he rearranges physical things natural law and order to keep his word. The Hebrew writer showed this by saying;

…by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. – Heb 6:18

The impossibility for God to lie or fail to keep his promises is a source of hope for those who wait on him and rely on his words. It is a reason by which believers hold on to the word of God. It is a source of strength to know that there is nothing that can stop the one who has promised from delivering. How significant these words are in terms of reawakening our faith. So, are you waiting on God concerning anything? Remember, they who wait on him shall renew their strength and soar like the eagle. Therefore keep believing and hoping because his words are yes and amen. It will come to pass.

When God says that he is our comforter, our healer, our provider he means it by every fibre of his being. Remember when he says that instead of his words to fail, the world would rather pass away. How significant is that, just knowing that when we hold on to his promise, when we hope on him, the world would rather end instead of us not seeing the promise fulfilled. He said, don’t worry about anything, but through prayers and supplication, let your needs be made known to God. He even urges us to consider the birds of the air who do not sow or reap but are being fed. If he does that, will he not do more for his children? Of course, he will.

4 Things You Need To Do About God’s Promises!

Quite often these days we may hear someone state that they will come through with whatever they needed to do. Usually, one might say something like. “I promise I will do so and so”. Or a kid may ask the mum or dad to promise to make good on their promise. By that I mean, a parent may tell their kid that they will buy them a toy or take them to McDonald’s or holiday somewhere. Sometimes these “promises” are meant to get the kids off their back. But sometimes they are genuine promises. And sometimes people may forget to make good on their promises. I mean, can you remember how many times you said you were going to do something for someone and then you forgot or even knowingly reneged? It seems to come natural to humans, one strong reason being that we are fallible and sometimes have a lot of things on our plates.

But we can learn from an infallible God who never promises without making good on such promises. He promised to send his son to die for the sins of the world and he did. He promised to make Abraham the father of all nations even when he never had a child, and he did make good on that promise. They are so many promises that God has made and has fulfilled them all and so many other promises has been made and will be fulfilled.

Looking at one of such fulfilment of promises will shed more light on the process. In the book of 1 Kings 17, God promised that it will rain in Israel after three and a half years of drought and famine. Of course, before then, Elijah had told Ahab, the king that it will not rain in Israel except at his (Elijah’s) word.

At the end of those years, God said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.” – 1 Kings 18:1.

When it was time to bring the rain in verses 41 to 44, Elijah after having killed the prophets of Baal clearly told king Ahab to go and have some food for there was a sound of a rain. Well, at this time there was nothing indicating that a rain was coming except of course, the word of the Lord. When king Ahab went to eat, Elijah went up on to the mountain to pray.

He prayed the first time and told his servant to look towards the sea if there was any sign of a rain. The servant said no, there was nothing. For the second time Elijah prayed and asked the servant to look again, there was nothing. This happened for six consecutive times. But wait, I thought he heard the sound of the rain, the servant may have wondered, I would’ve probably wondered myself, wont you? Six good times, after Elijah had prayed, nothing happened, there was no sign of the rain. But then he prayed again for the seventh time. The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” (v44) Now, the sign of the rain he heard of had appeared, he was to inform king Ahab to start his journey home lest the rain meets him on the way. But by this time, there was no drop of water.

Hang on a minute, what happened here? Did God not promise rain? Why did Elijah have to pray for seven times before the sound he heard (from God) to be in sight? How long was he willing to pray until the sign will show up? I believe he would’ve continued until he saw the sign. You see, firstly Elijah heard the voice of the Lord and believed it. And then he prayed for seven consecutive times for the sign of the rain to show. When he saw the sign, he now heralded the king of the coming rain. When he did this, he only saw the sign, not the rain but the rain came after that.

What can we draw from here? For things to come to be in our lives, we need to do the following four things:

1. Seek out the promise of God in the scripture

– For every circumstance or situation in life, God has given a word – whether it concerns health, career, finance, marriage, children. If we but seek out these words and promises then we would have set in motion the process to seeing them fulfilled in our lives (Matt 7:7).

2. Believe the promise

We do need to believe the promises of God and internalise it knowing that he can never fail. Of course, God is infallible and promised that the earth will rather pass away instead of his word going unfulfilled (Matt 24:35). He is fully committed to seeing his will and his word being fulfilled in the lives of his children.

3. Pray for the promise to be fulfilled.

When we believe the promise of God, we then need to pray for it to come to pass. Now prayers here is in faith and strong believe that because God had promised, then he will surely bring it to pass. Remember Elijah, he prayed and expected, even before he started praying for the rain to come, he told king Ahab to eat because the rain was coming. Believe in God’s promises will give you the confidence to tell others of your expectations because you will know that it will surely come to pass. That, we can learn from Elijah. And just in case you think that Elijah was a super human being, James 5:17-18 made it clear that Elijah was like us fallible human beings and prayed that it would not rain except at his word and it happened.

4. Continue in prayers until the promise is fulfilled.

Elijah continued praying for as long as it took before he saw the sign of the rain. For him, it took seven times to see that happen. And Jesus when his time to face the cross was near prayed three times. Also, Daniel continued praying for 21 days until his prayer was answered (Dan 10:12-13). Jesus also reiterated the principle of persistent prayer in the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8). So, how long should you pray about your needs or challenges? Simple, persist until the answer comes. It may take a few attempts, a few days, some months, some years but to see the promise fulfilled, God has left it for us to draw it down from heaven through persistent prayers.

Has God promised anything? He will surely bring it to pass. However, we have a duty to seek it out, believe it, pray and continue to pray until it comes to pass.