Grace For The Journey

  I offer a word of great comfort and consolation to you today . . . and who reading this (or writing this, for that matter) doesn’t need a word of comfort and consolation? We live in a world that is increasingly marked by uncertainty and chaos, and it is enormously reassuring to know we have a God we can count on.

The Bible says in Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change his mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?”

In all of sacred Scripture it would be hard to find a more reassuring word to the people of God! God is not a man . . . and thank God for that!

• Man lies; God does not.
• Man changes his mind; God’s mind is immutable, unchangeable.
• Man speaks and does not act; when we read “This is what the Sovereign Lord says,” we can count on every word that follows.
• Man promises and does not fulfill; God promises and you can take every one of them to the bank!

We can all recall times when we made promises that we failed to keep; we all remember times when others made promises to us that they failed to keep. The problem is that we often view God in this same uncertain light . . . “Maybe He’ll do it and maybe He won’t.” And this is exactly what Satan wants us to think!

“Has God really said . . .?” the serpent slyly hissed to our first parents. Adam and Eve hesitated . . . and doubted . . . and the result of doubting God’s certain promise was catastrophic for Adam and for Eve and for all mankind.

Yet, can you find a promise God has made that He has not fulfilled?

You and I may waver in our promises!

But when God makes a promise He keeps it!

I’d like to exhort you to become what I like to call a “promise prospector” – one who searches the Scriptures for these nuggets of God’s gold. “There’s gold in them thar hills!” the prospectors from the 1800s cried. Let me assure you that there is gold of infinitely and eternally greater value contained in the Word of God! Here are just three such chunks of pure gold from a Bible that is chock full of them; may they bring you strength and hope, regardless of where this finds you today.

“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2-3)

“[I am] confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

If you enjoyed these promises, let me encourage you to open your Bible and read the 36^th chapter of Ezekiel. See how many promises you can find that God has made to His covenant people. And if you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are one of those people . . . and those promises are for you!

Being a promise prospector is one of the most powerful weapons we have in fighting against the flaming arrows of the evil one. You probably recall that in “the believer’s armor,” which is explained in detail in Ephesians 6:10-18, the only weapon for attacking the devil’s schemes is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Let me encourage you to sharpen your sword every day!

The devil is a liar . . . and God is not. May that truth strengthen your heart today!

T This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”