GOD IS ON HIS WAY DOWN

 

Are you suffering quietly, thinking no one is noticing, hearing, or feeling your pain? Take heart, whatever your plight! God has seen it all—the injustice, the poor health, the isolation, the sadness, the heavy financial burdens, and all the other issues. And He has heard your cries and prayers. Be comforted, He is on His way because enough is enough!

On a larger scale, He came in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, over two thousand years ago to crush and defeat Satan, sin, and death. Through that one act, He is offering freedom to all people; He’s inviting all to put their trust in Jesus and be saved from sin and death. 

On a personal scale, He has purchased all who believe in Jesus for Himself, making us His children. Satan and the powers of darkness are constantly working against us, but God is aware and is working behind the scenes, maintaining control. We have no idea how much or what we’re delivered from every second or every moment. But God knows. He’s in control!

Although saved, we still have issues because of our sinful nature and the work of the enemy; we groan, cry, pray, and are quite often discouraged. Where is God when sin and evil are on the rise, children get shot and killed in school, politicians are lying to us, scams are all over the place, and nations have secret agendas? Where is God in all of this? Our question is, “Doesn’t God care?”

God cares! He sees all our circumstances, pain, and worries, and is intervening in ways we cannot fathom, behind the scenes. Therefore, let’s take heart; He has made us many wonderful promises we can hold onto. When the Israelites were suffering under the rule of an Egyptian pharaoh who knew nothing about Joseph and the history of the Israelites, God appeared to Moses and appointed him to go and deliver His people from captivity.

These are God’s words: “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:7-8). So, as we look at the chaos around us, let’s encourage each other—God is on His way!

Enough is enough; He is on His way to bringing a permanent solution to our plight. One of these days, soon, we will hear the trumpet call of God, and we will be out of here so fast, the rest of the world will be in shock, wondering what happened. And just as He promised to deliver the Israelites, and did, so has He promised us and will! “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). 

Just as God promised to take the Israelites to a wonderful place of their own, so has He promised us a wonderful place-heaven, where our troubles will be over and joy will be ours forever. “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (Revelation 21:3-4).  

This is wonderful news; our Lord is on His way! Let’s look forward with excitement, wonder, and gratitude to His appearance any day now. Amen! “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:21 KJV).

CHRISTMAS

 

God planned Christmas, the birth of Jesus, before the foundation of the world, before creation. What was His reason, you might ask? He knew how the devil would interfere with His creation and intentions for man, thus causing a separation between Him and man. 

He could have prevented the interruption but didn't, because He wanted man to love, trust, and obey Him willingly: by choice. He, therefore, put a plan into place that would defeat the devil, give the fallen man a second chance, and thereby restore His broken relationship with men. 

The first Christmas was only the beginning, the first in a series of events constituting God's redemptive plan. In the first step, Christmas, God became man, in the person of His Son Jesus Christ, born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life among sinners, showing them the way back to God--through grace, for He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT). 

The next event was His death. He willingly laid down His life, suffered at the hands of sinners, who crucified Him. He told His disciples, “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily” (John 10:17 NLT).  They buried Him, sealing the tomb with a huge rock to ensure His disciples wouldn’t be able to move Him out. The devil who motivated them must have thought he had won this fight, but God had a surprise for him! 

The third was His resurrection from the dead. The morning of the third day, there was an earthquake, an angel rolled the stone aside and sat on it. The angel comforted the women who had gone to embalm the body. “Don't be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He isn't here! He is risen from the dead, just as He said would happen” (Matthew 28:5 NLT). Jesus came back to life, delivering a crushing blow to the devil once and for all. Jesus will never die again. Death and the devil were both defeated. That death paid for the sins of all who'd repent, ask for forgiveness, and accept the sacrifice made on their behalf. Because He rose from the dead, those who believe in Him shall also rise someday. 

Fourth, He ascended into heaven as His disciples watched with broken hearts. Angels assured them, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” (Acts 1:11 NLT). 

The final event will be Jesus’ Second Advent. This time, He’ll come not as a baby, but as the King of kings and Lord of lords, and He will set up His kingdom. At His coming, every eye shall see Him (see Revelation 1:7), but it'll be too late for those who have not called on Him for salvation. Judgment and punishment will be all that awaits them, 

As you celebrate Christmas this year, don’t just go through the motions. Understand that God loves you very much, and longs to enter into a personal relationship with you. How do you plan to respond to the One who has gone to such trouble to demonstrate His love for you? He has freed you to love and serve Him willingly. The window of opportunity is limited; it'll close for each person when they die, or when Jesus returns. Nobody knows when either one is going to happen (see Matthew 25:13). I encourage you to call on Him today. As the Bible says, “Today, when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:7 NLT). The Bible also asks, “What makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus Himself?” (Hebrews 2:3 NLT). The answer to this question is obvious—no one can escape punishment if he or she chooses to not respond to God’s love. Decide today! 

CHRISTIAN, YOU ARE CALLED TO PRAY, NOT TO WORRY!

Worry is mental distress or agitation resulting from concern; the book of Proverbs points to its devastating effect: “Worry weighs a person down” (Proverbs 12:25). So, are you, or have you ever been, worried about anything? Although we are Christians and know better, and wish we could say we never worry, the truth is we all do; maybe not all the time or in all circumstances, but all the same it happens.

What do we worry about today? It could be health, our job, marriage, children, finances, and a whole lot more. We worry because we don’t have control over any of these issues, and we fear the potential outcomes could be nothing like we want. Simply put, we’d like to take control away from the One (God) who has it. We’d like to have enough control to decide how things should go. But when we worry, we’re wishing God were not in charge, so we can do things our way, so they turn out exactly how we want.

Worry is a waste of emotional energy and can have devastating consequences on our physical and mental well-being. The worst part is that, no matter how much or how long we worry, we don’t accomplish anything. The issues we worry about do not go away or change for the better.

Jesus asked His disciples, when He was teaching them about money and possessions, “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” (Matthew 6:27). The answer, of course, is a resounding ‘No!’ Jesus told them, although birds don’t grow and harvest their food, God feeds them. And knowing we are more valuable than they are should assure us that He will meet our needs. After all, if He died for us, He must also be interested in our wellbeing. After giving us His One and only Son, isn’t He able to provide for us? He is more than able!

God knows we have the tendency to worry, so He cautions us, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6). Thanking Him should remind us of what He has done in the past, and encourage us to continue to trust Him. In addition to praying, He admonishes us: “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33). What a wonderful assurance!

If we make God our focus and live within His will, He will more than take care of the details of our lives. Let’s learn to hand over our problems to Him in prayer because He has the power and the resources to work them out. We’re so limited in ability, predictability, and resources that even if God gave us the control we long for, things would still not turn out as we want. Our best option is to submit to God and trust Him to work out the details for our good and His glory! 

HOW TO RESPOND TO THE TWISTS AND TURNS OF LIFE

 

I wonder if there’s a single adult out there who could say life has not had twists and turns for them. The truth is, I doubt that anybody could make that assertion; life is full of twists and turns that are unexpected and sometimes unexplainable. But sometimes, after the fact, things become clearer; other times, even later, nothing makes sense.

Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes, had a problem with playing favorites with his children; he loved Joseph so much more than the rest of his children. That led to the other boys disliking and being mean to Joseph (see Genesis 37:2-4). This hatred was so intense that when the opportunity presented itself, they sold Joseph into slavery; in fact, their first instinct was to kill him, but one of the brothers, Reuben, talked them out of that idea (see Genesis 37:20-22).

He was sold to a group of Ishmaelite traders who were on their way to Egypt; they, in turn, sold Joseph to Potiphar, the captain of the guard of the Pharaoh of Egypt (see Genesis 37:36).

One might wonder what went through Joseph’s mind. Where was God when all this was going on? Didn’t He care? Why didn’t He intervene?

Yet, Joseph, after being meanly treated at home by his brothers, sold into slavery, thrown into jail in Egypt because of false accusations by Potiphar’s wife, and then being forgotten by a jail-mate for two years, rose to be a top official in Pharoah’s government.

Wow! Where has God been? That was a lot of injustice in one person’s life. Did Joseph complain and mope around? I wish we could talk to him and put an end to the guesswork, but we can’t. However, his response at the end of this saga leads us to believe that he saw the hand of God at work in all of that. But what was his day-to-day attitude? How soon did he come to the conclusion that his suffering was not for naught?  

After many years of suffering, Joseph, as a governor of Egypt, was now in power! God used him to save lives during seven years of famine in the region. It was so bad; his own family came down to buy food. As the brothers became aware of Joseph’s role in Egypt, they were rightfully terrified! Joseph’s response, as I hinted before, was, “God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh-the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt” (Genesis 45:3-15). WOW!  

Have you ever gone through a bad experience that would just not go away? How did you feel, and how did you handle it? Can we, like Joseph, endure such adversity with grace and patience? We should be able to, by following God’s direction: “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7), and understand that, “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28).

May God help us to remind ourselves that problems don’t just happen; God is sovereign and allows them for a purpose. In addition, we need to lean on Him for strength and courage to endure whatever He allows for His glory!      

DON’T FORGET GOD’S FAITHFULNESS IN THE PAST

 

God is faithful! He never goes back on His Word: “He always does what he says….  For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding ‘Yes!’ and through Christ, our ‘Amen’ ascends to God for his glory” (2 Corinthians 1:19-20). Based on His unchanging nature, we, His children, should live in confidence.

Too often, we live in fear and worry, as though we were orphans, or God our Father was an unreliable human father. Our Father is the King of kings and the Lord of lords; He has all power and can do anything and everything. Everything belongs to Him; after all, He called the world into existence by the Word of His mouth. As the Scriptures remind us, “Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” (Romans 8:32) If God gave us His most prized possession—Jesus -- what can stop Him from meeting our needs?

Knowing who our Father is, how can we eliminate worry and fear from our lives?

Here are a few things we should do:

●     Live in obedience— “The LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right” (Psalm 84:11). God does, however, withhold blessings when we disobey. 

●     Trust His promises- “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me” (John 14:1). God has made us numerous promises; the only way we can find His promises encouraging and helpful is to trust that He does not lie, and therefore will do what He has promised.

●     In addition to trusting His promises, let’s claim them. At Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus commanded them to move the stone away from the tomb’s entrance. Martha, one of Lazarus’ sisters, objected because she was sure the smell would be terrible: after all, he had been dead four days. But Jesus’ response to that was: “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” (John 11:40)

●     Remember His provision in the past

Would you like to confidently trust God when situations look bleak? We can learn from Abraham’s example. Abraham, formerly known as Abram, was a pagan. Yet he obeyed God’s calling to leave his country, family, and all that he had known, and go to a place he knew nothing about. Although he had never had any direct dealings with God, he believed what God told him: “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I’ll show you. I will make you into a great nation. … All the families on the earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:1-3). Abraham obeyed, apparently without question or hesitation. Years later, when he and his wife Sarah were old, beyond child-bearing age, God gave them a son, through whom the promises made to him would be fulfilled. So far, so good!

God later asked Abraham to go and sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering on a mountain in the land of Moriah (see Genesis 22:2). Again, Abraham obeyed! Why didn’t he hesitate, or ask for clarification about how he was going to be the father of many nations if the son of promise is dead? But of course, God stopped Abraham in time; Isaac’s life was spared and he lived to be the father of Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Abraham had learned to trust the God of creation completely. Everything God promised had come to be so far; he had no reason to doubt. He figured God was able to raise Isaac to life, even if he had sacrificed him. Do you remember any prayers God has answered or any promises He has fulfilled in your life? Based on the demonstration of His faithfulness and power in the past, can you trust Him completely with both the present and the future? Can you obey Him even when it makes no sense?

There’s a chorus to a song that should serve as a reminder for all of us: “Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your blessings, see what God has done; count your blessings, name them one by one; count your many blessings, see what God has done!” 

When difficulties and challenges come our way, let’s recount God’s past provision and blessings in our lives, in the lives of others we know, or that we have heard about. If He answered or did something in the past, He is able to do it again. He doesn’t change. His power and abilities don’t diminish with time.       

Abraham, being human, was not perfect, but is a good example of trust and obedience; let’s imitate that aspect of his faith and complete trust in God!