Category: promise

Posted on

Honoring a Parent’s Legacy

2 Chron 2-3, 1 Kings 5-6  Solomon has been anointed king over Israel, and just as we might do, he began to plan how to honor his father’s wishes to build a magnificent temple. His father had planned and organized the materials and now Solomon just had to execute the plan. Solomon calls on his father’s dear friend, Hiram to help with the execution of the building. We all need a true friend who will stand in the gap for us and guide us in our endeavors. Hiram knew David well and he now gets to meet and help David’s son. He gave God praise for David for raising a wise son who has a discerning and keen heart to accomplish the task. Do others see that our parents have raised us to have these characteristics?  

 The temple was to be out of the ordinary; in fact, it was to be spectacular. All was to be covered in gold and the inner court would hold the cherubim images, not to be worshiped, but to be a reminder of God’s glory. Humbly Solomon knew that nothing in the heavens or earth would come close to who God is yet as part of David’s legacy he would fulfill that vision of a temple where people could come to worship. In the NT Paul reminds us that a physical temple is not what God requires, but a temple of a person and their heart; therefore be ye holy as God is holy.

Posted on

Promises

Promises are to be kept

Joshua 16-18 A Promise made is a Promise Kept
Gentle reminders! Have you made a promise, and it is forgotten in the midst of busyness? So, God gives us this story to remind us that a promise made is a promise to be kept.

Zelophehad had no sons but only daughters and not just one but five! Earlier, these savvy sisters went to Moses to claim the inheritance of their father, but amid busyness, the leaders needed a gentle reminder of this promise. So, they go to Joshua to claim their promise, and Joshua doesn’t blink an eye. They were bold amid the leaders and the men. Here’s what it says: They came near before Eleazar, the priest, and before Joshua, the son of Nun, and before the leaders, saying, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” So according to the command of the LORD, he gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers.” [Joshua 17:3-6]

There are lessons here: If you make a promise, keep it. Secondly, Sisters, stay strong and claim your inheritance. This is ours today that we can claim: God is a promise keeper! 1Jo 2:25 Now this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life.

Posted on

Welcome, Long Awaited News!

Messiah has come

Matt 1-4 It has been 400 yrs. of silence since Malachi closed the OT. It was as if God rolled up the heavens like men roll up a scroll. What was He doing? What was He saying? What took place in those years? Today just as long ago, people were born, lived, and died. Rulers came and went, and nations have come and gone on just as before. Today’s newspapers and headlines read like the Jerusalem Post, which people read looking for that blessed hope that was promised so long ago through the prophets of old. They read the scriptures over and over, thinking that in them they would have eternal life in them; yet it is these that testified about Messiah’s coming. [Jn 5:39]

And then, with a word from heaven, the scroll unrolled to reveal the words of Malachi [Mal 4:5] “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet to prepare the way of the Lord.” And Isaiah’s words came true! A virgin would conceive, and Messiah would come through her, as Isaiah had said. [Is 7:14KJV] He would be able to trace his lineage through the royal halls of men and women such as Tamar, Ruth, Rahab, and Bathsheba. He would come to prove that God’s silence was but for a moment. Messiah came just as He promised!

Are you hungering and thirsting for righteousness? [Matt 5:6] Are you waiting for Messiah to come? He came just as He said. Have you met Him? He is waiting to reveal Himself to you.
Messiah, open the eyes of the blind to see You, open their ears to hear You, and open their hearts to receive you.

Posted on

Read, Rehearse, Remember

The scroll of remembrance

Malachi 1-4 The Three “R’s”
Today if you speak to people about church attendance and Bible reading, they often turn up their noses and say, like the Israelites of old, it is useless, and besides that, there are hypocrites in the church. [Mal 3:14] They have a warped view and, like Asaph in Ps 73, see with their physical eyes that it is not the godly who are blessed but those who cut corners. So they ask, why then do I need God? Asaph learned, and Malachi also reminded the Israelites that God, who is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, sees all. He has a book of remembrance of those who are faithful and true. [Mal 3:16] Will your name be there? God challenges them to test him and bring their tithe into His storehouse and see that He will pour out a blessing that is so great it will be beyond their wildest imagination. [Mal 3:10]

People think all they need to do is good works, but Isaiah wrote: our works are like filthy rags. It isn’t just enough to do good works; one must “read” and must “rehearse” His Word over and over, which causes one to “remember” what God has said. God never changes; He is the same today as He was yesterday. [Mal 3:6] His blessings are new every day. [Lam 3:23]

Is your name on the scroll or book of remembrance?

Posted on

Jesus our Redeemer

Christ is our Redeemer

Isaiah  52-54 Redeemer!

Isaiah  echoes the voice of Job: As for me, “I know that my Redeemer lives and
that as the last he will stand upon the earth].” [Job 19:25] Over and
over, Isaiah reminds the children of God that they are redeemed. “You
shall be redeemed without money.” [Is 52:3 NJJV] “He has redeemed
Jerusalem.” [Is 52:9 NKJV]  The redemption price was exorbitant; it was
the very life of Christ, the Servant, who bore the iniquities of us all upon
his body.

We stand redeemed because of His sacrifice; He bore our iniquities that we might stand
righteous in His sight. The crucifiers made His grave with the wicked, but
Joseph of Arimathea, the rich man, offered his tomb for Christ to fulfill the
words of God. [Is 53:9-11 NKJV] “But with everlasting kindness, God says, He
will have mercy upon them because he is the Lord their Redeemer.” [Is 54:8
paraphrase]

In 1775, Samuel Medley captured this thought in his hymn: “I know that my Redeemer
lives! What comfort this sweet sentence gives! He lives, he lives, who once was
dead; he lives, my ever living head!”

Stop and praise Him for His marvelous work of redemption. “The Lord of Hosts is His
name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.” [Is 54:5 NKJV]

Scriptures today from NKJV.

 


	


	





		

		
Posted on 
Why do we recall what God has forgiven?
	


			

			
				The clouds tell a story: you are forgiven			
		

	
	

		

Isaiah 43-45 Defeat Satan—Recall God Promises





One of the enemy’s tactics is to recall to our mind our past sins to distract us. It is one of his “deadly d’s,” and he is proficient in this regard. Perhaps the Jerusalemites were in this state of mind, so Isaiah comes to them to say: “Don’t remember these earlier events; don’t recall these former events.” [Is 43:18] and “your sins I do not remember.” [Is 43:25] and “I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud,” [Is 44:22] What a perfect visual image! As the clouds move across the sky remember this promise: “As far as the eastern horizon is from the west, he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions from us.” [Ps 103:12]





Satan’s ploy is this; he doesn’t want you to recall these promises but wants you to set your mind on your past sins. Don’t let him get a foot in the door of your heart. Instead, do as Jesus did: “Get thee behind me Satan.”





Concentrate on the promises of God! He forgives and does not remember our past, so why do we?

	


	





		

		
Posted on 
The Two Paths of Life
	


			

			
				Two distinct paths			
		

	
	

		

Proverbs 1-3  God’s path leads to wisdom if we fear/revere Him. Therefore, the foundational principle is that if we want to be wise, it must start not just with our head but our heart’s knowledge of who He is. He is holy, He is in heaven, and as the author of Eccl so succinctly says: God is in heaven; therefore, let your words be few (I think he means may our words be wisely chosen.)





Prov 1:7 is the overarching principle: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction. Thus, Solomon, as the author, reflects on the positive along with the negative. In Prov 3:5-6, he again gives us another overarching principle along with God’s promise: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.





What path am I on or what path are you on? God’s path is clear and to obedient is my desire; is it yours?

	


	





		

		
Posted on 
What does your faith meter register?
	


			

			
				What does your faith meter say			
		

	
	

		

Judges 13-15 Do you trust God to answer your prayers? If God were to measure it on a meter stick, what would it say? In these chapters, we meet a couple who are childless. We wonder if they had prayed for a child for a short time or a long time. Time matters nothing in God’s eyes. What matters to God is the depth of our faith.  





In these chapters, we meet a  barren woman who has been praying for a child and as she works in the field she encounters the angel of God who announces that her prayer has been answered. In her excitement, she tells her husband about this news but her husband, Manoah, is a man who faces a crisis of belief. He prays that the man would return and confirm this news.  And so God responds by returning and confirming the news. As Manoah listens, he wants to offer a meal to this unexpected guest. As the meal is poured out and received, the “guest,” a.k.a the Angel of the Lord, ascends to heaven and Manoah’s crisis of belief resurrects itself! “surely we will die for we have seen God.” [Judges 13:22] 





Now we see what true faith is: Mrs. Manoah told her husband, look at the evidence! God answered our prayer! He accepted our offering! He wouldn’t have shown us these things or let us hear something like this if he wanted to kill us! [Judges 13:23] While Manoah was wallowing in his crisis of belief, Mrs. Manoah’s faith was strengthened and God opened her womb and gave her a son. 





When God speaks, do we believe Him 100 %! What does our faith meter reveal? 

	


	





		

		
Posted on 
God is a Promise Keeper
	


			

			
				God is a promise keeper			
		

	
	

		

Joshua 21-24 A Charge – A Confession – Conclusion





Joshua is now 110 yrs. old, and he has seen God at work. He is old and advanced in years and knows that he will pass from this scene, but before he dies, he charges the Israelites to honor, obey and revere God. They say they will do this, but Joshua reminds them that God is jealous and will not share His glory with another. They confess that they will do as Joshua has commanded and erect a stone to commemorate their decision. Unfortunately, those words will fade from their memories, as we will see in the book of Judges, where everyone did what was right in their own eyes, not God’s. [Judges 17:6] What will our descendants choose?





When we near the time when God will take us home, do we remind our loved ones to choose God above all else because they will face the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. [1 Jn. 2:16] Are they prepared because we have been faithful to teach His Word and live it faithfully? [Ps. 78:4] Joshua did, yet he knew that these three would draw them away into sin.





Beloved, God is a promise keeper and we must be a promise keeper and be faithful to God and His Word so that our descendants will honor and revere God. Who are we preparing to take over the mantle of faithfulness when we pass on?

	


	





		

		
Posted on 
Drawing 2021 to a close…
	


			

			
				Blessings come to the obedient			
		

	
	

		

As we leave this year, may we consider that the focus is always the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.  These words are given to “teach, reprove, correct and train us in righteousness.” [2 Tim 3:16] The reader is blessed if they “read the words of this prophecy aloud, and hear and obey the things written in it because the time is near!” [Rev 1:3]





John’s message is again “grace and peace” from the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth, from the one who loved and loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his blood.” [Rev 1:5]





We began at the beginning, and now we are here at the end.  God revealed His plan in Genesis, and now we see that the plan was always about His Son, Jesus Christ, and His work as Redeemer.  He stands in the midst of the golden lampstands dressed in his royal, kingly garments.  One day “we will be like him because we will see him just as he is.” [1 John 3:2] He is “the Alpha and Omega, the one who is, and who was and who is still to come.” [Rev 1:8] He came to take away our sins. 





Are you prepared to meet him and hear the voice of the archangel with the trump of God? Then, encourage one another with these words.

	


	



	
		

	

	





		


		
	









	





























Optimized by Optimole