It's a process

“And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided…And the waters receded continually…the waters decreased continually…and it came to pass that the waters were dried up from the earth.” Genesis 8, selected

In the trials of life, it can often feel like the flood is overwhelming us. It seems we will never see day again, nor recover from the calamity. Yet here in the story of the great flood is a beautiful principle of the way God delivers and restores us. 

It’s a process.

In fact, process is the way God most often works. We cry for a miracle of deliverance, and in His love and mercy, He sometimes does that immediate work—and oh how wonderful that is when He does! Most often, though, He has us go through the process, trusting His promise and hanging on in faith.

We should take great comfort in Noah’s story. You can imagine the awesome fear they must have felt to see destruction come on the earth, to see all that they knew destroyed. They floated in that boat for one hundred and fifty days, having nothing but the promise of God to hang on to. When the day came, the rain ceased…and they waited. The water started to go down and the boat finally rested on Ararat. Yet they had to wait longer. They watched the mountaintops appear, the mud begin to dry out, and still they waited.

But the day came when Noah knew it was over. They came out on dry land into a new world and a fresh beginning. The hard time was behind them and God met them with blessing and a new life.

Be encouraged today…and trust His process!

Bible study:  Isaiah 25:9; Acts 14:22; 2 Corinthians 4:17; 1 Peter 5:10

(Photo by Marco Fono on Unsplash)

Power for Kingdom work

"And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness."  (Act 4:31)
 
Why did Jesus come to earth? He came to call us into God’s Kingdom—to receive salvation and a restored relationship with the Father through him by the Spirit.

He left us an amazing example of how to do the work of the Kingdom. After his water baptism and filling with the Holy Spirit, he preached the Kingdom with such effectiveness that he changed the world. He did astonishing works—supernatural signs and wonders and acts of mercy—and told us that it was all by the power of God.
 
This is what happened throughout the book of Acts. The believers had to be filled with the Holy Spirit to continue Jesus’ work of bringing the Kingdom to the world—supernaturally. They, too, preached with boldness, and did amazing works of power and mercy. They were recognized as ordinary people with no special training, yet they, too, rocked the world with the Gospel.
 
So it should be with us. How do we think we can continue the mandate of “making disciples of all nations”—the work of the Kingdom—without the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit? We can’t. Ours is a hurting and lost world that needs Jesus. The gift of the Holy Spirit was given for power to be his witnesses. So let’s seek his fresh filling every day to be bold in our witness and do the work of the Kingdom in our generation!

Bible study:  John 5:19, Acts 1:8, Acts 4:13

The blessings of repentance

You don't hear a lot about repentance these days.

It's not a popular topic in churches. Preachers and pastors want to make sure people feel good about themselves, and they make the gospel appealing so people won't be offended and leave. 

And yet, the Bible teaches that the very first and most fundamental step to peace with God is repentance.

Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” (Mark 1:15 NLT) And later the apostle Peter said, “Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.” (Act 3:19 NLT) Without repentance, we cannot be saved. (Luke 13:3)

Repentance means turning around and going the other way—turning away from sin and turning to God in faith. Admitting that we've been wrong. Humbling ourselves to admit that we can't change the sin in our hearts and lives, that we can't take away the prevailing sense of guilt that we live with. It’s crying out for help to the One who not only made us, but who loves us and has already provided an answer to our pain and mess.

Why are we so afraid to repent? What are we hanging on to with such a death-grip that keeps us from admitting that we at heart are rebels in need of a savior? Our pride is a closed door to God. And yet, a contrite heart opens that door to all the goodness and love He longs to give us—peace with God and the glorious freedom of a clean heart. 

Repentance is the first step to salvation through Jesus Christ. But it is also an ongoing daily life-attitude of keeping a ‘short list’ with the Lord. He always stands ready to forgive and renew our hearts with unfailing mercy and love, and help us get back on track.

Oh, how blessed we are! May He help us today to humble ourselves before Him and receive His forgiveness.


Bible study:  Psalm 51, Luke 15:10, Romans 2:4, 1 John 1:9

THROUGH the sea

If you find yourself facing a "Red Sea" trouble today and you can’t see a way out, I’d like to encourage you--God's way of deliverance is often THROUGH the sea.

You may remember the Bible story in Exodus 14. Moses had been sent by God to deliver His people from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. Through a series of warnings and disastrous plagues, the pharaoh finally agreed to let them go.

They left, led by the Lord for a land of promise and goodness. But after three days, they came to a seemingly impossible barrier: the Red Sea. To make matters worse, the pharaoh had changed his mind and was thundering across the desert after them with his entire army of chariots and armed soldiers.

You can imagine the terror that pounded in the hearts of the Israelites. There was no way out--either forward or backward.  (Ever feel that way?)

Then God moved! He commanded a fierce wind to blow all night, pushing the water back in a path across the entire sea. Picture it--a wall of water on either side, dry land on the bottom. Then He set a cloud of fire behind His people, preventing the army from coming near them.

In the morning, He commanded them to cross through the sea to the other side.

Again, consider their options:  go forward and possibly drown, or stay and be annihilated by the army. But urged to take the bold step of faith, down they went into the dry seabed--and every last one of them made it safely to the other side.

God then removed the wall of fire, and the whole army charged after the people. But what was the Israelites' way of deliverance became the army's death sentence. God released the walls of water and the whole army was drowned.

Encouragement to us

If we can pull back a bit and see God's way in this story, it can change our fear and desperation to confidence and peace in Him.

The key is to remember…

• God had promised to deliver them and take them to a place of blessing and peace.
• His way was THROUGH the sea, not around it.
• This plan was not only to deliver, but to use the seeming disaster to end the threat of destruction forever.
• The people did not have to DO anything in their own deliverance except to trust God's Word and obey it. He did the work, He got the glory.

Whatever you're going through, take heart! Remember that the Word says God never changes. He loves you. He knows all about your problem. He is good and has a wonderful plan of blessing in mind for you. Don't be alarmed if you see a Red Sea before you and enemies chasing you from behind. Trust Him, obey what He tells you to do, and watch Him do a wondrous work for you! He will see you through safely through to the other side.

Bible study:  Exodus 14, Hebrews 13:8, I Peter 5:6-7, Isaiah 43:2, Romans 15:5