AUGUST 28

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES

Psalm 94:19

“In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.”

CHARLES SPURGEON:

The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by the single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. 

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“THE PASTOR’S WIDOW”

The unknown can be terrifying when trauma is part of your past. Fear says, “if that terrible thing happened to me, then all of the terrible things can happen to me.” Worry replies, “what if…?” But there’s a reason Jesus tells us not to borrow tomorrow’s trouble. Such knowledge would be too much for me to carry. Today’s burden is heavy enough! In fact, He wants to help me with that, too. He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” My Heavenly Father is offering to carry the weight for me….and for you.   We need only cast it off and release my grip…..whatever our burdens or our situation  in life are.

Letting go takes faith that the Father is capable and trustworthy. Letting go means releasing my grasp on the illusion of control that I often cling to so tightly. It means trusting that He is good. Knowing that whatever happens, He is already there and He will sustain me. Remembering that He has always been faithful. Believing that He always will be. Clinging only to the hem of his garment. Holding fast to hope. Resting in His care. Depending on Him.
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This month we will continue the book, “Whatever Happens – How to Stand Firm in Your Faith When the World is Falling Apart.”  By a contemporary author of many best-selling Christian books, Robert J. Morgan.  He took care of his wife when she had MS, until she went home to her Savior.  “He knows of which he speaks.”  I pray that this book blesses you.

Philippians 4:19

 “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

WHATEVER HAPPENS …..CONSIDER YOURSELF WORTH MILLIONS

Ephesians 3:16

“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.”

Sometimes I study the Bible by imagining what the verse would say without all its words.  For example, Paul could have prayed that God would strengthen them with power.  That would have been a wonderful prayer.  But he added, “I pray out of His riches He may strengthen you with power.”  But not just riches, they are “glorious riches.”  And from those glorious riches power comes into our inner being, conveyed there by the Holy Spirit.

Personally, this is a prayer that I need to circle back to on a regular basis.  Since Covid, I’ve battled fatigue.  It’s affected me physically, and the physical fatigue has affected me emotionally.  Grief may have something to do with it, too, along with being in my eighth decade.   But God’s power comes from a very rich source – His own omnipotence.  He runs a power line from His omnipotence to our need, and the Holy Spirit runs along the wire to empower us with optimism, with strength, and with all the energy we need to do what He has commanded and to bear what He has allowed.

I am resting my full weight on this verse.

Make this a prayer for yourself.  Offered right now. 

“LORD, OUT OF YOUR GLORIOUS RICHES, STRENGTHEN ME WITH POWER THROUGH YOUR SPIRIT AND MY INNERMOST BEING”

Colossians 1:27

“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”

Paul evidently wrote Ephesians and Colossians at roughly the same time, because Colossians is modeled after Ephesians, though its purpose isn’t just to relay glorious information but to challenge  a growing heresy, which we call the Colossian heresy.  In both books, Paul referred to the church as God’s mystery.  His secret, which the prophets didn’t understand.

Only in the early days of the book of Acts did the apostles gain insights about this new entity God was creating.  Colossians 1:26 talks about “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.”

God’s secret plan was to establish the church of Jesus Christ, made up of both Jews and Gentiles, who would call  Christ Messiah and be, on earth, “His body which is the church.” (Vs 24).

This mystery is filled with “glorious riches,” the greatest of all being “Christ in us.”  By the Holy Spirit of Jesus, our Lord indwells and fills His people, giving them the richest experience anyone could ever have on this planet.

Christ is among us.  Christ is within us (If you have made a decision to live for Him as your Savior and Lord).  He is within you by His indwelling Spirit, and that guarantees our future glorious eternal state.

It’s helpful to remember this when you attend church this weekend.  Yours isn’t an ideal church; it has problems.  So did the church in Colossae, in Philippi, and especially in Corinth.  But the richness of our experience with our church doesn’t depend on our human performance, but on His divine presence.  He is walking among His lampstands (Revelation 1:12-13 & 20).

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