HACKED BY NESAS_0DAY

Tag: Faith

  • A true Christian

    A true Christian

    Series: Colossians (1)

    The Apostle Paul starts his letter by reassuring the first century Colossians that they are genuine Christians (Col 1:3-5). He describes three signs that prove God’s supernatural work in their lives. The signs of genuine Christian spirituality are faith in Christ Jesus; love for their fellow Christians; and hope in the world to come. Faith, hope and love are the timeless fruits produced by all genuine Christians throughout the centuries.

    It is encouraging for us to know that the gospel we have received is the same message that the Colossians received from Epaphras, a faithful church planter and evangelist. This gospel will continue to bear fruit and grow in all soils, in every generation, and under every climate. The gospel keeps growing and producing a harvest around the world, because it is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Anyone who adds or subtracts from the gospel that Paul, Epaphras and the original apostles preached is peddling a counterfeit gospel. We cannot divorce the gospel from its historic roots.

    What Paul writes about authentic Christians and the true gospel throughout his letter to the Colossians will either assure us that we are the real deal, or alert us to the fact that we are not. It will also make us more discerning to recognise false teachers who push new ideas that are foreign to historic Christianity.

    3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit...(Col 1:3-8).

    Faith, love and hope.

    The triad of faith, hope and love is found in many of Paul’s writings (1 Cor 13:13; 1 Thess 1:3). Paul is clear that these abstract nouns are not just open to our own interpretation. Jesus Christ is the object of our faith. Our Christian brothers and sisters are the object of our love. Heaven is the object of our hope (Col 1:4-5).

    The triad of faith, love and hope is a basic and full description of the genuine, spiritually alive Christian. Since we cannot manufacture these qualities, Paul is describing the lifestyle and values of a person who has heard, understood and responded to the whole and complete gospel.

    Faith in Christ.

    Are we known by our faith in Christ alone?

    Faith cannot exist without a genuine spiritual work of grace as it is the Holy Spirit who leads us to put our faith in Christ’s atoning death on our behalf. It is the Holy Spirit that keeps us trusting in Him and living the life of faith. The Christian life is a journey of faith from beginning to end.

    It is not enough to say, “I believe in God”, or “I believe in a higher power.” Those whose faith is in Christ Jesus acknowledge the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ as the one true God (Col 1:3). Everything we receive from God is “in Christ”. “In Christ” is a phrase repeated throughout Colossians, because our faith makes no sense outside of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Through faith, our old self died and was resurrected to new life with Christ.

    Love for all the saints.

    Are we known for our love for fellow Christians?

    This kind of love is not a warm feeling or selective in its application. We cannot look inside of ourselves for this love. Our actions of love towards our brothers and sisters (whom we can see) reflect our love for a Saviour (whom we cannot see). It is a love generated by the Holy Spirit (Col 1:8).

    In Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25, He describes the simple acts of mercy we can do every day which do not depend on our wealth, ability or intellect. They are practical acts of love freely given to sisters and brothers who have deep and basic needs, whom Jesus describes as the least of these. Love for all the saints glorifies God by reflecting our love for His Son, who loved us when we were most needy and powerless to help ourselves.

    “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mind, you did for me” (Matt 25:37-45).

    This kind of love is foreign to the world, which generally only understands love for family, friends, and our own ‘tribe’. Even a selfless unbeliever cannot share this unique love for all the saints because it is the Holy Spirit who binds children of God from different national, cultural and ethnic backgrounds into a unique fellowship of believers. We are part of a community of beloved saints, the church, a fellowship which transcends natural barriers. Later, Paul writes, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Col 3:11)

    As a Biblical counsellor, one of the greatest joys in my work is witnessing how God moves the hearts of Christians to love other Christians in practical ways. I have seen substantial debts of a widow being paid off by a Christian couple who have not seen her for twenty years. I have seen meals being delivered month after month to a Christian sister with cancer. I have seen disciples of Christ forgiving the inexcusable sins of the past, with eyes focused on Jesus. These acts of love are powerful proofs that the gospel is true.

    Christ himself said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). The way we love the family of Christ demonstrates who and whose we are. It is the fruit of a true Christian (1 John 4:7, 11).

    Hope laid up in heaven.

    Faith and love are only ours here and now because of the hope laid up for us in heaven. In a footnote on all my emails is one of my favourite quotes on hope. “Hope is not defined by the absence of hardship. Rather, hope is found in God’s grace in the midst of hardship. Hope is found in his promise to give us a future”  (Stuart Scott). The absence of hope is one of the saddest features of our generation, which has come to expect immediate gratification rather than future joy.

    Without the gospel promise of an ultimate future, absolute justice and complete redemption, a world where there will be no more tears, nor death, nor anguish, nor grief, nor pain (Rev 21:4), we have no basis for hope, especially amid hardship. But our foretaste of fellowship with God and all the saints here on earth is just an appetizer before the unimaginable blessings reserved for the future, ‘laid up’ in heaven for us. Although we experience many of the benefits of Christ’s victory on the cross in the here and now, we live with expectancy for what awaits us in heaven. The best is yet to come. We may mourn now, but joy comes in the morning.

    Yet, like the Gnostics who tried to deceive the first century Church, many false teachers today would like us to concentrate on subjective experiences in a search for “fullness of life” and the secrets of God. They want us to believe that if our faith is strong enough, we can be free from sickness, pain and suffering in this life. Bethel even claims that they have seen angel feathers in their church. They present the simple gospel as just a foundation for the Christian life, but then offer a more complete and enriched form of Christianity for the spiritually advanced.

    But Paul reassured the Colossian Christians that there are no first and second class Christians. They understood grace in its true meaning and simplicity, and this was enough. They had heard and received the true gospel, which was growing, bearing fruit and increasing across the known world (Col 1:6). Even twenty-one centuries later, Paul’s words encourage ordinary Christians to remain confident in the productive seed of the gospel, as it is written down and explained in Scripture.

    Gospel harvest.

    This gospel seed that Epaphras preached to the Colossian Christians is still being scattered across the world today by faithful Christians, regardless of opposition. It can seem to us like secularism is growing and people are leaving the church and the faith, but globally, that is not the case at all. The number of true Christians is steadily growing and the number of atheists is stagnant. Every time you invite a friend to church, tell someone about Jesus, or share something you’ve read from the Bible, you are scattering the seed of the gospel.

    According to the 2022 Status of Global Christianity report, with a 1.17% growth rate, almost 2.56 billion people identified as a Christian by the middle of 2022. By 2050, that number is expected to top 3.33 billion. The gospel seed is growing and bearing fruit most rapidly in Asia and Africa, where persecution is rife.

    Moreover, with Christianity spreading throughout the world, more non-Christians now know a Christian than ever before. In 1900, only 5,4% of non-Christians could identify a Christian they knew. That percentage has risen to 18.3% today. By 2050, it is expected that 20% of non-Christians will know a follower of Jesus and have the opportunity to hear the gospel from them. The spontaneous expansion of the church to every people group in the world is due to the explosive power of the simple, true gospel message. It is, in Paul’s words, “the grace of God in truth.”

    The heart of the gospel is about God’s merciful offer to rescue us from our sin in Christ and bring us into relationship with Him. It is not that we strive to manufacture faith, love and hope, but that Christ in his sheer kindness and goodness, died to make us his faithful, loving, hope-filled servants. Faith, love and hope are the three bountiful fruits that continue to be produced by faithful Christians today. Like a fertile seed, the gospel will continue to spread across the world, filling the earth with those who follow Christ and glorify God in Him. “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14).

     

     

  • Walk by faith and not by sight

    Walk by faith and not by sight

    Series: Don’t Waste your Waiting (Part 3/4). By Rosie Moore.

    “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  This is what the ancients were commended for” (Heb 11:1).

    As children, many of us learned about the wonderful process by which a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly. One day the caterpillar stops eating and hangs upside down from a twig and spins itself a silky cocoon. Within the protective casing of the chrysalis, the caterpillar transforms its body, eventually emerging as a butterfly or moth with fully developed eyes, legs, antennae, and wings.

    Inside the chrysalis.

    With the naked eye, we can’t see what’s happening to the moth in its season of dormancy. But if we had x-ray eyes to see inside the invisible world of the cocoon, we would be amazed at the massive disintegration of tissue and rapid cell division. A powerful metamorphosis is taking place in the unseen world, but we only see the effects when a butterfly finally emerges.

    How can a follower of Christ be sure that our waiting is not wasted, but transformative instead? Hebrews 11 reminds us that God is doing far more than we can see in our difficult labours in this world. As we wait for Him, we are urged to put our faith in things not seen (Heb 11:1). Until the cocoon of this age bursts open and we finally get to see Jesus face-to-face (1 Cor 13:12), we must learn to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).

    Things not seen.

    In 2 Corinthians 4 and 5, Paul gives suffering Christians bifocal lenses to see their ‘momentary troubles’ in the light of an eternal, invisible reality, so that they do not lose heart but are instead inspired to faithful service. Using words like ‘groan’ and ‘burdened’, Paul does not dismiss or minimize their present troubles (2 Cor 5:4). Rather, he urges them to fix their eyes on things not seen, as they eagerly await their glorified bodies and heavenly homes.

    “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 “For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:16-18).

    So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

    6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:6-8).

    As a culture, we are obsessed with optics. But to live by faith and not by sight, we need to topple the idol of focusing on only what can be seen, felt, praised, and noticed, in the here and now. With eyes of faith, we will see that “the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus” (2 Cor 4:14). The reality of the resurrection is why Paul says “we are always confident.” Paul’s heavenly perspective changes everything.

    Because of Christ’s bodily resurrection, followers of Christ are being inwardly renewed by the Holy Spirit day-by-day (2 Cor 4:16). Our sanctification is even more real and wonderful than the caterpillar’s transformation in its silky cocoon: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17).

    As a Christian, it is easy to lose heart and quit, but Paul says effectively,

    “This cocoon you’re in is not all there is! It’s just a temporary shelter, a flimsy tent. Open the flap and you’ll see a whole world out there—a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. So, don’t let fatigue, sickness, persecution, or suffering force you off the job! Don’t let your current situation cloud your lenses! There is a purpose in your labours. Your weakness is allowing the resurrection power of Jesus to strengthen you moment by moment. It is keeping you from pride. It is proving your faith to others. And as you persevere in obedience, the Holy Spirit is transforming you into the likeness of Christ! Look and see the metamorphosis taking place in the cocoon.”

    A 19th century pastor, James H Aughey once wrote: “As a weak limb grows stronger by exercise, so will your faith be strengthened by the very efforts you make in stretching it out toward things unseen.”

    Troubles are a gift. They are opportunities to stretch our faith towards things unseen. Knowing that we will live forever with God in a place without sin and suffering enables us to live above the groans and burdens of this temporary tent. Death is only a prelude to eternal life with God, and we have this eternity in us now.

    This is especially true for God’s children in uncertain and painful times. We will become like Jesus to the extent that we focus on the unseen person of Christ and his resurrection power to transform our lives. After all, didn’t God unleash the greatest blessing the world has ever known when Jesus was raised from the dead?

    No bumper sticker faith.

    “Walk by faith and not by sight” may sound like a bumper sticker for those living a life sheltered from pain, trauma, and loss. But nothing is further from the truth. This is no platitude.

    A friend of mine with cancer is stretching out her faith towards the unseen truths of the gospel, as she trudges through the anguish of chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, and an uncertain future. Despite her suffering, she is walking in the faithful confidence of 2 Cor 5:6-8. Jen is a picture of ‘good courage’.

    Nigeria is currently the most persecuted nation on earth. Every day a hundred million Nigerian Christians are walking by faith and not by sight, as many among them are terrorized, stripped of their livelihoods and face abduction and sexual violence.  2 Cor 4:16-18 is not a platitude, but a life and death reality.

    Living by faith and not by sight is not about ignoring the difficult afflictions we endure, nor convincing ourselves of something that isn’t true. It is not about claiming fake promises of prosperity that God has not given us, nor about ‘manifesting’ a bright future for ourselves. Rather, it is about training our hearts and minds to see that our afflictions are producing for us “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor 4:17).

    Living for the unseen is actively trusting in God’s sovereign purposes over all things for our good and his glory, even while “hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down” (2 Cor 4:8-9, Rom 8:28). We may not see what God is doing, but we know that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself mighty on behalf of those whose heart is whole toward him” (2 Chron 16:9). “No eye has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for him” (Isa 64:4).

    Living by faith is trusting that through the labours inside the cocoon, God is transforming his people into the likeness of Jesus, to make us fit for our eternal home (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 5:5).  He is faithful to complete this work of transformation. “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it” (1 Thess 5:24).

    When followers of Jesus actively walk by faith and not by sight, we begin to see that we can’t lose. Whether alive on earth or alive with Him in heaven, we’re in the cocoon of a God who is perfectly sovereign, infinitely wise, and always faithful. There is great victory in this certainty (2 Cor 5:8; Rom 8:37).

    In just a little while.

    Our motivation in the waiting room is to draw courage and patience from things unseen.

    Our goal in the waiting room is to persevere in pleasing God, as we trust his faithful character and promises (2 Cor 5:9).

    Our wait will surely be rewarded when we finally see Jesus face-to-face. He will come “in just a little while,” but in the meantime, the righteous will live by faith.

    “The righteous will live by faith”: “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 

    37 For, “In just a little while,
        he who is coming will come
        and will not delay.”

    38 “But my righteous one will live by faith.
        And I take no pleasure
        in the one who shrinks back.” (Heb 10:36-38).

    Join us next week as we camp on the third step in the waiting room— “A month of promises you can depend on.”

     

  • The righteous shall live by faith.

    The righteous shall live by faith.

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    Series: Some maxims worth meditating on, by Rosie Moore.

    As humans, we love slogans don’t we? The Bible is full of wise proverbs or maxims that Christians often throw about liberally to clarify a point or make us sound more convincing or credible, or to help us remember something profound and true. I love the pithy way that African proverbs convey down-to-earth advice and wisdom for life.

    But sometimes Christians are blissfully unaware that the ‘biblical’ words of wisdom they have just sprouted are not from the Bible at all! For example, “God helps those who help themselves,” or “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” or my personal favourite, “God gives his toughest battles to his finest soldiers”!

    I must confess that the walls of my house, my car dashboard,  fridge and even the inside of my extractor fan, are littered with little verses and maxims I’ve held onto over the years to remind me of what God has taught me from his Word.  I confess that I’m guilty as charged!

    Over the next few weeks, we’ll sink some shafts into a few Biblical sayings that are worth mining. We will re-visit them in their original context and see what nuggets of gold may be hiding below the topsoil of familiarity. Who knows, perhaps we’ll re-discover a great treasure from God’s Word that we’ve half understood or half forgotten.

    “The righteous shall live by faith.”

    Today, we’ll look at Paul’s well known saying in Romans 1:17: “The righteous shall live by faith.”

    This saying is actually a quote from Habakkuk 2:4, written around 600BC, speaking about the imminent punishment of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians. It was spoken in the context of God’s judgment. This is what the prophet says about God’s faithful people, living amongst the wicked and unjust people who seemed to have the upper hand in Habakkuk’s day. Habakkuk encourages them to keep trusting the Lord for their salvation, even in the midst of the nation’s judgment:

    “For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
        it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
    If it seems slow, wait for it;
        it will surely come; it will not delay.

    4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
        but the righteous shall live by his faith.”

    The maxim “The righteous shall live by faith” has rightly inspired believers throughout the centuries to live by their faith and trust in God, even when we don’t understand why events occur as they do. To continue to believe, even when evil and oppression seem to be the order of the day. To live by faith and not by feelings; to walk by faith and not by sight.

    The power of God for salvation.

    But let’s look at the context in which this quote is embedded in Romans. Paul writes:

    “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

    18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

     An eternal quest for salvation.

    Men and women were seeking salvation in the first century Greco-Roman world when Paul wrote his letter, just as modern humanity is still craving salvation today. Humankind is desperately sick and in need of a Saviour, no matter how sophisticated or powerful we may think we are. This great quest for salvation has been exposed in our own generation by the great fears of the last two years.

    That’s why Epictetus, the great stoic philosopher in 135AD called his lecture theatre, “The hospital for the sick soul”. In fact, nothing is new. Humanity has been on a permanent quest for salvation since Genesis 3. We know we are in desperate need of help.

    This holiday I’ve had the chance to watch a few thrillers on TV. Liam Neeson and Denzel Washington are my favourite heroes! The only problem is, despite my best efforts to stay focussed, I always nod off just before the end of the movie. The next morning I sit at the breakfast table and ask my family, “So guys, what happened at the end of that great movie?” The answer is always a variation on the same theme:

    “The good guy/girl saved the family…the space ship…the submarine…the innocent kid…the kidnapped girl…the world!” Every good story involves a saviour of some sort, because that is the theme of the greatest story the world has ever known—the gospel story. Everyone is looking for a human saviour to resolve the tragedies of the world and turn doom and despair into joy.

    That’s why Paul declares, without apology, that he is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew and then the Gentile! The human Saviour is Jesus Christ—God in the flesh. All other saviours are powerless in the one thing that really matters: They cannot make us righteous before God.

    Not ashamed of the gospel!

    Those are pretty confident words of Paul’s, especially in a sophisticated city like Rome, where Christians were ridiculed for believing a gospel which was centered around a crucified Jewish Saviour, embraced by all classes of people. They were an unusual cohort of believers:

    Romans and Greeks, slaves, soldiers, women, children, half castes, prisoners, tax collectors, former lepers and demoniacs, beggars, widows, refugees and immigrants. Former prostitutes sat alongside prominent synagogue leaders, pharisees and patricians; fishermen, physicians, tent makers, property owners and merchants. They were united by one baptism, one Spirit, one faith. And their common Saviour was Jesus Christ.

    That’s why Paul is not ashamed of the good news of Jesus Christ! He knows that this gospel has inherent power, because Christ is its Saviour. Christ is the only righteous man capable of saving the world, and uniting us to God and each other.

    We don’t give the gospel power by our eloquence or righteous deeds. The power is in the message itself. The gospel is more than good advice, an uplifting message or a call to harness the power within. The gospel is more than a health product that may extend our life for a few more years. The gospel is God’s power for salvation, the only solution to the sin that we all have in common.

    And Paul is equally clear that God will never withhold this salvation from anyone who believes. Believing is the only requirement. We are saved by God’s grace, through faith alone. Life is promised to us now, in death and for all eternity.

    If you are a believer who is feeling unworthy, doubtful or afraid for the future, be assured that the righteous shall live by faith, not feelings. If you have embraced the gospel by faith, you can bank your life and death on God’s salvation, no matter how you feel. Faith does not depend on constant euphoria or feelings of peace and security.

    Faith alone.

    Do the righteous live by feelings? Or by knowledge? Or by science? Or by the President’s next family meeting on TV? Or by political stability? No, God tells us that the righteous shall live by faith alone. If we live by anything else, we will be misled and disappointed.

    I recently saw a picture of the new giant sculpture that the United Nations has placed in New York. The U.N.  tweeted a photo and description of the statue, which many Christians have noted looks remarkably like the two beasts recorded in the book of Revelation (Rev 13:2) and the beast of Daniel 7:2-4, with allusions to Paul’s warning in 1 Thess 5:2-3. The UN’s tweet reads:

    “A guardian for international peace and security sits on the Visitor’s Plaza outside the #UN Headquaters. The guardian is a fusion of jaguar and eagle and donated by the government of Oaxaca, Mexico.”

    I’m no reader of the times or judge of the artists’ motives, but if we are believers, we must accept that there is no ultimate guardian for international peace and security apart from Jesus Christ. Through Him, individuals are assured of a right relationship with God our Creator and the world is assured of an end to all death and disorder, doom and despair in the new creation. As we trust Christ, we are saved from all the consequences of sin. We are declared righteous and find life, both now and forever.

    Faith is a word with several applications in Scripture:

    1. Faith can mean ‘faithfulness’ (Matt 24:45). It was the word Christ used to describe the faithful and wise servant whom God has set over his household and all his possessions.

     

    2. Faith can mean ‘confident hope’ in what God has promised to those who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1).

     

    3. Faith can mean ‘a fruitful life’, in contrast to the barren life of a person whose habitual actions don’t live up to his/her words: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” (James 2:14-26) “But the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed” (Heb 4:2).

    All of these meanings of ‘faith’ are valid. But, what does Paul mean by ‘faith’ in Romans 1:17, when he says, “The righteous shall live by faith?” It’s clear from the context that Paul tethers faith with the gospel of salvation. He is talking about saving faith.

    The assurance of saving faith.

    God declares us to be righteous because of faith in Christ. Salvation is through faith alone. But faith is not something we must do to earn salvation. If that were true, then faith would be just one more item on a relentless to-do list, to earn favour with God.

    Instead, faith is a gift that God gives us because he is saving us (Eph 2:8). It is God’s grace, not our faith, that saves us.

    I don’t know about you, but some days I’m incredulous at God’s great mercy and grace in saving me, not just many years ago, but in the present and future too. In his mercy, he gives us a soft heart to respond to his gospel message. In his kindness and patience, God gives us a relationship with the Lord Jesus to help us become more and more like him. By grace and through faith alone, Christ makes us righteous– unworthy and unrighteous as we are. Saving faith is wonderful and reassuring from first to last!

    Over the bridge of faith, Christ carries us from death to life. We have complete assurance of this salvation.

    As Jesus himself said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)

    When Christ was victorious over death, He cancelled all charges against believers and opened the way to the Father (Col 2:12-15). If you are a believer, you can be assured that you are not condemned, as you no longer stand under God’s judgment. The only way for a human being to live without fear is through faith.

    From first to last.

    Salvation has always been by grace, through faith, from first to last. I love that bit! Even in Old Testament times, the basis of salvation was grace, not good deeds. The blood of all the bulls and goats in the world couldn’t take away the sins of even the most devout Israelite (Heb 10:4). Unless God’s people combined the covenant laws with true faith, they could not be saved (Heb 4:2). God wanted his people to look beyond the sacrifices and laws to Him, but all too often they put their confidence in fulfilling the requirements of the law.

    When faith is confused with righteous acts, Christians are robbed forever of their assurance, because we are unable to muster up our own righteousness or faith. Knowing what is right and wrong is not good enough. We have to obey the law we know. Paul goes on to say, “For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous (Rom 2:13).

    We can never declare ourselves righteous or construct our own faith, because, in Paul’s words, we are born with “stubborn and unrepentant hearts” that are not inclined towards faith at all (Rom 2:5-11). We are utterly incapable of living up to our own standards of righteousness, let alone God’s perfect standards. Without faith in Jesus, we are capable only of “storing up God’s wrath against ourselves for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.”

    Who of us can obey the law of God? Who of us has never hated, lied, lusted, envied, withheld what rightfully belongs to someone else, worshipped a false god, dishonoured our parents or treated the Sabbath just like any other day? Who of us has loved God and our neighbour perfectly?

    So then, who can stand on the day when “God will give to each person according to what he has done”, on the day “when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ?” (Rom 2:5-11; Rom 2:16). This is our common plight as humanity, “for God does not show favouritism” towards anyone (Rom 2:11).

    But in his kindness, God has held back his judgment, giving people a time to repent and trust in Christ’s righteousness. That’s why Paul says that he is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last.” (Rom 1:16-17). Our righteousness comes from the only perfect man who ever lived—Jesus Christ. We don’t stand alone. We stand with him.

    Without faith in Christ alone—in his righteous life, his atoning death and his victorious resurrection, no one will stand that final encounter with the Creator. How then can we be ashamed of the one message that can save a person’s life from the greatest peril that humanity faces?

    Powerful salvation.

    And so, as we prepare our hearts to enter a new year, perhaps another hard year with temporal dangers like COVID and lockdowns; unemployment and corruption; threats and instability; false fears, false gospels and false saviours, Romans 1:17 reminds us that believers do not have to pack our bags and think as losers.

    Our faith relies on a victorious Saviour and a powerful King who will continue to advance and bring salvation in the world, one heart at a time, one community at a time, through his human foot soldiers who trust in Him.  Jesus is seated in power at the right hand of God in heaven, where he will reign until all His enemies are subdued (Ps 110:1).

    May we be convinced that the real peril of the world is God’s judgment. The real Saviour of the world is Jesus Christ. And our good deeds are real responses to what God has done for us on the cross. They are not the bridge to salvation. Christ is.

    “The righteous shall live by faith.”

    Prayer

    Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past,  but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Romans 16:25-27)
    [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container background_color=”#ffffff” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”5%” padding_right=”5%” hundred_percent=”yes” equal_height_columns=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_3″ last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”center center” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”none” hover_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”none” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] [/fusion_imageframe][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”2_3″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”2%” margin_top=”2%” margin_bottom=”2%” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Receive our latest devotion in your Inbox[/fusion_title][fusion_code]Q2xpY2sgZWRpdCBidXR0b24gdG8gY2hhbmdlIHRoaXMgY29kZS4=[/fusion_code][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container background_color=”#ffffff” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”5%” padding_right=”5%” hundred_percent=”yes” equal_height_columns=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Other devotions from the God Walk…[/fusion_title][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_recent_posts layout=”default” hover_type=”none” columns=”3″ number_posts=”6″ offset=”” cat_slug=”devotion” exclude_cats=”” thumbnail=”yes” title=”yes” meta=”no” excerpt=”yes” excerpt_length=”0″ strip_html=”yes” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/fusion_recent_posts][fusion_text]– more devotions –[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • The man who took Jesus at his word.

    The man who took Jesus at his word.

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    Series in John’s gospel: Face to face with Jesus, By Rosie Moore.

    “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed (John 4:50).

    Often we hear the expression “Seeing is believing”. But the Bible tells us that the opposite is true when it comes to faith in Jesus Christ: “Believing is seeing.” Or as the writer of Hebrews puts it: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.” (Heb 11:1-2).  In John chapter 4, the nobleman believed Jesus and took Him at his word, before he saw the miraculous healing of his son. The same is required of us if our faith is to grow.

    Our Lord did perform a sign for this nobleman, but it was to point him to greater faith in Christ, not the sign itself. The spiritual miracle of faith in the desperate father and his whole household was far greater than the physical healing of the boy’s body.

    Let’s read together this amazing face-to-face encounter with Jesus:

    John 4:43-54:

    43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.

    46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

    48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

    49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

    50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

    The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”

    53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

    54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

    “Lord, please grow our faith through this true encounter that John chose to write down for us. Show us that we don’t need to first see sensational signs and wonders to believe you. The Bible shows us enough to know that you are trustworthy and good. As we read these words, may you strengthen our faith so that we may put our trust in you as our Lord and Saviour, just as this nobleman did. Grow our faith through whatever desperate or difficult situation we are facing right now. May our crisis be a severe mercy, just as it was for this father. Amen.”

    The man who had everything money could buy.

    Of all the miracles that Jesus performed, John chose to tell this story of a desperate Government official, known as a ‘basilica’, whose son was lying in bed at home, at death’s door.  Jesus was not physically with the boy when he healed him. In fact, the sick boy was at home in the city of Capernaum 32 kilometres away, while Jesus was in the village of Cana. But this father, who had everything money could buy, except what he truly needed, saddled up his horse in the midday heat and galloped many miles to find Jesus. He was the man’s last hope.

    Let’s put ourselves in this nobleman’s shoes for a moment.

    As a ‘basilica’, he was an official of high rank and steady income. He had everything money could buy, except the health of his beloved son. Verse 46 and 47 are understatements. This man was desperate, because his boy was on the verge of death. Reading between the lines of these verses, one can only imagine the misery of this father, who would have given everything and anything to see light in his little boy’s eyes again, to see him running and playing like a normal child. As a parent, I can relate to his fear. When I went to wake up my own son one morning and found him unresponsive, in a severe hypoglycaemic state, there’s nothing I wouldn’t have done to bring him back to life. Thankfully he recovered, but the panic and extreme helplessness of this loving father turns any parent ice cold with fear.

    In fact, whoever we are, we have probably known this desperation sometime in our lives. The oldest book of the Bible reminds us that “Affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:6-7). Life is like a fire that sends its flames of suffering upward, regardless of what some prosperity preachers may say. All human beings are born for sorrow, and there are no exceptions. Just think of what money can and cannot buy:

    Money can buy us a lovely soft bed, but it cannot buy us sleep!

    Money can buy us delicious food, but it cannot make our digestive system work!

    Money can buy us fame and followers, but it cannot buy us close friends!

    Money can buy us medical aid, but it cannot buy our health!

    Money can buy us a luxury holiday, but it cannot buy a happy family!

    The man came to Jesus.

    There are many things that money cannot buy. Even 2000 years later, our hearts must ache with this man’s heart, because he shows us our own desperately helpless condition.

    But did you notice that this man got on his horse and found Jesus? He didn’t just bemoan his situation. He rode for 32 kilometres to find the one man whose miracles he had heard about. He must have heard about the story of the first miracle Jesus had performed in Cana of Galilee—when he’d turned water into wine. He must have known that this Jesus was no ordinary man. So the wealthy, finely dressed basilica came personally to meet the carpenter, to beg him to come home with him to heal his son.

    Notice that this nobleman didn’t send his wife or servant to fetch Jesus. He didn’t send a proxy to ask Jesus to pray for him. Instead, he cared enough to come himself to seek the help that he desperately needed, and fell down at the feet of the one man who alone could do for him what he was unable to do for himself.

    And he called Jesus, “Sir”, putting himself under Christ, even though the nobleman had legal authority over the carpenter. Coming to Jesus and throwing himself at Christ’s mercy was his first act of faith.

    This man’s humble trust reminds me of how Hebrews describes the kind of faith that God will always reward: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (Heb 11:6). This man was earnestly seeking Christ to meet his desperate need.

    Unless you people see signs and wonders…

    Jesus’s reply in verse 48 is startling and hardly what you would write if you were making up a story of an empathetic hero.  Jesus was speaking to the crowd who depended on signs and wonders for their faith. Their focus was not on Christ. But this father was no sensation seeker. He did not need to see the miracle he sought before he would believe. He didn’t take offense at Jesus’s charge but he knew that Jesus was his last hope. His eyes held onto what he knew about the Lord, even though Jesus gave him no sign.

    Jesus replied, “Go your way, your son lives. The man took Jesus at his word and departed” (John 4:50).

    The man took Jesus at his word.

    What an astounding response. This man’s faith was true, not superficial! Unlike many who craved signs and wonders, the nobleman didn’t need to see his son’s healing before he would believe. The man trusted Jesus’s bare word and acted upon his faith, even before he saw the evidence. He didn’t question Christ’s command to go home, but departed immediately. He simply trusted and obeyed.

    The man somehow knew that distance was of no concern for Jesus, and so he obeyed without hesitation. He didn’t bribe Jesus to come home with him, but seemed at peace with Christ’s promise. And when he questioned the servants on the time of his son’s healing, it was at precisely 13h00, the time that Jesus had spoken the word of healing.

    When the man saw for himself that Jesus had been true to his word, he couldn’t contain himself. He must have shared his divine encounter with his entire family and those who worked in his home, leading his whole household to faith. They saw for themselves that this miracle was authentic, not just an illusion or the power of positive thinking. The boy was obviously and visibly healed the moment Jesus had spoken the word. On that basis, the basilica’s household believed and put their faith in God’s Son (John 4:53). As Jesus himself described his miracles, “This is the work of God, that you may believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6:29). That is what each and every one of us must do if we are to put our faith in Christ.

    A picture of growing faith.

    What a beautiful picture of blossoming faith emerges from this story! Whether we are thinking of coming to Jesus for the very first time, or whether we have been Christians for many years, faith is always taking Jesus at his word and trusting his promises more than we trust our perceptions or our doubts.

    A little further on in John’s gospel, Jesus made a promise that is almost incredible to believe. He said,

    “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:35-37).

    This is Christ’s promise to each and every one of us: He will satisfy our deepest longings. He will never drive us away. We do not need to see Jesus face-to-face in order to come to him and believe. Like the desperate father, we can come to Jesus in prayer. And like him, we can take Jesus at his word, and believe every one of the promises contained in his Word. The Bible contains the very words by which we can live our lives, and this is how our faith will grow, even when we cannot see or understand.

    John reminds us why he wrote his gospel in the first place: “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

    This story reminds us that it’s not enough to say we believe that Jesus is a great miracle worker, or a wise prophet, or the Saviour of the world. It’s not enough to believe that Jesus can take care of our problems and desperate situations. Faith is acting in accordance with those beliefs. It is doing as the desperate father did, when he got on his horse and galloped 32 kilometers to meet Jesus personally. We need to meet personally with Him, by prayer.

    Faith is coming to Jesus as Lord, and submitting our entire lives to him. It is praying,

    “Jesus, only you can save me from my sins! Only you can help me in this desperate situation. Only you hold the keys to eternal life. I believe that you are the Son of God and your promises are true, so I come to you for forgiveness and healing; for light and life; for provision and protection. I beg for your mercy to fill my desperate need. I will take you at your word, even though my world is very confusing and painful.”

    This is how faith is born and this is how faith grows. We will never graduate from the humble attitude of trust that this royal official displayed, as he knelt at Jesus’s feet and begged for what only Christ could give him.

    [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container background_color=”#ffffff” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”5%” padding_right=”5%” hundred_percent=”yes” equal_height_columns=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_3″ last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”center center” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”none” hover_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”none” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] [/fusion_imageframe][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”2_3″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”2%” margin_top=”2%” margin_bottom=”2%” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Receive our latest devotion in your Inbox[/fusion_title][fusion_code]Q2xpY2sgZWRpdCBidXR0b24gdG8gY2hhbmdlIHRoaXMgY29kZS4=[/fusion_code][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container background_color=”#ffffff” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”5%” padding_right=”5%” hundred_percent=”yes” equal_height_columns=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Other devotions from the God Walk…[/fusion_title][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_recent_posts layout=”default” hover_type=”none” columns=”3″ number_posts=”6″ offset=”” cat_slug=”devotion” exclude_cats=”” thumbnail=”yes” title=”yes” meta=”no” excerpt=”yes” excerpt_length=”0″ strip_html=”yes” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/fusion_recent_posts][fusion_text]– more devotions –[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • Take up the Shield of Faith

    Take up the Shield of Faith

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    Series: PPE for the Christian life, by Rosie Moore.

    “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Eph 6:16).

    In the last few weeks, the Apostle Paul has been waking us up to the true war we are waging against Satan and his evil forces in this dark world. This spiritual war is no joke and there is evidence of it all around us. Satan’s forces are not mere fantasies, but very real armies, whose goal is to divide and defeat Christ’s Church. Knowing he can’t destroy the Church (Matt 16:18), Satan’s next best option is to be a sniper.

    He will fire problems at us, like financial stress, sickness, broken relationships and emotional struggles. Then he will fire darts of anger, fear, sadness, suspicion, doubt and self-pity. He will do anything to turn us away from Christ and back to sin; away from each other and back to being hostile and isolated. Unless we take up the shield of faith and lock shields together, the sniper’s darts will find their mark. They will cause a raging fire that destroys everything in its path. Without the shield of faith, Satan will disable, demoralize and scatter Christ’s troops.

    But, let’s never forget that each Christian recruit has been issued supernatural weapons with “divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Cor 10:4). Paul deliberately repeats the word ‘all’ for emphasis. All the flaming darts of Satan can be repelled with the shield of faith, which we must hold up in all circumstances. God will give us the victory if we use the weapon of faith He has freely given us in His Son. Today let’s look at this shield that Christ provides for his soldiers.

    Locking shields together

    When we believe in Jesus, Christ’s enemies become our enemies too. That’s why we can be sure that Satan will hurl his darts in our direction. The “day of evil” will inevitably come (Eph 6:13). It’s not a matter of if, but when. What’s more, the family of believers throughout the world is facing the same enemy—the “roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8-9). We are living in a world at war. And we are a brotherhood and a sisterhood with our fellow believers.

    The shield that Paul had in mind wasn’t a tiny little one, like the flimsy plastic shield my son used to attach to his lego characters. It was a shield that was almost the size of a door, big enough for burly Roman soldiers to crouch and hide behind. What’s more, the shield also united the soldiers to each other, because its edges were bevelled in such a way that they could be locked together to form a solid wall. Arrows couldn’t penetrate that united wall as the soldiers marched forward, held together by the shield’s common bond. The shield was a powerful defensive and offensive weapon. In addition, the Roman soldiers would dip their shields in water, so that the enemy’s fiery arrows would be extinguished the moment they hit the shield, rendering them powerless to penetrate.

    This shield is the visual image Paul uses to describe a believer’s supernatural weapon of faith in the Lord Jesus. It enables Christians of every tongue, every nation, every gender, and every race to stand together and work as one; to lock shields together; to trust God and pray together; to bind ourselves together by our common faith against our common enemy. But what ‘faith’ is he talking about? In a world which has its own definitions of ‘faith’, this is a vital question to ask.

    Three ingredients of Christian faith

    There are three vital components to every Christian’s faith:

    Firstly, there is historical faith, which believes the real Jesus of the Bible. It is a faith that knows that Jesus is God, that he lived, and died, and rose again as a real man, and that he will return to restore all things to how they should be. It is not faith in faith, or faith in a figment of our imagination, but faith in Jesus, who was seen and heard and touched by many people in the first century (John 20:31).

    Secondly, there is saving faith, which is personal trust in Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. There is no saving faith unless we believe that, left to ourselves, we are eternally lost and separated from God. But Jesus died in our place to atone for our sins (1 Peter 3:18; 1 Tim 2:5). Saving faith is trusting in what Christ has already done for us on the cross: securing our forgiveness, our new family and our eternal home. Faith is the “assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not yet seen” (Heb 11:1).

    Thirdly, and this is where I will focus today, there is the practical everyday faith of a believer, flowing from our historical and saving faith. It is the faith that says,

    “Today I am not going to depend on myself, or my strength, or my knowledge, or my ability. Today I am going to trust Jesus to give me victory over whatever darts are fired at me. Today I am going to believe that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God, interceding for me and all his people. Today I’ll live confidently and serve wholeheartedly, knowing that no false charge can stand against me. No trouble or hardship, or persecution or famine, or nakedness or danger, or even death, can separate us from the love of Christ…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom 8:34-39). Everyday faith is aligning our lives with the victory that Christ has already won for his people on the cross.

    Surefire darts

    If Romans 8:34-39 is to be believed, then we can be sure that many fiery darts will come our way, especially if we are standing for Christ. They will be directed at us personally, as well as at the body of Christ and our smaller fellowships. We can surely read Covid-19 into Paul’s long list of fiery darts. If those darts catch fire, they can do serious damage, not just to ourselves, but also to those around us. Let’s look at some of these fiery darts, and how faith is a powerful shield to deflect them from penetrating our souls:

    The fiery dart of Fear

    Fear and anxiety are the enemy’s lethal missiles, particularly as the ripple effects of Covid play out in our country. Just a fortnight ago, I read that over 3 million people have already lost their jobs as a result of the lockdown in South Africa. As I write, many people I know personally, across the spectrum, are gripped with fear, anxiety, depression and debilitating mental illness.

    Christians are not immune from fear.

    But, if allowed to penetrate our souls, fear and anxiety can destroy our relationships and our faith in the Lord’s ability to help us through every adversity. Like Christ’s terrified disciples in the storm on Lake Galilee, we may also be praying, “Lord don’t you care that we are perishing?” To take up our shield of faith, we must pray these fears to the Lord. We must take our eyes off the crashing waters of our circumstances, and look instead to Christ, the Lord of the universe. Let’s remember our Lord’s response to the terrified disciples after he calmed the storm, “Why are so afraid? Where is your faith?” Christ is saying to us too, “Don’t you trust me to take care of you?”

    When your heart is being set alight by the darts of anxiety and fear, the only PPE to hide behind is the enormous shield of God’s sovereign grace. It is to trust that God is holy, righteous and just. And amazingly, He cares for you and for me. We take shelter behind this shield by exercising our faith every day. Find a regular spot to read the Bible and pray to your Father. His Word will remind you of who He is and why He is worthy of your trust. Don’t stop attending your Zoom Bible study with fellow believers who love the Lord, and love you too. Together, you will lock shields with other soldiers in Christ’s army. If you’re not locking shields in a group like this, find one near you on this link.

    God has placed his people together to re-order our minds with the truth and to bear each other’s burdens, even as we each carry the load Christ has allocated to us (Gal 6:2, 5). Don’t let these simple habits of grace slip from your life. They are the God-ordained means for us to deflect the darts of the enemy in all circumstances. They are literally life-saving!

    Read Psalm 55 and cast your cares on the Lord, as if you were throwing a fishing net into the sea. “Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall” (Ps 55:22).

    The fiery dart of Doubt

    In addition to fears, we may also be hit with the fiery darts of doubt.

    We may be having doubts about God. “Do you really know what you’re doing, Lord? Do you really understand what I need? Is your Son really enough? Am I banking my whole life on pie-in-the-sky?” Satan loves to plant doubts in our stressed minds, making us doubt everything we have believed about God.

    We may be having doubts about other Christians too, especially as we haven’t met flesh-on-flesh with people for so long. Satan loves suspicions to build in us, to make us wonder whether fellow believers actually love and care for us. “What did she really mean by that statement? Did he look at me funny on Zoom? Why has she not called me to ask how I’m doing? I knew all along he hated me!” Because our personal perceptions are incomplete and often inaccurate, how desperately we need to entrust our doubts to the Lord Jesus, who alone knows the motives of the heart (Jer 17:9; 1 Cor 4:4-5; 1 Sam 16:7).

    We may also be having doubts about ourselves, whether we’re capable of supporting or leading our family; whether we actually have eternal life; whether we’ve only half understood the gospel. Of course, we should always be asking God to search our hearts and show us our sin and blind spots (Ps 139:23-24), but false soul- searching is straight from the devil when it leads us to drop our shield of faith.

    Without firm faith in Christ, those arrows of doubt will internally combust, causing us to doubt God, to doubt ourselves and to doubt others. Instead, we must never stop trusting that God is for us and not against us; that He will help us, and His love will never leave us.

    The fiery dart of Words

    Words can be fired like fiery darts that deeply wound us when they invade our minds and emotions. Words are never just sticks and stones, yet insults are hurled carelessly and self-righteously in our culture. Words of criticism and accusation can cause us to feel shamed, unworthy and unloved, especially when they are aimed at the conscience and character of a person. Satan loves to destroy relationships through words. If we are not locking shields together, the darts will find their mark.

    The fiery dart of Confusion

    If your emotions or thinking is confused, be sure that Satan is firing his darts at you! God is not the author of confusion, Satan is (1 Cor 14:33). He loves to scatter our thoughts and stop us from relying on the truth of the Gospel. Our Lord is a God of order, peace and beauty, not confusion.

    Our shield and very great reward

    But in the face of these fiery darts, God has given us a supernatural weapon to repel them all and extinguish their fire before it spreads. He has given us each other, to lock shields and stand together as a mighty wall against Satan’s attacks. Only faith in Jesus, God’s own Son, can protect us. The Lord of Abraham said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward” (Gen 15:1). The God of Abraham provided Christ to be our shield in life and death. He is all we need. Let’s pray to Him and trust Him at all times (Ps 3:1-4).

    My three favourite resources for building faith:

    1. Fighter verses app- Memorize the Bible, fight the fight of faith.
    2. Truth for life app—15 minute daily messages by Alistair Begg.
    3. Music! Below are Pete’s two favourite songs that play on repeat in our home! May they encourage you also to keep fighting the good fight of faith. li>

    Good reading:

    Warren Wiesbe, Stand: Putting on the full armour of God.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container background_color=”#ffffff” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”5%” padding_right=”5%” hundred_percent=”yes” equal_height_columns=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_3″ last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”center center” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”none” hover_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”none” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] [/fusion_imageframe][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”2_3″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”2%” margin_top=”2%” margin_bottom=”2%” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Receive our latest devotion in your Inbox[/fusion_title][fusion_code]Q2xpY2sgZWRpdCBidXR0b24gdG8gY2hhbmdlIHRoaXMgY29kZS4=[/fusion_code][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container background_color=”#ffffff” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”5%” padding_right=”5%” hundred_percent=”yes” equal_height_columns=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Other devotions from the God Walk…[/fusion_title][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_recent_posts layout=”default” hover_type=”none” columns=”3″ number_posts=”6″ offset=”” cat_slug=”devotion” exclude_cats=”” thumbnail=”yes” title=”yes” meta=”no” excerpt=”yes” excerpt_length=”0″ strip_html=”yes” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/fusion_recent_posts][fusion_text]– more devotions –[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • Do you not care that we are perishing?

    Do you not care that we are perishing?

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text]Panic and fear are natural responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, as our cellphones alert us to  every advance of the viral storm on our borders, neighbourhoods and homes. Scientists estimate that between 40% and 80% of our population will be affected by the Coronavirus. But it is good to remind ourselves that we are not the pivot of history and our storm is not unique. Many plagues have stalked the planet before ours: In 260AD, Smallpox killed a third of the Roman Empire, and in 251AD a form of measles wreaked havoc on the world. In 1347 the Black Death wiped out 20 million people over five years. Then came the Plague of 1527, and a massive Cholera outbreak in London in 1854. The Spanish flu of 1918 killed over 50 million of those who managed to survive World War 1, and only five years ago, Ebola claimed 11 000 lives. Even now, billions of desert locusts are swarming in East Africa, posing a huge threat to the region’s food security.

    Where is God in these great storms? Does He even care? To the naked eye, it may appear that God is powerless, asleep or indifferent to our world, if He exists at all.

    These thoughts are implicit in the question that Jesus’s own disciples asked Him as they watched furious waves breaking over their fragile fishing boat: “Don’t you care that we are perishing?”

    It was a personal and urgent question, since Jesus was fast asleep in the boat while they were baling water and fighting the storm. The miracle worker who’d just healed a paralytic, seemed detached and impassive to their plight. Or was He?

    Today’s text is Mark 4:35-41.

    On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

    Storms reveal faith and fear

    “For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor 4:18).

    The disciples already knew that Jesus was a powerful rabbi who taught with authority, healed the sick and cast out evil spirits with a word. They’d seen Jesus forgive the sins of a paralysed man and restore his atrophied muscles. Jesus had already shown them that he was powerful, good and wise. He was starting to reverse the chaotic effects of sin and sickness.

    Yet, while the waves were breaking over their own boat, threatening to sink it, the disciples were confronted with an x-ray of their unbelief (Mark 4:40). At this stage, they did not fully grasp who Jesus was and what His Kingdom meant. Three questions in this brief story reveal their troubled hearts:

    “Teacher, don’t you care that we are perishing?” They accuse Jesus of indifference.

    “Why are you so afraid?” Jesus gently questions their panicked response.

    “Do you still have no faith?” Jesus probes deeper to the root of their fear.

    We may know more than the disciples did on this terrifying day, but even as Christians, storms scan our hearts like giant x-ray machines and confront us with these same questions. Fear and faith are always vying for control. It’s easy to say that Jesus is the ruler of the universe generally, but it’s harder to trust him personally when the earth is moving under us. It’s easier to believe what we see with our eyes, than trust in the invisible Creator, who neither slumbers nor sleeps (Ps 121:3-5). It takes faith to trust in things not seen when the winds and waves are in our face (Heb 11:1). Storms test and grow genuine faith in Jesus.

    Storms blast away our illusions of security. They expose the truth of our weak bodies, our volatile stock markets and fragile mortality. That’s exactly what the Coronavirus is doing. Apart from the immediate threat of illness, COVID-19 will have dramatic economic effects on families and communities in the coming months, perhaps years. Like believers in every storm, we are challenged to exercise our faith by caring for our neighbours’ needs and demonstrating what we believe about God’s unseen Kingdom. God’s greatest treasures are often hidden in our most difficult storms.

    As clergyman James A. Aughley wrote: “As a weak limb grows stronger by exercise, so will your faith be strengthened by the very efforts you make in stretching it out towards things unseen.”

    Storms reveal Christ

    There’s a fourth crucial question in our story. In the calm after the storm, the even more terrified disciples ask each other: “Who is this then, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” The storm forces them to question who Jesus really is and whether they can surrender their lives to him. The answer holds the key to this story.

    In fact, the answer comes a chapter later from the lips of a demon-possessed hermit living among the tombs, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus Son of the Most High God?” (Mark 5:7).

    The story of Jesus calming the storm is a dramatic preview of who Christ is and why He came to earth: He talks to the ferocious, life-threatening storm as if it’s a yap-dog. He literally orders the furious storm to shut up and sit down, and it obeys! Even the wild waves are tamed. It’s no wonder the disciples were even more afraid in the calm than the storm! They glimpsed the invisible Kingdom of God and sensed the presence of the King in the boat with them.

    The disciples may have joined the dots more quickly than us. They knew the Old Testament symbols of turbulent waters and surging seas were pictures of spiritual and political forces that are hostile to God. When Jesus said, “Be still”, He revealed himself as God of heaven and earth, and declared war on His enemies. By overturning the forces of evil and chaos on the lake, he showed Himself to be “God of our salvation and the hope of all the ends of the earth:”

    “O God of our salvation,
    the hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas…
    7 who stills the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    the tumult of the peoples,
    8 so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs (Ps 65:5-8).

    O Lord God of hosts,
    who is mighty as you are, O Lord,
    with your faithfulness all around you?
    9 You rule the raging of the sea;
    when its waves rise, you still them…
    you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. The heavens and earth are mine” (Ps 89:8-11).

    In stilling the storm, Jesus showcased his invisible kingdom and His identity as King.

    Don’t you care that we are perishing?

    But even if Jesus rules the winds and the waves, it is still legitimate to ask if He cares. A King can be powerful, but not care for his subjects at all. Jesus answered that question himself:  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

    The disciples’ question is full of dramatic irony. They believed that drowning that day was the worst fate they could face. Physical death was their idea of ‘perishing,’ as they watched their lives flash before them. Yet, this scene on Lake Galilee was just a drop in the ocean of what Christ would soon do to save the world from truly perishing:

    To ‘perish’ is to be utterly consumed by the final, furious storm of God’s judgment against our sin (Rev 6:16). Since only Jesus can atone for sins, our only safe place is in the boat with Him. Just as Noah’s family was safe in the Ark when the Flood came, Jesus is the only and ultimate shelter from an infinitely more desperate death than drowning (Matt 24:37-39). Only those who believe in Him will be delivered when the storm of God’s wrath comes.

    Jesus proved how much He cared. We only have to hear his prayer in Gethsemane, see his mutilated body on the cross, and listen to his cry of being God-forsaken, to know for sure that our faith in Jesus is well-founded. If that’s not proof that He cares, what will it take?

    Let not your hearts be troubled

    Jesus woke from his sleep of death to bring peace to our sinful, dysfunctional hearts. That’s the greatest miracle of all for those who put their trust in Him! And at the right time, the Lord will restore His disordered, furious, wild, turbulent and groaning creation, just as He stilled the winds and waves (Joel 2:25-26; Isa 65:25; Acts 3:21; Rev 21:4-5).

    Be still for a moment and imagine that lake after the ferocious storm. Focus on the invisible person of Christ and his unseen Kingdom. Let him tame our our worries and fears as we make them obedient to his power and love:

    In every storm, we can be sure that Jesus does care for us. The Lord never slumbers or sleeps, even if it appears that way (Ps 121:4, 1 Peter 5:7). If we’re in Christ, He’ll be in the boat with us by His Spirit, even when we die.

    As we wash our hands and hunker down in our homes, we need to take this opportunity to anchor ourselves and our families in what we know is true, rather than being tossed about by every new case of COVID-19 and the uncertain future. We need to resist sensationalism and hysteria, because exercising faith means looking beyond what’s seen with the naked eye (2 Cor 4:18). Faith is seeing ourselves as a pinprick in the big storyline of Scripture: Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration. And faith means living now, not in fear and bewilderment, but in wisdom and the certain knowledge of what God is doing to redeem a people for himself and restore all of his Creation. Practical faith is making Jesus our secure hiding place by believing His Word and praying to him. It’s finding creative ways to care for each other as Jesus cares for us, and being always ready to give a reason for our hope in the rock-solid Kingdom of God– especially on social media! It’s the unseen things that must shape our values, our responses and everyday priorities. That’s how faith will win over fear. And that’s how our hearts will not be troubled.

    “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1-3).

    Laura Story asks the question of God: “What if blessings come through rain drops? What if the rain, the storms, the hardest nights–are your mercies in disguise?”

    Prayer

    Lord God, thank you for caring enough that you left heaven and took the storm of judgement on our behalf on the cross. Thank you that your Word gives us many glimpses of your wonderful, eternal Kingdom, where you reign with peace, order and righteousness. Lord Jesus, keep our minds focussed on these unseen things as we navigate the challenging storm we face. Reassure our hearts that you are always with our loved ones and you care for us. Help us to look beyond ourselves to our neighbours who are physically vulnerable, or those who don’t know the peace only you can give. Teach us creative ways to love people even when we cannot make physical contact. May your invisible Kingdom govern our responses in the days ahead. In Jesus’ name, Amen.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container background_color=”#ffffff” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”5%” padding_right=”5%” hundred_percent=”yes” equal_height_columns=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_3″ last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”center center” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”none” hover_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”none” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] [/fusion_imageframe][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”2_3″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”2%” margin_top=”2%” margin_bottom=”2%” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Receive our latest devotion in your Inbox[/fusion_title][fusion_code]Q2xpY2sgZWRpdCBidXR0b24gdG8gY2hhbmdlIHRoaXMgY29kZS4=[/fusion_code][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container background_color=”#ffffff” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”5%” padding_right=”5%” hundred_percent=”yes” equal_height_columns=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Other devotions from the God Walk…[/fusion_title][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_recent_posts layout=”default” hover_type=”none” columns=”3″ number_posts=”6″ offset=”” cat_slug=”devotion” exclude_cats=”” thumbnail=”yes” title=”yes” meta=”no” excerpt=”yes” excerpt_length=”0″ strip_html=”yes” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/fusion_recent_posts][fusion_text]– more devotions –[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • Habakkuk: The righteous shall live by faith

    Habakkuk: The righteous shall live by faith

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text]Paul tells us that the gospel of Jesus Christ was promised beforehand through prophets (Romans 1:2). Their revelations were deeper and wider and richer than they could have ever imagined at the time. Last week we met the prophet Habakkuk, who lived in Judah at the end of the sixth century, when injustice and violence were rife among God’s people. Judah’s King, Jehoikim, was a despot who abused his own people and murdered the prophets who dared to tell him the truth (Jer 22:13-14 and Jer 26:20-24). Habakkuk’s message of judgment stands against the backdrop of the Mosaic covenant between Yahweh and the people He redeemed from slavery in Egypt: God’s people would enjoy blessings of fruitfulness, freedom and fellowship if they followed God’s ways, but if they rejected his laws, God would set his face against them and allow their enemies to rule over them (Lev 26; Deut 28). When we zoom in on the three poetic chapters of Habakkuk, it is by no means a good-news story, but a message of impending doom and disaster for Judah, and many more woes for their Babylonian captors. But Habakkuk’s story is set within the Bible’s great story from Genesis to Revelation –the story of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Re-creation. If we look closely, the prophet’s ‘burden’ opens small windows of light, which point to a vista far more amazing than its original context in 600BC– The gospel of God’s kingdom and His final restoration of all creation.

    Look at the nations and be utterly amazed!

    In chapter 1, this is how God begins to answer Habakkuk’s question, “How long will injustice prevail?”

    “Look among the nations, and see;
        wonder and be astounded.
    For I am doing a work in your days
        that you would not believe if told.
    6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
        that bitter and hasty nation,
    who march through the breadth of the earth,
        to seize dwellings not their own…

     They gather captives like sand.
    10 At kings they scoff,
        and at rulers they laugh.
    They laugh at every fortress,
        for they pile up earth and take it.
    11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
        guilty men, whose own might is their god!”

    (Hab 1:5-6; 10-11)

    In chapter 2, God replies to Habakkuk’s second question, “Why do you tolerate evil?”

    And the Lord answered me:

    “Write the vision;
        make it plain on tablets,
        so he may run who reads it.
    3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
        it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
    If it seems slow, wait for it;
        it will surely come; it will not delay.

    4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
        but the righteous shall live by his faith.

    Habakkuk 1:5 is often quoted by Christians to talk about wonderful feats that God is performing in our day. This is true, but first we must grasp that the ‘astounding things’ God announced in this prophecy meant imminent disaster for God’s people in Habakkuk’s day. God was true to his word: Babylon conquered Egypt and Assyria to become the world power. Jerusalem fell to King Nebuchadnezzar in 586BC. God did not ignore King Jehoikim’s arrogance. As Jeremiah had foretold, there was no funeral or mourning for Judah’s despot when he died. Instead, the proud leader ended his days a captive, leaving behind a shameful legacy of dishonest gain, oppression, extortion and violence (Jer 22:17-19). God judged the ruthless Babylonians, when Cyrus the Great of Persia, captured Babylon in 538BC, and ended the exile. As the Lord had promised Habakkuk, his revelation was fulfilled at His appointed time. Though it lingered, it came with irresistible power (Hab 2:3). God’s eyes were not closed to evil after all.

    What about the faithful?

    But what about faithful people like Daniel and his friends who were carried off into captivity in Babylon? What about the people of God who prayed, but were still swallowed up like little fish in a fisherman’s net? (Hab 1:17) Did God forget them?

    Habakkuk 2:4 reassures us that this is not the case:

    Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
        but the righteous shall live by his faith.

    God describes two kinds of people here. One is proud and confident in himself, and the other humbly trusts in God’s provision. Is this an insignificant insight? Paul didn’t think so, as he quotes Habakkuk 2:4 twice as the heartbeat of the gospel. The writer of Hebrews also cites it to motivate God’s people to keep trusting the Lord even in suffering and persecution. If Habakkuk 2:4 is a segment of God’s whole story, we need to turn to the New Testament to connect faith and righteousness.

    The righteous shall live by their faith.

    16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Rom 1:16-17)

     10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:10-14)

    36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For,

    “Yet a little while,
        and the coming one will come and will not delay;
    38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,” (Heb 10:36-38a)

    The prophet Habakkuk stood six hundred years before the birth of Jesus, but through his porthole of history, he knew that God is holy and just, and cannot ignore evil (Hab 1:13). He knew that no one obeys God’s law perfectly, and all are all under God’s curse (Deut 27:26). But he also knew that when judgment comes, “the righteous shall live by faith” (Hab 2:4). And somehow Yahweh would remember mercy in his wrath (Hab 3:1). Habakkuk believed God’s promises of a righteous Saviour who would bear our sins and make many righteous (Isa 53:11). Like Abraham, Habakkuk believed the Lord; and God reckoned it to him as righteousness. But Habakkuk could never have guessed the full import of God’s revelation to him! He had no idea how these words would unfold in the greatest gospel truth—justification by faith!

    As we read through Habakkuk, we must not hold his sober fear of God’s judgment at arm’s length. If God is both good and powerful, He cannot ignore evil forever. At an appointed time, God’s righteous judgment will be revealed and Jesus Christ will judge the living and the dead (Rom 2:5; Acts 17:31; Heb 9:27). The only question is whether we are trusting in our own righteousness, or Christ’s. The righteous shall live by their faith. There is no other way.

    Wrath and mercy collide

    Imagine if Habakkuk had been in Jerusalem four centuries later to witness the ultimate injustice in history? Imagine if he had been at the cross, like the Roman soldier or the thief, and seen God’s wrath raining down on His innocent Son, while mercy flowed over guilty men and women like you and me? (Luke 23:41; 47; Hab 3:1). Imagine if Habakkuk had seen beyond king Jehoikim and Nebuchadnezzar, to the child born in Bethlehem as God’s Messiah, the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6; Eph 2:14-18), the King who reigns with justice and righteousness now and for all eternity (Isa 11:4; 5; Rev 11:15)! Imagine if Habakkuk had seen us– Jews and Gentiles from every nation– receiving the blessing of Abraham through faith in Christ! And pressing on in faith until Christ’s return (Gal 3:14).

    “Look among the nations, and see;
        wonder and be astounded.
    For I am doing a work in your days
        that you would not believe if told” (Hab 1:5).

    Join us next week to look through the amazing little window of Habakkuk 2:14: 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

    Listen to Lux, by Antoine Bradford.
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min_height=”none”][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Other devotions from the God Walk…[/fusion_title][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_recent_posts layout=”default” hover_type=”none” columns=”3″ number_posts=”6″ offset=”” cat_slug=”devotion” exclude_cats=”” thumbnail=”yes” title=”yes” meta=”no” excerpt=”yes” excerpt_length=”0″ strip_html=”yes” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/fusion_recent_posts][fusion_text]– more devotions 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  • Abraham’s Dark Night of the Soul

    Abraham’s Dark Night of the Soul

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text]Theology (noun) the study of the nature of God and religious belief.

    Abraham’s theology was tested in the laundry room of real experience. So is ours. His belief in God’s faithfulness spent 25 years in the laundry basket of delay. His faith in God’s goodness was whirled about in the washing machine of a risky future, famine and fear. His theology was hung out to dry on the washline of conflict and then pressed under the iron of testing. But when Abraham was around 115 years old, the iron got piping hot in the greatest test of all. God’s command to slaughter Isaac as a burnt offering may have been an acceptable practice in Canaan, but it conflicted with everything Abraham understood about the loving, faithful God who had sworn a covenant and guaranteed it with His own life (Gen 15; 17:19; 21). It made no sense at all. God had assured Abraham that Isaac would inherit the covenant promises—the nation, land, descendants and blessing to the nations. Isaac had been born by a miracle of God from a barren mother in her nineties (Gen 21:1-2). Along with the agony of killing his beloved son who brought laughter to their home, Abraham could not square God’s command with his covenant. Surely we would not blame Abraham if he ditched God at this point and followed his instincts and reason, just as he did in Egypt? “Did God really say…?” must have crossed his mind more than once on that terrible journey. However, Abraham did not delay or argue with God. Abraham’s darkest hour of fear was also his finest hour of faith.

    As this ancient father trudged for three days up Mount Moriah with his only beloved son, his torment could only be paralleled by God the Father as His Son journeyed from Gethsemane to Golgotha two thousand years later.

    Let us learn from Abraham’s faith in the darkest night of the soul.

    Genesis 22

    Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

    “Here I am,” he replied.

    2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

    3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

    6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

    “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

    “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

    8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

    9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

    “Here I am,” he replied.

    12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

    13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns.He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

    15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

    A father and son

    In the three dreadful days it took for father and son to walk to the place God had told him about, Abraham had plenty of time to process the sting of God’s command. But time was not the same for the eternal Yahweh. In his sovereignty, God had already provided a ram in the thicket and instructed the angel to stay Abraham’s hand. God knew the outcome of the test but Abraham did not. As God’s faithful friend for over a century, Abraham must have felt that God had turned against him in his old age.

    Amazingly, the author does not even mention how Abraham or Isaac felt on this journey. Our text only provides painful details of what they did. Just unquestioning, humble obedience and a brief exchange between father and son:

    “Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Isaac asks his father. “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (Gen 22:7-8). As a parent I want to scream at them to run home and abandon this ill-fated excursion!

    But, in his darkest hour, haunted by doubt, despair and disorientation, Abraham chose to believe God rather than his perceptions.

    The promised son also obeyed, rather than out-run or out-wrestle his aging father. Isaac, a sturdy youth, allowed himself to be bound and placed on the altar, like a meek lamb, a silent sheep before its shearers. One cannot help but see images of the Promised One in Isaiah 53:7; 10.

    Father and son’s faithful obedience was not born from a stoic sense of duty, but from a deep conviction that God would miraculously ‘provide’ on the mountain (Gen 22:8; Heb 11:17; 18; 19). They obeyed even though the means of provision remained a mystery.

    Abraham teaches us something important about faith in the dark night of the soul which is confirmed by the wise advice of Jon Bloom:

    “When your perceptions tell you something different than God’s promises, always, always, always trust God’s promises over your perceptions.” (When Your Worst Storm Comes.)

    Father, I pray that you would give me grace to trust and obey you, even when my instincts and feelings pull me in another direction. May I act on your word, even if it leads to the loss of something precious. I cling to the certainty that somehow you will always provide.

    Father and Son

    “Your only son that you love” echoes three times in this story (Gen 22:2; 12; 15), emphasizing the crux of Abraham’s test:

    Isaac was Abraham’s promised seed, but he was also his only, beloved son. It is impossible to miss the parallel with the unique, earth-shattering sacrifice on a nearby hill two millennia later, when the Father of heaven did not spare his only begotten Son:

    “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).

     Abraham trusted that God would provide on the Mountain of the Lord. God did indeed provide (Gen 22:8; 13-14): First a ram in the thicket in exchange for Isaac’s life. Then His own Son in exchange for every sinner who believes (Rom 8:32). The truth of God’s provision was revealed to John the Baptist on the day Jesus was baptized,

    “Behold the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

    “The Ram in the thicket” was a preview of the main feature film, “Jesus The Promised One”! God’s Son was provided on the mountain of the Lord in 33AD.

    I wrote a little poem titled “Father and Son”

    Not a bundle of sticks, but a wooden cross

    Borne upon his bloodied back

    A Father grieves a precious loss

    As noonday sky turns black.

    Not a thicket, but a crown of thorns

    Frames His disfigured face

    “My God, My God!” The Father mourns

    As the Son bears our disgrace.

    The Father did not stay His hand

    When darkness fell upon the land

    For His perfect will was finally done

    When He did not spare his only Son.

    Father, thank you that you loved us so much that you did not withhold your only beloved Son. It was your will to make his life an offering for sin, so that you could suspend your hand of judgment on all who believe (Isa 53:10; 11). Thank you that your Son saw the ‘light of life’ when He was raised from the tomb and that I am one of those stars in the sky and grains of sand on the seashore you promised Abraham– a child of the covenant!

    Epilogue on Abraham!

    We have come to our last devotion in the life of Abraham. I hope you have enjoyed the journey! His remarkable story weaves together the faith, obedience and sacrifice of a flawed man who walked with the Lord and unwittingly became a central pivot of redemptive history. Just so that you know, Abraham saw his son Isaac marry Rebekah, and then went on to live to 175 years, “an old man and full of years, and he was gathered to his people” (Gen 25:7). That is a beautiful epitaph for a great man, isn’t it?

    But even greater than the mortal man himself, are the stunning previews of the gospel screened through Abraham’s life two millenia before the appearance of God’s Anointed. Like all of us, Abraham saw through a glass dimly, but he believed that God would do what He had promised, and Jesus commended him highly for this expectant, hopeful faith:

    Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

    “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”

    “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:56-59)

    Abraham’s faith ebbed and flowed like ours, but Paul makes a stunning statement about God’s promises to Abraham:

    Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” (Gal 3:8).

    Abraham was not blessed because he obeyed and was willing to sacrifice his son, although this pleased God greatly. Abraham was blessed because he believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:9; Rom 4:22; Gal 3:6). Faith in God’s provision made Abraham a friend of God, not his obedience or sacrifices. It is the same for us today. Only Jesus, the perfect God-man, can be our once-for-all sacrifice. Only the Son of God qualifies as the human substitute who stays the Father’s hand of judgment against us (Heb 10:5-6; 7).

    Only when we trust in the ‘Lamb’ God provided, do we have the right to call God our ‘Father’ and we are called His ‘friend’.

    As children of God, it is only natural that we will want to live a life of sacrifice and obedience, as Abraham did (Hebrews 13:15-16, Phil 4:18 and Romans 12:1). Sacrifice and obedience are always woven together in the lives of God’s friends, because they are the proof that faith is real (James 2:20-23).

    Father, I can scarcely believe that I am called your friend! Help me to trust your promises and build my life on them, regardless of my confused vision. Help me to obey like Abraham and Isaac without needing to know how all the pieces fit together.

    A Blessing for fellow pilgrims

    Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (Heb 13:20-21).

      • Listen to this great hymn sung by Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin: The Wonderful Cross.

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min_height=”none”][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Other devotions from the God Walk…[/fusion_title][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_recent_posts layout=”default” hover_type=”none” columns=”3″ number_posts=”6″ offset=”” cat_slug=”devotion” exclude_cats=”” thumbnail=”yes” title=”yes” meta=”no” excerpt=”yes” excerpt_length=”0″ strip_html=”yes” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/fusion_recent_posts][fusion_text]– more devotions 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  • Abram– Why we should cling to the covenant

    Abram– Why we should cling to the covenant

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    “When God makes a covenant he reveals his own job description and signs it.” (John Piper).

    However, in Abram’s case, there was a gaping chasm between God’s job description in Genesis 12 and Abram’s reality a decade later. What guarantee did he have that he had not been sent on a wild goose chase? God’s promises must have seemed like a distant dream, not a cause for confidence.

    Delay is one of the hardest tests of faith. Like Abram, it sometimes feels like we are on  endless probation. But remember that Abram camped in faith’s waiting room for thirty years! It must have been hard not to doubt God’s goodness and faithfulness. But in Genesis 15, when Abram was around 80 years old, God ‘cut’ a covenant with him and gave him a terrifying, unforgettable  vision. It is one of the Bible’s few theophanies, in which God graciously showed himself to his human friend as a smoking firepot with a blazing torch. During this encounter, God quietened Abram’s quaking heart; answered his honest questions, and offered two tangible signs that He could be trusted. Hebrews explains that God “swore by himself” and showed Abram “the unchangeable character of his purpose” (Heb 6:13-15). It was the ultimate show-and-tell. Today’s text gives us a glimpse into God’s eternal covenant with Abram and his spiritual descendants (Gal 3:29). It is an encouragement to every person who has fled to Christ for refuge and a sober reminder that God himself was torn to pieces to honour his covenant promises. Gospel hope is the only firm and secure anchor for the soul, because it depends on His performance alone (Heb 6:19). That’s why we need to padlock ourselves to God’s promises and cling to His covenant of grace.

    Genesis 15

    15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

    “Do not be afraid, Abram.
        I am your shield,
        your very great reward.”

    2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

    4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

    6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

    7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

    8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

    9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

    10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

    12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

    17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites,Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

    Abram believed the Lord (Gen 15:6)

    By this time Abram had been in Canaan around ten years with nothing to show for it. No hint of a son and not a patch of land to call his own, much less a nation, a great name and a conduit of blessing to other nations. Abram had successfully launched a rescue mission to get Lot out of Sodom, but apart from this messy victory, he did not have a shred of hard evidence that God’s promises would come true. It is easy for us to skim through Genesis 12 to 21, but Abram was seventy when God first called him out of his comfortable home in Ur, and a hundred when Isaac was born! It was not a quick and easy faith journey.

    Despite his limited understanding of the future and unpromising reality, “Abram believed the Lord and God credited it to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6). Abram was right with God, not because he was a worthy man, but because he took God at his word.

    The New Testament tells us that Genesis 15:6 was written not just for Abraham, but also for all “to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (Rom 4:23-24). Verse 6 applies to Abram and to us, if we have bowed the knee to Jesus.

    “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12; Rom 4; 5:1; Gal 2:16; 3:24; Rom 3:23-24).

    Do you know for sure you have been made right with God through faith in Jesus?

    God stilled Abram’s heart (Gen 15:1)

    Verse 1 is one of my favourite verses. God looked into Abram’s quaking heart and knew that his greatest fear was the gap between God’s promises and his disappointing reality.

    Is this not also our fear? Do you wonder if God is really a good and faithful Redeemer when you see brokenness in your marriage, your finances, your health and your family? God knows your deepest fears and will not leave you up the creek without a paddle. This is God’s word of comfort to you: “Do not be afraid, I am your shield and your very great reward!”

    It is the Lord himself who is our shield and reward, not His blessings and benefits, as much as we love and appreciate them.

    Delay does not mean that God has forgotten our plight. If God did not make us wait in prayer; if our lives were always ordered and our path clear, why would we need faith at all? Faith is trusting Jesus for redemption while still in chains. Faith is grabbing his light while in the darkness. Faith is taking refuge in Jesus, while reeling from punches in life’s boxing ring. He is our High Priest who deals gently with our human frailty (Heb 4:14;15;16).

    Whom or what are you using as your shield and reward today? What is the anchor of your soul?

    God answered Abram’s questions (Gen 15:2; 8)

    ”BUT Abram said….BUT how can I know?” Our BUTS expose the uncertainties which underlie our deepest doubts and fears.

    Abram’s awesome but approachable God welcomed his honest, humble questions about the promised son and land. The Lord took his questions seriously and responded with tangible signs. Faith is not immune to doubts, longings and fears, but faith grows when we hand them over to the God who cares. God’s response to Abram shows that He does not dismiss the honest concerns of believers.

    As a parent, I know that I cannot fix all my children’s fears or answer all their questions. But I can take their concerns seriously and encourage them to pray their doubts and heartaches to Jesus. I trust that even if He does not provide all the answers, He will reveal his goodness and faithfulness to them. That’s how He answers our questions too.

    God gave Abram tangible signs (Gen 15:5; 17)

    Not only did God respond with words, but also with tangible signs.

    First, Abram wondered how God could give an old, barren couple a child? In response, God took him outside to see the night sky and asked him to imagine his infinite descendants glittering over the vast expanse of the universe (Gen 15:5). I love this visual aid! The sovereign Creator stooped down to his creature-friend to give him a visible pledge. Abram would see this sign each evening when he stepped out of his tent. It was as tangible as Noah’s rainbow.

    Second, Abram wondered how God would give a wandering nomad the land of Canaan? It was a legitimate question, as Abram was landless. In response, God rolled back the curtains of the future and showed how He would act on behalf of his people (Gen 15:10; 13-16; 18-21).

    The gory ritual God acted out while Abram slept under a blanket of “thick and dreadful darkness”, may seem like something out of The Vampire Diaries, but, against the backdrop of Abram’s Mesopotamian culture, it is a covenant with stunning visual effects (Gen 15:9-10):

    Whereas we ratify contracts with a signed document of mutually agreed terms and conditions, the Mesopotamians sliced animals into pieces and placed their bloodied flesh on the floor. The two parties bound themselves by walking between the pieces and acting out the breach clause which was clear and brutal: “If I am unfaithful to my contractual obligations, you can do to me what has been done to these bloody, broken animals. You can cut me into little pieces and leave my corpse for the vultures! ” (Jer 34:18).

    But instead of God and Abram walking together between the pieces of flesh, the smoking blazing firepot passed through the pieces ALONE (Gen 15:17). The firepot symbolised God himself in his holy, unapproachable perfection (Ex 3:2; 13:21-22; 14:24; 19:18; Deut 4:11).

    Could it be that God was pledging to fulfill the terms and bear the curse of unfaithfulness on behalf of both of them?

    It was not a mutual contract at all, but a one-sided, unconditional covenant that God guaranteed with his own life. Its fulfillment and default penalties rested entirely on the Lord, not Abram.

    Could Abram have imagined the great and terrible darkness that would descend on the whole land of Israel at noon, while the Lord’s body was broken to pieces? (Matt 27:45). Could he have conceived the scandalous way in which God would pour out his own blood to fulfill his covenant  promises (Matt 26:28; Luke 22:19-20)?

    Yet, that is exactly what happened when God took on human flesh and was cut off from the land of the living, pierced and crushed for our sins (Isa 53:5; 8). By bearing the curse of our unfaithfulness in 33 AD, God literally “swore by himself,” as he did to Abram in that thick and dreadful darkness. The Lord Jesus, who had no sin, became sin for covenant-breakers like Abram, you and me.

    Our soul anchor today

    Let’s massage Abram’s story in Genesis 15 deep into our own experience!

    When we cling to the covenant, we plead Christ’s promises and trust his grace. We padlock ourselves to God’s trustworthiness and throw away the key!

    • Human beings make and break promises every day in marriage, families, politics and business, because we are all untrustworthy sinners. But God died to guarantee His gospel promises and blessings that belong to all who are “in Christ” (Eph 1:3-14). It is the same gospel that was announced in advance to Abraham (Gal 3:8).

     

    • God’s oath to Abraham and to all his spiritual offspring is the gospel hope that “anchors our soul, firm and secure”. It is like a giant padlock linking us to Christ forever. Our hope is pledged by the tangible sign of the Holy Spirit– the giver of assurance, wisdom and revelation to know Christ better (Eph 1:17-18; John 14:16-17).
    • Like Abram found it hard to follow God wherever He led, we are challenged to follow Christ even though our lives are messy and God’s promises seem a distant dream. Jesus commands us to padlock ourselves to Him and throw away the key (John 15:4). Gospel hope takes us spiritually into the “inner sanctuary” of God, and will finally transport us into His  physical presence, where we will worship alongside all His people from every nation (Heb 6:19; Rev 7:9-11). What a solid anchor for the soul!

    “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ” (2 Cor 1:20)

    If you are doubting the faithfulness and goodness of God…if you wonder whether you can trust His gospel promises of restoration, redemption and reconciliation…if your faith is weary and weak from waiting…Plead His promises!

    Think of Abram and the smoking firepot walking between the pieces. Think of the bloodied, broken body of Jesus on the cross, and ask yourself: “What more could God have done to prove to me that He is trustworthy? Could there be a more tangible sign that He loves me and died to be my Redeemer to the very end?” 

    Warm your hands at the fireside of Ephesians 1:3-14 and anchor yourself today to your spiritual blessings in Christ. God knows our tendency to doubt and forget. That’s why he has given us the Holy Spirit to whisper hope in our hearts and padlock us to the Promise Keeper. Could there be a more tangible sign that God will keep his covenant with you right to the end?

    “This hope is our anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Heb 6:19)

    Pray

    Father, you know me inside out. You know my questions, doubts and fears even before I have words to express them. You know how badly I have broken your covenant again and again and how messy my life is right now. Some parts of my life look beyond redemption to me, and yet I believe that you died to give me an eternal inheritance and to make all things new. Thank you for never giving up on me and being my soul anchor to keep me stable and safe from the raging sea. I look to you to restore those things that seem too hopeless and broken to fix. I pray for patient faith like Abraham’s to cling to your eternal covenant with me. I plead your gospel promises today for me and my family, even though our faith is weak. I hide in the Lord Jesus today, my refuge and very great reward. Holy Spirit, help me to experience the reality of your presence and padlock me to Jesus until I finally meet my heavenly Father face to face, in the company of my father Abraham and all his spiritual offspring.

    In Jesus’s name, amen.

    Worship Jesus as you listen to There is a Name, by Covenant Worship.

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min_height=”none”][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Other devotions from the God Walk…[/fusion_title][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_recent_posts layout=”default” hover_type=”none” columns=”3″ number_posts=”6″ offset=”” cat_slug=”devotion” exclude_cats=”” thumbnail=”yes” title=”yes” meta=”no” excerpt=”yes” excerpt_length=”0″ strip_html=”yes” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/fusion_recent_posts][fusion_text]– more devotions 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  • From the summit of faith into the ditch of fear

    From the summit of faith into the ditch of fear

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    “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

    When I was a child I was often baffled by this idiom. I dreamed up scenarios of rock-hurling inhabitants of little forest greenhouses! (Remember that it was the pre-Google era when people actually applied their minds and imaginations to figure things out!) Eventually Webster’s dictionary clarified the idiom for me:

    “People who have faults should not criticize other people for having the same faults.”

    This is an apt warning against smugness as we read the story of Abram’s low point in Egypt in Genesis 12. It is easy to criticize Abram’s lapse in faith as he heads down to Egypt to escape famine in Canaan. It is natural to be shocked at his selfish schemes as he leads Sarai to become a concubine in Pharoah’s harem, all to save his own skin! What on earth happened to the bold, intrepid man of faith who followed God’s call into the unknown, the man who boldly built altars and called on the name of the Lord? How did Abram imagine things would turn out for his wife—the future mother of the great nation? Had Abram not heard that husbands should lay down their lives for their wives if the need arises? Did he forget God’s amazing promises (Gen 12:2-3)? Pity he didn’t have Matt 6 and Eph 5:25-28!

    But as I hurled rocks of accusation at Abram, I noticed them boomerang right back and heard the faint tinkling of glass around me: “Have I always trusted God for my physical needs and the needs of my family? Have I ever run to the world for help, or reacted prematurely when afraid? Have I never obsessed over a trial instead of praying about it? Have I ever responded to danger with alarm and clever deception? Have I always remembered the promises, protection and provision of God? Have I ever been unable to feed my family?” Only when we stand in the shattered glass of our own self-righteousness can we see that the Bible is written about (and for) real people just like us. People who are prone to spiritual amnesia and self-protection. People who are by nature selfish, cowardly and unfaithful. That is why we must never focus on our ‘faith’ to get us through the great tests of life, but only on God’s faithfulness. God’s grace is the only thing that stands between our mountains and ditches of faith. Our texts today are Genesis 12:10-20 and 1 Cor 10:12-13:

    10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance,12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

    17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

    1 Cor 10:12-13:

    12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

    Plans from panic

    Immediately after the spiritual high of his call, Abram faced physical, down-to-earth trials and temptations. He was in Canaan– the promised land– obeying God and enjoying His blessings. But then he was faced with a serious famine, which threatened the survival of his family. When he ran to Egypt to avoid food shortages, he faced another kind of danger: Pharoah, who could perhaps covet his beautiful wife and kill Abram to have her.

    Abram faced the fear of CIRCUMSTANCES and the fear of MAN, which every believer will face. Abram had a basic choice, just as we do: Trust God or trust self.

    Abram chose his own ingenuity and did not exactly cover himself with glory.

    Going down to Egypt

    Spiritually speaking, ‘going down to Egypt’ means doubting God’s promises and running to the world for help. Isaiah describes this tendency, which I recognize in myself:

    “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord,
    “who carry out a plan, but not mine,
    and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit,
        that they may add sin to sin;
    2 who set out to go down to Egypt,
        without asking for my direction,
    to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
        and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! (Isa 30:1-2)

    The right way is not always the easiest or most instinctive way.

    Difficulties are NOT always a sign that we are outside of God’s protection, will and blessing.

    We know that God tests our faith through fear, scarcity and danger, “so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold… , may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7). Testing produces ENDURANCE, proven CHARACTER and HOPE in those who persevere through it, because it teaches us to trust God in ways we wouldn’t in times of plenty (Romans 5:2-5; James 1:12).

    When the circumstances of life are too difficult and we find ourselves in the furnace of testing, Abram’s failure teaches us to seek wisdom. It is better to remain where God has put us and trust in Jesus, rather than trust in our own hearts. Panic and fear lead to foolish and hasty decisions.

    “So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

    “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
        a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
    the one who relies on it
        will never be stricken with panic” (Isa 28:16).

    “Those who trust in themselves are fools,
        but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe” (Prov 28:26).

    The myth of self preservation

    The Bible often warns us against spiritual amnesia (forgetfulness). We must not forget who we are and who God is, as Abram did in his furnace of testing. Abram did not deny God’s existence. He did not curse God for the famine. But He also did not wrestle with God’s promises. He simply forgot how great God is and went about trying to save himself.

    Abram failed to ask for God’s direction or protection. He went into survival mode and then hoped that God would bless his plans and schemes.

    Paul reminds us not to trust in our faith or ingenuity, but to look to God, who will provide a way of escape so that we are able to endure it (1 Cor 10:12-13). No trial is an exception to this rule. It is our stubborn and proud hearts that instinctively seek shelter in the shadow of ‘Egypt’ instead of the Almighty: “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty” (Ps 91:1).

    As with Abram, fear is a terrible driver of our thoughts and behaviour. The only antidote to fear is to continually turn God-ward rather than in-ward.

    A web of sin

    Abram’s self preservation and forgetfulness of God led to selfishness, compromise, deceit and sacrifice of his wife’s chastity. When he made plans that were not the Lord’s, he added sin to sin (Isa 30:1). He deliberately chose a convenient lie over the truth that Sarai was his wife. He even instructed her to lie on his behalf (Gen 12:13). Abram used the same lie again in Genesis 20, and Isaac did the same to his wife, Rebekah (Gen 26:7-10). Parents are role models to their children– for good or ill. It may have seemed like a small half-truth to Abram and his culture, which viewed women as chattels, but it was a serious offence to God (Gen 12:17).

    Abram wandered into sin through the gateway of fear and compromise. The consequences were dire for everyone…for generations.

    At first, it may have seemed as if Abram benefited from his lies (Gen 12:16), but the sweetness of sin never lingers long. The poison of deception must have killed Abram’s soul as he saw the line of sheep, oxen, donkeys, servants and camels wafting into his yard…but no Sarai in his house. His ill-gotten gain would have brought him no satisfaction.

    We need to hear God’s heart on the sanctity of marriage today:

    “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Heb 13:4).

    There is no compromise for God. Whatever the prevailing culture says, adultery is always an offence against God. Its chaos destroys many in its wake, including children and communities. Even Pharoah knew that what Abram did was wrong and deported him in disgrace (Gen 12:20).

    Instead of being a blessing to the nations, Abram’s lie cursed the Egyptians and destroyed his witness there. It is likely that Hagar, (the Egyptian maidservant who bore Ishmael), was one of the gifts of Pharoah – payment for Abram’s unfaithfulness. Lot (Abram’s nephew) got a taste for Egypt and would later choose the plains of Sodom as his home, since the land was fertile “like the land of Egypt” (Gen 13:10). Abram’s sin affected generations to come.

    Abram learned four painful lessons from Egypt: 1) Live by faith, not fear; 2) Be straightforward with the truth; 3) The end never justifies the means and 4) Our sins will always find us out. May the Lord help us to learn from Abram’s mistakes without having to repeat them ourselves.

    But the greatest lesson Abram would have learned in Egypt is that God is faithful when we are not.

    God’s grace in our unfaithfulness

    In grace, God intervened and rescued Sarai from Pharoah’s harem. Yahweh had not forgotten his promises to his servant Abram (Gen 12:1-3). If God had not cursed Pharoah’s household with plagues, he may not have known anything was wrong. Pharoah did not harm Abram and sent him away with Sarai and all their goods. In mercy, God did not give Abram what his sin deserved. Despite all Abram’s wrongdoing, God worked all things together for his good and God’s glory. God never left Abram, but he did allow Abram’s sin to work itself out.

    I’m sure Abram did not speak of his time in Egypt with pride. He probably lived all his life with pangs of regret and remorse—especially when he looked into the eyes of his wife, Serai, and saw those stupid animals. But you will never find this failure mentioned in the New Testament, because God forgave Abram’s sins and kept no record of them. He chooses not to remember the faults of his repentant children, because He has judged our sin in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

    God remained faithful to his covenant with Abram. The book of Hebrews describes the covenant God has made with each and every sinner who puts our trust in Jesus:

    This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
        after that time, declares the Lord.
    I will put my laws in their minds
        and write them on their hearts.
    I will be their God,
        and they will be my people…

    12 For I will forgive their wickedness
        and will remember their sins no more.”(Heb 8:12).

    Only Abram’s faith is remembered, not his failure. Like Abram, the only difference between our faith and failure is the grace of God. That’s encouraging!

    Pray:

    Father, help me to think of myself with sober judgment, knowing that even the measure of faith I have is a free gift of grace you have assigned to me (Rom 12:3). Lord, please sustain and strengthen my faith so it may stand the test of fear.  Please help my unbelief! Help me to trust you during the furnace of testing so that my faith can grow deeper and stronger. Thank you for your grace, which is the only reason I am your child in the first place and the only reason my faith will endure to the end. Breathe your faithfulness into me, so that I may give you the glory in everything. Help me to fear you, rather than what circumstances and people can do to me.

    In Jesus’ name, Amen.

    Worship as you sing “I will wait for you”, by Shane and Shane.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container background_color=”#ffffff” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”5%” padding_right=”5%” hundred_percent=”yes” equal_height_columns=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_3″ last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”yes” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”center center” 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animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Receive our latest devotion in your 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min_height=”none”][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Other devotions from the God Walk…[/fusion_title][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_recent_posts layout=”default” hover_type=”none” columns=”3″ number_posts=”6″ offset=”” cat_slug=”devotion” exclude_cats=”” thumbnail=”yes” title=”yes” meta=”no” excerpt=”yes” excerpt_length=”0″ strip_html=”yes” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/fusion_recent_posts][fusion_text]– more devotions 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