2013-08-23
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As the Holy Spirit instructs, we are taking up the subject of “Covenant Strength and Power” in this segment of the “Our Covenant” messages. Last week, we saw that our human weakness reveals God’s power in 2 COR 12: 7-9. This is where Paul’s complaint, given three times, about his painful affliction to God led God to say, “When you are weak, I am strong.” In other words, God’s grace is sufficient to get Paul through. That changed Paul’s perception of his painful illness. We are reminded here that our trials and afflictions lead to God’s strength in our own lives. We also learn that our humility is a big part of being obediently faithful to God. We must accept God’s superior position and wisdom in our lives [RO 12: 16]. We are reminded, in 1 PET 4: 7, “Be self-controlled and clear-minded, so we can pray.”
What our Lord is doing with us in the on-going process of sanctification is completing us, readying us for the time when He decides to call us home to Him in heaven. These verses from 1 JN 4 give us a better understanding of how this works. (7) “Dear Friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God…(9) This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him…(12) No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us..(15-16) If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us…We love because He first loved us.” Paul comments, in PHIL 1: 5-6, “Because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He Who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the Day of Christ Jesus.”
Paul’s affliction (and our trials/afflictions/losses/disappointments) are indeed the work of the devil. However, God allows them, limiting exposure to them and never allowing them to break our resolve to remain faithful to Him [1 COR 10: 13]. God remains in control at all times, and He uses this work of the adversary to bring about good. GN 50: 20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Do these words of Joseph to his brothers, said so early in the Scriptures, surprise us? Joseph was a man of God, and God gave him these words to say. They function as one more reminder of the principle of HE 13: 8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever.” After all, God and Jesus are two personalities of the same Triune being. In no other source, except our Deity, do we find total consistency of teaching and perception. Paul’s pain and our trials are messengers of Satan being used as God’s tools to forward His Kingdom.
One key exchange between Moses and God that is often missed occurs in EX 33: 13-14, one which has huge ramifications for all of us. God has been telling Moses to “lead these people,” referring to the Jews in the desert. “If you are pleased with me,” Moses says to God, “Teach me Your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with You. Remember that this nation is Your people.” The Lord replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’” This is the place where God promises to dwell among His people. While the story of His physical departure for heaven from the Jerusalem temple (due to the people’s disobedience and idolatry much later) is given in EZK 10: 18-19-- our God never means to abandon His people [PS 9: 9-10]. By sending Christ to minister to us and then die on the cross, we are given the chance for redemption through faith in Him [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. Once we repent and profess genuine faith in Christ, we are not only forgiven, but He dwells within us by virtue of His third personality, the Holy Spirit [RO 8: 14-16, 26-27]. Just as God dwelt “tabernacled” with His people during their 40-year trek in the desert, leading them “as a pillar of cloud during the day and fire at night” [EX 13: 21-22], He dwells with believers today. Such is the nature of the strength and power of our Covenant Partner. In our weakness, we can turn to lean on our Covenant Partner’s strength. Paul and others who have genuine faith in the Lord know that His strength and power never run out. They are always available to those who obey and follow the Lord with faithfulness.
PRAYER: O Lord, it helps us to know that You are always there for us. We are indeed weak beings with insufficient perspective, courage, and wisdom to meet every challenge before us. We learned from first-hand experience that You can move mountains and do things that are long beyond our ability alone. We acknowledge Your superior strength and power to do good as our Covenant Partner. We utter, PS 95: 6-7, “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under his care.” These are the sentiments of our hearts and souls, Dearest Father. You are our Sovereign God, and nothing You do is evil. PS 77: 13-15, “ Everything You do, O God, is holy. No god is as great as You. You are the God Who works miracles; You showed Your might among the nations. By Your power, You saved Your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.” Your power is unsurpassed. You tell us, in IS 45:12, “I am the One Who made the earth and created mankind to live there. By My power I stretched out the heavens; I control the sun, moon, and stars.” You and You alone taught us what love is and how to love one another, using Christ and others to show it to us. We are blessed to be Your human covenant partners, and we are glad You are here for us 24/7. We understand that You have many lessons to teach us, and we open our hearts through the Holy Spirit to You and Your teaching. We ask that You always be present and interactive in our lives. We express love like no other that we have for You and for all our human covenant partners. These things we say in the mighty/holy name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: As humans limited in what we understand and do in comparison with our divine Covenant Partner, we must open our hearts to Him through the Holy Spirit. This leads us to desire the strength that is available to us through faith in Him and in the covenant we have with Him. This will be the subject of next week’s devotion, which will begin the “Strength Through Covenant Faith” segment of this “Our Covenant” series of messages. On July 5, 2013, our family experienced an event most families don’t: the 100th birthday of my mother. As any Messianic Jew with a mostly traditionally Jewish family, I have many questions about this, the answers for which will have to wait until my time to be with God in heaven comes. Why would my mother, who rejects faith in Christ, live so long? How can I deal with her rejection of Christ once she does pass away? Is it possible that she will suddenly come to faith in the Lord at the eleventh hour of her life? Did I do everything I could when I witnessed to my own faith in the Lord to her? Out of my mother’s four children, only one of my brothers was able to be with her physically on this momentous occasion. But God, in His infinite and loving kindness, made it possible through Skype video calls for us all to see and speak with her. These calls were made with Sandy, UT, Woodbury, MN, and Torino, Italy. My mother expressed joy and had a great time at the birthday party that was held for her. Most of her age-mates/friends, and my father are gone now. And yet, she was able to have this amazing day in her long life. Mother has memory and physical problems, to be expected in a lady of 100 years old. But, what is not lost on me is the privilege of having her still with us in view of the fact that I am almost 70. It boggles my mind to think of all the changes that have gone on in those 100 years of her life. And then, I must remember. My Covenant Partner can do what seems impossible [MK 10: 27]. I must place my trust in Him, that He knows exactly why she is living so long and able to love her family so well. His decisions are a matter of His covenant strength and power. And to think, “there is no evil in Him!” [2 TIM 2: 13]. Praise and thanks be to Him forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2013. All Rights Reserved.
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