2025-01-31
Good Morning Dear Ones,
I’m commanded by the Holy Spirit to discuss the promises our Lord has made to us that will help us to see His perspective in an increasingly cruel world. In having this discussion, I continue answering the question: After surrendering to the Lord’s way, then what? For us it can begin with EPH 1: 16-19, Paul’s prayer expressing an attitude of thanks and a request for something of great importance that only God can give us. “I have not stopped giving thanks to You, remembering You in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, our glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.” Think! Just for having faith in Him and surrendering to His righteous authority, He is giving us the Holy Spirit and a lifestyle that will allow us to live beyond the grave! This gift matters, because it will allow us to not only demonstrate the gifts of the Holy Spirit as mentioned in GA 5: 22-23 (love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness [humility], and self-control) but to also tap into God’s wisdom through Christ in us [COL 1: 26-27; COL 2: 2-3].
Surrender to our Lord is wholly different than to a human being. Our Lord is always righteous and faithful. Consider the truth of PS 84: 10-12, “Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in You.” 1 JN 2: 17, “The world and its desires will pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” Remember: 1 PET 2: 24, “He Himself, bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.” Only the evil-hearted would want to waste Christ’s Atonement. When we are in trouble, we can rest on this promise: PS 34: 15, 17, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry. The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles.” We are challenged to name a human that is as faithful as God or who answers cries with a kept promise of deliverance on which we can always rely.
There are many people in this present world who reject the Lord and who think that physical death is nothing more than going back into the carbon cycle. Our faith tells us that physical death does not have to be the end of life. 1 THESS 4: 13-18 tells us that for those with genuine faith in Jesus Christ, it is not the end. It describes the rapture of believers, both those who have physically died at the time and those who are still alive. We are encouraged to read this truth and to share it with those trying to decide if they believe in Christ. Believers are not destined to the ravages of God’s wrath but instead to His unparalleled love and salvation through Jesus Christ. God means for us to spend a blissful eternity with Him [1 THESS 5: 9-10]. Those of us who have faith have “been chosen by the foreknowledge of God, the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with His blood” [1 PET 1: 2].
PRAYER: O Lord, You are kind and generous in giving us not only promises but what we must do to benefit from them. Our ethics and perspective on life and death matter to You. Only You have the wisdom and love for us that You offer us eternal life through Jesus Christ and through our willingness to live the lifestyle You teach us. No human being can do that for us. PR 3: 5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” The promise of a blissful and eternal fellowship with God in heaven is one that will be kept and will bless those willing to profess faith in Your Son and live by Your precepts. We can’t thank and praise You enough for the wisdom You make available to us and the love You have for us. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: The Holy Spirit directs me to continue discussing God’s promises and the benefits of humility wherever we are. Sometimes we must take insults for our faith but keeping it strong and vibrant will allow us one day to enjoy a heavenly eternity with God and the righteous who have gone there before us. Every widow, widower, or person who has experienced the loss of a righteous and faithful loved one, knows deep in his heart that such a reunion will indeed happen on God’s timeclock. Patiently awaiting that day is definitely worth the effort! The faith I urge us to have tells me I write the truth. My own inner peace, which I believe comes from our Creator, urges me to share this with us all. Praise and thanksgiving be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2025. All Rights Reserved.
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