2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
This morning, Jehovah Nissi, the Lord Who is our Banner, leads me to discuss living in faith. This crucial topic is found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, 2 COR 4: 16-5: 10. In this part of our “Who Is God?” series, I have spoken often about our need to keep our eyes focused on God. Paul speaks of this as living in faith, and without the wisdom that God inspired in him, the word, “faith,” would evoke a lot of mystery. It is because faith can’t be seen or held or subjected to laboratory tests; it is intangible. Yet, it is very real, very observable, and has powerful consequences to people’s lives. HE 11: 1-2, “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. It was by their faith that people of ancient times won God’s approval.” We are told this, because God wants us to know that since having faith had that effect for them, it will also have that effect for us. I love Les Feldick’s definition: “Faith is taking God at His word.” I’ll modify that slightly: “Faith is taking God at His Word.” If you have any difficulty seeing what I mean by adding the capital “W,” please read JN 1: 1-4 and you’ll know what I mean.
When we have faith, we are willing to keep our eyes on God, willing to rely on Him for leadership, guidance, encouragement, and every other need in our lives. Truthfully, this is learned behavior made possible by the imputation of righteousness at the time of our justification. Remember that justification means being deemed acceptable by God, something that happens when we have repented and come to faith in Christ. Because we were born in sin [RO 3:23], living in faith must be learned behavior. The lesson isn’t always easy, because of our limited human perspective, habit of being led by the flesh, and desire to be in control. Yet, it is crucial to our very survival and salvation. 2 COR 4: 16-18, “For this reason [God’s grace], we never become discouraged. Even through our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.” The concept of “forever” is hard for us to comprehend; it’s something like the number “infinity.” We are limited in our thinking to measuring our lives by time; God has no such limit. Human time is so imprecise that different cultures have different calendars and we must struggle to get our watches to be in sync with each other. This morning, my wake-up alarm disagreed with my clock-radio, for example. God has no such problem. He lives in the realm of eternity and invites us to join Him there once we have completed our sanctification.
2 COR 5: 1-5, “For we know that when this tent we live in-is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home He Himself has made, which will last forever. And now we sigh so great is our desire that our home which comes from heaven should be put on over us; by being clothed with it we shall not be without a body. While we live in this earthly tent, we groan with a feeling of oppression; it is not that we want to get rid of our earthly body, but that we want to have the heavenly one put on over us, so that what is mortal will be transformed by life. God is the One Who has prepared us for this change, and He gave us His Spirit as the guarantee of all that He has in store for us.” As I was reading this, God put it in my heart to look back at JN 14: 2 and 1 COR 15: 35-50, something I hope you will do for clarification. Since we know that the physical body is dying and we are living in temporary quarters on earth, should we simply give up? The answer to that question is a resounding, “no!” That is why I can’t bring myself to believe, as some do, that we should climb a mountain, put up our hands, and do nothing but wait for the Lord to come. We are fighting our battles of spiritual warfare for a reason, God’s reason. As we lean on God’s equipment to arm us, we are advancing our sanctification. While we do that work, God is doing the work of “preparing a mansion” for us in heaven. At the time of our glorification, God will grant us that “resurrection body” for which we long, and Christ will call us to a meeting in the air-the first step of our “moving day” from earth to eternal life with Him in heaven. Now, that is plenty enough for us to anticipate, to motivate us to live in faithfulness.
2 COR 5: 6-10, “So we are always full of courage. We know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord’s home. For our life is a matter of faith, not of sight. We are full of courage and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and be at home with the Lord. More than anything else, however, we want to please Him, whether in our home here or there. For all of us must appear before Christ, to be judged by Him. Each one will receive everything he deserves, according to everything he has done, good or bad, in his bodily life.” Jehovah Nissi encourages us to rely on Him for all that we need to win in spiritual warfare. He watches to see how we fight it, to see our dedication to Him. He sends us encouragement through His word, prayer, and our associations with other people striving to live in faith. He cheers for us when we win under His banner. Now that, Dear Ones, is His kind of love!
PRAYER: O Lord, You have directed me to pause for a good look at Paul’s message in 2 COR 4: 16-5:10, because You wanted us to better understand what it means to keep our eyes focused on You. From the time You set apart the Israelites as Your chosen people, Your greatest desire was that Your children should “have your law within them and write it on their hearts.” You want to claim ownership of us, to have us know You, and to forgive our sins [JER 31: 33-34]. When You placed a veil before the eyes of the Jews, You did that so that Gentiles will come to faith [RO 11: 25]. Then, You commissioned Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles to make the Gospel available to them. This, then, became the new covenant, an eternal one through the death of Your Son on the cross. Your will is supreme, and Your ways of carrying it out always righteous. That is why You instructed Christ to send us the Holy Spirit and inspired Paul to teach us how to live in faith. We are sinners, so this is learned behavior for us. However, through the power of the Holy Spirit, You transform our minds (and thus, our decisions and actions) by renewing it [RO 12: 2]. We dedicate ourselves to You, Jehovah Nissi, by acknowledging our need to be dependent on You and the blessings You alone can bring into our lives. The service we do for You is not to be for selfish reasons only, it is to bring Your blessings into the lives of others as well. We thank You for preparing a special place for us in heaven, a permanent home, close to You. We praise You for giving us the hope of the resurrection and our own special invitations to the wedding feast of the Lamb. We humbly offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, trust, obedience, honor, and glory. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at what happens when our obedience to Jehovah Nissi is incomplete. Remember that Jehovah Nissi has given us Jesus Christ, Who lives forever as our High Priest in heaven to plead with us with Him [HE 7: 25]. It would take me the rest of my life to list all the ways that He demonstrates His love for us. So, when He is telling us what not to do, please understand that this is done out of His love for us. We should never be put off by that. Instead, we should spend each day celebrating His love. Peter and I send our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn