A Promise You Can Count On

Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. Deuteronomy 7:9

As with all fruit of the Spirit, God himself is our model to study and follow as a perfect example of faithfulness. The Bible has much to say about God’s faithfulness to His children and is replete with numerous examples of His faithfulness despite man’s unfaithfulness. We are only human and God is a merciful God who is true to His promises. Time and time agin, we learn that when God says He will do something, He does it (even when it seems impossible). This is true for the past, the present and the future. If this were not true, He would not be God, and we could not rely on any of His promises. God is eternally reliable because faithfulness is one of His inherent attributes. God does not have to work at being faithful; He is faithful. Faithfulness is an essential part of who He is Psalm 89:8; Hebrews 13:8

My favorite example of God’s faithfulness is the story of Abraham and Sarah. I love this story because God’s faithful nature  is revealed through man’s unfaithful nature. Abraham was 75 years old when God first promised he would be the father of many nations. Abraham was faithful to God, but  10 years later when Abraham still had no descendent and feared his servant would be his only heir, God revived His promise to Abraham. When even more years pass, Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands and schemed to give  Abraham and heir through an Egyptian servant girl named Hagar who did conceive a child (Ishmael) with Abraham. Abraham tried to get God to accept Ishmael as his heir, but God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him” (Gen. 17:19). God did not leave Abraham in his failure. God, in his faithfulness clarified His original promise by telling Abraham that Sarah would bear him a son named Isaac through which His covenant would be established. Finally, 25 years after God’s first promise to Abraham and at the age of 100, Isaac was born to Sarah and Abraham. God was faithful to His promise even though Sarah and Abraham’s faith wavered. I think sometimes God chooses to wait for the situation to seem impossible before He does the impossible. This way we can not doubt God’s hand in our lives.

I think about Abraham and Sarah when I feel my faith wavering allowing doubt to seep into my spirit. I believe that if God can make Sarah and Abraham parents at the age of 90 and 100, He can work a miracle in my life as well. If they could wait 25 years for their promise, then I can hang on a little longer too. It comforts me to know that God did not leave them in their sin, but instead reaffirmed His promise to them. My heart and spirit know that God will do this for me as well because His promises are for every generation….past, present and future.

Because God is faithful, the strength to be faithful is promised to us. Hebrews 4:16 The Bible says it is a gift from God as fruit of the Spirit. The fullness of these blessings depends on walking with God and yielding to His Spirit. My walk with God is a journey of faith; though sometimes detouring, it is an ever searching journey for more of Him. The life of faith is never free from obstacles. Because faith grows best under attack, let’s not pray for God to take away our problems, but to strengthen our faithfulness during our trials. Sometimes our faith falters under stress, but if we admit our failure and accept God’s forgiveness, even those failures can contribute to our spiritual growth. Abraham and Sarah are both commended for their great faith, but their failures are recorded for our instruction and encouragement. Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Hebrews 10:23

We Love Because He First Loved Us

I recently started writing for Breath on Paper blog with some truly amazing and talented women and writers. Their influence has already challenged me to more wisely steward the gifts God has given me. So this morning as I was showering (where I do a lot of praying and thinking) and praying about our topic for this week, which is love, I thought that since it is February and the month many people think more about Love, I would write a daily post about love during the month of February. I will focus each post on a scripture that speaks to me about God’s love for us and how we are to love one another. I will be writing straight from the heart, no editing or planned posts…just writing as God puts it on my heart to write. Grace for mistakes along the learning curve of Blogging is much appreciated 😉 Thank you for taking the time to read my very first entry.

The scripture that immediately  comes to heart is John 3:16 which tells us that God loved us so much that He gave his only son as a human sacrifice for us, for our atonement if we only believe in him. We have life because Jesus gave his life for us. Pause here for a moment and let this truth settle into your heart….really feel what it means. I remember hearing this verse all my life growing up. It may even be most memorized and quoted scripture of all time. But do we really appreciate the full depth and spiritual significance of this promise? I think maybe  because this verse is so well known, memorized and quoted that its message has become dilute or treated in a casual common manner. This makes me sad. I must be honest and confess that I have taken this gift for granted and not lived every day in full awareness and appreciation for such a grand gesture of love that God has so generously given to each one of us.

There are times (mostly during certain worship songs) where this reality hits me in a wave of emotion so great I can not help but to weep at the thought of Jesus suffering on the cross for me. I am no longer able to sing; I can only sob and think that even as unworthy as I am God gave his son to die for me and Jesus, knowing his purpose on earth was his ultimate death on the cross still chose to die for me. God’s love for us is unfathomable by our human brains. I think of my own children and how much I love them and while I would die for them without reservation, I can not even imagine sacrificing one of them to save another. This I could not do, but is exactly what God did for us.

Today I am going to meditate on this scripture and thank God for His love for me. I praise God that that He shows His love for me every day in so many ways that I don’t even recognize. Today, I choose to bask in the unconditional, ever present, all consuming love that God has for me. I pray that you will  do the same. God loves you so much that He gave His only son for you. Today I choose to think only of His love for me….that is more than enough and all that I need. Today and every day I will choose to be a better steward of the gifts God has given me because He loves me that much and has great plans for me to honor Him with the gifts He has given me. I will close today’s post with this thought (not my own, but something I read that has stuck with me). I aspire to live my life in a such a way to gain for the Lamb the reward of His sacrifice. 

God loves you so very much! You are His precious daughter. I pray that you will have greater revelation of the love God has for you and that your heart will be receptive to all that God has for you.

Much love and blessings to you,

Tracey —