2 Corinthians 5:7 We live by faith, not by sight.

The Christian life is a walk of faith because we believe God is who he says he is. He has demonstrated his love for us and we accept that love with thanksgiving, honor and continual praise. This creates in us a desire to please him. So we understand that we not only believe his promise that Jesus is gone to prepare a place for us where we will join him eventually, but the life we now live has to be lived by faith.

Life is full of challenges and many of them seem insurmountable at times, but we have to let our minds expand to take hold of the idea that truly nothing is impossible for God to do. This assurance was given to Mary by the angel Gabriel in Luke1 after he appeared to her with the news that she was going to have a baby. She was bewildered because, as far as she knew, her circumstances were not yet in order for that to happen.

When circumstances are not aligned with your desired outcome, and especially if these circumstances are malicious and engineered by other people, trust the Lord to come to your aid. He alone is just and he is the defender of the weak.  “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (2 Corinthians 10:4). The idea is not to pray for destruction of the individual, but to pray for the Lord to re-order the circumstances and your response to them. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand:

“I am the God of my people from time to eternity. I will not leave nor forsake them in the changing circumstances of their lives. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Though the earth shakes and the people tremble yet I will be the strength and stronghold of my people. Look unto me only, always for I am your bulwark and strong tower.”

Hebrews 1: 7 and 14 “…He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.” Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

Angels exist to do God’s bidding. There is hierarchy among angels, the more important the task, the mightier the angel chosen to accomplish it. Some are named in Scripture and some are not. Often we are simply told an angel of the Lord appeared or spoke to someone. Most of us are familiar with at least two by name: Michael and Gabriel. In the book of Jude, we read about the archangel Michael in his capacity as a warrior against Satan.

The angel Gabriel appeared in very strategic places and he both spoke and acted with authority. In Luke 1, he appeared to Zechariah to bring good news that he and his wife would be the parents of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. He identified himself: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to tell you this good news.” When Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth was six months pregnant, Gabriel appeared again to Mary who would be the mother of Jesus: “Greetings, you are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” He reassured the quaking girl: “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” The conversation continued and his final words were: “Nothing is impossible with God.”  I don’t know about you, but just reading about these encounters send shivers up and down my spine!

We are in a position to look back at these announcements as having been fulfilled. Look for Gabriel also in the Book of Daniel, chapter 8 where he interpreted Daniel’s vision of things yet to come. Why did God use an angel for this and why Gabriel? I hardly completed this thought when the Holy Spirit responded:

“There are things I desire to do in the earth and I must choose my messengers. Gabriel was a trusted ally whom I designated for the most important missions. There are things which need to be done supernaturally which I cannot entrust to mere men.”

Exodus 16: 14 – 15 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.”

Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt as God commanded him. They used to be slaves in Egypt. That lifestyle is behind them but they had not yet reached the promised destination in Canaan. They are now in a desert place, interestingly named the Desert of Sin. The problem they faced there was hunger. They began to compare their new life with the old, pining after the food they had in Egypt:  “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.” (Numbers 11:5) Seriously! But you were slaves there, remember!

Their lives had changed, that was true. But God had taken care of them all the way and had showed his might in delivering them from the enemy. All of that is somehow quickly forgotten and they began to grumble and complain. And God heard them! “The Lord said to Moses, I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’” (Exodus 16:11). God demonstrated his power and mercy once again and provided quail for dinner and manna for breakfast, not just for that day but far into their future. Nowhere do I read that they gave thanks for it. In fact the time would come when they were tired of that too.

Has life changed for you? Are you worse off now than you used to be? Is your assessment of the situation correct? Only you know that. Have you been grumbling and complaining? It is so easy to do that and we are all guilty at some point. It is clear from this account that God is not pleased when we grumble and complain. So, let’s start over with God. Confess. Ask for his help with the situation. Maybe you don’t need all the stuff that used to clutter your life, but acknowledge that he is able to provide for your needs. Focus on him as the great God that he is – Maybe all he wants is for  you to acknowledge him as “the Lord your God.” The Holy Spirit is quick to affirm:

“Always it is my desire that my children acknowledge me in this way. My love is toward them all the time. I will provide and I will seek their good. I need only that they trust me with their very lives. I am a good God and my resources are not limited in any way.”

Psalm 103: 1-2 Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

Today we speak about “friends with benefits”. The first time I heard that phrase, it came across to me as quite cynical. I thought: how can you befriend someone just because it will benefit you? That to me seemed counter to the whole principle of friendship. My understanding has always been that you befriend someone because something in your personalities attracts you to each other, or you befriend someone with a view to helping them. If in time other benefits accrue, so be it. Have I been naïve all my life?

Here in Psalm 103 David breaks out in praise to God and, indeed, he is counting the benefits that are a result of his relationship with God. He counts them: forgiveness of sins, healing of diseases, rescue from danger, love and compassion, good things which energize our physical bodies, righteousness and justice for the oppressed, grace – not being treated as we deserve. That is most precious to me every time I fail God. David praises God for the magnitude of his love by comparing it to the distance between heaven and earth; and he praises him for having the heart of a compassionate father towards his children. What more can we ask and how can we fail to live in the light of this wondrous love?

How did we become the object of God’s love and gain access to all these benefits? It was one-sided actually: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4: 10). God initiated the friendship, at great price. “And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”  (1 John 4:21). The ball is now in your court and mine.

John 14: 2-3 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

I lost a longtime friend just over a year ago.  Another friend and I had visited him in the hospital just two days prior to his passing and he seemed okay, even walked with us out to the elevator. So when the news came it overwhelmed me. As the hours passed, my daughter and I began to reminisce about the times he had visited our home. How funny he was at times, and how he and my husband seemed to be so comfortable in each other’s presence – they talked sports and politics, made jokes and sang silly songs from the homeland together. Then my daughter said: “Mom, can you imagine what it will be like when he and Daddy meets in heaven!” We burst out laughing. Then she got serious and said: “that is if heaven is real”. I said: “My dear heaven is real. I cannot afford to believe otherwise, because then life would make no sense at all.” (The Apostle Paul concurs in 1 Corinthians 15:19).

I realized then that I had taken it for granted that she believed heaven is real to the same degree I do. So where do I turn for affirmation of what I believe? I choose to take Jesus at his word. He too said “if” but he used it to reassure his disciples. He was about to leave them, but he made a promise that they would see him again. Clearly he could see the confusion and doubt on their faces, so he spoke of his Father’s house as a place with many rooms which were being prepared to receive those he loves and who love him. He said: “If it were not so, I would have told you.” So, for me, the matter is settled. And I am so excited about that!

While we mourn the loss of our loved ones, as believers we have this great hope that we will see them again and Jesus too. What a day that will be!

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

This passage is very interesting to me because Paul asks: “who” shall separate us and then he proceeds to list “things”. While we know that Satan is the “who” behind the “separation tactics” and we can usually recognize when he is using someone to cause us difficulty or tempt us to abandon our faith, we are not as alert in our perception of the “things” or circumstances which can ensnare us and lead to our separation from Christ the lover of our souls.

Paul lists some of the things: trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, etc.  Most of us do not contend with these “things” on a grand scale every day but for those who do, it is easy to understand how the fight for survival would take center stage. On the face of it these “things” may not be readily identified as “trials of faith” which can either result in spiritual growth or decline. If as believers, we could train ourselves to identify these kinds of episodes in our lives for what they really are at their onset, and take God at his word that he is with us in the midst of them, our journey becomes more purposeful. Christ is all the while interceding for us. We are called to steadfastness which means that “things” should not diminish our faith in the Eternal God.

It is because our God is eternal and dependable and has covenanted himself to us that Paul is able to insist that whatever the agents of separation may be “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 37–39).

Isaiah 40:28-31 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Are you frustrated, stressed and beginning to feel hopeless? Sometimes you may not be able to change the circumstances you are in but a renewal of the mind can certainly increase your ability to cope. That can only come from the word of the Lord. Isaiah was speaking to God’s people who had been through a lot, they had known exile. Exile implies subjugation, deprivation and confinement; in short someone else is pulling the reins and making decisions about your life and future. It leads to frustration, exhaustion and a feeling of hopelessness.

In Isaiah 40 God tells Isaiah to comfort his people, and speak tenderly to them. In the process Isaiah seems to state the obvious, things which they supposedly know already, in an effort to wake them up as it were. “Do you not know?” “Have you not heard?” Of course they know, and they have heard but, just as we often are, they were distracted by the day to day craziness of their lives.

So, let us get back to some of the basics: “The Lord is the everlasting God” – He hasn’t gone off somewhere and forgotten about you. The eyes of the Lord still run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward him. (See KJV – 2 Chronicles 16: 9). He is not panicked by what is happening to you, nor has it taken him by surprise. He already knows the outcome. His ears are open to your cry. So cry out to him.

“He is the Creator of the ends of the earth” – nothing exists which he didn’t make and that includes you. So ask him to show you his purpose for you. “He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom” – God is never tired or confused and he has the blueprint showing the connectivity of all the issues that perplex us.

“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” – You have to decide to hope in the Lord. Do not focus on the circumstances or the powers that be. Just enthrone him as Lord of your life.

Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above  every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This is the basis of fellowship with God. Coming into God’s presence requires our unveiling before him in total humility, laying aside any kind of pretense that we know anything, or have anything to offer, except the life he gave us. We acknowledge Jesus as Lord. We thank God that his breath is still in us, so we give him praise. We acknowledge that he is the God of all creation, that he is immortal and invisible, that he was before time began – the Ancient of Days for so he reveals himself in Daniel, chapter 7: 9-10.

We recognize him as Holy, the Lord God Almighty, whose right to rule cannot be challenged with success. Whatever he has said he is able to accomplish: “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19) So we affirm that because Jesus has said he will come again, we say: Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.

In the meantime, let your heart overflow with praise for your salvation, for God’s goodness, and most of all for his presence with you. His Holy Spirit in you will energize you, give clarity for what he wants to accomplish in your life – not always what you thought your next step should be. Just willingly accept his leading. This is how the weak becomes strong, and the poor become rich, in God. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1: 3-4). His inflow becomes your outflow. That is the result of fellowship.

Philippians 1:12 Now I want you to know brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

What has been happening to you lately? Can’t make any sense of it? Are you a child of God and have you been doing everything you feel he has asked of you? Yes! So you ask: “How have I ended up in my present situation?” Exhausted, unappreciated, broke, sick, jobless …. fill in the blanks.

It is said that the letter to the Philippians was written by Paul while he was in prison in Rome yet this letter is full of thanksgiving, joy and encouragement to the believers. He even assured them that in his prayers for them he was always joyful because of their partnership in the gospel, and that he was confident that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.” (See Philippians 1:6).

Paul was a veteran of the faith by this stage in his life. He was now in prison, not for the first time, and he had suffered all kinds of indignities simply for preaching the gospel. He gives quite a list in 2 Corinthians 11: 23-28. Sounds like he is boasting of all the hardships he had faced, and in fact he admits to boasting, even though he assures us that in this instance he is behaving as someone out of his mind.

All things considered, I think Paul found it necessary every so often to look back so he could go forward. He had to transport himself back to his vision on the Damascus road so he could have clarity and context for how his life had turned out. I think he had to make himself listen again and again to the voice of Jesus as he had heard it on that day and replay his encounter with Ananias whom the Lord had sent to help him understand the reason for what had happened to him at that time. (See Acts 9)

That is what I am recommending for you today. Sit quietly in God’s presence and remind yourself of what he said to you back then, when he commissioned you as it were, to do the work that you have poured your heart, body and soul into since then. Ask the Holy Spirit to minister to you right now as only he can. Then borrow Paul’s lenses for a moment. Can you say: the things which have happened to me have really served to advance the gospel? If so, you have not lost your way at all, and he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. Be encouraged and take another step forward.

And by the way, it is time for a medical check-up and increased rest. Many people, especially those in ministry, are often guilty of self-neglect. Exhaustion and discouragement are evil twins.

Psalm 138:8 – The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever – do not abandon the works of your hands.

You may often pray, wait awhile and then conclude that God has not answered your prayers because things did not turn out the way you expected. As a young believer I used to hear others say God always answers prayers. It is: “yes” “no” or “wait”. My experience has been that every so often the answer is immediate; sometimes the “yes” is over and above what I had asked or even considered possible, and sometimes I get to practice patience. You raise your eyebrows and ask: “What about when the answer is “no”?  Glad you ask. I have learned that “no” can only be appreciated or evaluated by looking into life’s rear view mirror. Think about some of the situations you have prayed about and what has since transpired. What would things look like now if God had not said “no”?

I had reason to think about this just over a week ago when I drove by a housing development my husband and I had wanted to buy into about three decades ago. I had prayed for and “claimed” a unit. We were on the waiting list for a long time. When the project was near completion we were notified to present banking and tax information. As it turned out our tax return for the previous year showed that our family income was $150.00 over the prescribed so we were disqualified.  Can you imagine! When I looked at the sorry condition of the neighborhood now, I had to conclude: “God, you do know the end from the beginning.”

Once you are a believer, you have to allow God to exercise his right as your wise and loving Father who will guide your steps if you let him. The Psalmist David was a man who knew what trouble was. We revere him as a King, but his life was one of dependence on God when trouble engulfed him. He learned to praise God even in the midst of his challenges and discovered what the King James Version of the Bible refers to as “loving-kindness”  (Psalm 138:2). I love that word. In my own life I equate it with the concept that God has “forever eyes”. Not only that, he has my back when I foolishly run ahead of his plans. He is eternal and knows the end from the beginning, so when I pray prayers that are selfish or short-sighted he exercises “veto power” over them. My response then is to let him have his way with my life.

David realized that God has purposes to work out in the lives of his children. He does it through discipline and with great love, and promises to be by our side in the thick of it.  Trust him.