1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

In the 15^th chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul addressed his fellow laborers firstly concerning the resurrection of Christ. He reminded them that the foundation of everything they believed in was – that he died for their sins, was buried, raised on the third day and was seen by many witnesses. He then tied in the resurrection of Christ with their own hope for resurrection, and by extension, the hope of every believer in resurrection from the dead. He wrote: “For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15: 16-19).

Paul also made the point that if Christ has not been raised, his/their preaching of the gospel was useless and there was no reason for them to expose themselves to danger continually. That argument was valid then and still is for all who preach, teach and share the gospel around the world. Those who represent Christ in today’s world have to know the certainty of their faith in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Moreover, you and I must believe in the return of Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is the only basis on which we can be steadfast in our faith when opposition comes, all the while resting in the assurance that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Psalm 19: 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Let us imagine for a moment that you lived in a part of the world where there are no churches or preachers and that the Bible is not available. Could you know that God exists? I believe you most certainly could and, in fact, I think that this is the consciousness which is alive in the peoples around the globe where they have no access to either the structure or literature of the Christian faith in the way we do. They know there is someone or something to be worshipped. They do not take the life-sustaining attributes of their environment for granted, and try to comprehend and honor it as best they can.

The first half of Psalm 19 makes the case for the knowledge of God, regardless of one’s location or language. He is visible in the things he created – the heavens scream in its awesomeness night and day from one end of the earth to the other: the sky, the moon, the sun, the stars. But for those who have not heard the gospel, there is the missing second half.

The law, statutes, precepts, commands, and fear of the Lord and the ordinances have to be taught. His love as demonstrated in the gift of his Son Jesus has to be explained and lived out. God does speak through his creation and “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1: 1-3). Know the Son and you will know the Father.

Those of us who are privileged to know God in a personal way are commanded to “go into all the world” by whatever means are at our disposal that everyone “may know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.” (John 17:3). Ask the Lord to download in your spirit his “to do list” for you.

2 Kings 20:1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die, you will not recover.”

Let us just imagine that you went to your doctor yesterday and came away with this kind of news. Where does that leave you? What is going through your mind? Hezekiah was face to face with death. He did not ask the prophet how he knew what he was telling him or if he was sure. He accepted it as truth because he trusted the prophet.

But Hezekiah had a personal relationship with God and felt he wanted a ‘one on one’ with God before surrendering completely.  So Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. He said: “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with whole hearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And he wept bitterly. Totally human!

Then something amazing happened. The Lord stopped Isaiah in the middle court and told him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’” (2 Kings 20:5-6). Frankly, I just feel like dancing right now! God hears our prayers!!! And sometimes he even responds immediately! I believe volumes can be written on this encounter between the Lord of the whole earth and an ordinary human being. But consider this aspect: God healed Hezekiah so as to give him a new assignment! When I read this account, the Holy Spirit spoke to me:

“My will and purpose are made known to those who seek after me for the express purpose of bringing glory to my name. It is not for the edification of the healed or of the messenger. My will and purpose are the pre-eminent reason for man’s existence. It is not about the individual.”

Ezekiel 47:1 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming from under the south side of the temple south of the altar.

Ezekiel was called by God to be a prophet to Israel while they were in captivity in Babylon where he was exiled with them. He received his messages by revelation in visions. In the early part of his ministry he had proclaimed a message of doom and destruction for the temple and Jerusalem because of the sinfulness of the people. Word eventually did come that the destruction had taken place.

After twenty-five years into this captivity, and 14 years after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Lord showed him another vision of Israel’s future. (Ezekiel 40) In the vision he was escorted through the rebuilt city and temple. God was showing him a vision of restoration for his people and the glory of the Lord himself returning to the temple. Then when he was taken to the inner court, he heard a voice which said: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever.” (Ezekiel 43:7). His tour continued and he got to see the new altar and its design, the rooms for the Priests and Levites, and learned God’s plans for the land and how worship and various observances were to be conducted.

So when in Chapter 47, Ezekiel is brought back to the entrance of the temple and he saw water in ever increasing quantity coming from under the threshold, flowing from the altar, till it became like a river, it is possible to conclude that it flowed from the presence of God. This water refreshes and brings life and healing to everything in its path.  “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both sides of the banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing”. (Ezekiel 47:12).

Please know that God is a restorer of every heart that is broken, every life that is wounded and every spirit that is contrite before him. Restoration and fruitfulness for your life will result from being in God’s presence.

1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Do you know the extent to which you are loved by God? Can you answer yes? I hope so. I realize of course that it is mind-bending. To think that the God who created everything loves you even if no one else does. Does it shock you even more to realize that he loves you even though he knows everything about you? No one knows you like he does. Does that humble you? Good, because it is the awareness of how great his love is which makes you know that your only response has to be thankfulness, praise and adoration.

So break out in praise like the Psalmist: “Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised! (Psalm 113:1-3).

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

What is meant by “the fear of the Lord”? I am exploring this for myself and inviting you to come along. You don’t have to agree with me. I think that the fear of the Lord for believers is completely different from those who are in rebellion against God. The fear of the Lord for the unrepentant is terror, but to the believer I think it is characterized by trust in the God who is sovereign, holy, all-knowing, everywhere present, all powerful and loving. For me it is a recognition that God is all of that and, as a result, he is worthy of praise and adoration. Moreover, because he is all of that, no one is his equal and therefore He alone rules over all creation.

With the foregoing in mind, it leads me to think that my fear of the Lord should then manifest itself in obedience – that is how I access wisdom, knowledge and understanding.  Let’s see if we can find any illustration in Scripture. In Deuteronomy 4: 1-14, Moses addressed the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt and had spent a good forty years in the wilderness because of their rebellion against God. Having already defeated two Kings, it was time to move on and continue their conquests for the Promised Land. At that point, although he was about to relinquish his leadership of them to Joshua, Moses’ job was to remind them how important observance of the laws and decrees (The Ten Commandments) would be for their future: “Hear now O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.”  In verse 6 he pointed out, “Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

The knowledge that God cares deeply about those who have accepted his Son Jesus as Savior puts the believer in a unique position to hear God’s voice and do what He asks. Not only that, like the Israelites, we are charged with the responsibility of teaching our children fear or reverence for the Lord and obedience to his Word, knowing that it will impact their futures for good.

Acts 9: 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their Kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

For most of us, we classify every “negative” thing that happens to us as adversity and we are inclined to think that God abandons us when we need him the most. However, if we study the life of the Apostle Paul, we will come to realize that what we would call adversity was really the fulfillment of purpose. His difficulties were ordained of God! Shocking, isn’t it?

Paul had a past, you see. A past he was not proud of once he encountered the Lord on the road to Damascus. He repented of the things he had done, but the consequences caught up to him wherever he went. After he was converted and filled with the Holy Spirit, he arrived in Damascus and began to preach immediately but his reputation had preceded him. Those who heard him wanted to know: “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on the name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” (Acts 9:21)

Later in life, in 2 Corinthians 11, beginning at verse 16 and in chapter 12 Paul gave a litany of all the “adversity” he had experienced, but having come to terms with them, he was able to boast about them. He could even put into perspective his illness which he considered a thorn in his flesh, and which he had asked the Lord to take away from him three times but received no relief. Alongside his challenges he had also received visions and great revelations from the Lord and so he surmised that the “thorn” prevented him from becoming conceited.   The Lord’s response to his plea for relief was simply: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” In the end Paul explained, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I a weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12: 9-10).

How did Paul survive? He knew the certainty of his calling. In Acts 26 he described it fully to Festus and King Agrippa when hauled into court and then added: “So then King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.” He was sent to preach Christ to the ‘Gentiles and their Kings’ and nothing was going to stop him.

Friend, your adversity may be the surest sign that God is with you, purifying and sustaining you. Ask him to recharge you and let you become more aware of his presence so that you too can endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ.

Genesis 32: 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Jacob had come to a time of reckoning in his life.   He had left home many years earlier just before the death of his father Isaac. He had to run away essentially because he had misrepresented himself to his father as being Esau his older brother. Isaac’s sight had failed him and though he was a bit suspicious, the disguise that his wife Rachel had fabricated for Jacob fooled his father and he gave him the blessing which belonged to Esau. Now it was time for him to return home and face his brother.

Jacob had built a life in his adopted land. It was a life of toil but he had managed to become wealthy and so he readied his entire family and possessions and started off with fear and trembling to go home. He assembled an impressive herd of animals as a gift to pacify his brother Esau and sent them ahead of him with servants. In the middle of the night while he was alone, he encountered a man with whom he wrestled until daybreak. “When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled the man.” The man asked to be let go but Jacob refused saying: “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

What did Jacob want exactly? He knew full well the conditions under which he had left home. He knew the rage of his brother when he left. He did all he could think of doing to lay the ground work to pacify him for the moment they would face each other again. But there was still the chance his brother was waiting to take his life. So he wanted to be blessed in a dimension that I have identified in my own life as the ‘loving-kindness of God’ – favor, totally undeserved, but which my God grants anyhow. Don’t you dare quit, because God’s loving-kindness is new every day.

When the encounter was over, Jacob had a new name – Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome” and he named the place Peniel saying “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life is spared.”  God gave him his life for a prize by melting Esau’s heart to welcome him home.

Revelation 1: 18 Do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

The Apostle John received a revelation of Jesus Christ while on the Isle of Patmos as a prisoner. This revelation was given in the form of visions which he has described for us in the Book of Revelation. Every believer is encouraged to read the Book of Revelation because: “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” (Rev. 1:3).

I can tell you from experience that you will not understand it all, but the Spirit of God will burn many truths of your faith into your heart in a way you will not forget. It may be the only way you will begin to grasp the total Sovereignty of God and believe the promise that Christ will return, and that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. It will take repeated readings, and it will certainly be helpful to read the works of diligent scholars who have grappled with some of the symbolism and imagery that is used, but there is no better use of God-given time.

In Genesis 1:27 God said, “Let us make man in our own image, in our likeness….” In John 1:1-2 we read, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” Verse14 of the same Chapter reads, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Just before Jesus raised Lazarus to life he testified of himself, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

In his vision in Revelation 1, the Apostle John described his encounter and reaction to Jesus in all his glory – When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Later in Revelation 11:11, the same creative breath of God from Genesis is demonstrated again when the Two Witnesses who are murdered are brought back to life: “But after the three days and a half a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them.” Our breath comes from God. He alone is the breath of life. When I read this passage, the Holy Spirit said the following:

“Yes, I am all that and more. I am life, health, energy, and every force of nature dwells within me. My Spirit is the ignition. It is the beginning of all things so that my will can be exhibited wherever and whenever I release it. Understand that I AM whatever I choose to be.”

Matthew 1:5-6 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.

In Joshua 2 we read how Rahab, a prostitute, hid the spies sent by Joshua to gather intelligence on the land of Jericho before invading it. You and I would think: What an unsuitable candidate for the call of God! But it is clear from her conversation with the spies that she had revelation knowledge. Some of what she said was simply the latest news – God had opened up the Red Sea allowing the Israelites to come out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses, the two Kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, were already defeated, and yes, everyone was now terrified of the Israelites. All facts, but how was she able to say with such confidence: “I know that the Lord has given this land to you” and “the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below”?   I believe that Rahab had an encounter with God that changed her and moved her to act in such a way as to facilitate God’s agenda and save her family as well.

The comprehension of who God is also changed the trajectory of Rahab’s life for the future. After Joshua and the Israelites conquered Jericho, her past became of no consequence and she lived among the people of God. Not only that, she became part of the Royal line of King David into which Jesus Christ was born. Amazing! Moreover, she is still remembered today as a woman of great faith: “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” (Hebrews 11:31).

God is very consistent. Please understand that when you encounter God through acceptance of his Son Jesus, God’s intentions towards you are for your good. He wants to give you a hope and a future, not just any future but the future he had always planned for you in this life and in eternity. Will you claim your inheritance and not allow your past to handicap your future?