The Lord said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him. Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. So she laughed to herself: “After I have become shriveled up and my lord is old, will I have delight?” But the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really have a baby when I’m old?’ Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.” (Genesis 18:10-14 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Sarah and Abraham had been waiting for a promise to come true. When she was already 65, God promised her husband that he would become the father of a great nation, but what about her? Maybe her husband would become a father, but was the promise meant for her as well? She was his only wife, but uncertainty had crept into her heart as year after year went by, and no child was conceived. A disastrous attempt to “fix” her imagined problem brought about the birth of Ishmael by her slave girl — a son to Abraham, but not the son of God’s promise.
And now, 25 years later, angels appear at their tent bringing the joyful assertion that the promise of a child still holds — not just for Abraham, for Sarah too. It’s clear by her reaction that her hope in that promise had shriveled up over time, just as she imagined herself to be. She laughed. She looked at herself, at the passing of time, perhaps at the shame of her clumsy solution to provide a son, and she could only see inadequacy and failure. Yet Sarah’s spirit lifted when she heard their words. She dared to believe, “will I have delight?”
When God promises, He promises. Good news from the mouth of God never changes or turns sour. It can be counted on, and will come to pass. But when our small minds decide that His promises are taking too long and then take matters into our own hands, we complicate our lives and reveal how little we trust. God never viewed Abraham and Sarah as “old and shriveled,” and 25 years of waiting was nothing compared to the decades of joy they would have after their son Isaac was finally born. In their eyes, life was coming to and end. In God’s eyes, everything was just beginning!
Despite her inadequacies, Sarah chose to believe and took ahold of the angels’ words that day. One year later, her promised child was born. Don’t look at your inadequacies today, look at the promises God has made for you. Remember the words that He speaks to you every time you come to church, and every time you read His Word. They may not materialize instantaneously, but they are promises meant to stake your life on.
Lord, how my foes increase! There are many who attack me. Many say about me, “There is no help for him in God.” But You, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts up my head. I cry aloud to the Lord, and He answers me from His holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again because the Lord sustains me. I am not afraid of the thousands of people who have taken their stand against me on every side. (Psalm 3:1-6 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
This psalm is one of only a few that are linked to actual events in a person’s life. This is a psalm of David when his son Absalom had risen up against him, taken his kingdom away, and run him off. When David says that many are attacking him he could be referring to friends and advisors that turned against him and joined his son. In the end Absalom was killed in battle — which did not please David — and David’s kingdom was restored to him, and his declarations of God’s protection and honor came true. How powerful it is when we declare something by faith in God before it happens… we make it a reality.
David teaches us so many things in this short passage. First of all, when people are saying there’s no hope for us, when we have so many enemies, and so many attacks, our response has to be that God is our shield and that He will lift us up — it’s matter of when, not if. Like in Ephesians 6 when it speaks about the armor of God and the belt of truth, we have to remind ourselves of the basic truth that God has, and will always rescue His children from their enemies, especially when everyone is predicting doom. He doesn’t always stop enemies from attacking, but He always gives us the victory when we trust in Him. This is spiritual logic, not worldly logic, and it works.
Another thing we are taught in this short passage is that we have to cry out to God in times of distress, and then be so sure that He is answering our prayer that we are able to sleep and be fear-free. This kind of prayer is the real-deal. Not all prayers are equal in God’s eyes; many are a waste of His time, while others move Him to the core and obligate Him to act. Some prayers have not even come close to reaching God’s throne, while others are like a fragrant, pleasing incense swirling around His throne.
David’s prayer was a great prayer because it was answered, and your prayers can be too. Under no circumstances should you be content to feel the same fear and doubt after your prayer as you did before it. We are praying to a mighty, all-compassionate God, and so our prayers have to come true.
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5 — New American Standard Bible)
This passage describes heaven, a place that every single person can gain entry to as long as they are ready to pay the price: the surrender of our will to God. Anyone can be saved regardless of how good or bad their past is. One critical detail is that there are no second chances; our decision to follow Him must be made this side of death. Once our life comes to an end, prayers and repentance no longer have any effect, we will be judged by our life on earth — even though some, like the thief on the cross, will find God in the very last moments of their lives.
There is a crystal clear river in heaven, filled with the water of life, and flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. This reminds us of Jesus’ promise that streams of living water will flow from within us. This could be a symbol of the Holy Spirit, or the Word of God, but either way it brings life and is pure and clear as crystal. This will be true of everything in heaven — everything has life and is pure, and our lives right now should be the same. How can we expect to enter heaven when we are not pure and full of life? We should be doing all we can to ensure this purity and life, and to make sure that the streams of living water are flowing from within us now — a sign that we will one day see the large river.
The tree of life and its twelve different fruits, healing, the absence of curses, the throne of God and of the Lamb, God’s face, His name on our foreheads, the light of God that makes lamps and the sun unnecessary — these are what is waiting for us when we get to heaven. They will be exquisite, mind-blowing experiences like nothing we have ever seen. In contrast, the devil tempts us with the things of this world that, if we are not careful, appear to outshine the things of heaven. Determine that you will not be deceived by him or this world. Meditate on heaven and the amazing things you will experience there as insurance against the lies and filthy promises of Satan.
Jesus went to prepare a place for you in heaven. Make sure your place is filled, and bring as many as you can with you.
Be alert, stand firm in the faith, act like a man, be strong. Your every action must be done with love. (1 Corinthians 16:13,14 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Whenever the Bible encourages us to “be alert” in the New Testament it is usually in anticipation of some future event. What we do today prepares us for tomorrow’s victory or sets us up for tomorrow’s defeat. Whenever we fall into sin or end up doing something seriously wrong, nine times out of ten we’ve been heading in that direction for a while. The sin or wrong didn’t all of a sudden come over us, we’ve been compromising and being lazy for some time already before we make that mistake. Here Paul encourages the Corinthians, who lived in a very similar environment to us today, to watch out. Not to be afraid, but to be wise and know that temptations and difficult times were on their way.
We’d all like to think that this week will be free from problems and temptations, but we would be deluding ourselves if we thought that way. Faith doesn’t tell us that. Real faith in God knows that problems are coming and prepares for them in the certainty of victory.
“Stand firm” is probably a more needed encouragement for us today than it was for them back then. Corinth had a lot of false teaching, but today we are surrounded by every sort of false teaching and thought — in church, outside of church, in the media, in entertainment… everywhere. Stand firm means to be convinced of what you believe in and refuse to budge. In Ephesians six when the armor of God is spoken about, truth is one of those pieces. If we know that God is faithful, no matter what is going on around us, though our eyes are telling us that God has failed, we have to stand firm and trust that everything is going to work out in the end. That’s what standing firm means, holding on to the truth no matter what.
It’s interesting to note that the Holy Spirit tells us to “have” these four strong qualities — be alert, stand firm in the faith, act like a man (or woman), be strong. He doesn’t tell us to pray to have these qualities; He tells us to “be” these things. And this is another secret to faith: it’s not enough to pray for something we want, we have to start doing it. When we do God makes it a reality.
Paul’s command to do everything with love serves as a balance to these four strong exhortations. Without love for God and for those around us — even for lost strangers — the other qualities can make us fanatical. We have to be extreme, but God always wants us to be balanced.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:19,20 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
This is what real belief in God entails. It’s extreme, and it’s very different from many people’s idea of following God. Paul could say he had been crucified with Christ and that he no longer lived, but Christ lived in him. If we could only have the same attitude, our lives would be great.
The old us has to stop living. If a person is unwilling to do this, he or she is not ready to be a Christian. We use the word “Christian” in a very loose way many times. Often what is meant is simply that a person has an intellectual belief in the facts of Jesus' life. But that is not what a Christian is — the first sentence of today’s passage explains what being a Christian truly means.
After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow Him. Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for Him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests with them. But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to His disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus replied to them, “The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:27-32 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
What Jesus said to Levi (Matthew) He says to all of us — “Follow me!" The correct response is what Levi did — “Leaving everything behind he got up and began to follow Him”. Clearly Levi was called to be one of the 12, became a pastor, and dedicated his life to God’s work. Not everyone is called to be a pastor and to work on the altar. And yet, Jesus calls every single person to “follow Him”. Leaving everything behind may not involve what it did for Levi, but we all have to leave everything. That doesn’t mean that we divorce our wives/husbands, abandon our children, quit our jobs, and attend every meeting in church 7-days a week. But it would definitely involve giving up what we know displeases Him… any thought, actions, dreams, and attitudes.
This is very radical, and even scary at first. But the truth is, deciding not following Jesus is the scariest decision we could ever make. Deciding that we know what’s best, or that this world and our friends and family are the best guide for how to live our lives… that’s scary! Sure the Lord Jesus will ask us to give up certain things that will cause us pain, but in the end, He is going to give us much, much more than we ever give up for Him. We will get the best of this deal by far. But it is a life of denying the flesh and living by the Spirit. By doing this, we make ourselves the enemy of the world, and even of some of our friends and family because they’re still on the wrong side.
Jesus was criticized for eating and spending time with sinners. The religious leaders of His time were offended. But in response Jesus declares His mission and purpose. He did not come into the world to start a religious club, or to spend His time with those who were satisfied with their lives. Jesus came to save the lost and dying, to heal the sick, to help those who were tired of their miserable lives, to give freedom to people bound by demons, and to release people from fear and failure. If we belong to Him, we will have the same attitude.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:57,58 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. The words steadfast, immovable, and excelling are to me a summary of what faith demands of us in this world. Jesus was all three throughout His time on earth, and God the Father is also this way. Any time we are tempted to be double-minded, to compromise, or to accept a mediocre life we know that demons are already at work in our hearts and minds. We may not always make the right decisions, or be on the precise track that we need to be on, but as long as we are steadfast, immovable, and always trying to excel in faith and obedience to God, He will be touched and will cause miraculous things to happen.
It’s typical for other Christians to add their two cents when we have this attitude. They accuse us of telling God what to do, being too bold, not waiting on Him, being too impatient, and of being proud. But who commands us to be steadfast, immovable, and always excelling? The Holy Spirit does. He cannot use people who are not passionate about Him. Sure, when we have this stubborn faith we will at times make a mistake and go too far, demand too much, or insist on the wrong thing… but is that such a terrible sin? I have no doubt that God prefers that to being wimpy, scared, and satisfied. He’s looking for people with a fire in their bellies, who want to see great things.
The last phrase of this passage is amazing too: Know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. This was written 2000 years ago, and it’s as if it was written yesterday. Isn’t this what the devil whispers in our ears? When he can’t stop us, he switches tactics and starts to discourage us by telling us that it’s all a waste of time. Resisting temptation, reaching out to others, prayers, Bible reading, church attendance, obeying God when no one’s looking… “It’s not worth it”, he says. But he’s a liar! Huge rewards and blessings are waiting for us — here on earth and in heaven — as long as we are steadfast, immovable, and excelling.
He “gives us the victory” through the Lord Jesus. “Gives” is in the present tense, because His giving is ongoing. As long as we need His help on earth the victories will continue. So I challenge you: pick a problem right now and declare victory over it. Then decide that you will be steadfast, immovable, and always excelling until it is miraculously resolved. — Go for it!
