Promises

Jesus Our Life Preserver

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Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him, because he knows my name when he calls to me I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Psalm 91:14-16

Some have compared this new Corona virus to the swine flu outbreak or Ebola. But a more realistic comparison that most of us have forgotten is the polio epidemic of 1916 that swept through cities like New York and Boston. Back then, very much like today panic ensued as tens of thousands were infected and 2,000 deaths occurred in New York City alone. Because we are accustomed to thinking that there is a cure for every conceivable disease that is hard for us to imagine how generations of everyday people could face such uncertainty with courage.

The fears we face today may feel very different than those of the past but our hope remains the same. Our hope is in trusting God. He has promised to be with us. Our hope is not just a doctrine or a trophy to be kept on display but it is our life preserver in desperate times. God has not forgotten us and He has promised to deliver us; answer us in our trouble; rescue us and shows us His salvation.

Critical Updates

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Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. Psalm 25:5 ESV

Did you receive the warning to download the most recent critical updates to your windows operating system this week? If not be aware that you really do need to get that done. When I saw the alert, I confess that at first I simply hurried on hoping that nothing would go wrong. Impatience and procrastination teamed up to convince me that it couldn’t happen to me.  But in the back of my mind were those pesky memories of long hours struggling to extract malware, viruses and other assorted electronic ne’er do wells.

In the same way we need to pay attention when the Bible tells us to download God’s latest spiritual updates. Those updates come included in the new operating system for our lives called “The Word of God”.  Only our own personal daily Bible reading will safeguard our hearts and prepare us to face today’s battles.

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Photo by Marek Levak on Pexels.com

So when the malware of our old nature shows up in our minds and it must be overwritten by the update of His ways. The constant spiritual pressures will no more disappear from our Christian lives than spam from our e-mail accounts. But every day we can choose to patiently to download His updates before we continue on our walk with Him!

Choosing God – Part 2

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Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. Hebrews 11:25-26 KJV

Because of Moses’ faith, he chose to leave Egypt, trusting that the rewards of God were of greater value than the pleasures of Egypt. How could anyone have known that after Moses left Egypt it would be forty years before God met him at the burning bush? Yes God did choose Moses but Moses also left behind his friends, family, and all that was familiar as a choice by faith in a God he had never seen. There in the land of Midian, he married, worked as a shepherd and grew older. But in that lonely place where he may have even begun to forget his calling God never forgot. Decades passed until finally at just the right time in His calendar, God called him to return to Egypt and lead His people out of slavery and towards the land of promise!

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