As Psalms 53:2 says, ‘God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there is anyone who understands, Who seeks after God.’ Let us examine ourselves, where is my hope, my trust in the midst of the fears, anxieties and the worries? Is Jesus growing in me and am I getting conformed into His likeness by depending on the Holy Spirit, every day in my life?
1John 3:2,3 ‘2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.’ We have a confirmation here that, we are the children of God. We need to put our trust in God and come to Him as having a Heavenly Father. Here we can see in another way that, ‘If those who are not fixing their hope on Him are not purifying themselves, moving away from the hope and faith which God is giving. God gives His best for His children. Whatever is happening, in my life, I know that it is for my good. Are we able to see more and more of God? Everyone who have this hope, are purifying and cleansing their hearts. Trusting in God and looking at Jesus, every time for help and restoration. 1John 3:4,5 ‘4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.’ We need to prepare ourselves in this world, are we ready to meet the Lord, when He comes? We need to receive Him in our hearts and believe in Him, when we go through situations. ‘Jesus is my Lord and is helping me every day’, this confirmation should come to each one of us. John 1:12, ‘12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,’
Romans 10:9,10 ‘that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.’ Every time, we need to be saved by our Lord. This is the righteousness. When we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, every time the anxiety, uncertainty and worries of life encroach in lives, we are growing in our faith in Him. It helps us to be conformed to His image, every day.
Isaiah 55:11, ‘So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.’ The Word, when we believe and listen and confess with our mouth, is going to change our heart and will bring a difference in our heart, if we continue to put our trust in God and repent every day. This is what God will achieve in our lives, giving us His divine nature in our lives.
Romans 5:10, ‘10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.’ When we rely on Him, and confess His Word every time, we are getting into reconciliation to God.
Ephesians 1:5, ‘ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.’ When we listen to the Word, to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we are sealed in the Holy Spirit, where we have the divine protection of God. The Holy Spirit is given to us as a pledge, as an inheritance, which is God’s own nature.
Romans 4:18-25 ‘18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your ]descendants be.” 19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. 22 Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. 23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.’ Though in Abraham’s life, everything was going against him, but in hope against hope, he believed. We also need to have this. There might be no hope, nothing in front of us, as per the world, but one thing we believe is that, ‘we will be like Him, when He comes’. We also see here, the deadness of the womb and both Abraham and Sarah were weak but yet, with respect to the promise of God, he believed. He did not waver in unbelief, but he grew strong in faith. We can also put our trust in Him, in the same way, in our uncertain circumstances that we are in. We need to be fully assured that what God promised, he will do. He will lead us, help us to not to be frightened. Thank God for this Word.
Jeremiah 29:10 -14,’ 10 “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’’ This is the message of Jeremiah to the people who were in captivity in Babylon. He is giving them the confirmation that after 70 years, you will be coming back to Jerusalem. He is giving them a hope. After this period of confinement, you are going to come back again to this land and I have plans for you, plans of welfare not of calamity. We need to have this hope. It is for our good future and hope. He will lead us to the land flowing with milk and honey and we can have that period of rest. This current confinement is helping us to be conformed to the image of Christ, every day, so we can have His peace and rest every day in our lives, so that no anxiety or fear is coming.
Revelation 3:15-22, ‘15 ‘I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”’ We need to be overcomers and stay strong in the Lord. We can look to Jesus, for each and every thing, as He overcame all the situations. We have a strong warning here, this is one of the states where we are getting raised by ourselves and we are not able to see our true selves. There is no dependency on God in our hearts and we think we are wealthy in our hearts. We are rich and in need of nothing. In this situation, we don’t trust God. There is an advice here, we need to come to Jesus every day to get richness here we see gold, refined by fire, white garments, so that we may clothe ourselves. It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which we need to have every time. Have this humble dependency on God, every day. We need to cling to God and have this hope every day. If we hear Him knocking at the door, and open our eyes and hearts, there are lot of things we can see, where we are poor, miserable and blind. We need to come to Him, to be filled up with His righteousness. Jesus overcame, so we need to overcome. Thank God for His Word.
We are not able to see His glory in our lives, due to fear. We are so confined to ourselves that we are not opening up to the Lord. 1 Samuel 17:11, ‘ 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.’ Everyday Goliath is coming and taunting the Israelites. It was going on for quite some time. In pertaining to the information these days, there is a lot of confusion and anxiety coming to us morning and evening, which is causing fear in our hearts. What David did? When he was entrusted with a work, to provide food to his brothers, he heard this Philistine, taunting the Israelites. His brothers discouraged him, Saul is also saying to David, ‘you cannot do anything, you are nothing in terms of power, but we see what David is saying in verse 34 onwards, ‘ 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.” 38 Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor.’ David got a word of faith. He knew he was young. It was not his power that saved him. It was really the power of God. He had a strong faith, saying, ‘I was able to conquer through the Lord’. This should be our faith when fear mounts up. We will be able to overcome this through Jesus Christ. We also see that David was clothed with armor, a worldly armor, which David was not able to wear and walk, as he was not accustomed to the uniform. David had a heavenly armor. He took off the worldly armor and he is enclosing himself with the heavenly armor. Verse 39 onwards, ‘. 39 David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” And David took them off. 40 He took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine.
41 Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance. 43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” 45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”’ Whatever the arrows are coming to us, unbelief, fear, we need to face them with faith in our heart. We cannot arm ourselves with worldly armor. It is God who has to armor us. Ephesians 6:13-16, ‘ 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.’ We need to take the shield of faith. This is what David took and he was able to kill Goliath. He was able to suppress Goliath through faith in God, saying, ‘I come in the name of the Lord’. This is where, when the flaming arrows of doubt or anxiety or fear is coming up, we can have this shield of faith, which is able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. If we have this faith, God is going to deliver us and we are going to live a wonderful life.
We need to overcome these situations through Prayer. It is the most essential part in our lives. Prayer with thanks giving. We see in Acts 16, where Paul and Silas are tortured and sent to prison. They were rejoicing in the Lord, they were able to sing and pray. We need to pray more and more for our redemption. It says, our redemption is very near. We need to lift our heads up. Whenever we are discouraged, we need to praise and thank God more and more.
Acts 16:16 – 21, 16 It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” 18 She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.
19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, 20 and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, 21 and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
‘Paul and Silas Imprisoned
22 The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. 23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; 24and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” 29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
The Jailer Converted
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. 33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. 34 And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.
35 Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.” 36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” 38 The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, 39 and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. 40 They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed’ If we think the other way here, if Paul and Silas were discouraged, such a thing would not have happened. Jailor and his family would not have come to the Lord, saved and baptized. But because they prayed to God, there was a thanksgiving in their hearts in such a situation, they have overcome that situation. Through that their lives were saved. The salvation came to Jailor and his family.
In terms of fear and anxiety, when we are afraid or discouraged, we won’t be able to lead others to light. We need to pray if such a situation comes in our lives also.
Revelation 19:7, ‘7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”’ If we are His bride, we need to make ourselves ready also. We need to be ready to meet the Lord, when He comes. We have this hope that we will be like Him, when He comes. This is why, we purify ourselves as we have this hope and this is how we are going to make ourselves ready to meet the bridegroom.
2 Corinthians 6:17, ‘17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.
“And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. 18 “And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty. V1, Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.’
There should be a separation in our lives. We need to keep ourselves pure and whatever the defilement, is there in the flesh and the Spirit; we need to cleanse that and perfecting holiness every day in our lives, to meet Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 10:22, ‘22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 35 therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. We need to have endurance in all our situations, so that when we have done the will of God, when we suffer, we will receive what God promised, which is the divine nature of Jesus Christ. We need to be filled with hope and rely on Jesus and need to purify ourselves daily so that, when He comes, we will be like Him, just as He is pure.
Thank God for His Word.
