He is for you… Signed, sealed, delivered: He’s
Yours!
pamela spurling
Dear
Sisters ~
I am thinking of you today as I do most every
day. I ask the LORD to bless and care for the
needs of the sisters… the women who subscribe to
these letters, visitors to our website, blog,
etc. For I recognize more and more that each
visit or each visitor is a story… a life with
innumerable experiences, memories, needs and
hopes. And so, it is with that in mind that I
am writing to you today.
I was reading and a little word seemed to leap
off the page of my Bible. The little word:
for. I imagine this happens with you, too. You
read along and then, seeming to jump off the
page, you see a word you think you’ve never read
before---even if you have underlined that
particular verse or word! That’s how that
little word, *for,* was for me.
I often think that Jesus is for us… sort of like
I tell my children: I am for you! I want
the best for you… I want to serve you, to help
you, to encourage you, to guide you, to provide
for you… I am for you! I am here…
I will be here (LORD willing) when you get back…
I will be here waiting for you. I am going to
do this job for you – or on your behalf! I want
to give them assurance and confidence and
security. It is eventually what I want them to
see and know in Jesus –that He is for them… He’s
gone on before them *for* them. As they
grow in grace and maturity in their walk with
Him, I want that truth to govern their lives,
their decisions and for it to be their firm
foundation. For they will encounter trials,
they will have trouble in this life, they will
face persecution to one degree or another and
that being the case, I want them to have a sure
foundation, I want them to have that anchor—that
sure anchor of Truth, held by the Truth. If I
never pass on anything else to them, I will pass
this on.
Which
hope we have as an anchor of the
soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth
into that within the veil; Whither the
forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high
priest
for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Hebrews 6.19-20
I’ve receive a number of letters from sisters in
many different places who are discouraged. Their
hope is waning – their faith is wavering.
Life’s trials are mounting and doubts have crept
in. It’s a very lonely road when you think
you’re the only one traveling the path or the
only one facing trials. It doesn’t really help
to know you’re not alone or, rather, to be told
you’re not alone –or worse, to have another
woman give you the “been there, done that”
answer. I don’t know of a worse answer to give
a woman who’s undergoing a trial or a painful
period of time. But I do know one thing… there
is hope in Jesus… and today I see that hope in
that little word: for. “The forerunner is for
us entered…” Jesus is for us entered. He is
for us! We have His word on that… He *is* for
us.
In
hope of eternal life, which God,
that cannot lie,
promised before the world began;
Titus 1.2
So, we have the promises of God. Now, in time
of stress or pain or trouble, we may not
initially feel that the promises of God comfort
us or that they relieve us of our pain or
worry---but really---they should! When we have
our eyes focused on our troubles and trials, we
are looking down or we are looking inward. But
when we look to or keep our eyes on the LORD, we
necessarily take our eyes off our circumstances
and look up. We have no promises in ourselves.
We have no hope –in and of ourselves- our hope
is in the LORD. In fact, it ought to be a very
critical indicator to us that we do not have our
eyes fixed on Jesus if we’re fretting or feeling
discouraged or whatever. The Scriptures tell us
to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith. The enemy of our souls
would have us do otherwise. Remembering that in
us, this is, in and of ourselves, there is no
good thing, isn’t it remarkable that that’s just
what the enemy would have us to concentrate on
or to keep our eyes fixed on: our trouble, our
worrying about our troubles.
The enemy is not for us. The enemy is against
us --- what’s more is not so much that he’s
against us, but that he’s against Jesus and he
uses us as pawns to attempt to detract from
Jesus and our fretting or anger or discontent to
deflect praise or eclipse in some way the glory
of Jesus. But Jesus is greater than he that is
in the world. We seldom think of that when
we’re entrenched in angst over dilemmas in which
we find ourselves. That’s why the Word tells
us to be renewed daily in the spirit of our
minds. We read that He will never leave us…
Why do we doubt Him? Why do we look at our
circumstances and dare to think they are
insurmountable? Why do we think God’s forgotten
us? He is for us! His promises cannot fail,
His Word cannot return void! He is our comfort,
He is our hope, He is our consolation. The
enemy is a liar… and every single day will
attempt to prove to us that God has forgotten us
or that we have finally done too many wrongs or
that we will never have enough faith or hope or
good works to be worthy of God. Those are
lies. The enemy will remind us of past failures
and those reminders often paralyze us or cripple
us into believing or seeing our past failures as
future indicators. But that’s not what God says
about us –that’s not what God thinks about us.
And we need to flee to Him and seek refuge in
Him.
That
by two immutable things, in which it was
impossible for God to lie, we might have a
strong consolation,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us:”
Hebrews 6.18
He is our refuge and strength… and He is *for*
us. That’s sweet news –sweet relief for
whatever ails us. When we walk with Him, we can
see this is true… but when we’re walking alone,
eyes on ourselves, neglecting the promises of
God, we miss this. And, O, we mustn’t miss
this! We need to repent of those thoughts, we
need to repent of whatever sin is separating us
from God, we need to repent of those things that
we have believed that are *not* true about God.
And we need to lay claim to the promises of God
in Jesus. I do this by reading His Word….
Learning more and more about who Jesus is and
what God says about who He is. I seek to know
Him more that I might obey Him –that I would be
found in Him and that I would daily be conformed
to His image. It is this desire to know Him
that keeps me pressing on toward the mark for
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. If I don’t have any other reason to press
on daily, this is reason enough. If I cannot
find any thing around me or in my life to keep
me pressing on, this is enough. But the enemy
would be relentless in attempts to obscure this
truth. But God’s promises, God’s Word, God’s
Truth and God’s eternal purpose cannot be
obscured.
All the promises in God are: Yes! Wait. All
the promises in God are Yes! and in Jesus:
Amen! How about that?!?! Yes! and Amen! It’s
as if God is saying: My promises are Yes! and
Jesus is my Amen --- My promise, you have My
Word on it, Jesus is my Seal. Signed, sealed,
delivered: He’s Yours!
For
the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was
preached among you by us, even by me and
Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay,
but in Him was yea. For all the promises of
God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto
the glory of God by us. IICorinthians
1.19-20
Dear sister, if you are buried in hopelessness
or if you are doubting or if your faith is
wavering… then may I implore you to simply take
a few more minutes aside and get your Bible…
look up the verses I’ve mentioned today… even
read the verses surrounding them for context and
greater understanding and then pray… pray the
LORD will show you what He wants you to do.
Pray He will comfort you and guide your steps
and then, by all means, obey His Word --
whatever He’s leading you to do. I have
never-never-never gone to the Word, sincerely
asking for His divine guidance and had Him turn
His Word away or His Truths away from me – no
matter what, no matter where, no matter how
longs it’s been –He is there. So, we go to the
whole counsel of Scripture and we see Him. He
says (in Jeremiah 29.13) “And ye shall seek me,
and find me, when ye shall search for me with
all your heart.” That truth is powerful.
Those immutable things: God cannot lie and we
have strong consolation. What blessing, what
joy, what comfort!
I pray He is, and will be, your all in
all.
With love and prayers for you
©A Christian Home ~
Letters To My Sisters ~ 2007 |