Scripture
Which God, who does not lie, promised before time began.
~Titus 1:2, NET
Quote
Faith turns promises into prophecy.
~Phillip Brooks
Promises may or may not mean very much; it all depends on the integrity of the one making the promise. Honestly, there are not many promise keepers and some of us try awfully hard but in pride we promise things we cannot deliver. God can keep all His promises. Abraham lived by faith in God’s promises. The promise to Abraham and to his descendants was that they would inherit the world {the meek inherit the earth}. Abraham did not live to see this promise fulfilled but he did live believing that it would be done ultimately. Once we reach this level of faith, the promise becomes a prophecy: something God will make happen. We stop worrying about how, or if He will make it happen and celebrate the fact that He will make it happen.
Phillip Brooks the puritan said, “I listen to people pray and they asks for more faith but it is not faith that they are really wanting. They want to see a visible manifestation that will bolster their faith.” The Israelites coming out of Egypt were so immature in their faith that God gave them manifestations of His presence in the Shekinah glory cloud: it was visible both day and night. Of course the disciple got the greatest manifestation in history, they walked and talked with God incarnate. As only one generation of Israelites saw the cloud, only one generation saw the incarnate Christ. The disciples had a manifestation that we don’t have. Jesus told them, “If I go away, I will send the Comforter {Holy Spirit}.” The Holy Spirit is spiritual and invisible to the human eye. So twice in history, we have gone from the visible to the invisible, from sight to faith and this is exactly what God wants. He wants us to live by faith and not sight. He wants us to be totally dependent on Him. He wants us to pray every day.
Brooks is right, I pray all the time for God to manifest His presence; I long for it. I want to see Jesus just as the disciples saw Jesus. Faith is believing it will happen. I will see Him some day. It is more than a promise to me. It is more like history. When God makes a promise, you can go ahead and write it down, record it as history because He will make it happen.
God is good and He gave us another great LORD’s day. I enjoyed preaching twice yesterday morning and hearing Spencer Bell last night. Sunday night at DBC has become the thing: we had seven preachers in attendance last night. The youth band was outstanding. Seriously, I don’t know how you can get any better.
Our Praise and Worship leader, Dale Windsor is retiring. His hearing has gotten so bad that it makes singing difficult. He can still sing but the hearing makes it harder on him. He will be with us through May. Dale has blessed my heart with a message in song many times. I really appreciate he and Paula keeping us informed and working with us in transition. We are talking to Doug about being our interim so make that an item of prayer. There are a couple of things that need to work out. Thankfully, Dale and Paula are going to stay with the GP family but they will be traveling more in all probability.
I hope you have a great day and great week. Thanks for reading the blog.