Your Good And Perfect Gifts

Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes, as a shifting shadow does.

[James 1:17, NLT]

It is very reassuring to know that our loving Father does not change. He is not of one mind one day and an entirely different one the next. The unchangeableness of God's purpose, character, and will are the source of one of our greatest motivations to pray. When you come before Him in prayer referring to His promises, you can be assured that what He will give you is good and perfect.

It is true that the Bible is full of promises. Very few of God's promises in the Bible are absolute in nature. They are, instead, conditional promises, governed by our responses to God, fulfilling certain requirements, and also by the perfect judgment of God. He gives only good and perfect gifts - He will never give one of His children a "blessing" that would ultimately derail His purpose for him or that would be too much for him to handle.

The faithful Abraham and Sarah are good examples of this aspect of God's promises. God promises Abraham, at age 75 that He would make him "a great nation," and "To your descendants I will give this land" implying that he would have children. Yet, He does not give Abraham the promised child when he is 76 or 78 or 80! Finally, the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. Now Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him [Genesis 21:1-2, 5].

Alot had to happen in the lives of Abraham and Sarah - predominantly in terms of spiritual maturity -before God felt the right time had come to give them their promised baby boy. There was one perfect time for this promise to be fulfilled, and God fulfilled it when all the conditions were right.

When you come before Him in prayer referring to the promises He has made, you can be assured that He will answer you and what He will give you is good and perfect. However, God will fulfill His promises when all the conditions are right.

Prayer: My Loving Father, I thank You, for You are reliable and I can trust You knowing You do not change as shifting shadows do. I thank You Father, because You who promised is faithful. As I come before You referring to Your promises over my life, I pray You help me understand the part I have to play in receiving from You. Help me to submit to Your will and Your purpose that I may be able to wait on You for the fulfillment of Your promise, which is alway good and perfect. In Jesus Name, Amen.

When God Chooses You

For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children...

[Genesis 18:19, NIV]

God chooses people He can depend upon. He knew what to expect from Abraham and said of him, “I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children ... that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.” God knew Abraham would “direct his children.” The Lord can be depended upon, and He desires for us to be just as reliable, determined, and stable. This is simply the meaning of faith.

Your loving Father is looking for people on whom He can place the "weight" of His entire love, power, and faithful promises. When these "weights" appear in the form of unexpected trials, tests of our perseverance, it seems our faith level at that time may not be able to carry the weight. God remains by our side and continues to train and discipline us in His school of stability and certainty in the life of faith.

Your loving Father knows you can withstand whatever you have to go through, or else He would not have let you face such a situation. When He chooses you, He surely has a reason and purpose that will always work out for your good. He will still bring to pass what He has promised you. He knows your strength, and He measures it to the last inch. Remember, no trial has ever been given to anyone that was greater than that person's strength, through God, to endure it.

Prayer: My loving Father, I desire to be counted worthy of those You can depend upon. Ipray that as You continue to train me and discipline me, that I may grow in faith, learn my lessons well and stand firm. I trust You Lord, for You will not give me anything that is too much for me to bear. May I always remember that Your plans for me are of good only - plans to give me the future I hope for. In Jesus Name, Amen.

By His Might Alone

Listen to Me [says the Lord], O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, you who have been borne by Me from your birth, carried from the womb:

    Even to your old age I am He, and even to hair white with age will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry and will save you.

[Isa 46:3 -4 , AMP] 

 

Some days we try to play the part of God, those days when we look around us and what we see does not tally with the promise He gave us, He created us with a purpose but right now we are a far cry from what He said we would be and do. So we plan and we scheme, we try to create our own opportunities, to make His promises become reality in our lives.

The more we try, the more frustrated we feel, because we can never accomplish what God has planned by our plans or our own might, what He has called us to accomplish, exceeds our abilities and exceeds our resources, He did not consult our strength, abilities or resources before He set His plan, He consulted His own. And this same God promises over and over again that He and He alone would accomplish what He has purposed, Faithful is He who has called us who also would accomplish it, has He said it, would He not do it? He declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do ALL My pleasure. Notice the number of times He repeated "I" in the passage, because He needs us to understand its not by our might but by His alone.

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So quit the struggle, a man once said, God would not do today what He has purposed to do next week, so relax and align yourself with God’s “scheme of works”, When He speaks the end from the beginning, it is because He know that there exists no force that can change what He has destined. The same God that sent a Raven, which by nature is so stingy that it does not even feed its own children, to feed His prophet, is the same God that would work for you to create opportunities in the most unexpected of places.

So let His praises continually be on your lips, set your heart to serve Him with all you’ve got in the place that you are now, for this has come to build you. Lean upon His strong arms and let Him carry you and bring you to the place He has destined just the way He has destined to. Because it doesn’t look like it now does not mean it is not it, do not lose your hope, do not allow yourself become impatient, Sarah in her impatience back tracked God’s plan by sending Hagar into Abraham, Joseph saw his future and held onto it through the prison.

Two people who received the promise, one learnt to trust in God’s timing, the other believed time was running out. Two different people but the same God, so today, chose to trust, chose to walk in Gods rest, He has called you, He (not you) would bring it to pass.

Prayer: Lord, I thank You for this place that I am, I thank You because in this place, my trust in You grows stronger, In this place You are building in me a faith that is unwavering, You are strengthening me through this period, preparing me for the place You have promised. Some days it is hard to see things this way, but Your grace is sufficient for the trying periods. I would trust in your plan, I would be confident in your timing, because I know, You watch over Your word to perform it, and you honor your word above your name. Amen.

One-Year Daily Bible Reading Plan - Nov. 24  2010 - Psalms 49 - 50 (OT) , Matthew 10 (NT).