Category Archives: Devotions

Galatians 1:6-9 (ESV)
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— [7] not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.  [8] But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.  [9] As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

There is only one Gospel. Yet Paul can take the Galatian Christians to task, in verse 6, for deserting Christ and turning to another gospel. He explains what he means in verse 7: we believe in another Gospel when we distort what the one true Gospel is. This is very sobering. Many more aberrant belief systems distort the Gospel while claiming to be the Gospel they distort. Recently, the blogosphere and even the mainstream media has been busy discussing whether Jesus is necessary for salvation or not. When the Bible talks about the triumph of grace, God defeating all His enemies, evil being killed … does it mean that all people eventually go to heaven? Not if the Gospel message of the Scriptures is true.

Paul is not shy to say what should happen to those who distort the Gospel (vs. 8-9). The response to what Paul says here in verse 7 – 9 is to take great care to know the biblical Gospel and to believe and  preach nothing else but the biblical Gospel. Those who maintain that different beliefs should just get along and agree cannot maintain their argument in the light of Galatians 1. The different belief systems do not agree. We can love those who believe a different Gospel, but we cannot say that their Gospel is true. We must either hold tenaciously and lovingly to the one true Gospel because of what Paul says here, or we must abandon what Paul says here and deny its truthfulness. The latter is simply not an option. We must recognize that there is only one Gospel. We must know it. We must preach it. And we must never surrender it no matter what the pressures on us are.

There is no better Gospel than the one we have received. We cannot make it better. We cannot come up with something else. We can rejoice in it and seek to tell it and demonstrate it to all whom God puts in our pathway.

What are you doing next Sunday? According to a well known preacher in the U.S. you don’t have to make any plans at all. According to him, the second coming will take place this Saturday. This isn’t the first time he’s predicted a date regarding the second coming. Jesus was supposed to come back in 1994 as well. In the Old covenant someone who made false prophecies wouldn’t be around long enough to make another.

Deut. 18:20-22 (ESV)

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ [21] And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— [22] when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

This is not to say that this is what should happen to this man, but it is to say that we should not pay him any attention whatsoever and certainly not lose any sleep over anything he says at all.

Consider this exchange between the man and New York magazine:

How certain are you that world is going to end on May 21 — do you have any doubts?

God has given sooo much information in the Bible about this, and so many proofs, and so many signs, that we know it is absolutely going to happen without any question at all.

You can read the whole interview here.

The best way to respond to this kind of nonsense is to simply say hello next Sunday, the day after Jesus is supposed to return, and go about your business. In the meantime, meditate on this:

 1 Thes. 5:1-11 (ESV)

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. [2] For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. [3] While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. [4] But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. [5] For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. [6] So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. [7] For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. [8] But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. [9] For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, [10] who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. [11] Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Since Jesus is returning when He sees fit, our response is not to try to determine dates and times. It is to live as children of light (verse 5) stay alert and live soberly (verse 6), live soberly, by faith in a great hope (verse 8). And we are to encourage other believers (verse 11). Let such things be evidence that we believe in the return of Christ.

Psalm 111:1 – Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,

in the company of the upright, in the congregation.

Two ways to give thanks to God that the Psalmist mentions in this verse: 1) with his whole heart, 2) in the company of the upright.

God looks on the heart and He knows when our thanksgiving is half hearted or half true. It is easy to get excited in a worship setting and sing loud, shout amen and simply feel lifted off the floor in the atmosphere of the moment. Whole hearted does not necessarily mean with great demonstrations of emotion or exuberance. But it does mean with total conviction. We are saved, first of all, not because we found Jesus, but because He found us. We did not choose Him, He chose us. How convinced are we that without Jesus we can do nothing? How much do we really believe that if the Lord does not build the house we will build nothing? Do we really believe that we are utterly dependent on God for everything; that if he does not feed us today we will not be fed, that if He does not keep us from falling into sin we will spend a day in utter debauchery, that if God does not enable us to understand what we read and study that we will benefit nothing from our time in the Scriptures?

This is the way to thankfulness with the whole heart. We simply need to believe what the Bible tells us about our dependence upon a loving, gracious, liberal God. We need to feel just how good God has been to us.

It is amazing how we can read the Bible and believe it and yet not feel the truth of it in our hearts and souls. Cold, hard hearted belief in the Scriptures is a worse testimony than outright denial of the faith. And there is far too much of it in the church of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, this praise to God is to occur in the company of the upright. Private quiet times with God are a valuable part of the Christian life, but they are not a substitute for corporate worship and interaction with others around the Word of God. It is easy to claim to be able to worship God with one’s whole heart when one does not test it by standing next to somebody who just rubs you the wrong way. Conversely, it may be difficult to sing and praise and understand the Scriptures properly when one only encounters such things by himself. We are made for community and real worship must happen in such a setting. Friendly greetings, exuberant singing from others, shouts of “amen”, hearing others pray, listening to a sermon that has been worked over, prayed over and cried over. All these and more that can only happen in the presence of others who are worshipping with us, are fuel for real heartfelt worship.

Absence from the presence of the children of God will not foster real whole hearted worship. It will work against it. We need to worship with others.

We are made for the worship of God. True worship is worship that is done with the whole heart. Wholehearted worship is enabled by meeting with others who also worship from their hearts. Don’t neglect to engage your whole heart through interaction with others who, just like you, need to be in the presence of others – in your presence.

Psalm 116:1-2 -

[1] I love the Lord, because he has heard

my voice and my pleas for mercy.

[2] Because he inclined his ear to me,

therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

Quite often we will hear it said, in sermons or in a Bible study, that we love God just because He is God. Sometimes it will even be said that to love God because of what He does or has done for you, is selfish. It sounds so spiritual, so above the common, carnal reasons that we usually give for loving God. I understand the reason for emphasizing that God is lovely no matter what He does for me. Many quasi-Christians only give God His due if He is behaving in the manner they want. They reduce God to a sugar daddy who comes through for them when they need Him. Until they need Him again they will simply put Him away. It is a horrible thing to do to the Almighty. It is sub-Christian and it needs to die a quick death.

But as is so often the case, it is easy to overreact against this heretical tendency to put God in our pockets as a good luck charm. The result is that we have people talking and believing as if it is wrong to love God for what He does for us. We will hear it in prayers: “O Lord we love you simply because you are God”. Of course it is not wrong to love God simply for who He is. But we do love because He first loved us. Psalm 116:1 states that one of the reasons we love God is because He hears our prayers. It is not wrong to love God for what He does for us.

God demonstrates His love for us (Romans 5:8). This is how we know what love is – He lay down His life for us (I John 3:16). I love God for what He does and has done for me because without Him I can do nothing (John 15:5). If He does not do for me and in me and to me and by me, then I will die, both physically and spiritually. We are born as natural haters of God. He comes and by the power of the Holy Spirit He shows me what He has done for me and I am brought to my knees in gratitude and faith. It is His work for me that has made me bow. It becomes all the more love inducing when I consider what I deserve, what I was like, how much I really hated God and what it took to win me to love Him. It is all stunning truth that cannot but elicit a response. And the response it must elicit is love for God.

We will love God with all our hearts and souls and minds and strengths more sincerely when we grow in our understanding of what God has done, what He is doing and what He has promised to do for all those He came to win back to Himself.

If God had simply shouted from heaven, “Love me” and never did anything to show His worthiness of this love He was demanding, we would not love Him. But He has shown us. He has done great things for us. And we are glad. We benefit. We live because of what He has done. And now, since we are His children, He bends His ear to listen to us when we are needy and bring our needs to Him. What an incredible thing for the sovereign Ruler of the whole created order, to do. What an act of condescension. What an act of love. And we love Him for it. To respond any other way would be unconscionable.

Thank you Lord. We love you. We love you because of what you have done and what you continue to do and what you have promised to do. We love you because you have heard us when we cried. Where would we be if you did not? What a God.

Psalm 143:1 – “Hear my prayer O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in you righteousness!”

If God were to refuse to hear the pleas of His children it would mean He had ceased to be faithful and righteous. To put it more positively, God answers our prayers because He will never cease to be faithful and righteous. He helps us and hears our cries because He is faithful and righteous.

We are the children of God because of a plan that was formed before the world’s foundations were laid. Jesus is the Lamb who was slain from before the creation of the world. God has determined to save a vast numberless multitude from every people, tribe, nation and tongue. In time He calls them into an eternal covenant that He has determined to keep. He is God and He cannot lie. He remains faithful to Himself. Since He has said that all He chooses shall be brought safe into glory then they will be brought safe into glory.

For those who think that means that believers can therefore live like the devil and rest in the covenant of God, we note that the God who so chooses sinners to be saved is the same God who has determined to help them grow in holiness. What God calls out of the world He conforms to the image of Himself. No one claiming to be a believer can ever conclude that he can live like the devil. The truly repentant will simply not have such an attitude.

The point of this Psalm however is that we can call upon God to help us on the basis of His faithfulness and righteousness. God cannot deny Himself. He will help those who have been brought to life in Christ. He has said that He would. The verse also says that He helps us on the basis of His righteousness. The cross of Jesus Christ is the ultimate demonstration of the righteousness of God (Romans 3:21-26). The cross shows that God must punish sin. Sin cannot, and will not be permitted to survuve. When Jesus bares our sins in His own body on the tree, God must punish Him. This is right and if God had not lashed out His judgement on Christ then He would have ceased to be righteous. Believers go to God through Christ and boldly ask Him to help us since He is righteous, because we are hidden in Christ and we are counted with the sinless righteousness of Christ. Our sins have been punished, the debt is paid, the punishment has been administered. We are therefore His by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

For God to refuse to help us would mean that He is not the righteous God that we are told He is. Go to God in great boldness. Our timidity in prayer is only due to our misunderstanding of the work of Christ, our misunderstanding of the sufficiency of the cross, our misunderstanding of how much the cross and resurrection accomplished for us. Go with boldness. It honours Christ. It shows God to be the covenant keeping God that He is. What a thing the Gospel is!

Luke 8:26-39 – Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. [27] When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. [28] When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” [29] For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) [30] Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. [31] And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. [32] Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. [33] Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

[34] When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. [35] Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. [36] And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. [37] Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. [38] The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, [39] “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

An animal rights group has made a request to the translators of the NIV (New International Version) that they translate the pronouns in the Bible which are used to refer to animals, as “he” or “she” and no longer as “it”. The reason is that animals have rights the same as humans do and they should be held on an equal level with humans. The writer of the Proverbs tells us that whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast (Proverbs 12:10). Cruelty to animals is a sign of abuse in other areas of life, including the abuse of children and women. Animals are God’s gift to us for our good and we are to be good stewards of their care. As the owner of two cats I know that domestic animals provide us with great joy. Animals captured on film in the wild are a wonder to observe and the Scriptures indicate that one of the purposes of animals is to play, for God’s enjoyment (Psalm 104:25-26). But that is a far cry from maintaining that they are equal to humans in intrinsic value.

It is not wrong to kill animals for food, or for clothing, in this present age. Jesus Himself ate lamb and we see Him feeding fish to a crowd of five thousand hungry followers as well as cooking fish for the disciples after His resurrection. God killed at least one animal to provide clothing for Adam and Eve after they sinned and realized they were naked and their fig leaves just weren’t doing the trick. Animals are not people and they are not made in the image of God. If there were no eternal soul then we would be no different from animals in anything but intelligence (and there are some humans who wouldn’t even pass that test!) But we do have eternal souls and animals do not. There is no human life which is not of greater worth than an animal’s.

Luke tells us of a man who was so overtaken by demons that he called himself “Legion”. A legion was a thousand men. Whether the man had a thousand demons we do not know. Mark hints that it might have been two-thousand (Mark 5:13). The man is in desperate condition. He never asks Jesus to help him. He has gone completely insane under the influence of these demons and it is the demons who address Jesus. Being in the presence of Jesus has these evil devils terrified and all they want is for Jesus to leave.

And then a most curious thing happens. These demons makes a request of Jesus, and Jesus grants it. They ask if He would be willing to cast them out of the man into a herd of pigs being cared for nearby. Jesus agrees. Let us be perfectly clear. Jesus has no compassion on demons. They are beyond redemption. Jesus’ compassion is for the possessed man. He allows the demons to leave the man and enter into a herd of pigs. The reason the demons wanted to go into the pigs was so that they would not be sent back to the abyss (verse 31). He lets them go into a herd of pigs which promptly flings itself over a cliff into the sea and die. Question: What happened to the demons? Presumably they went back to the abyss where they belonged. The pigs died. As tragic as that may be this account is a celebration of mercy.

Some scholars have criticized Jesus for destroying the livelihood of these Gentile pig farmers. How could He be so cruel as to allow their profits to go headlong into the sea? Many reasons perhaps. But one of them is surely this: one human soul is worth more than a two thousand pigs. The fact that these were pigs and were unclean animals for the Jews is not the point. The point is that Jesus has no compunction about allowing them all to die for the sake of saving this one human soul.

That man is in heaven right now and the pigs are nowhere. That man is singing the praises of the God who saved him, not only from demon induced insanity, but from the hell that it was inevitably leading to. The pigs haven’t squealed out anything anywhere for a long time. They do not exist. What Jesus did that day was an act of mercy. It was an act of salvation. It was right. And we should glorify Him for it.

Psalm 118:1-6 (ESV)

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever!

[2] Let Israel say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

[3] Let the house of Aaron say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

[4] Let those who fear the Lord say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

[5] Out of my distress I called on the Lord;

the Lord answered me and set me free.

[6] The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

“The Lord is on my side”. Life is so full of hardship and pain and uncertainty and a host of other unpleasantries that it gets wearying to the soul. How long, O Lord? Our response to the hardships of life is not, to say the least, always as God honouring as it should be or a testimony of faithfulness. Christians, like everyone else (and how damning a comment is that?) gripe and complain and plot against people. They gossip about those who don’t see eye to eye with them. They retreat into alcohol and prescription drugs and eating disorders. They fall back into their besetting sins and become less than vigilant against he who would devour them as a roaring lion. None of these things necessarily mean that the person is an unbeliever. True believers can commit all kinds of sins and true believers can fall into all kinds of aberrant and destructive behaviours. The amazing thing in all of this when children of God fall back into ungodliness is the truth that is uttered by the Psalmist in Psalm 118:6 – “The Lord is on my side…”.

The writer of this Psalm has been in some distress (verse 5). He has called out to God to help him (verse 5). God has heard and answered. We know this because of the words used throughout the Psalm. “Oh give thanks (verse 1). “It is better to take refuge in the LORD” (verse 8). In almost every verse of this Psalm we see that God has rescued the Psalmist and Israel out of some very serious trouble. What got them into trouble? Perhaps the godlessness of their enemies. Perhaps their own sin and rebellion. Perhaps tests from God to help them grow .

We know that Israel was more than prone to drifting away into idolatry. Perhaps it was the same kinds of things that mark us when things start going awry. We grumble, a sin very common in Israel in the Old Testament. Maybe they gossiped or got depressed or neglected prayer. We know that they often performed their religious duties as mere rituals and not as a testimony of a grateful heart. Whatever the reason for the Psalmists dilemma, God has gotten him out of it and he is now rejoicing.

Why did God get him out? Because God was on his side. This is a stunning truth. When I am completely innocent of wrong doing and people oppose me anyway, the Lord is on my side. When I sin and my troubles are the just discipline of a loving Father, God is still on my side. When I react badly to the problems of my life and fall into self destructive behaviour, no matter what it is, the Lord is on my side.

This is a glorious testimony of the unsurpassable love of God. It speaks of God’s faithfulness to us, to His own name and above all to the honour of His beloved Son. God is always on the side of His children. Always.

Oh that we could cultivate remembering this great truth when we find ourselves in precarious predicaments and are prone to think that we are all alone. God is on our side. What a tonic for the soul. What a medicine to help us get back on our feet. God is on my side – what can man do to me? Nothing. Therefore we will not fear and we will not despair and we will not surrender and we will never quit. Thank you Lord for the necessary reminder that you are with us and that if you be with us nothing can be against us. Press on.

Psalm 125:1 (ESV)

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,

which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

The opening lines of this Psalm do not say that those who have put their trust in God to save them from their sins are like Mount Zion, but those who trust in the Lord. There are many believers who have trusted Christ to save them from the just punishment for their sins who nevertheless do not trust Him for their daily needs and struggles. There is both a logic and lack of logic to this. Logically it can be said that they have trusted God to do for them what they know it was impossible for them to do for themselves. They knew they could not make themselves right with God. They knew that dealing with sin was too big a task for them so they sought out Christ to do it for them. When it comes to paying the bills, rearing their children, behaving like Christians at work, well, these are not impossible things for them to do so they do not rely upon God for them. They rely upon their wits, their common sense, the latest Christian guru’s latest book on how to live life. They do a host of things which amount to them trusting themselves rather than God. Kind of makes sense.

The lack of logic in this is that they are trusting Christ to do great big things – make them right with God – while believing at the same time that God cannot, or will not, get them out of their current pickle, which, compared to what Jesus has already done for them is very small indeed. They seem to reason that God can do the big but will not come to our aid for the small. It is almost a form of deism. God has done the work of saving us and now He leaves the living up to us. Don’t bother Him with the details.

What the opening lines of Psalm 125 are telling us is that those people who consciously rely upon God in their daily lives have a strength that those who do not rely upon Him, do not have. In other words, those who think that they do not need God in their daily living, even though they acknowledge Him for their eternal destiny, will waiver and not have the strength they need to handle life when it gets tough. Those who know they are weak, that without Jesus they can do nothing and therefore rely upon Him in everything, will be stronger to handle life. This is the universal teaching of the Scriptures.

When we are weak, then we are strong. God’s power is made perfect through weakness. Gideon’s army is too big for God to work through because the people will think they won because of their superior numbers. God chooses the second son, Jacob, over the first son, Esau. Jacob is a lying, conniving schemer who gets taught very hard lessons to bring him to a state of helplessness that glorifies God. See the list of those of those who knew that all their strength was in God and God alone in Hebrews 11.

Then we get to the New Testament and find that God’s ways do not change. Jesus chooses ignorant fishermen, a hated tax collector, a political zealot, doubters, liars, egomaniacs … You know, people just like us. They talked tough (“I will never deny you!!”) but they performed weakly (“I never knew Him!!”) and learned that this was not about them. How is it that God changed the world through such a bunch? “They who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion”. They did not trust themselves. They believed God could do through them what He had promised (Matthew 28:18-20). They never drew attention to themselves. They believed God’s way and will were best. They were ready to die rather than put things into their own hands.

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. It is time for us to leave our baggage at the door and go through our lives empty handed and trust Him. It is time for us to stop grumbling about how weak we are and trust the One who is strong. It is time for us to stop trying harder and harder like the little engine that could, and realize that we cannot. Then and only them will we stand and accomplish. Not because we could but because He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Because when we are weak, then we are strong. And when He does use us and our efforts actually result in some fruit, let us be very careful not to give the impression that it was we who did it.

Luke 8:22-25 (ESV) One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, [23] and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. [24] And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. [25] He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

It could not have been any ordinary storm. There are at least four fishermen in this boat and they have no doubt been in many storms that would terrify the landlubber. But this storm has even them thinking that this is the one that is going to take them. Most fishermen live with the knowledge in the back of their heads that the sea is likely to take them at some point before they retire out of fishing. The sea is unforgiving and impartial. It swallows up whoever happens to be foolish enough to venture out into its territory thinking that survival is a given. It never is.

Of course, on this night the One who both causes seas to do their worst and gives pleasant sailing, is in the boat. The storm has been brought into being in order to teach the disciples a lesson about just who it is that they have been following for the last little while. It has also been brought into being in order to test their faith. They fail the test of course, but it is a lesson that they will never forget. “Master, we are perishing” is what Luke tells us they said to Jesus. It wasn’t all they said. At least one of them asked Jesus “Don’t you care that we are perishing?” (Mark 8:38). One thing to think that you are going to die. Quite another to feel that someone with you doesn’t care if you do. It sounds like whoever said it believed that Jesus could do something to help them but just didn’t care if they lived or not. And it seems that he or they do not believe that Jesus would die as well. So they think that He is willing to let them die while somehow escaping that fate. We shouldn’t think that we would do better. In the face of death who knows what evil thoughts will assault us? So Jesus rouses Himself from His slumber and causes the storm to stop.

Then He says the most amazing thing. He turns to His disciples and asks “Where is your faith?” How does being terrified in seas that were about to capsize one’s only hope of survival demonstrate absence of faith? Faithlessness is absence of belief. But even fully believing that Jesus was the Son of God would not necessarily mean that they would survive this storm. Something has to take us and this may be their time as far as they know. Just because God says He loves and cares for us does not mean that we will not die or have pain, poverty, sickness and trouble. How are they showing lack of faith?

Verse 22 tells us. Jesus got into the boat at the beginning of the journey and said “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” At that point, one thing was guaranteed. They were going to make it to the other side. Jesus never said that they would not encounter a storm in the middle of the lake. He did not say the trip would be care free and clear sailing. He simply told them that they were going to make it to the other side. If, when the storm got fierce, the disciples had woken Him, and said, “Master, we need your help in getting to shore!”, I am sure He would not have questioned their faith. But that is not what they said. They told Him that they were about to die and they questioned His concern for them. The storm made them forget the promise, and once they forgot the promise, they neglected to trust Him.

Dear child of God. You have put your trust in Jesus to forgive your sins and give you eternal life. When you came to Him He said to you, “Let us go to the other side”. There is one thing you can be sure of. You are going to arrive safely at the other side. It will not be clear sailing all the way. There will be storms. There will be fierce attacks upon your soul, your faith, your sense of security. Never forget the promise. Remind yourself on a daily basis that Jesus has made you a promise to get you safely to the other side. He is the God who cannot lie and He will not start with you. Remember the great and precious promises of Christ to you and know that He will not break His word. His own glory is at stake in your salvation. The display of His own manifold wisdom to Satan is at stake in your salvation (Ephesians 3:10). Whatever storm you are called to travel through you never need go to Jesus and say “Do you not care that we are perishing?” He does and you are not. He will not let you. If you are truly His He will not allow anyone or anything to snatch you out of His hand.

What a great hope. What a great Truth. What a great Saviour.

Meditate on these few of the many great promises to all of God’s children.

John 10:28 (ESV) – I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

John 11:25-26 (ESV) – Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, [26] and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Romans 8:35-39 (ESV) – Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 13:5 (ESV) – Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

2 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV) – His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, [4] by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.