Dear Precious Friends,
On this TGIFF (Thank God I'm Forgiven Friday) I pray you are embracing the gift of Thanksgiving and time with family however that looked... Phone call, facetime, gathering. Many did not gather and were alone because of serious health issues. Many did gather and social distance. Many couldn't gather because of travel and concern of covid... Yet somehow we were able to unite via zoom or cell phone.
Be sure and reach out to those who are going through deep loneliness from isolation for so long. If each of us reached out to 3 people just think of how many would experience God's love through us.
Psalm 91 is such an amazing truth and there are so many rich verses of protection in the midst of danger. God doesn't promise a world free from danger, but he does promise his help whenever we face danger. I love praying this Psalm and remembering God's shelter when we are afraid... God as our protector carries us through all the dangers and fears of life. This is a picture of our trust... trading all our fears for faith in Him, no matter how intense our fears...
Yes, there is hope in God! In the Bible, God promises,
“Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent.” (Psalm 91:9-10, AMPC)
God also states in Psalm 91:14-16 that He will cover you; He will give angels charge over you, no pestilence (no disease), no sudden death, nor any evil shall befall you. And the list goes on.SET
“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. 15When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. 16With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” —Psalm 91:14-16
The sheer mass of God’s promises overwhelms me. In this Fighter Verse, he makes eight promises in one paragraph! He pledges to deliver, to protect, to answer, to be with us, to rescue and honor us, to satisfy and show us his salvation. God’s love moves him not to negotiate arduous contracts with his beloved, rather to joyfully commit to lavish and extravagant promises!
His expectations are three: I must hold fast to him in love, know his name, and call to him in trouble. I take this to mean when I know God in the fullness of his glorious attributes, I will then love him with a steadfast love. And my confidence in his love mingles with the paucity of my strength springing forth in a deep cry for salvation. He gets the acclaim, I get the acquittal. He gets the glory, I get the rescue!
We call upon him because he has called us first. “To those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours” (1 Corinthians 1:2). We only call on him for salvation because he has already called us to salvation.
To whom are these great promises made? Most simply it is to the one who trusts in God: “I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’” (Psalm 91:2). As you trust in Him, like apples from a strong tree, you will know him more clearly, love him more deeply, and call on him more freely. The root of every good fruit is trust in God.
We Know God then, in the face of Christ, because in Christ we are fully known. Hold fast in love to Christ because it is God’s love in Christ which holds us fast. Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for in Christ you have been called.
WOW... What comfort we have from these truths.
Have a blessed day knowing how loved, how precious and how amazing God created you to be.
AMEN!
