God Loves You

“God loves you” is a pretty simple statement but one we easily lose sight of in a world full of challenges and often void of true Agape love, which has no hooks or conditions. We need to constantly look in Scripture and remind ourselves of what God’s love is like and how much He loves us, despite what we may be going through. When we understand the love of God for us, it changes our expectations of God. The great chapter on love concludes by saying, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13) Love drives faith and hope. When we truly understand and accept God’s love, we will have hope and faith in all circumstances because we know our Heavenly Father cares for us.

Romans  8:31-39 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

For Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Whatever situation you are facing today, no matter how small or great, you are more than conqueror, even in the midst of your circumstances because of God’s love for you.

Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We can come boldly with confidence before God in time of need because of His grace and great love for us. Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11)

We have an omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (always present), omnipotent (all powerful) Father who understand us, loves us, and is always there for us. “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (I Peter 5:7)

Andy Clark

Resist the Enemy

1 Peter 5:6-10

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”

Peter in this portion of Scripture defines our position as we look at what is going on in the world and the personal challenges that we may be encountering. Our overall stance is a position of humility. We have become so self-sufficient, especially in the west, but times are coming where we will reach the end of our sufficiency and be forced to declare our dependency on God. Either God will humble us, or we can choose to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.

Humility is not only a position of dependency but a posture of submission. We can’t just cry out to God to meet our need, but we must begin to walk in full obedience to His word and His will. As the world rebels against God and comes out from under His protection, we must come more and more under God’s authority to walk in His protection and blessings. It is in the position of submission and trust that we can cast our cares upon Him and walk in freedom and peace even when the storm rages around us.

But being submitted and dependent on God does not absolve us of personal responsibility. We cannot stick our heads in the sand and pray and trust that the storm goes away. We must be sober, or self-controlled, and vigilant. We must be in control of our mind, will, and emotions so that we are not swept away with the tide of opinion and circumstances that surround us. We are to be observant and alert to what the enemy is doing and what God is doing, so that we don’t just react to situations but respond in the godly and Biblical manner by the power of the Spirit.

I am reminded of when Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. He carefully examined the challenge, sought God’s counsel, and devised a God plan. He didn’t try to do it all himself but divided portions of the wall according to families. They worked with one hand and had a weapon in the other. They were constantly alert to the enemy but not so caught up with the threat that they abandoned the work. When a threat or deception came, Nehemiah did not react but sought the councel of the Lord and responded according to the word of the Lord and continued building.

The last thing is that we must resist the enemy steadfastly in faith. We have to persevere and be consistent in what the Lord has told us to do. Don’t give up. Keep pushing back against the enemy, but don’t become so preoccupied with the problems that you fail to do what God has called you to do. Take your tool in one hand, weapon in the other and stick with the job until it is done.

Andy Clark

Highway of the Lord

Isaiah 19:23-25

“In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria — a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, "Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance."

As we look out over uprising in Syria, increasing tensions between Iran and Israel, and the elections taking place in Egypt, we need to be inquiring of the Lord what He is doing throughout the Middle East in this day and hour. While I do not lay claim to be an interpreter of prophecy, I do believe we have a responsibility to be aware of the signs of the times and seek God’s face as to our response to what is happening in our world.

As we look at the prophets of the Old Testament, we clearly see that God is involved in the political world, raising up and taking down nations to fulfill His purposes and plans. In Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream of a great statue representing the great empires of history. When God reveals the interpretation to Daniel, his response in Daniel 2:20-21 is,

"Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,

For wisdom and might are His.

And He changes the times and the seasons;

He removes kings and raises up kings;

He gives wisdom to the wise

And knowledge to those who have understanding.”

As we look out over the turmoil in the Middle East, it is hard to imagine the fulfillment of Isaiah 19:23-25, where God is going to create an highway of blessing between these nations. But we need to remind ourselves that we serve a God of wisdom and might, the times and seasons are in His hand, and He removes government leaders and raises up government leaders. We cannot be fearful and should not be indifferent to the turmoil that surrounds us, whether it is at home or abroad.

Daniel goes on to say that our God of wisdom and might wants to give us wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of the times and what He is doing. We cannot allow the world, politicians, economists and the media interpret for us what is going on in our world today. We like Daniel, must seek the face of God for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding regarding how to pray and respond to what is going on around us.

Pray for the elections in Egypt June 17, and for Syria, Iran and Israel. Pray for the highway of the Lord between these countries.  May our God, who spoke light into the darkness, walked on water, and calmed the sea be glorified in us and in the world.

Andy Clark

Inheritance

Numbers 18:20

“Then the LORD said to Aaron: "You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.”

In Numbers we see that God gave Israel the land of Canaan as their inheritance but to the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, God declared, “I am your portion and your inheritance.”  While the Land of Canaan or Land of Promise was a wonderful place of divine provision, it was physical and temporal. What God promised the priests was that He would be their provision and inheritance. While they lived as Israelites in the Promised Land, the land of abundance, their provision and inheritance were not tied to the land but were from God. Their inheritance was not physical land and natural riches but an eternal inheritance that flowed for the very character and nature of God.

Jesus said, “Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:31-33)  We are not like the Gentiles who receive fulfillment from earthly provision, but our focus and source of life is our inheritance of Christ’s righteousness and kingdom.

I Peter 1:9 says, we are a “royal priesthood.” Revelation 1:5-6 says, “He washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father.” As priests unto God, our eternal inheritance is the righteousness of Christ. We receive this inheritance by the grace of God through the blood of Christ. yet Jesus also admonishes us to seek His righteousness. As priests of God we have to guard this righteousness that we have been given as our inheritance, for it is out of this righteousness or right standing with God that everything else flows and God is glorified.

In Luke 15:13 we see that the prodigal son squandered his inheritance. In the day and age in which we live, the temptations of this world that are paraded before us, as they were before Christ in the wilderness, cry out to us to trade some of our inheritance for the pleasures, possessions, and positions that the world offers to us. The church often walks two steps behind the world. We give a little here and a little there to be politically correct or socially acceptable. We must guard our inheritance which was bought for us by the precious blood of Christ.

In a temporal, changing world, the Lord says to you today, “I am your portion and your inheritance.”

Andy