Grace for the Race

He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. (Psalm 111:5)

Be encouraged, Christian! Our Redeemer remembers all of His promises to us, even when we might provoke Him to want to forget! Here is what you and I must remember: It is His faithfulness to us — not not our faithfulness to Him — that causes Him to remember and to keep all of His promises.

Our Redeemer always remembers His promises to us and never regrets making them. He knows that we are but dust, and from time to time we drift from our duties. Yet in spite of all our faults and failings, He has promised that He will never forget us or forsake us. He remembers to provide our daily bread. He remembers to meet us in our place of deepest need. He remembers to forgive us again and again. And He remembers to love us with an everlasting love. When God makes a promise, we can count on it! No weapon formed can cause our faithful Redeemer to let a single Word or promise fall to the ground.

Regardless of where this message finds you today, never lose sight of the glorious truth that your Redeemer remembers every promise He has made to you. Do you have a need in your personal life? Take it to your Redeemer who remembers. Do you have a need in your professional life? Take it to your Redeemer who remembers. Are you struggling in some aspect of your spiritual life? Take it to your Redeemer who remembers. When you fear God, you have nothing else to fear, for He has promised to meet all of your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:13).

One final word: Your Redeemer who remembers all His promises to you will certainly accomplish what He has promised, but it often will not be in the way we expect. Our Redeemer knows the best way to fulfill His promises to us, and He will always do what is best for us . . . in His perfect way and in His perfect time.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you.  (Joel 2:25)

There is great encouragement to be found in the lesson of the locust. God will accomplish His purposes in the lives of His people by any means necessary; along the way, He alone can bring restoration and reversal to all that was lost.

The crops that the locusts had eaten are a picture of all the losses all God’s people face. When the children of Israel were released from bondage in Egypt, they were just a few days’ walk from the Promised Land. But their rebellion cost them 38 years and an entire generation wandering in the desert. The prodigal son who rebelled against his father and ran off to the far country lost his time, his talent, and his treasure when he chose to live a life of rebellion.

To be sure, the Almighty commands many armies, and He uses them to correct us when we willfully wander away from Him. However, the Almighty’s Army is never sent to crush us; it is always to correct us. And in the Almighty’s cosmic correction, we find a word of unimaginable comfort: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.” Our great God can turn our mourning into dancing and bless us with great gain in spite of our crushing loss.

Jesus is in the business of reversing the seemingly irreversible .

• He reversed the lost years of Abraham and Sarah without children.
• He reversed the lost years of Moses on the back side of the desert.
• He reversed the lost years of the Samaritan woman at the well.
• He reversed the lost years of Zacchaeus, the despised tax collector.
• He reversed the lost years of Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the church.
• He reversed the lost years of the paralyzed man at the pool Bethesda.

So, the question is this: what lost years is our Lord ready to reverse in your life today? The lesson of the locusts should lift our spirits above all that has been lost; we can trust that Jesus is ready, willing, and able to turn every loss into our great gain.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. (Isaiah 65:19)

Let these words comfort you in your every affliction, because the day is coming when the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard no more. As a pastor, I live in a world marked by weeping and crying as I move from one storm into another with the saints God has entrusted to my care. But there is a day coming when every storm shall be stilled. This, beloved, is the promise that is designed to propel us forward through every dark night of the soul.

The promise is as profound as it is personal. The day is coming in the not-so-distant future when we will be taken on the wings of eagles into the presence of our Lord . . . or He will return to us on the clouds of heaven. Either way, we will have received the promise of perfection, and there will be nothing to hinder our joy and satisfaction. We will be with our Lord, and we will weep no more because every desire of the heart will be eternally filled. There will be no more sorrow. There will be no more suffering. There will be no more storm winds blowing our way. Mourning will be exchanged for rejoicing that will continue forevermore.

Perhaps you find yourself in the midst of mourning today because of some loss in your life: the loss of a job prospect . . . the loss of a relationship . . . the loss of your health . . . the loss of an opportunity . . . the loss of a loved one. This is the reality of living as broken people in a broken world. But the time is coming when all that is broken will be made whole. Every tear will be wiped away and every wound healed.

Look to that promise and let it strengthen you every step of the way toward the paradise that awaits you! Eye has not seen and ear has not heard the infinite joys that await the saints of God, who will glory in the eternal presence of Jesus Christ. This is our propelling promise!  

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The Lord examines the righteous. (Psalm 11:5)

The Lord examines us — not because He wants to hurt us, but because He loves us. We are precious in His sight, and He will refine us in His fires of affliction so that we come out more pure than when we went in. This is true for all God’s children. None of us escape His examination.

Our God tries and tests us out of a heart of eternal love. There is simply no better way to remove the dross of self than through the examinations of our Savior. If Jesus did not love you, He would not examine you; if we really understood just how much He loves us, we would cry out for His continual examinations, as David did —

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

Never forget that the examinations we are taken through by our Lord are not conducted so that He can gain a deeper knowledge of our commitment to Him; rather, they are conducted so that we will grow in our understanding of what our heart beats for and how deep our own love is for Him. God knows all things (1 John 3:20). God knew Abraham’s heart when He asked him to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:1-15), but Abraham did not fully know his own heart of love for God until he was examined. God proved to Abraham that he should indeed be known for all eternity as the father of the faithful (Romans 4:16).

The examinations we go through are the proving grounds of our faith. Only when we have passed through the furnace of affliction and come out the other side of suffering do we know how genuine our faith truly is. Do you need more proof? We need look no further than the story of Job; God allowed Satan to subject Job to unimaginable trials. And what was the result? Job never rejected God’s right to examine him. He trusted God throughout every trial, even when he could not trace Him in them. “Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him,” Job declared (Job 13:15).

Know this: Whatever depth of faith you have today is a result of the examinations you have been given by God in the past. If you have been seeking worldly ease, examinations will surely come. Growth does not happen when we are secure within our comfort zones. But when God forces us into places where we are uncomfortable, He is conforming us more and more to the image of His beloved Son. And that is the purpose for every examination we encounter.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar! (Psalm 120:5)

When Jesus prayed His high priestly prayer for His people, He did not pray that we would be taken out of this world, but that we would be protected from the evil one (John 17:15). We must embrace this truth today: What Jesus did not pray for us we must never pray for ourselves.

It is wrong to cry “Woe is me!” and wish to be received into glory. We have been left here to carry out God’s work in this world, just as our Lord did when He walked the streets of Palestine. We are in this world, but we are not of this world, and we are called to impact this world for the glory of our God. Jesus has sent us out into this world to be salt and light, and we are to prayerfully do everything we can, relying on His wisdom and strength, to preserve what good there is in the world around us and to shine His light into every dark place.

Where would you expect to find a doctor except where you find the sick in need of his or her care? Where would you expect to find a soldier expect where you find the battle raging? So too with the saints of God. We are to be found wherever Jesus is needed — and that, beloved, is everywhere on this side of the grave. To be sure, we dwell in Meshech and live among the tents of Kedar; our world is filled with the powers of darkness and the forces of evil at every turn. But this is the very reason that our Savior did not ask for us to be taken out of the world, but rather that we would be strengthened and protected to live in it.

Remember, God has not commissioned us to expand His kingdom in this world in our own strength. We have been given the power of the Holy Spirit to do all that He has called us to do; when we do that, we are bringing glory to God and eternal good to all those we come in contact with. So if you find yourself weary in your witness, remember it is wrong to cry “Woe!” when you know that your Savior has commanded you to “Go!”

Let these words from Paul encourage you and propel you forward in your ministry of service to God. The apostle Paul knew what it meant to transform the confession of our lives from “Woe” to “G0!”

I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. (Philippians 1:23-24)

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. (Mark 4:39)

In a moment He went from sleeping in a boat to saving an entire fleet of boats; Jesus Christ is our Almighty Admiral who protects all those who are His. Make no mistake, it is wise to sail with our Savior! When the storm winds begin to blow and the waves of challenge start to wash over us, He will direct us to the safety of the harbor.

Don’t miss this: When the disciples got into the boat with Jesus and other boats followed along, they were not safe from storms. The storm came up even with Jesus by their side. But they were safe IN the storm, as are all the saints of God. Jesus by our side does not keep us from storms; rather, He takes us through them to the other side. In short, Jesus does not promise us smooth sailing, but He does promise sure arrival at His intended destination.

When the storms swept over that Galilean lake, the disciples were convinced that shipwreck was certain. Let that be a lesson to you today! When all hope is lost in the natural, we must shift our focus to the supernatural, because Jesus is our Almighty Admiral who has promised to get us to the other side of every storm we face. Not a single boat in the convoy of the disciples suffered shipwreck that night. Jesus was all they needed for safe passage . . . and He is all we need today.

I will close today’s word of encouragement with this profound biblical truth that the disciples and their friends learned on the night when a furious squall nearly swamped their boats; it will strengthen you in any storm you are facing:

You will never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. (1 Samuel 1:27)

Hannah prayed for a child, and the Lord answered her prayer. She named her son Samuel (the name means “heard by God”) and dedicated him to the Lord. Samuel was an answer to her prayer, and she delighted in delivering her precious child back to the One who had given him to her. Every saint of God has his or her own “Samuel” – a time when God heard and answered a heartfelt prayer. And when our answer is as precious to us as Samuel was to his mother Hannah, we are to dedicate it back to the One who gave it to us.

Our God blesses simply because He is a God of blessing. But oh, how sweet are the blessings received after earnest supplication and continual cries from the heart! Like Hannah, we find ourselves overwhelmed with thanksgiving because of our God’s faithfulness to answer the petitions of His people.

Here is the question that must be answered by every child of God: What “Samuels” has God delivered into my hands through the doorway of prayer? Whatever they may be, let us dedicate them to the Lord, just as Hannah dedicated her son Samuel for God’s glory and the good of others.

My years as a pastor have taught me that the answers to all our prayers are to be consecrated to our Christ, whether the answer is “Yes,” “No,” or “Wait.” What we have received from heaven must be released back to heaven for the glory of the One who has given it to us. All that our God delivers to us must be dedicated back to Him. How much more must we dedicate those things which we cried day and night to receive from His holy hand of mercy?

Let me encourage you to let this be a day marked by unceasing prayer and an unwavering promise that when your answer comes, you will consecrate it for the expansion of God’s kingdom, having given it the name “Samuel,” because you asked of God and He granted you what you asked of Him.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again. (Proverbs 24:16)

We all fail. Failing is simply part of the life we live as broken people living with other broken people in a broken world. However, failure is merely a detour, not a dead end, as the esteemed Christian businessman Zig Ziglar was fond of saying. Do you agree with that statement? Is failure a detour or a dead end in your life today?

With God on your side, failure is never final. You may fall seven times; get up eight times! Failure is never final unless you fail to get up. We all fail — some of us fail many times — but we are not failures. Every failure turned over to God is nothing more than a detour on His preordained path for us to to live for His glory and the good of others. But if we let the wicked whispers of the devil permeate our minds, we can fall into the trap of allowing failure to become a stopping point — a dead end.

But this is not for you! In the nail-scarred hands of Jesus, every failure is simply a setback that is setting up your comeback. Jesus will use every misstep, mistake, failure, falling, shortcoming, and sin to grow and mature us in our faith. He told us that we would encounter trouble along the way to glory, and He also promised that we would get to the other side of each trouble in His strength and in His timing. When we read about the saints of God in the Bible, we see that they all failed over and over and over again. But God used each failure to strengthen their faith and grow them into the person He was calling them to be. Can the same be said for you and me? Are we standing up again after we fall and reaching out to take God’s hand?

Remember, if you think of your failures as a test, you need only get back up to pass that test! Then that test becomes your testimony to share with those who are going through similar trials and challenges in life. Christian, keep Romans 8:28 in mind and hold fast to the truth that God is working all things together for your good and His glory. Do that, and you will be a living example of one who sees failure as nothing more than a detour — never a dead end.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I will pour out my Spirit on all people – your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. (Joel 2:28)

The Scriptures are filled with accounts of men and women who dreamed dreams and saw visions and brought them to life because of their faith in God. One of the best examples is Nehemiah. When he heard about the dilapidated condition of the walls around Jerusalem, Nehemiah began praying, thinking, planning, dreaming, and creating a vision of victory. But he did stop there; Nehemiah acted on his vision in the strength of the Almighty. He secured permission to return to Jerusalem, organized a task force, and stayed focused when facing criticism, distractions, and opposition. And in 52 days, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt to the glory of God and for the good of His people.

What has the Lord laid on your heart? What is Jesus calling you to do to expand the cause of His Kingdom? Know this: God never gives a dream or a vision to someone without giving them every resource needed to make it come to life. I have said many times here that God is not in the business of calling the equipped; rather, He equips the called. God will give you everything you need to do everything He is calling you to do.

If you feel ill-equipped or inadequate for something you know God is calling you to do, fear not! Moses felt completely inadequate, and he gave God every excuse in the book to try and get out of his calling to deliver God’s people out of bondage in Egypt. Yet God gave Moses everything he needed and used him to set His people free from what was the most powerful nation in the world at that time.

It’s not likely that God is calling you to go up against some world leader to expand the cause of His Kingdom. But He might be calling you to volunteer to help out in Sunday school or some other ministry at your church. Perhaps He is calling you to start a new ministry, and you feel like you just don’t have what it takes to make it happen. Remember, God loves taking ordinary people like you and me to do the extraordinary for His glory and the good of others. We simply need to go from dreaming dreams to doing them and leave the results up to the One who gave us the dream.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle. (Psalm 78:9)

There are many things in this life that can tempt us to turn back and go in the opposite direction from the one God is calling us to take. Sin can and often does cause us to shrink back from the call of our Lord. Forgetting the promises of God can do this as well. We see that the men of Ephraim were well-equipped, but apparently they were trusting in their arms and not the Almighty, and they turned back on the day of battle.

How do we protect ourselves from turning back when we are tempted to do so? Jesus warned us that there will be storms in this life; we may be tempted to turn back during those storms. How can we come to the end of our lives and be able to say, as Paul did, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7)? We keep our focus on our Savior and not on the storms.

It’s hard to find anyone in sacred Scripture, other than Jesus, who endured more storm winds in life than the apostle Paul. Yet through it all, Paul never let the waves of challenge wash out his witness for Jesus. He was able to rise above the circumstances in life because he rested in the reality of his Redeemer.

Far too many men and women who profess faith in Christ turn back from following their Lord when they are confronted by the hardships and difficulties that are part of life on this earth. Rather than submitting to Christ, they let circumstances control the outcome of their lives. Regardless of what you are facing today — and I am not minimizing any tragedy or difficulty that has befallen you — remember this: Greater is the power that is at work within you than any power that comes against you. When you are tempted to turn back, trust and press on, knowing that He who began the good work in you has promised to bring it to completion.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!