God and Promises and Christ

"It is easy to be a Christian in the sunshine of Palm Sunday, surrounded by the crowds chanting their praises to Jesus, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" But it is much harder to be a disciple in the gathering gloom on the road to Emmaus, puzzling over the death of the Messiah and not yet seeing how that death will lead to resurrection." - Iain Duguid. With that beautifully said I ask myself, 'What connection can we make today for us Christians, seemingly desperate for hope, longing to bridge the gap of the reality of present circumstances with God's inexpressible promises, to that of Abraham and his dealings?' Well, for starters, let us take a look at the similarities between Abraham and his 'gap' and our 'gap' today.

•  God's purposes may certainly not be transparent at the time.
• Abram's travels from Ur to Haran
• Told to cling to God and believe, though not fully understanding.
• God's preparation does not always guarantee success. (cf. Eph 2:10)
• Note the genealogies and God's redemptive plan beginning with: Gen 3:15; 4:8; ff. 4:25; 5; 6-9; 11:10-26, 27-32.
• When had Abraham become a great nation from which all nations were blessed?
• His travels from Haran to Canaan was not marked by a pillar of cloud and fire as the nation Israel was marked coming out of Egypt.
• Only the promises of God mark us out.
• But what marks us and Abraham out from our non-Christian neighbor's? Everyone was packing and traveling in the Ancient Near East, everyone today deals with the same kind of problems you do, dresses the same, feels the same, etc. It is only God's undeserved promises that mark His own out.
• Have faith to feel that there is this 'reality gap'.

Abraham, as God's Word expresses, is of all people, most to be regarded. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, Abraham's faith is to be modeled; he was counted righteous because of it. Abraham, "our forefather according to the flesh" is the father of Israel whom God had chosen as His nation for His Messiah to come forth from. He bears from him the three most prominent and monotheistic religions of the world. And yet, he journey's with the same lesson we are fighting to learn today - to cling and cast yourself dependent on the God of promises and His ultimate promise.

Despair, confusion, depression, longings, contentment, laziness, painful feelings, dire circumstances, broken relationships, the list is endless. How can we stay strong in the midst of this foreign 'reality gap'? To surrender and cling to God's promise. Abraham then isn't one to try to be like, to work your way up to his level of trust. No, rather, like us, he had to learn this lesson repeatedly; over and over again until he finally caught on. But rejoice and be encouraged by this, we have an advantage over Abraham; the inexhaustible timeline of God's faithfulness and its' glorious climax.

In Jesus Christ, we have the climatic stage for all of God's faithfulness throughout the consummation of history - beginning and end! All of God's promises have been signed and sealed in the shed blood of Christ on the cross. And this same blood which has sealed the promises of God has covered us (1Pt 1:18-19), washed us clean (1Jn 1:7), sealed and redeemed us (Eph 1:7, 13-14), and defends us (Rev 12:10-11). How precious is the flow of the only limited resource our Sovereign God has, the blood of His Son. For in this is where we gather all encouragement. In Christ's blood, God's promises for us are made sure. Jesus Christ has secured God's sovereignty and our security. Clinging to the cross, is where we see how wicked we are but how greater His love is. Clinging to the cross we see God hanging so that forgiveness doesn't have to - rather, it is poured out unto us - freely. Clinging to the cross is where we have hope today and more hope tomorrow, knowing that Jesus shall make His quick return for His Bride. And that no minute later shall He be delayed (Heb 10:37) to seat us with Him around His table to feast, bridging the gap of promise and reality forever, once and for all. And for all eternity, because of Christ, we shall be with our Bridegroom worshiping Him for His incomprehensible love for sinners, who He graciously and with much patience transform into saints who can stand with Him for forever.

Be encouraged Fam.

http://theresurgence.com/2010/11/07/do-our-church-testimonies-empower-satan

A Tank to Fish Out Of

Greetings Everyone:

I am excited to undertake something that seems so popularized with my dudes around me but yet so foreign to me and especially grateful for the ideas in writings that the Lord has pressed onto my heart to share with you all. My postings can be sporadic so bear with me but my theme, I pray, shall stay consistent - hence the title of the blog. And my prayer and motivation for this is to spur on my family to keep pressing in and to have a place were regular encouragements might be held by the revealing manifestations to our souls how beautiful our Lord and Christ truly is and One to be attained. But may He use this to speak to the lost sheep as well and for us saints to be convicted to pray for those yet not seeing. Grace and peace to y'all!

Sec2nd Person