Devotional 5-11-09

Standing on His Promises


This week, as I was thinking about what to write and knowing that we were going to be looking at the promises of God. This song came back to mind that I sang a lot in church growing up. I have to say it has much more meaning to me now than it did then. I sang it because it was the song they picked for the day to sing not because I was truly standing on God’s promises. I sang it without meaning.


Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
through eternal ages let his praises ring;
glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
standing on the promises of God.

Refrain:
Standing, standing,
standing on the promises of Christ my Savior;
standing, standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
by the living Word of God I shall prevail,
standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
bound to him eternally by love's strong cord,
overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword,
standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
listening every moment to the Spirit's call,
resting in my Savior as my all in all,
standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)

I have to say that I am learning more each and every day about truly standing on the promises God gives us. There are many of them in His word. I am thankful for a Pastor and leaders of our church that have encouraged us to declare the promises in our lives. It is a daily declaration in one way or another. The enemy does not want any of us to serve the Lord and he will bring circumstances and temptations that can cause us to not look to God our Savior.

I have been faced with some things over the last few months that I cannot go into detail about. I can tell you God has been faithful in fulfilling His promises. Just declaring them when the days were tough brings new light and perspective to the circumstances. It brings strength and peace in the midst of the storms. I know in my own life fear has been a big issue. It has held me back at times. This is an area that the enemy knows and tries to bring back all the time. I have learned not to let fear come in because I know what God’s word says about it. There are many verses in the Bible about fear but my favorite one is Isaiah 41:10 “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand."



Wow, there are many promises in that verse.

One of the definitions of promise is:

an express assurance on which expectation is to be based: promises that an enemy will not win.

Every promise has a foundation, even God’s promises. He is the foundation.
In a book I read recently the author stated “Every divine promise is built upon four pillars.”

God’s holiness, will not allow Him to deceive:

His goodness, will not allow Him to forget:

His truth, will not allow Him to change;

His power, will make Him able to accomplish!

Can you sing the song with meaning? If not I urge you to learn the promises of God and then begin to declare them in your life. It will set you free. Freedom from this world is what God wants for all of us.

It begins with “Are you willing to stand on His promises?” It begins with us doing our part.

- a willingness to follow God even though at times you stumble and fall (Philippians 3:14)
- a willingness to ask for forgiveness when you falter (John 1:9)
- a willingness to stay in the battle of becoming a man or a woman after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22)

I believe the author of the song above had learned the meaning of standing on God’s promises. He learned that God’s promises cannot fail, God's word will prevail. In the last verse he refers to standing on God’s promises -“I cannot fall”. Why, because by standing in God’s promises we are resting in our Savior. I do sing this song now with meaning and praises to the one who gives me strength to stand.


Love in Christ,
Sandy Heberlein

Devotional 5-4-09

More than Conquerors

Romans 8:37-39 NKJV
Well if you have been joining in the all-church scripture reading through Romans this month, you might have been reminded that in Christ we are “more than conquerors”!

Paul is writing to his Roman audience in this chapter about living life according to the Spirit and that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). He then goes on to talk about the everlasting love of God and this is where Holy Spirit nudged me to pay closer attention!

Verse 37 begins, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (emphasis mine). Let me stop here for a moment and tell you about “more than conquerors” translated from the Greek word, hupernikao. This is taken from the word huper, “over and above”, and nikao “to conquer”. The word together describes one who is super victorious, who wins more than an ordinary victory, but who is overpowering in achieving abundant victory! That is an awesome confidence of the power of Christ’s love!

Now continuing in verses 38 and 39, “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.” Wow, we are super victorious and unable to be separated by ANYTHING from the love of God!

I had to ponder this for a moment and I thought about how often I don’t talk or think like a “super victorious, inseparable woman of God”. Let me take our recent news of becoming pregnant and how I am blown away by the amazing love of God.

My husband and I just decided to stop trying to not have a baby and let the rest take its course. Well, six weeks later we had a positive pregnancy test! I had a feeling it wouldn’t take long (thank you Holy Spirit), but when that little stick said “pregnant” I had a hard time believing it was true. In fact over the next couple of weeks I could not stop asking God why was I so blessed after all the bad decisions I have made in my life and yet this came so easily. I was often brought to tears that my Father in heaven loved me so much that even the fears I had that I would never bare a child didn’t stop His outpouring of love and blessing. When we finally went in for the first ultrasound and I saw that tiny heart beating away, I knew I was and am more than a conqueror that cannot be separated from the love of Christ!

I think sometimes we get so caught up in the things that could separate us from God that we don’t see how He is always at work around us and working all things together for our good because we are called according to HIS purpose. NOTHING can separate us from the love of God which means He will NEVER stop working things together for good! Let that soak in for a minute…seriously! Where do you think God is not at work, what are you about to give up on? Take a closer look my friends, God is always at work and no matter how hard times feel or how far away you feel, NOTHING can separate you from His love and His goodness!

Lord God, help us to walk in your truth, in your Spirit, and know that we are more than conquerors who will rise up in abundant victory in all circumstances in Jesus name, amen!

Be blessed, Jenny Loveland

Devotional 4-20-09

I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel like I have been battered by the waves a bit in the last week.

And you know what really bothers me? That I still get so easily discouraged at times. I’m one of those vicious cycle people. I feel bad for feeling bad!

It took me about a day or so to get back on track. And of course it was a song that did it! That’s right I have a new song! It is called “Your Love Never Fails”

Verse 1:
Nothing can separate
Even if I ran away
Your love never fails

I know I still make mistakes, but
You have new mercy for me everyday
Your love never fails

Chorus:
You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There may be pain in the night
But joy comes in the morning
And when the oceans rage
I don’t have to be afraid
Because I know that you love me
And your love never fails

Verse 2:
The wind is strong and the water’s deep, but
I’m not alone here in these open seas
Cause your love never fails

The chasm was far too wide
I never thought I’d reach the other side
But your love never fails

Bridge: You make all things, work together for my good

You see that last part there? “You make ALL THINGS work together for MY GOOD”

So why in the world did I doubt? After a lengthy repentance session I got squared away once again. I set my focus on Jesus, the lover of my soul who has NEVER let me down, EVER!

Now I’m not going to tell you that everything was peachy from that point on. I still had a battle with my mind so to speak. And I battled with that 10 times a day, or so it seemed! There were even times where I would literally just tell my mind to SHUT UP and submit!

Now here we are, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with this little roadblock I hit. And the Lord has already done EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY, ABOVE AND BEYOND what I asked or thought of!

So here’s my goal: I am really going to work on not wigging out when a roadblock comes up. Really! Jesus has mine, my husband’s and my children’s best interest at heart so I’m going to let Him handle whatever comes my way from now on!

So, what’s your roadblock right now? Can you see it? Now picture you and Jesus hand in hand plowing through that thing like it is not even there!

God bless you all as you plow through!

Heather~