Thursday Devotional - Certainty

Very few things are certain in this life. As much as I would like to assure James and Sarah that we will always be a family, I can’t guarantee that.

The other day James said he thought he was going to live with his former foster mom forever, but he is living with us. Then, he said he wondered when he was going to go live somewhere else, but he lives with us. He seemed to be verbally processing things and answering his own questions. At the end of his discussion, I told him we planned to be a family and stay together for the foreseeable future. I wanted to reassure him without promising anything I couldn’t guarantee. I CAN guarantee that God will take care of him!

As Jesus reassured His disciples right before His departure, He guaranteed certain promises. As we read last week, one was the gift of the Holy Spirit. Through Him the disciples could experience joy in all situations. Here, Jesus promised that no one can take that joy away!

John 16:20-22         ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

What trouble or uncertainty are you facing? Do you believe Jesus can turn your grief into joy? As Kent talked about yesterday, through the Holy Spirit we have access to everlasting joy that no one can take away! Are you and I living in that reality? God’s promises are the only things that are certain.

Alice

Thurs Devo: Servant Seal

Last week we saw how all kinds of people tried to hide from God to no avail. His final wrath and judgment will fall on all those that don’t belong to Him. God’s servants will be redeemed from the final judgment, though. God has a plan in place so that none of His children are lost.

Rev 7:1-3      After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. ² Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: ³ “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 

Are you a child of God? Are you a servant of God? Do you have His seal?

Ephesians 1:13-14    ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

For those of us with God’s seal, we have a guarantee of a far better life to come!

II Corinthians 5:1 & 5 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands… ⁵ Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Praise God for our seal, deposit and guarantee!!!

Alice