THE RAPTURE IS REAL! ARE YOU READY?

Twenty-first century America is preoccupied with the search for racial and sexual equality, cure for cancer and other diseases, the dilemma of legalized abortion, the struggle for recognition of homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle, and attempts to find substitutes for worn-out body organs.
America is also preoccupied with searching for new energy sources, preserving an inhabitable environment, dealing with the problems of the nation of Israel and displaced Palestinians, assigning blame for the problems in the East and Middle East, deciding what to do about rogue countries with big weapons, and struggling to safeguard against terrorist threats while attempting to eliminate terrorism.
Some problems seem near solution, but others only intensify. Church-goers seriously question the rationality of denominationalism. Many new congregations result from splits and dissension in the struggle over change. Each generation seeks its own means of expressing frustration, coping with boredom, and retaining its youth bored with unchanged worship services. Meanwhile, atheists build their own churches and claim tax exemption.
The percentage of two-parent American families is declining as the liberal media promotes every form of sexual indulgence and promiscuity. Liberal courts offer instant divorces. Influential groups confuse many politicians about whether there is a difference between the sexes, except in take-home pay. Many problems that are supposed to be getting better instead are getting worse!

Bad to Worse
America entered the 21st century still not understanding why immigrants from other countries wish to come here and shape America into a system like the one they fled. But we try to accommodate and tolerate most any custom they wish to import, even if it’s destructive to the very attractiveness that brings them here.
The persecuted still want to come, though we rank high in divorce rates, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, murder, crime, AIDS, and law suits.
This unrest in society was predicted almost 2,000 years ago as a prelude to the end of the world. The Bible talks about a time when people will be “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).
This moral tailspin has one hope of resolution: the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Return and Resurrection
When He lived on this earth, Jesus promised to return:
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:2, 3, NASB).
Jesus also promised a resurrection of the dead at the time of His return:
Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment (John 5:28, 29, NASB).
Apostle Peter wrote:
As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven — things into which the angels long to look (1 Peter 1:10-12).
Peter explained that the prophets’ predictions of the Messiah’s suffering, death, and resurrection were not to be fulfilled in the time of the prophets, but that a significant part of those prophecies came to pass during his generation.
The Messiah’s return — the final revelation of Jesus Christ — is yet to be fulfilled.
Through faith [we] are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:5-7).

Ready and Waiting
How can we be ready for the Second Coming if we don’t know when it will happen? By watching signs to know when to prepare? No, for that implies waiting to prepare until the last minute. We are to maintain constant readiness for His coming by faith in Christ, obedience to His teachings, and godly living.
Jesus compared our readiness for His return to a wise and faithful servant whose master put him in charge of the other servants “to give them their food at the proper time” (Matthew 24:45). Jesus said, “It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions” (v. 47).
Jesus also told a story of ten virgins who expected to attend a wedding feast. They did not know when it was to begin, so when the bridegroom arrived, five of them were welcomed to the feast because they were ready to meet the bridegroom. But five were turned away because they were not ready.
The point Jesus made was “Keep watching, because you do not know the day or the hour of His return” (see Matthew 25:1-13).
Admission to the kingdom, which Jesus compared to a wedding banquet, depends on being prepared. In the story, preparation was having not just a lamp but a lamp with oil, trimmed and already burning at the time the bridegroom came. Notice those who were not ready had lamps. They were trimmed and even burning but were going out! Those virgins were not allowed to enter even after they purchased oil (vv. 8, 10, 11).
The five rejected virgins were negligent; they had been prepared but did not stay prepared. As Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, “The one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.” This is the reason Apostle Paul appeals to us, “We urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. . . . I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:1, 2). In other words, we must not delay in accepting the grace of God, which leads to eternal life; and we must not accept it in vain. As warned in Hebrews 2:3, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”
In today’s culture, admission to fine restaurants and private clubs requires ties and jackets for men and dresses for ladies. Likewise, the wedding banquet in the coming kingdom requires certain dress: “ ‘Fine linen, bright and clean. . . .’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints)” (Revelation 19:8). Godly character forms the attire worn by those who enter Jesus’ kingdom.
Jesus tells the predicament of those who don’t “dress” properly for the wedding banquet: “When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless” (Matthew 22:11, 12).
As a result, the man was cast out of the wedding banquet (v. 13) and was not given additional time to prepare himself after the banquet began.

What’s in It for You?
How will being prepared for the Second Coming affect you personally?
The Bible states that the “dead in Christ” (Christians asleep in their graves) will rise from the dead at Jesus’ return, and those “alive and in Christ” also will be changed at His coming.
This change will rob death of its sting:
The mortal (people subject to death) will become immortal.
The perishable (bodies subject to decay) will become imperishable. This is the way death will be “swallowed up in victory” (see 1 Corinthians 15:51-58).

Tent Dwellers
Paul wrote of the hard knocks he had experienced. He said he had
“. . . worked much harder, been in prisons more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea; I have been constantly on the move, I have been in dangers from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked (2 Corinthians 11:23b-27).
Paul portrayed the difference between our present life and eternal life. He said our present bodies are like tents — a contrast to the “many mansions” Jesus said await the children of God (John 14:2, 3, KJV). As long as we live in these “tents,” we will long to live in our heavenly dwelling (in Paul’s analogy, our temporary bodies contrasted with our immortal bodies, see 2 Corinthians 5:1-6).
When Jesus returns, this temporary life will be replaced by eternal life. Tents are temporary dwellings; the place Jesus goes away to prepare for us is eternal. Paul wrote:
For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (2 Corinthians 5:4, 5).
Life pulls at you. Life may wear you down. As if hearing our frustration, Paul wrote in Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
All your lumps, bumps, and blemishes, all your imperfections will be replaced with eternal perfection. The best is yet to be revealed! What’s in it for you? Colossians 3:4 summarizes it: “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

A Sure Thing: Jesus Is Coming!
Who will enter the New Jerusalem one day? Those “who . . . have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14). Simply put, they had heard the gospel of salvation, believed Jesus died for their sins, accepted Him as Lord, and been baptized. Their filthy, rag-like, sinful lives had been replaced with clean clothes (the righteousness of Christ and obedience to God). They had been fitted with garments suitable for the presence of Christ our King:
“The wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) (Revelation 19:7b, 8).
The result of being dressed and ready for Jesus’ return will be resurrection with the righteous and a joyful welcome into the kingdom of God. Don’t doubt; believe it and live!
Are you weary of society’s problems or have you grown used to them? Do struggles with various situations keep you unprepared to meet Jesus? If so, the return of Christ will catch you off guard. He is the bridegroom in the story who found some not ready. They expected Him to come, but not then. Jesus promised to return. He is coming. Get ready!
If you want to become ready, we invite you to sincerely pray the following:
“Lord Jesus, I need You. I know that I am a sinner in need of Your forgiveness. I ask You to forgive me of my sins. I ask You to come into my life right now and cleanse me. I trust You as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD

Knowing how to obtain victory in battle is of great importance to every Christian. There is no gainsaying the fact that we are constantly engaged in warfare.The good news is that every child of God has access to a warrior who has never lost before. The bible states that Jehovah is a man of war.Equally, the bible informs that the Lord will fight our battles for us. Exodus 14 states:Exodus 14: 14The lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peaceThe problem however, is that many of us are not patient enough to allow the Lord to fight on our behalf. We feel the Lord is too slow in reacting and would rather fight ourselves. The bible states in the book of Isaiah:(Isaiah 63:4)For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.While further in Romans we read:(Romans 12:19)Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.From the preceding verses not only do we learn that revenge is of the Lord, it is made clear that he has appointed a day to execute such judgment on our behalf.Below are eight ways the Lord fights for His children. The list indeed is not exhaustive.Before we proceed, please let us take these prayer points:Oh Lord arise, and fight my battle for me in the name of Jesus.The Lord will fight my battle and I will hold my peace.1) The Lord will trouble your enemy.A classical example is seen in the book of Exodus. The children of Israel, having left Egypt, walked through the Red Sea on dry land. The Egyptians, failing to pause and consider what was responsible for this feat, took it for granted. They chose to follow in hot pursuit. The latter had horses and chariots and would have caught up with the Israelites. But at this point the Lord pulled out his joker:Exodus 14:24-26(24) And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians.(25) And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.(26) And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.When the Lord noticed that the Egyptians were catching up with His children He troubled them. He took off their chariot wheels and made them drive heavily. Even the Egyptians recognised that there was something wrong. But it was too late! They could not move forward or backwards. The Lord overthrew them in the Red sea:Exodus 14:27-28(27) And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.(28) And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.If the Israelites had faced the enemy themselves is there any way the victory would have been more effective?If I were you I would take the next prayer point:Oh Lord, overthrow my stubborn pursuer in the name of Jesus.2) The Lord will send His Angel ahead to fight your enemyThere are cases where the Lord sends his angel ahead of you to do the actual fighting. We read of such in the book of 2 Samuel. David was planning to go out against the Philistines. Already they had engaged in an initial battle. David enquired of the Lord and was told to fight the enemy. The Israelites won but the enemy refused to give up. However, the Lord changed tactics. When David enquired the second time the Lord said he should not go. He was told to fetch a compass behind them and come over the mulberry tree:2 Samuel 5:23-25(23) And when David enquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.(24) And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.(25) And David did so, as the LORD had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.In this case it was the angels that did the fighting. David and his men just finished off and claimed the victory!Please take this prayer point:Oh Lord, send your angel ahead of me to fight my battle in the name of JesusThis reminds one of the story of a brother who attended a deliverance programme in one of our branches in Nigeria. He was a contractor, but most of the companies that employed his services, for no apparent reason, disengaged him.The above prayer point was one of those mentioned during the programme.The brother and his wife prayed very well.There was particular company where this brother was formerly the main contractor. While the deliverance programme took place the company held a board meeting. The Managing Director wanted to know why the electrical equipment in the company broke down so often. He noted that when the former contractor (the brother) was handling their maintenance they did not have such problems. The Maintenance Manager (M.M) in-charge of the contracts lied that the brother just stopped coming. (The truth was that he terminated the brother’s contract and employed the services of a relative.) The M.D, however insisted that the brother should be sought for. He gave the M.M an ultimatum to produce the brother before the next Board Meeting or face being sacked.The M.M went to look for the brother at his former residence but was told he had packed out. At the brother’s new abode he did not meet him since he was still at the deliverance ground. The M.M started to panic as the ultimatum was fast approaching yet he could not locate this brother. Eventually our Christian brother got the message that he was needed at the company. He arrived there just a few minutes before the next board meeting commenced. When the Maintenance Manager (M.M) spotted the brother he almost jumped through the window to meet him. Just then the M.D drove in and asked the brother where he had been. As the brother tried to explain the M.M hurriedly told the M.D that it had been sorted out. He quickly took our brother to his office and promised to let him handle projects ten times more than he was given initially. He however pleaded that the latter would not tell anyone that he had terminated the contract in the first place.What happened? While our brother was praying the Lord sent an angel to fight on his behalf. It was the angel that made the Managing Director remember the good deeds of this Christian during the board meeting.Please take this prayer point:Oh Lord, Send your angel ahead to fight my battle for me.3) The Lord will make your enemy to hear a terrifying noiseYet another way the Lord fights our battle is to cause our enemy to hear a terrifying noise. In 2 Kings this was the strategy the Lord employed to provide abundance in the land of Israel during the time of famine:2 Kings 7:5-7(5) And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.(6) For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.(7) Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.The noise of chariots scared the Syrians and made them abandon their property. Power changed hands in favour of the Israelites.There was this sister who had rented an apartment in Lagos, Nigeria. On her first day in the apartment she conducted a vigil expressing thanks to God. However, the landlord showed up at her door the following morning. He wanted to know what was responsible for the noise emanating from her flat in the night. When our sister explained that she was only praying the landlord got angry. He promptly told her not to conduct such prayer sessions in his house again.Not perturbed, the following day the sister invited a few members of her church for a vigil in her home. As expected her landlord showed up the following morning threatening to throw her out of the house. Not wanting to give up the following night the sister invited as many members from her church that her apartment could take. The vigil was conducted successfully but a strange occurrence took place the following morning.Before the sister woke up the landlord had packed out of his own house! Brethren, till this moment the sister is the only person in the house. Not even a relative of the landlord has shown up to claim the property. The sister is presently the landlady. The Lord caused the landlord, to hear terrifying noises and leave his own house!Please take these prayer points:Oh Lord cause the enemy of my progress to hear a terrifying noise and leave me alone in the name of Jesus.4) The Lord will send an Angel to slay your enemyA fourth way the Lord could fight your battle for you is to send an angel to slay your enemy. In the book of Chronicles the bible records something similar happening. The King of Assyria sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah, King of Israel. But the Lord assured Hezekiah that he would fight the battle for him. Indeed when the enemy camped against Israel the angel of the Lord went out to slay the opponents of the children. By the morning all of the strongmen in the enemy’s camp were dead:2 Chronicles 32:21(21) And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.The Lord also caused the king of Assyria’s own son to kill him. What a mighty God we serve?5) The Lord will cause your enemies to have a terrifying dreamHere we come to the story of Gideon. Gideon was chosen by God to deliver the Israelites from the hand of the Midianites. The young man did not see himself fit for this assignment. When he selected an army of thirty- two thousand soldiers, the Lord reduced this to just 300 men. The Lord had yet a different strategy through which he planned to deliver the children of Israel, one he was yet to disclose.Food for thought: When it seems that everything is working in the enemies, favour do not worry, the Lord is up to something!Judges 7:9-10(9) And it came to pass the same night that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.(10) But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host:It was at this moment the Lord moved. Going further we read:Judges 7:13-14(13) And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.(14) And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.This dream alone put the fear of Gideon and the Israelites into the hearts of their opponents. Though they were few they were able to overcome the Midianites, who on hearing the sound of the trumpet of the Israelites ran, cried and fled!Take the following prayer point:Oh Lord, cause my enemy to hear a terrifying noise and to run, cry and flee from me in the name of Jesus. 6) He will stone the enemy with stones from heavenThere have been cases where the lord has stoned the enemy with hailstones or thunder. The following example in Joshua shows how far the Lord can go to obtain victory for His children:Joshua 10:10-11(10) And the LORD discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.(11) And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.7) He will cause natural causes to destroy the enemyAs we have seen in the forgoing, victory obtained during battles the Lord fights for us are the most effective. In the following passage the Lord gave victory to the Israelites while Ahab was king. Though a good number were slain by the Israelites army, many of the opponents fled to safety. The Lord was not done yet as He caused a wall to fall upon the head of those who fled, killing 27,000 of them at a go. It is indeed a dangerous thing to tamper with the children of God.1 Kings 20:29-30(29) And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians a hundred thousand footmen in one day.(30) But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Ben-hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.8) The Lord will cause your enemies to destroy each otherYet once again there are cases where we need not to fight and the Lord will not use his angels. This is because the enemy will turn upon and fight each other. Though there are many examples in the bible, one that readily comes to mind is that recorded in 2 Chronicles:2 Chronicles 20:17(17) Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.Here, God assures the Israelites that they would not need to fight this battle.2 Chronicles 20:22-25(22) And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.(23) For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.(24) And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.(25) And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.Not only did God cause the enemy to fight each other He made them go to war with all of their jewelry so that at the end of the day the Israelites went home rich!The Lord caused the wealth of the enemies of His children, to be converted to the latter.Wealth- and once again power- changed hands!In conclusion, why should we ask God to fight our battles for us?Why Ask God to fight your battleThere are some battles we cannot fight ourselves.Most spiritual battles can only be won through divine intervention.It is through such that God’s name is glorified.When the Lord fights your battle Satan will learn not to joke with you.So, how do we ensure we win every battle? By asking the Lord to fight on our behalf. Please take the following concluding praying points:• In my present battle I will hold my peace and God will fight for me.• You enemies of my peace repent or eliminate each other. • My enemies make mistakes that will lead to my victory in the name of Jesus.• Those in the camp of my enemy shall run cry and flee.Postscript: Repent and believe, remember hell is real, heaven is real. No matter how long we spend here on earth it cannot be compared to the time we shall spend in eternity. Hebrews 12:14 states: Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.Oh, my brethren and sisters in Christ, it is not your business to fight your own battles, not even in defense of your own character. If you be maligned and slandered, let the slanderer alone. His malignity will but be increased by any attempt that you shall make to defend yourself. As a soldier of Christ you are to fight for your Master, not for yourself. You are not to carry on a private warfare for your own honor, but all your time and all your power is to be given to his defense and his war. You are not to have a word to speak for yourselves.Full often, when we get into little tempers, and our blood is roused, we are apt to think that we are fighting the cause of truth, when we are really maintaining our own pride. We imagine that we are defending our Master, but we are defending our own little selves. Too often the anger rises against an adversary not because his words reflect dishonor upon the glorious Christ, but because they dishonor us. Oh! let us not be so little as to fight our own battles! Depend upon it, the noblest means of conquest for a Christian in the matter of calumny and falsehood, is to stand still and see the salvation of God. Sheathe thine own sword, put away all thine own weapons, when thou comest to fight thine own battle, and let God fight for thee, and thou shalt be more than conqueror.

THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

To dream ... the impossible dream ...To fight ... the unbeatable foe ...To bear ... with unbearable sorrow ...To run ... where the brave dare not go ...To right ... the unrightable wrong ...To love ... pure and chaste from afar ...To try ... when your arms are too weary ...To reach ... the unreachable star ... This is my quest, to follow that star ... No matter how hopeless, no matter how far ... To fight for the right, without question or pause ... To be willing to march into Hell, for a Heavenly cause ... And I know if I'll only be true, to this glorious quest, That my heart will lie will lie peaceful and calm, when I'm laid to my rest ... And the world will be better for this: That one man, scorned and covered with scars, Still strove, with his last ounce of courage, To reach ... the unreachable star ...

OUR RELIABLE STRENGTH IS GOD'S JOY!

"The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength"
Nehemiah 8-9

To appreciate this message we must understand where the Israelites are standing when they are told "the joy of the Lord is your strength." In Nehemiah 8 the walls of Jerusalem have just been completed. But there is something lacking. Life is more than brick and mortar. They have finished rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, but their lives are in shambles. They have spent seventy years in Babylonian captivity and they have finished the walls but their distress continues. Their condition is revealed in the words of Nehemiah 9:36, "But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you [God] gave our forefathers so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress."
They had forgotten their spiritual heritage as they were held captive in a foreign land. They had forgotten their native language, but most of all they had forgotten God. As a result their lives were in great distress. These people see the connection between the sins of their own hearts and their distressful situation. They see their slavery as a result of their own sin. They see the relevancy of sin to their own lives. They have experienced its destruction. As they lay there on rock bottom flat on their backs looking up, they began to realize that God has a wonderful message of salvation. It is in his joy that they can find strength to put their lives back together.
Now they are going to see the relevancy of the Word of God to their lives and experience the joyful strength of the Lord as their salvation.
The Joy of Returning to the Word of God
Someone suggested the way we will bring America back to God is to write your congressman, vote and seek to change legislation. But a revival begins with the Word of God not with politics. It also begins with personal lives rather than the body of Christ of large.
The people from the captivity have assembled as one person in the square before the Water Gate. It is here that they ask Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses and read it to them.
Nehemiah 7:73b-8:3 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
As Ezra stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion, everyone's attention is focused on him. He opens the Book of the Law of Moses and all the people stood up. Ezra blessed the Lord the Great God and all the people answered Amen, Amen. Then they bowed down, worshipping the Lord with their faces to the ground.
Nehemiah 9:5 -6 reveals the mindset of the people on this solemn occasion. "Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you."
During the French Revolution many leaders were determined to do away with Christianity forever. One lovely, clear night an atheist boastfully proclaimed his satanic doctrine to a poor countryman. "Everything," he ranted, "will be abolished--churches, Bibles, clergymen. Yes, even the word 'God' itself! We shall remove everything that speaks of religion." The listener gave a quiet chuckle. "Why do you laugh?" demanded the other. The peasant pointed to the stars and replied, "I was just wondering how you and your crew would manage to get them down!"
Nothing prepares us to read the Word of God better than an appreciation of his sovereignty. As they looked at the heavens they realized God's sovereignty. It demanded a great respect for the Word of God that is about to be read. There is such a profound respect for God and his Word here. It is through this profound respect that the people begin to realize the personal presence of God.
Nehemiah 8:8 says, "They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read." They spoke the message of God in a language they could understand. The people had grown up in captivity in a foreign country. They had adapted by learning the language of the land of their captivity. They didn't understand the Hebrew language in which the Law of Moses was written. They needed interpreters to make the message distinctive, understandable and relevant.
Ezra read from the book of the law of God distinctly. The priest went through the crowds giving the sense of the message. The Bible has meaning, and it has a distinct message for our lives. There is absolutely no doubt that they saw the relevancy of the message to their lives because they are presently experiencing the fulfillment of God's promises to them. God's word begins to make sense to them, for they see themselves in it.
As we study the Bible we can see God's concern and care for his people. Jeremiah had prophesied the very destruction that the Israelites were now suffering as we read the book of Nehemiah. Yet, in the same breath Jeremiah gives them a promise that their mourning will turn to a morning of joy. He promises to bring them from the land of captivity and he describes how they will return. "Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn . . . Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. (Jeremiah 31:8-9, 16)
What a relevant message of care and hope God's word reveals. The book of Nehemiah reveals the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophesy. God is leading them with supplications . . . that means he is caring for them. He is causing them to walk by rivers of water in a straight way and they are not stumbling . . . that means that God is sustaining them . . . for He is their Father. The Israelites are experiencing the joyous realities of the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy. They are experiencing the relevancy of the message.
The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength
The joy of the Lord becomes our strength as we realize that we can only come to God from where we are. As they stand there with their lives in shambles they are mourning over their sins. They were not told "I told you so" or "you should have known better" or "look what a mess your life is in" or "the next time you had better do better." But they are told "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks . . . This day is sacred to the Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength . . . The priests calmed the people and said, " . . . this is a sacred day, Do not grieve . . . then the people went away to eat and drink . . . and to celebrate because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
When they understood the message of salvation, Nehemiah says, "Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them. (8:9-12)
This day is sacred to the Lord. It was the joy of the Lord that made this such a sacred day. God had deliberately led them to this moment in time. It wasn't a day of good fortune or good luck. It was the day of the Lord! The Israelites were returning to God on this special day. The Jews were not the only ones celebrating. There was a celebration in heaven, as the angels in heaven are gathered around rejoicing over all these sinners coming home.
Luke 15:1-7 Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The people were told "do not grieve." The most sacred day in a person's life is when he/she weeps as the relevancy of the Word of God is being made known to them. This was also a sacred day for the Lord. Weeping was only for a moment. The Psalmist writes, "Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." (Psalms 30:4-5)
The mourning of joy comes when we realize that we have put our lives together wrong and begin to discover God's instructions on how to take our lives apart and rebuild them. When the Word of God is opened up and understood, people begin to understand themselves. It is through knowing God that you begin to come to know yourself. After all you are made in God's image. It is here that you can discover the joy of the Lord as your strength to recover your losses.
They now understood the words that had been made known to them. The people heard the message explained in their own language. It was a simple message and it was a relevant message. The message revealed that the joy of the Lord is their strength. Joy comes when we discover, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
It is difficult to build upon what is right until you confirm what is wrong. It is the wrong that keeps us on rock bottom. As we come to the Bible seeking God's instruction he rebukes the wrong in our lives and teaches us the correct way to live. We don't like to be rebuked, it usually brings mourning, but God must teach us his ways in order that our lives can be put back on the proper course. The design of God's Word is to train and equip us in what is right, so that we might work at building a good life.
God's Word is designed to change our minds about the way we are living. If we listen it will bring us to a mourning of joy. Verse 12 of chapter 8 says, "Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them."
Restored to The Joy of Their Salvation
The resounding message of repentance runs through out the Bible.We don't like negative messages and initially repentance comes across as a negative message, but it is the only thing that can lead us to a very positive step forward. When we take that step into God's will, we discover that our strength is the joy of the Lord.
Jesus says, "Except you repent . . . you will perish." Until we approach God with an attitude of repentance, the Bible's message for us will remain forever foreign. There is a dire need for the world to change the direction it is headed. A change of direction only comes through changing our minds about where we are headed. It requires knowing and acknowledging what is wrong with our lives.
Turning to God in repentance always creates a joyous hunger for more. It is in turning to God that we realize our emptiness. There was a void in Israel's life that mere brick and mortar could not fill. They had experienced the famine that Amos had prophesied to Israel before the Babylonian captivity, "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, 'when I will send a famine through the land-- not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it'. In that day 'the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst.'" (Amos 8:11-13) As a result of this experience they are hungry and they begin to feast upon God's Word.
When we understand the relevancy of God's word and the joy it is seeking to bring to our lives, we began to hunger and thirst for more. The joy of their salvation was so great that they wanted to hear more. After hearing the word of God proclaimed they are sent away by Ezra to celebrate this sacred occasion. But "On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to give attention to the words of the Law." (8:13)
Nehemiah 8:14-18 They found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: "Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make booths"-- as it is written. So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves booths on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim. The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great. Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly.
As they were returning their lives to the Word of God they found even more reason to rejoice in their salvation. As they began their journey through the Word of God, they began rediscovering how God had led their fathers out of Egypt into the wilderness. There he sustained them as they lived in makeshift booths for forty years. It was there that the Feast of Tabernacles came into being. Their fathers, in accordance with the Law of Moses, had set aside a week each year when all the Israelites would dwell in booths as a memorial to God's sustenance in the wilderness. As they were reading the Law, they realized that the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated at this very time of the year. So they began, right then and there, restoring the worship of God through a celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. They celebrated for seven days and on the eighth day according to the Law there was an assembly of all the people.
As they read the Word of God, their understanding and appreciation for God increase. You can't celebrate what God has done for you without appreciating what he has done for you. You can't appreciate what God has done for you without celebrating. The deeper the appreciation, the greater the joy. They celebrated what God had done for them through their forefathers as he brought them to the Land of Promise. The beauty of this scene is that they rediscover God.
What would happen if we could just put aside all our misinformation about God and his Word? Think about what happened to the Israelites as they return to God through the teaching of his Word. The same could happen for us as we endeavor to build out lives on the Word of God.
True Praise Results when Our Mourning Turns to Joy (9:1-37)
Nehemiah 9:1-3 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God.
They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day. Worship always begins as we approach God through his Word.
"They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers." They spent a quarter of the day just studying the word of God. They spent another quarter of a day confessing their sins. In Nehemiah 9:37 it says, "Because of our sins . . . .We are in great distress." Their confession is unbelievable and their remorse is even more unbelievable. As they stand there praying and confessing they are dressed in sackcloth and have dust sprinkled on their heads . . . these were signs of great remorse, but they were also signs of great distress. They are brought face to face with their God! God has been revealed. Their lives are turned around and they are led into the presence of God praising his name. That is the purpose of Scripture.
They understand their terrible condition as they journey back to God. They see their sin and shame, but more importantly, they understand God's joyous message of salvation. At this they burst out in praise. You really can't understand and know how to worship and praise God until you realize the distress your sins has cause you and those in your world.
Conclusion:
"The joy of the Lord is your strength." This phrase is pregnant with meaning. It cuts like a two edged sword. It is the Lord's joy that is our strength. It is his rejoicing that gives reason to rejoice. It is his joy that fills us with hope. It is his joyous wish to save me just as I am, in spite of all my sins. It is God's joy to stand me back upon my feet and strengthen my feeble legs and wobbly knees so that I might discover his joy as my strength. It is truly a sacred day in heaven when a sinner discovers that "the joy of the Lord is his strength."
"The joy of the Lord" remains our strength today. His faithfulness continues throughout all generations. For his kingdom extends from generation to generation. Today we see God from a much different vantagepoint. But he is still the same faithful God. As we look back to Abraham from the cross, we see God's continued faithfulness to the promise he made to Abraham. Today that same God seeks to bless all men through Jesus Christ the seed of promise to Abraham. He seeks to fulfill the promise he made to Abraham that all the families of the earth would be blessed through his seed. But we must commit our lives to him.
It is great to realize that no matter how bad things get, the joy of the Lord will forever be our hope and strength to return to the Lord.

TEN STEPS TO AVOID BACKSLIDING

10 Steps to Avoid Backsliding

The Christian life is not always an easy road. Sometimes we get off track. The Bible says to encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ daily so that no one turns away from the living God. If you have found yourself backsliding, or drifting away from the Lord, these practical steps will help get you back on course today.
Time Required: A Lifetime
Here's How:
Examine your faith-life regularly.
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 2 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)
If you find yourself drifting away, turn back immediately.
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:12-13 (NIV)
Come to God daily for forgiveness and cleansing.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (NIV)
Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Revelation 22:14 (NIV)
Continue daily seeking the Lord with your whole heart.
And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. I Chronicles 28:9 (NIV)
Stay in the Word of God; keep studying and learning daily.
Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. Proverbs 4:13 (NIV)
Stay in fellowship often with other believers. You can’t make it alone as a Christian. We need the strength and prayers of other believers.
And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near. Hebrews 10:25 (NLT)
Stand firm in your faith. Expect difficult times in your Christian life.
All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. Matthew 10:22 (NIV)
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.Galatians 5:1 (NIV)
Persevere.
Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.1 Timothy 4:15-17 (NIV)
Run the race to win.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training ... we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 1 Corinthians 9: 24-25 (NIV)
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness... 2 Timothy 4:7-8 (NIV)
Remind yourself of what God has done for you in the past.
Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised … we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. Hebrews 10: 32, 35-39 (NIV)
Tips:
Develop a daily habit of spending time with God. Habits are hard to break.
Memorize favorite Bible verses to recall in difficult times.
Listen to Christian music to keep your mind and heart in tune with God.
Develop a Christian friendship so that you'll have someone to call when you feel weak.
Get involved in a meaningful project with other Christians.
What You Need:
A Bible
A Daily Relationship With God
A Christian Friend
A Bible Teaching Church

WHEN WE WRESTLE WITH GOD

Jacob had sent his family on ahead of him and he spent the night alone. We have no idea why he did this. Did he want to think? To pray? To hide? We don't know. What we do know is that "a man wrestled with him until daybreak". The two wrestled all night and then suddenly Jacob's opponent touches the socket of Jacob's hip and his hip was wrenched or dislocated. Jacob still refused to give in and pleaded for a blessing from his opponent.
So, who was this man? In verse 30 Jacob says, "He saw God face to face." In the book of Hosea there is a reference to this incident,
In the womb he grasped his brother's heel; as a man he struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. (Hosea 12:3,4)
Jacob was encountering God in some fashion in this account in Genesis 32:22-32. Some have suggested that Jacob fought with the "Angel of God" that we read about in Genesis 18. At that time we suggested that the being may have been a pre-Bethlehem appearance of Jesus. Whoever it was, it was a representative of the Lord.
Why Would God do This? I view this whole experience as somewhat of an object lesson for Jacob and for you and I. Jacob was standing between his past struggle with Laban and the impending struggle with Esau. God comes at this time because he wants Jacob to realize that his real struggle all alone has been with God.
Notice that we are not told that Jacob wrestled with a man . . . . the man wrestled with Jacob. Is this significant? I think so. It shows us that God is the initiator of this conflict. He starts it. F.B. Meyer writes,
It was as though God kenw it was his only chance. He wanted to lift jacob up to a new royal life, and so He actually wrestled with him as though to compel him to yield to Him.
How Could Jacob Fight a Supernatural Being to a standstill? How is it possible that our Lord, or an Angel, could not overpower Jacob (v. 25)? It is an important question. Is God bound by man? Is God ever left helpless?
I want you to notice something. The man (or angel) had the power to disable Jacob at any time. When it began to get light and the angel wished to leave, all he had to do was touch his hip socket and it wrenched it out of place. The Hebrew word can mean "dislocated". If the man could win whenever he so desired, why didn't he? I would suggest that it was because the struggle was necessary for the growth of Jacob.
This angel battled and endured with Jacob for the entire night until Jacob was exhausted. I suspect the angel would gain a little advantage and then allow Jacob to feel that he was gaining. This went on and on all night long. How exhausted they must have been. But it was necessary. Jacob needed to reach the point where he had no more strength.
I believe it was at this point that the man touched Jacob's hip. The message was clear . . . you have striven with all your might. Yet, I can with one touch defeat you. Jacob needed to see the superiority of his opponent with clarity.
Jacob knew the right words and could perform the right actions . . . but his heart still was not completely the Lord's. It's easy to have superficial faith. However, a crisis forces us to grapple with our real feelings and our true faith. God provokes this crisis to bring Jacob to a point of genuine faith. When Jacob called out for a blessing from God, the wall had been broken through.
God did not just want Jacob's worship. He wanted his heart. And He wants the same from us.
Why Does the Angel Ask Jacob for His Name (v.27)? Do you find this question at all odd? I do. The man knew who he was wrestling with . . . didn't he? And if this God's agent (and we believe it is) shouldn't he already know the man's name without having to ask it? Listen to Ravi Zacharias as he explains this,
Think of all that God could have said by way of reprimand. Instead He merely asks for Jacob's name. God's purpose in raising this question contains a lesson for all of us, too profound to ignore. In fact, it dramatically altered Old Testament history. In asking for the blessing from God, Jacob was compelled by God's question to relive the last time he had asked for a blessing, the one he had stolen from his brother.
The last time Jacob was asked for his name, the question had come from his earthly father. Jacob had lied on that occasion and said, "I am Esau," and stole the blessing. Now he found himself, after many wasted years of running through life looking over his shoulder, before an all-knowing, all-seeing heavenly Father, once more seeking a blessing, Jacob fully understood the reason and the indictment behind God's question and he answered, "My name is Jacob." "You have spoken the truth," God said, "and you know very well what your name signifies. You have been a duplicitous man, deceiving everyone everywhere you went. But now that you acknowledge the real you, I can change you, and I will make a great nation out of you."
Greatness in the eyes of God is always preceded by humility before Him. There is no way for you or me or anyone else to attain greatness until we have come to Him. [Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God p 144,145)
God asked Jacob his name not because He didn't know it . . . He wanted to know if Jacob knew it. He wanted to know if Jacob was ready to come to grips with who he really was or whether he was going to continue to fight the Lord.
This is the point everyone needs to arrive at. We need to realize that we are the problem and we need someone to change us. It is then, and only then, that we receive our new name. In Jacob's case he was given the name "Israel" which means "He struggles with God" or "God Prevails". His new name was a reminder of this encounter and the lesson that we need God.
And to everyone who believes today God gives a new name also. We are changed from "sinner" to "saint". From "rebel" to "friend". From "enemy" to "son".
Why Did God hurt Jacob's Hip? I think the answer to this question is simple: the scars remind us of what we have learned. Just like a wedding ring reminds us of our promise of commitment, so our scars remind us of our need for God. Many of us will not forget the heartache of this past week. And we shouldn't. The hope is that the scars will remind us of the things we learned during the week.
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
So, what are we to do with a story like this? What does this have to do with our lives? I'm glad you asked . . .
First, God allows the struggles in the hope of producing faith. When do you wrestle with God?
when a teenager is killed
when a baby is deathly ill
when health is replaced by illness
when the power of nature overwhelms
when a loved one lays close to death
when life crashes in around us.
It is in these moments that we have a choice. We can give up . . . or look up. We can continue to rely on ourselves or we can see how needy we really are and turn to the Lord. We can resist God . . . or we can trust Him. The hard times bring us to a point of decision. Without the hard times we could go on our merry way and never have to consider whether we really trust God.
Second, the greatest problem in life is not our circumstances but our heart. Jacob felt his life was filled with problems. He was exhausted from fighting Laban and now worn out thinking about having to confront Esau. But what Jacob didn't realize was that the greatest battle being waged was the one being waged in his heart. The ultimate issue was this: "Who will be in Charge?"
Jacob wanted God's blessing but did not want God's ownership of his life. He wanted God to "bail him out" in the hard times but he did not want to submit to God in his living. Jacob had a surface faith in that he wanted the benefits of God but not a relationship with God. Jacobs problem was not his impending meeting with Esau. His real problem was his superficial relationship with the Lord of the Universe.
Yes, there are a lot of horrible and tragic things going on in the world. They break our hearts. Hopefully they will also break our wills. Hopefully these things will show us our desperate need of God,
to bring comfort and strength in the heartache
to bring meaning and purpose to life
to bring guidance in the daily decisions of our lives
to bring forgiveness and new life to our souls
to bring us life beyond the grave
The hard times hopefully will get us to see that the greatest need is not for deliverance from the hard times . . . but deliverance from ourselves.
G.K. Chesterton once said, "Christianity has not been tried and found empty . . . it has been found difficult and left untried." Chesterton read an article in the London Times that asked the question "What is Wrong With the World?" He was asked for his response. He got out a fancy sheet of paper and wrote, "I am. Sincerely, G.K. Chesterton."
Third, We see that even though we resist God, He pursues us. There was one question that we didn't address about this text in Genesis 32. I read the text and wondered, "Why would God bother to go to all this effort just to turn the heart of Jacob?" Why didn't God just say, "Fine, go your own way . . . trust your own strength. See where it gets you."
But do you see, that as soon as I ask that question there is an immediate follow-up to it? Why does God bother with me? The answer is self-evident. God cared about Jacob and He cares about you and me.
During the struggles of life God is calling to us. Someone has said, "God whispers to us in our pleasures but shouts to us in our pain." God allows the pain in the hope that we will hear the message of His love and respond.
Over the years God has seen us through tough times. He has surrounded us with people who teach us the truth. He has given us His Word and His Spirit. If we will not hear through these means He will call to us in other ways . . . sometimes painful ways.
I wonder, has God been calling out to us this week? Has He been trying to get our attention with all the pain and misery that we have witnessed? Is God wrestling with us?
This has been a devastating week for many of us . . . including me. There will be scars for a long long time. There are lots of questions that we have that will never be answered. But the most important can be answered. It is the most important question: "Who will you trust?" "Where will you turn?". Will you hold to the Lord with everything you have and cry out in faith, "Bless Me!" or will you turn in silence and walk away? Will you continue to fight Him or will will you allow Him to change your heart, to lead your life and to call you "a child of God?"

THE ENDURING TEST OF FAITH

In the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew we begin to see signs of the tide turning against Jesus by the leaders of the country, and accordingly Jesus turning more to the Gentiles. In chapter fourteen John the Baptist was beheaded, a clear sign of the opposition to the movement. But Jesus fed the five thousand, showing that He could meet the needs of Israel; and then He walked on the water, showing that He is the Lord of creation. In chapter fifteen Jesus challenged the teachings of the elders because those teachings had been elevated to the status of Scripture. Then, following that confrontation, Jesus went out of the country to the region of Tyre and Sidon and met a Canaanite woman. Then, as he came back to the region of Galilee, he fed the four thousand, a sign that he could meet the needs of the nations. Then, as we shall see, in chapter sixteen Jesus will give His first prediction of His death.
So this lesson will focus on the meeting with the Canaanite woman.

21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to Him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to Him and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before Him. “Lord, help me!” she said. 26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
27 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

This little story is essentially built around the conversation between the woman and Jesus. We begin with the note that Jesus withdrew far up the coast to the region of Tyre and Sidon. One would have to say that He was not simply trying to get away from difficult events in Israel, and neither was this a chance meeting. The Lord was going to this Canaanite area, to this Canaanite woman.
But the conversation gives the impression that Jesus was not willing to answer her request because she was a Canaanite. This will become a major part of the study, for there is obviously something powerful at work in the ethnic dimension of the conversation. What is clear is that the woman was not going to give up, but kept pleading, even from her Canaanite background, so that Christ recognized her great faith. The contrast is truly striking: in Israel Jesus was trying to convince people He was the Messiah, and was being challenged to prove it with a sign. But here in Gentile territory he met a woman who was convinced He was the Messiah and He could not discourage her efforts. His apparent attempt to put her off was therefore a test, and her great faith must have been gratifying to the Savior.
So in this study we will once again focus on the conversation, because that is the substance of the story. But this is one passage where the reader will have to read up on the ethnic controversy, the Old Testament background of conflict between the kings of Israel and the Canaanites. This will give some insight into the imagery of “dogs” used in the conversation. The story, though, is truly about the persistent faith of this Canaanite woman.
The study could be divided up in a number of ways, because it is not a complicated passages. I will simply make the circumstances the first point (v.21), the conversation the second part (vv. 22-28a), and the outcome as the third point (v. 28b).

The account is also found in Mark 7:24-30. Mark gives us a little more information in some areas. Jesus came to the region and entered into a house and did not want anyone to know it. The woman heard about it and came looking for him. Mark explains that she was Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. This would be typical of the northern country, for it was ruled by Greeks for the period immediately before the time of Jesus. People in the region would be of mixed nationalities.
Mark does not include the disciples’ suggestion to send her away, or Jesus’ statement that he was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel. Scholars have suggested that that statement was added later to Matthew, as guidance to Matthew’s Jewish church in its relation to Gentiles, but that makes no sense. Besides, we do not know much of Matthew’s church. The story is better interpreted as part of the development of redemptive history, moving from the late OT concepts to the full Christian idea of Gentiles and Jews in the kingdom. Besides, the Gospel of Matthew had already included such a statement by Jesus in Matthew 10:6. And Matthew’s Jewish audience would have been interested to know that Jesus did a miracle for a Canaanite woman, in Gentile land. Mark was writing to a different audience than Matthew, a Gentile audience, and that statement would need a lot of explanation to them. Jesus had healed Gentiles before, but always in Jewish territory.

I. The Circumstances: Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon (v. 21). There are two things you have to explain here: the withdrawing, and the location.
Tyre and Sidon were the two main Phoenician cities just north of Mount Carmel on the coast. In the Old Testament times this was all the region of the Phoenicians, better known as Canaanitish tribes. The word does not refer to one specific ethnic group, but an amalgamation of different groups (usually a list of twelve or more people known as the Canaanites) living in the land of Canaan. The word “Canaan” is the ancient name of the whole land before Abram arrived. The word itself may be related to the purple dye of the shellfish, or the merchant class that traded in the material. Because of its seaports and corresponding trade the Canaanite empire became a dominant power in the third millennium B.C. It had weakened tremendously by the time of the conquest, but still provided a formidable military challenge for Joshua and then later the Judges. But the Canaanites were also thoroughly pagan and corrupt. Their presence in the land was a strong threat to the purity of Israel’s religion and morality. So there is a long history of spiritual and military conflict between the Israelites and the Canaanites. David and his royal successors managed to control them; Solomon even did business with them when he was building he temple. But over the years the Canaanites were defeated and most of them fled the land. The bulk of those who fled settled in North Africa in Carthage, and met their doom in 146 B.C., which essentially ended the curse on Canaan and any threat from Canaanites. There were still people of various ethnic origins living in the area of today’s Lebanon and Syria, and they would be called Canaanites (like our term Americans). And Jesus met one of them here.
But why did Jesus go to the region? He withdrew from the conflict with the Pharisees and elders about thirty to fifty miles north into Gentile country. He had “withdrawn” before (2:12, 22; 4:12, 12:15, 14:13). Jesus was trying to control the timing of things. He did not want people to make Him king, and He did not want the confrontation with His enemies to come to a head too soon. So frequently He withdrew, or told people not to say anything about the miracle, or a number of other unexpected acts. It appears that Jesus withdrew for a time, both to let the conflict settle a bit, and to turn attention to Gentiles in this act. The timing is most significant--the Jewish leaders were rejecting Him, and Gentile woman who hardly knows Him was seeking mercy.
Some suggest that Jesus only went to the border, but did not enter Gentile land. There is no basis for that, and no reason. He had been in Gentile lands, and while that may have been a defilement in the minds of the Pharisees, it was not so in biblical tradition. It is clear that He left Galilee and entered a Gentile region (v. 21; Mark 7:31).
II. The Conversation: Jesus draws faith out of the Canaanite woman (22-28a).The way that Jesus deals with this woman has been given some very strange interpretations. One scholar suggested that Jesus had been a racist and this woman converted him from that narrow view. That is just silly. If he had been a Jewish racist, and therefore a sinner, he would not have come to Tyre and Sidon. No, what Jesus is doing is typical of the way He dealt with people--He would put stumblingblocks, as it were, in their way to see if they had faith to step over them. For example, when someone called Him “good,” He said, “Why are you calling me good, there is no one good but God.” How they responded to that would show what they thought of Him (He was not denying that He was good, or God).
The woman came crying out to Jesus, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.” Her words are significant, given Matthew’s description of her as a Canaanite. She is well aware of the ancient rivalry between the Jews and the Canaanites. She believes He is the promised Messiah; but if that is true, then He is to her a Jewish king, “Son of David.” As such, He is sovereign over her and her land, and all she can do is cry for mercy. Her words open the old wounds. But she was desperate for her daughter, and so would cry out for mercy from the visiting Jewish king.
It is the setting and her words that prompt the disciples, and then Jesus, to respond the way they do. At first Jesus was silent, no doubt to see if she would persevere--and she did, following Him down the street crying out. The disciples said, “Send her away.” Now this could mean a couple of different things. They could mean, “Send her away because she is a nuisance.” Or they could mean, “Send her away by healing her because she won’t go away.” This last interpretation makes the best sense, because Jesus’ answer in verse 24 speaks to it and not the other. In other words, “I am only sent to the lost sheep of Israel” would explain why he was not healing her, and would not explain a request to dismiss her without healing her.
His answer, reflecting what He has already said in 10:6, focuses on His primary mission in the world, as reflected by Matthew. He was the promised Jewish Messiah who came to His own (John 1 tells us), but when His own rejected Him, He turned to the Gentiles. The “lost sheep of the house of Israel” does not mean there were lost sheep in Israel, but that all Israel was lost (Isaiah 53: all we like sheep have gone astray). His own mission was primarily to Israel; the mission of the Gentiles will be to go into all the world. But events like this will inform the disciples that Jesus set the precedent.
Jesus wanted the disciples and the woman to understand fully that His ministry in the brief time He had on earth was very focused. He was the Son of David, the Messiah. That fact did not admit this Canaanite woman to the benefits of the covenant made with the Jews. The kingdom had to be fully offered to them first, in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of the kingdom. (The passage is like John 4:22 where it was recognized that “salvation is from the Jews.”) So all the woman could do is ask for mercy, general mercy as a non-Israelite.
(Many students of the Bible for one reason or another are afraid of this race issue; but the people of the times were very much aware of it. And Jesus came as a Jew, as the promised king of the Jews, whose kingdom would eventually extend to all the world, as it had in bits and pieces in the Old Testament. But it began with Israel).
Well, this woman would not be put off, and so knelt before Him and begged, “Lord, help me.” Jesus pushed her a little further, reminding her of the historic distinction between the cursed Canaanites and the blessed Israelites. In the short saying the Jews are the “children” and the Gentiles are the “dogs.” The children get fed first.
But the woman’s answer is marvelous: even the “dogs” eat the crumbs that the children drop. She acquiesces to the role of a “dog” in relation to Israel (she knows the Messiah came to Israel first); she may not be able to sit down at the Messiah’s table and eat with the “children,” but she should be allowed to pick up some of the crumbs they drop. She wants some of the uncovenanted mercy of God, His general saving grace to all people.
The word for dogs here refers to small dogs, perhaps children’s pets who are harmless and somewhat helpless. She accepts Israel’s historical privilege over the Gentiles, especially the powerful ancient Canaanites; but she is no threat to that in her request for grace that is freely given to the Gentiles. Besides, she will take what the Jews do not want. And that attitude played out again and again in Paul’s missionary journey when he turned to Gentiles because the Jews did not want their Messiah, but the Gentiles did.
III. The Conclusion: Jesus rewards her faith by healing her daughter (28b). Jesus honors the faith that seeks mercy. She had no resentment, no anger about her situation; she only knew that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah who came to heal people, and for some reason He was in her town. She sought mercy from Him. And this time Jesus responded with emotion (“O woman” has emotional force). Her faith was rewarded. And she became one of the early Gentiles to enter the kingdom.

The basic theme of the passage is that Christ went into Gentile territory and did this miracle for a Gentile woman who had greater faith than the Jews who were rejecting and challenging Jesus’ claims. It teaches us about the grace of our Lord, about faith of people who are in need, and about the coming advance of the kingdom to the Gentiles who will be sent into all the world. They would know that it was the Lord’s desire that all come to salvation.
So the conversation has to be understood in its historical setting to capture fully what Jesus is doing here. He is not playing games with the woman--He did not go all the way to her region to avoid her! But the crisis between Jesus and the Jews was soon to intensify, and Jesus is making it clear that the grace of God will be given to all who believe, even though His mission called for Him to present Himself to Israel as the Son of David. It was as if He was saying to the disciples and to her, “You do know I am the Jewish Messiah don’t you?”
It is amazing how the Church over the centuries has tried to conceal that point, presenting Jesus as non-Jewish in paintings and art, and even as Aryan in theological writings (as amazing as that may seem). The Church has done such an effective job in this that many Jewish people today have to be reminded that Jesus is their Messiah, a Jew (the Church has adopted a “triumphalist” or “replacement” attitude toward the Jews which has not been a healthy or correct approach). Here, the disciples wanted Jesus to satisfy her need; and Jesus wanted to heal her daughter (He came all the way to her region) but He wanted her to express her faith in spite of whatever racial tensions there were. Ad since she knew that He was the Lord, the Messiah, and asked for mercy, He healed her daughter. Jesus’ ministry may have focused on Israel first (as Paul’s did, “to the Jew first”), but He extended mercy to all who would believe in Him.
This passage should have become instructive for the disciples, but they still had to meet and decide if the Gospel had in truth gone to the Gentiles, and if so what laws should Gentiles come under (Acts 15). But there was no denying that Jesus went to the Gentiles and extended His grace.
And so the instruction is for us as well, that we are to take the message of grace to the world, to whoever is seeking mercy and will believe. If there is resistance and refusal, we may continue to pray for them (as Jesus prayed for Jerusalem), but we turn to people who want it, whom the Spirit of God has prepared to receive the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Unfortunately, the Church spends the greatest amount of time, money and energy continuing its work at home, when the greatest responses to the Gospel today are in the third world. Our cities have churches and ministries on almost every corner; but in other countries there are people seeking God’s grace and the need is not being met.
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OVERCOMING TRIALS WITH JESUS

In this one verse, the Lord Jesus gives us His several principles for inner peace.

In Me You May Have Peace
Notice how deliberately he spoke in John 16:33: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.” The word “may” is used in the sense of “can” or “will.” Jesus said: In Me you will have inner peace. Our peace comes from being in union with Christ.

This is arguably the most powerful little phrase in the Bible—in Me. In Him. In Christ. It was the very theme of the message of the apostle Paul, who used that phrase about 160 times. What does it mean to be in Christ? In means that we are in union with Him, that we have united our lives with Him, that we are in Christ and He is in us, that we have received Him as our personal savior and He has come to live within us by His Holy Spirit.

Suppose we were walking alongside the ocean and I saw a bottle. I unscrewed the top, walked over the surf, and filled the bottle up with ocean water. Then suppose I screwed the top back on and tossed the bottle as far as I could out into the surf. The water would be in the bottle, and the bottle would be in the water.

When we confess Jesus Christ as our Lord, He comes to live within us by the Holy Spirit, which is likened in the Bible to living water. And we are positioned in Him. We are in Christ and Christ is in us—and from that moment on He gives us a set of promises that meets every need in our lives both for time and for eternity. From that moment, all our sins are forgiven. From that moment, we have eternal life. From that moment, we have an abundant life. From that moment, we know we’re going to heaven. From that moment, we know that all things work together for good to those who love Him. From that moment, we know He has a purpose for us.

And in Him we have peace. Amy Carmichael, in one of her prescient observations from Scripture, pointed out that Jesus did not say, “These things I have spoken to you, that in your circumstances you might have peace.” He did not say, “These things I have spoken to you that in the love of others you might have peace.” He said: “In Me!”

D. L. Moody once said that if he saw a man in a cellar, shivering some from the cold and dampness and trying to see in the dim light, he would say to him, “Come on up, out into the sunshine. It’s warm and bright up here.” But suppose the man said, “No, I’m trying to see if I can make my own light down here, and I am trying to work up a warm feeling.”

That’s where a lot of people are today. They’re in the cellar of life, trying to generate a little light and trying to work up a warm feeling when what they really need is the light and the warmth of the sunlight of Jesus Christ. He said, “In Me you will have peace.” So our peace comes from being in union with Christ.

These Things I Have Spoken…
But here’s the second thing. Our sense of inner peace grows from being in His Word. Look at this sentence again: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.”

What did Jesus mean by “These things I have spoken to you”? There are three dimensions to that. In the very broadest sense, we can claim the entirety of the Word of God. Every verse of every chapter of every book. The entire Bible was given for our peace and well-being. In another sense, Jesus was perhaps thinking of all the teachings He had given to His disciples since He called them from their nets by the shore of Galilee. When He spoke here in John 16, He was at the end of His earthly ministry. Within a few hours, He would be arrested, convicted, condemned, and crucified. No doubt His thoughts were stretching back over the three years of His ministry and recalling all the things He had spoken, the truths He had revealed, and the lessons He had uttered.

But the most immediate and accurate interpretation is to say that “These Things” referred specifically to the words He had just given in this Upper Room Discourse. These chapters, John 13-17, are remarkable for two reasons.

First, Jesus spoke these words in an atmosphere of incredible tension, trauma, and fear. A sense of foreboding filled that room like a malevolent fog. Fear flickered like ominous shadows against the wall. The devil himself entered the room and took possession of Judas. The drama of all the ages was about to be unleashed like a nuclear device in that very room. It was the final moments of the Messiah’s ministry, when He washed the disciples’ feet, instituted His Last Supper, dipped his bread in the bowl with Judas, and loved His disciples to the very end.

Second, even though Jesus spoke these words in an atmosphere of incredible tension, His message was one of supernatural peace and tranquility. The contrast between the situation Jesus faced and the syllables He spoke is startling. Sometimes we don’t see it because of the chapter divisions, but let me show you. Look at the end of chapter 13, starting with verse 36:

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.”

Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.”

Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied me three times.”

Imagine the gasp, the pause, the shock, the hurt, the mummer, the outburst caused by that accusation. A fresh vibration of emotion rolled through the room like the rumble of thunder or the growing of an animal, followed by a tense silence. And then Jesus said, “Well, don’t worry about it.”

Let not your heart be troubled.

Let not your heart be troubled! Here we are, tucked away in an Upper Room, hidden like spies behind enemy lines, meeting behind locked doors, the whole city on the verge of explosion. You’re speaking in ominous, enigmatic tones and saying things we don’t want to hear. We have a traitor among us, and You’ve just told us that we’re going to fall apart at the seams and deny You before the rooster crows. The shadow of sudden arrest and merciless torture hangs over us, and everything we believe in is about to be drained from our lives like the blood will be drained from Your body while you hang like a carcass of an animal on a splintered cross. And you say: Don’t let your hearts be troubled!

But in the rest of His Upper Room message, Jesus is going to tell them one reason after another why, even at that black moment of despair, they should be optimistic, hopeful, peaceful, strong, and serene.

First, He said, you can trust me. Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

Second, we have the brightest future that could possibly be imagined: In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Third, Jesus said, “I may be going away, but I am coming back.” And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Fourth, we have a great work to do. Verse 12 says: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the words that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

Fifth, we have absolute assurance of answered prayer. Verse 13 says: And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

Sixth, we have someone else who is going to help us—the Holy Spirit. Verse 16 says: I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him or knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you, and will be in you.

Seventh, we have the very peace of Jesus Himself at our disposal. Verse 27 says: Peace I leave with You, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Eighth, we have the very joy of Jesus Himself at our disposal. John 15:11 says: These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

We don’t have time to work our way through the entire Upper Room discourse, but I don’t know of any portion of Scripture that contains more comfort, more insight, and more peace than these several chapters of Scripture. And Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace.” Our peace is based in Christ and it grows as we get into His Words.

In the World You Will Have Tribulation
But we aren’t finished with our key text—John 16:33, because the verse goes on to give us a warning. Our sense of inner peace which is based on our union with Christ and which grows as we study the words of Christ—that sense of inner peace is going to be under constant assault from the world. It is challenged by the world. In the very next sentence, Jesus warned: In the world you will have tribulation. You will have problems in the world. You will have opposition. You will have difficult circumstances. You will have persecution. You will have Satanic attacks. You will have misunderstandings and hurts and heartaches and things that will challenge your faith.

We know that is true. The other day I received a letter from a young man in Hong Kong who read something that I had written and wanted to ask me about it. I have his permission to read to you his letter.

Just want to say hello to you. I have been a Christian for many years, and have completely read the whole Bible around five times. But the trials in my life always bug me, and there are times I even doubt God. I know God is sovereign, but I can’t understand why He allows some painful things to happen to me. Sometimes the trials make me bitter, and I don’t see how these help me in my spiritual growth. In fact, these trials weaken my faith, take up a lot of time so that I do not have much time for my church activities. I have a problem understanding why God allows some things to happen. Thank you for your time. Regards, Johnno.


I know just how he feels, and so do you. I’ve never expressed it quite as honestly as he did, but we’ve all been there. But Jesus predicted it. In this world we will have troubles. Tribulation. Pressure. Stress. But He did not end His teachings there. The very last thing He said in this Upper Room Discourse before beginning His great prayer to the heavenly Father in chapter 17, His last official sentence of teaching to His disciples, the concluding sentence of His three years of ministry, the last syllables of the last sermon that He preached prior to Calvary, His last word to us is:

BUT BE OF GOOD CHEER; I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.

But Be of Good Cheer. I Have Overcome…
Now when Jesus said that, He was on the lam, moments from capture, hours from scourging, and just one evening away from death by torture on the cross. Yet He said, “I have overcome the world.” What did He mean? I think He meant this:

I have come into the world and lived here for thirty-three years without sinning, so that I could serve as an innocent, sacrificial victim whose blood can atone for the sins of all the world.

I am not going to be killed; I am going to lay my life down willingly.

And if I lay my life down willingly, I will take it up again. And the grave cannot hold Me. And death cannot keep Me. And I’m going to burst from that tomb like a fist through a paper bag. And I am going to penetrate the skies, resume My throne in glory, build My church on earth, come again in My own good timing, banish the devil, set up My kingdom, judge this planet, usher in eternity, and give My people the eternal life they have always wanted and needed.

I have overcome the world.

And if Jesus Christ can overcome the world, He can come over your life and overcome your anxieties and make all things work together for good in your experiences.

And so He says in His last ex cathedra utterance: Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. As the old hymn says:

Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.

Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.

Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round?
On Jesus’ bosom naught but calm is found.

Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away?
In Jesus’ keeping we are safe, and they.

Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?
Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.

Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and ours?
Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.