Power of His Promises

Power of His Promises

“By faith our fathers roamed the earth

With the power of His promise in their hearts.”

         Aye! Verily those promises are powerful with the wisdom, kindness, and Presence of God Himself standing behind them. In Minnie's last talk to the ladies at the Bible church in Washington State on “Jehovah Shalom” she explained how God sustained her through her ordeal: “The Word, the Word, the Promises!”

          And what are some of those thousand or more promises that are so powerful and sustaining in our hearts and in the external world of God's providence? For Minnie God flooded her heart with the reality of this promise:

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you . . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 She was so aware of His Presence with her—through it all. “All is well!” she knew.

         And that the completion of the journey would “lead to a joyful end” with Jesus' promise to come for her Himself personally when the time came “. . .I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:3 esv “Absent from the body . . . present with the Lord.” 2 Cor. 5:8

        And what are the promises in my life that sustained me as I “roamed the earth”? Here are a few of the many:

Romans 10:9-13 (ESV) “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. . . . For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

          1 Cor. 10:13 (ESV) ^“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

        Psalm 27:14 (KJV) ^“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”

2 Cor. 4:16 NIV “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

       How about you? What are some of your favorite promises that God has used in your life? Click on Reply and share them with us. They will encourage others.

Discouragement Defeated

Discouragement Defeated
One of the most devastating weapons in Satan’s repertoire of devices is discouragement and I see it in many places. Discouragement is destructive to the individual person, to a church, to a nation, to a family. And scripture has a lot to say about it and how to combat it. But we also need to see those principles demonstrated and lived out in life. It’s one thing to know that we are to “rejoice in the Lord always” and it’s another thing to do it. We can know that we are to be “anxious for nothing,” but what about our daily living?

How woefully inadequate is the world’s “solution” of “singin’ in the rain!” That just doesn’t get it when you’re faced with the devastation we see in the world and the deep problems of some families and the demoralization of people when they are “defeated” and have lost the motivation to carry on.

Where do we see the right attitude and actions demonstrated for us? Well, of course, we see them in Jesus. And we had better look there and keep our eyes focused on Him. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus . . . who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame. . . .” Heb. 12:2 NIV And knowing that He is now at the right hand of the majesty on high, it’s easy to “set our minds and our hearts on things above and not on things of this earth.” Colossians 3

It is also very helpful to see people actually doing that as they face the devastating traumas of life. Yesterday I was gathering material for the last few chapters of “Mimi’s Journey.” (I’ve written the first 10 chapters and I’m skipping the middle section until I’ve finished the end section.) And I came across three e-mails that Minnie wrote shortly after we had just received the most devastating news of our lives, that after all that Minnie had gone through, including the Whipple surgery and six months of chemo, the pancreatic cancer had returned. I wrote to everyone on January 23, 2009, 10:15 PM, “The News is Not Good Tonight” in one of the biggest understatements I ever made in my life.

But how did Minnie react? How did she demonstrate in her own life, in her attitude and actions that God’s sustaining grace was sufficient for this greatest trauma of her life? On January 30, 2009 she wrote to family and friends:
“. . . We continue to feel that the Lord is giving us strength and grace for each day. I want to enjoy every day that He gives me--whether they be few or many. He has been so faithful to me all my life--and that will not change. And he has blessed me with such wonderful friends all over the world. Thank you for praying. Love, Minnie”

And on that same day she revealed a lot that was on her mind when she wrote to her nurse friend:
“. . . Oh my, Sue, this all gets very tiring and I find my refuge in the Lord. When I wake up in the night, He gives me verses--like at what time I am afraid, I will trust in the Lord--and that the Way of the Lord is perfect. I know all these things in my head and I keep praying that the Lord will continue to make them a living reality in my life--and He is being so very faithful to do that. I know that many people are praying for me as I feel so very weak at times--but still strong physically--until about 2 p.m. each day, then I am resting in my recliner.”

She was also resting in the Lord as we all saw in her life. One of her favorite verses was Psalm 37:7 “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. . . .”

Two days earlier Minnie had written to our oldest daughter Jeannine, “I woke up this morning and the 23rd Psalm was what the Lord brought to my mind as well as the passage in John where Jesus told the disciples he was going away and would come back for them and Thomas asked, how can we go, we don't know the way and he said I WILL COME for you. What a beautiful promise from the Lord. How thankful I am that He gave us His word and that He is the God of all comfort. . . .”

So what Bibical principles was Minnie demonstrating that will help any of us who are dealing with discouragement or depression?
1. “The Word! the Word! the Promises!” is what she told a woman’s group with great feeling. She knew how important reading the scriptures and believing what she read was in her life. We read the Psalms together almost every morning for 54 years. And in the evening I read from the New Testament to her right before she went to sleep at night. God meets with us in His Word. Find your strength in the Lord as you read what He wrote. And quote the scriptures to yourself (or to the Tempter) when you’re struggling with a problem.

2. She had a thankful spirit, rejoicing in the Lord. This is of major importance!

3. She had a favorite verse she lived by, reciting it every day, “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it!” And she was glad and she lived her life one day-at-a-time, not worrying about tomorrow.

4. That’s why she always sought to enjoy whatever came to her from the good hand of our God that very day. “I want to enjoy every day that He gives me--whether they be few or many,” she said. And she enjoyed the companionship of her husband, “We so enjoy each moment together and ask the Lord for many more.” Those words are a great treasure to me.

5. She depended on the faithfulness of God to keep the promises of His Word. “He has been so faithful to me all my life--and that will not change.” The immutability and dependability of God–how wonderful that is! “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Heb. 13:8

6. God’s faithfulness is seen in the power of the resurrection in Minnie’s life. The separation by death is very painful so it is overwhelmingly important to realize that the separation from loved ones is only temporary because Jesus is “the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me,” Jesus said, “though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” John 11:25-26 Minnie’s body is dead and in the grave now, but she continues to live because of Jesus’ promise she “shall never die.” She has entered eternal life and is experiencing that glorious life right now.

Your struggle with discouragement may not be because of an anticipated soon death–though death is waiting for you down the road as we all know. “The days ordained for me are written in your book before ever one came to be.” Psalm 139:16 NIV But whatever the “cause,” these principles will help you defeat discouragement. “And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4 And what is faith? Simply believing that what God has said in His Word is true and can be counted on.

7. Very often Minnie spoke of the great peace that God gave her constantly. She prayed, “Lord, give me your peace.” And He did. One of the most important verses in her life was John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” He left that peace for you, too, if you know Him as savior. So don’t allow your heart to be discouraged or afraid.
–Pastor Burnside (for Minnie & for you)

1. The sweetness of the memories and the encouragement to be gained from them

The sweetness of the memories and the encouragement to be gained from them
         We "spend our years as a tale that is told" Psalm 90:9 and Minnie’s story was a good one and thus is worth telling, but it goes much beyond that because God’s faithfulness and sustaining grace was so evident during those three years. Minnie’s life and the words and actions that attest to it bring great encouragement and strength to our own as we, too, prepare to go through the valley of the shadow of death or, to change the metaphor, to prepare to cross the Jordan to enter the Celestial City. God prepared and strengthened Minnie in a remarkable way and her responses during those very, very difficult trials was also remarkable and stand as an important marker for us who will pass that way ourselves. "Bear ye one another’s burden and so fulfill the law of Christ" but the context of that verse continues, "For every man [everyone] shall bear his own burden." Gal. 6:2-5 We can help carry one another’s load and help them carry their share so that it is less difficult for them and certainly many, many people helped and encouraged Minnie through those many days, those three years, of travail, but in the end it was she and she alone with God who had to finally bear it and go through the experience of passing from life unto death–or, better, passing from temporal life into eternal life.

        History is the memory of the past. Some things we must not forget. Some things we can learn vicariously through observing the experiences of others. We tell Minnie’s story also to bring glory to God, to show His marvelous supernatural enabling power. I observed it first hand for three years and certainly experienced it myself constantly for those three years. I look back at some of the e-mails I wrote during that time and marvel that I could say the things I did and take the attitude that Minnie and I both took. We could not do that in ourselves, the enablement and the strength came from God and God alone.

        Many times in the Book of Psalms when the Psalmist gets discouraged, he remembers God’s hand and God’s strengthening and God’s deliverance in the past and thus encourages his own heart. In Psalm 77, e.g., he wrote, "I cried unto God with my voice. . . . In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. . . . I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. . . . I am so troubled that I cannot speak." What did he do then to deal with these overwhelming and discouraging situations? He said, "I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. . . . I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings." And he concludes by saying to God in the last verse of the Psalm, "You led your people."

        Indeed He did. And He led Minnie and He led me through the very worst experiences of our long lives. Psalm 23 was Minnie’s favorite and many times late at night while we lay in bed or while I sat beside her bed in the dark, she asked me to recite it for her and it helped her go to sleep in her pain and weariness: "The Lord is my shepherd. . . . He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths. . . . Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. . . . my cup runneth over [God gives joy in the midst of my trials.] Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."
         So to God alone be the glory. Scripture explicitly tells us to ponder the works of God and to rejoice in them. Mimi was one of God’s glorious works and He who "[began] a good work in [her]" did in fact perform it and fulfill it. Phil. 1:6 He took her home to be with Him as He promised in John 14:3 ESV "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."

        So I write her story not only because it’s worth telling and I have a very high level of interest in it. I write it not only because many other people will be encouraged by it and learn from it, but I also write it for the glory of God "to the praise of His glorious grace." Grace that she experienced and grace that I experienced and want to tell about. "My grace is sufficient for thee." It was for Minnie and it was for me. And thus shall it ever be.
                                                                             --Pastor Burnside