Yours alone

O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!
May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace my they be covered who seek my hurt.
But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation
all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.
With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone - Psalm 71:12-16

All we have, our great prize in adversity, prosperity, trial and glory.
The mighty, righteous deeds of God. The mightiest and most righteous being the death
of the Son of God on a Roman cross, 2000 years ago to absorb the wrath of God and redeem
a people for His OWN good pleasure.

Praise the Lord that He is the centre of all, and that He lovingly shows us that it is all about Him and we His children are simply the blessed individuals who obtain a small role in HIStory.

Deliverance

Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has not kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance - Psalm 67:8-12

The one, true foundation

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than the that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ - 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 ESV

Christianity, by it's very name, is built upon Christ. It is not built upon a good idea or good advice or some healthy tips for having a nice life, but on Christ. Biblical Christianity is Good News. The prophets in the Old Testament, and the apostles in the New, lay the foundation of this Good News, or gospel, by communicating the timeless Word of God for mankind, which is now presented to us in the Scripture we have before us.

With the divine authority given to them, the apostles gave the early church (and give us today) the truths of the Christian faith. Paul, with the very capable hands that the Lord had gifted him with to shape the faith and practice of the church, exhorts his son, Timothy, in this way: Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you (2 Timothy 1:13,14 ESV).

Here, the apostle, with the authority given him by God, commands Timothy to not stray from the foundation that Paul has laid down. This command is not only for the generation of Christians directly after Paul and the apostles, but to ours today. We are not to stray from the teachings of Paul and of the rest of the Bible about the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, dictates our theology and our practice, not the other way around. By the grace of God, the skilled master builders before us have started the work and have given us everything we need to continue. May the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard this strong word that has been entrusted to us, that it may not be tarnished by our biases, nor be thrown to the side for some useless substitute.

The Father's eternal love

"The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment - what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me." - John 12:48-50

Here we see our Lord giving us a comforting reminder. We often tend to see the amazing love of Christ in coming to die for our sins and neglect to see the equal love of the other two members of the Trinity.
Not so much a neglect of the Holy Spirit, but a tragic distortion of the Father's relation to us clouds our view of His majesty.

In this passage, we see that the very words of Christ, the words that communicate and impart eternal life to those who hear and believe, are words that come directly from the Father Himself. The Father, to whom we have attributed a morbid displeasure with us at all times, has actually from all eternity, issued a divine word, to save His people from their sin, through the work of God the Son and the application of God the Spirit.

So next time we think Christ came purely to appease an angry Father who remains angry with us, only just satisfied by Christ shielding us, let us look to the eternal covenant (Heb. 13:20,21) and see that before the foundation of the earth, the Trinity decided to love and save sinners.

"The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing." - Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord of the tempest

"When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong winf was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and comign near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going." - John 6:16-21.

This passage contains some very practical material for Christians battling through the hardship of everyday life in a sinful, fallen world. When we are labouring into the headwinds of sadness and seem to be making either no or very little ground, we can rest secure knowing that Jesus is watching over us (Mk 6:48, Mt 28:20). In the midst of the tempest that is life, His loving eyes are set upon us and the warm blanket of His sovereignty gives us hope (Rom. 8:28).

Another thing we can learn from the passage is that Jesus' timing is often not as we would expect.
In the corresponding passage in Mark, we are told, "he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night  he came to them, walking on the sea." (6:48). Christ, their Lord and Saviour as well as ours, saw their distress and had compassion. More compassion than we could ever feel for one another as fellow heirs with Christ. Yet he did not act right away. It was not until the fourth watch of the night that he made his way across the Sea of Galilee to calm their weary hearts.

The Lord knows what is best for us. As we battle and struggle and fall in this life of sacrifice, we can rest assured that our victory or failure is not dependent on the strength of our faith, but rather the smallest seed of trust in the grace of God that has been earned for us in the flowing blood of Christ is what will see us through the strongest storm. The family promise that God has given to His children is true, and remains true despite us feeling it in the midst of turmoil. A gospel of health, wealth and prosperity is a vain balm for the wounds of saints. Only the family promise that God has freely given to His children in His Son is true, and remains true despite us feeling it in the midst of turmoil.

So remember, child of heaven, beloved of God. God loves you. He loves you the same in the heaviest trial, when your heart and mind scream otherwise. May we together see the Lord pass by us (Mk. 6:48), showing us His glory as our Substitute, Saviour and Friend, even amongst the howling winds of our hearts.

Becoming a real theologian

"As soon as God's Word becomes known through you, the devil will afflict you, will make a real doctor (theologian or teacher) of you, and will teach you by his temptations to seek and to love God's Word. For I myself...owe my papists many thanks for so beating, pressing and frightening me through the devil's raging that they have turned me into a fairly good theologian, driving me to a goal should never have reached." - Martin Luther.

Living in harmony

"May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God."
- Romans 15:5-7, emphasis added.