Stand

Standing on the promises of Christ my King. Thru eternal ages let his praises ring. Glory in the highest I will should and sing.  Standing on the promises of God. 

Standing on the promises I cannot fail.  When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail.  By the living Word of God I shall prevail.  Standing on the promises of God. 

God cannot lie. Whatever He has promised me, it will come to pass.  I tell myself these very words all the time. Sometimes several times a day.  Why? Because some days I become discouraged.  Things are not turning out as I thought they would.  I've grown tired of seeing others prosper.  They are happy.  They're married, why aren't I?  They have children.  I want a child.  They have nice things.  I deserve them to.  I'm living right.  I'm studying the Word.  I'm praying more.  I even started going to Sunday school and Bible study.  Yet it seems as though God has forgotten about me. 

Read Hebrew 6: 8-20.  Let me begin by saying God knows exactly what He is doing.  Right at a moment of discouragement, I read these verses.  This is not something that I did not know. I just needed a reminder.  And today I don't have any profound thoughts for you.  I am simply going to let the Word speak for itself. 

God sees everything. And because He sees everything you don't have to tell Him the things you do as His representative.  But God doesn't honor His promises because of what you do.  He honors them because of who He is.  God does not change.  If He has told you something it will come to pass.  We all know the story of Abraham.  Did you know that it took twenty-five years before God made good on that promise to Abraham to give him a son?  Some of you may look at this in the negative.  Twenty-five years.  I may not even have twenty-five years left in my life.  I want to try and help change your way of thinking.  In an earlier post I shared with you that God's timing is perfect timing.  I still believe that.  The truth that you must look at and hold on to is that God kept his promise.  The time frame should not be your focus. You must continue to have hope. 

"When people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it."  (verse 16)  Like in the U.S. court system where the witness places his hand on the Bible and swears to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth  'so help me God'.  When God makes a promise you can take it to the bank.  There is no need to think the check might bounce.  There is none greater than the living God.  So the next time Satan tries to sneak  into your mind that spirit of discouragement or defeat, fight back with the Word. 

At the beginning of this post I wrote the words to a hymn we used to sing at church, Standing on the Promises.  This hymn says exactly what I am talking about.  God's promises are secure ground to stand on.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with this hymn, I'll quote one of my favorite songs performed by Donnie McClurkin.  This song does something to me every time I hear it.  The song is called 'Stand'.  Now Donnie doesn't say that anything about standing on God's promises, but it does say this:

What do you do when you've done all you can and it seems like it's never enough. And what do you say when your friends turn away, you're all alone.  What do you give? When you've given your all and seems like you can't make it thru. Well you just stand. Stand. When there's nothing left to do. You just stand. Watch the Lord see you thru.  After you've done all you can.  You just stand. 

So let me paint a picture of what is playing in my mind when I am listening to or singing this song.  God's promises to me.  This song is talking to the discouraged, disheartened believer.  The one who is trying his/her best to live life the way God wants them to.  This song is talking to the believer who may have just hit a rough patch and is thinking what's the point of all this Christianity anyway.  The believer who made a mistake and even the people in the church have turned their backs on him.  Ever been this believer that I am talking about. I have? And God's Word pulled me up out of my own pity party every time.  I picked up my head and stuck out my chest and planted my feet.  I stood firmly on the Word of God.

Dear Lord:

Today I don't feel much like praying.  Today I am just thankful that you already know what I am going thru.   Today I just want to say thank you for your Word.  Thank you for the promises made to me.  I am now standing on those promises.  Satan can't steal my joy.  I will not be defeated.  I will no longer be discouraged.  I will trust you. Thank you Lord for your Word that cannot and will not return void.  In you, Oh Lord, I have hope.  In Jesus' Wonderful Name Amen.