Elder Sandy's Blog

But as for me, I will look to the Lord and confident in Him I will keep watch. I will wait with hope and expectancy for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Rejoice not against me Oh my enemy; when I fall I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me. Micah 7:7-8

We must strongly, earnestly and diligently exercise our faith in expecting to see the Glory of God. In this way we will not grow disinterest and become spiritual sluggards. But through leaning the entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness, and by the practice of cheerful endurance and hopeful expectation we will inherit the promises. When we flee to Him for refuge there is a
mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement that will anchor our souls. (Read Hebrews 6:11-19 amp)

God alone can encourage and lift us up. It is not ours to dictate to God the source He will use to do this. Too often, we have mindsets that dictate to God. We think we know more than God does. In our hearts we say, “God, this is how you should do this. You must use this person or that person or change this situation or that situation.” But God says, “Be satisfied in your present circumstances for I will not in anyway fail you, leave you helpless or relax my hold on you.” – Assuredly not! (Hebrews 13:5 amp)

Our Heavenly father is longing for us to roll the care of our load over onto Him. He and He alone can handle it and carry it. He only asks that we come, as we are, without excuses, asking for His help. He will cause our thoughts to become agreeable to His will. (Proverbs 16:3 amp) His glory and grace will be our enabler and He will lift us up. And after we have suffered a little while, our God, who is full of kindness through Christ, will give us His eternal glory. He personally will come and pick us up, and set us firmly in place, and make us stronger than ever. (1 Peter 5:10 LB)

Are we expecting His personal pick -me – up? God is the glory and the lifter of our heads.

In our walk to maturity, there is only one way to get from point “A” to point “B” and that is to trust in the integrity of Christ. There will be many times when the road well be uncomfortable. There is no way to enjoy the comforts of home when you are moving to a new house. There is change and the process is not pleasant; everything gets turned upside down and inside out.

As it is in the physical so it is in the spiritual. When our Lord moves us it will not be comfortable. We will have to believe that Christ Jesus is who He says He is and He will bring us through. If we are ever to become living stones built into a spiritual house we will first have to be living sacrifices. It is the road to glory. Pure gold comes only from testing and the purifying fires.

“If we are His children, then we are His heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ – sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. But what of that? For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us, and conferred on us.” Romans 8:17-18(amp)

One moment in His presence makes all the struggles worth while. He knows our grief and He carried our sorrows. He fully understands our stumblings. He never leaves us. He is holding us up, especially when we can’t feel His presence.

Our God is a God of radical change and He is making a way in our desert. The question is will we cooperate with Him in the process? Will we continue to believe, speak forth His words and follow the example of our Lord in obedience and love? Our Heavenly Father will keep us on the Road to Glory. He is faithful.

Oh Lord, You have searched me thoroughly and have known me. You know my down sitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off. You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue still unuttered, but, lo, O lord, You know it altogether. You have beset me and shut me in behind and before, and have laid your hand upon me. Your infinite knowledge is too wonderful for me. For You did form my inward parts, You did knit me together in my mother’s womb. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being formed in secret and intricately and curiously wrought as if embroidered with various colors in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance and in Your book all the days of my life were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. How precious and weighty also are your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them. Psalm 139:1-6,13,15-17

God knows the plans He has for us and they are for our good not evil. He placed us in our natural families. We all have strengths and weaknesses. The strengths are to be used for God’s glory and the weaknesses to keep us humble and dependent on Him. Then He placed us in a spiritual family, gives us His favor, loving-kindness and mercy to enable us and pours His strength and power in and through our weaknesses as we recognize them and trust in His strength. He says, “I am He, and there is no god besides Me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; and there is none who can deliver out of My hand.” Deuteronomy 32:39

“He has set up a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven; a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up. He has made everything beautiful in it’s time” Ecclesiastes 3:1-3, 11

God has seen our willful ways but says He will heal us and lead us. (Isaiah 57:18 Amplified Bible). He will restore or replace for us the years that the locust has eaten (Joel 2:25).

His eyes are ever upon us because we are the apple of His eye. He will hold us up with His Victorious Right Hand and He will never relax His hold on us. We are safe in Our Father’s hands.

So let it be clearly known and understood by you, brethren, that through this Man, forgiveness and removal of sins is now proclaimed to you. And that through Him every one who believes (that is;, who acknowledges Jesus as his Savior and devotes himself to Him) is absolved (cleared and freed) from every charge from which you could not be justified and freed by the Law of Moses, and given right standing with God.
Acts 13:38-39(Amplified Bible)

Paul was continually going forth preaching the cleansing power of Christ’s blood and the futility of self works. He is still declaring today that we are cleared and freed from every charge by the blood of Christ – What a glorious inheritance our Lord has given us to walk in every day. His mercies are new every morning. Each day is meant to be an adventure of victory in Him.

But what do we do? We fret about so many things. We regret what we have done or what we have not done. We worry about tomorrow and wonder how we will ever get everything done that we have to do. Many days we forget to enjoy God’s great love and acceptance. We forget that He is on His throne and that our lives and times are in His hands.

God loves and accepts us. His acceptance of us is not based on our performance. We are already accepted because of Christ and what He has already done. We all mess -up and we all need a Savior daily. The truth is we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We all are in need of His grace daily.

In Him we are all held together. None of us have anything to boast about or be in despair over. Our life is in Him and our hope is in Him. In Him we will not perish. For in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). In Him is the fountain of life and in His light we see light(Psalm 36:9). He put and kept us among the living and has not allowed our foot to slip (Psalm 66:9). In Him we have the hope of realizing the glory (Colossians 1:27).

Hebrews 4:16 (Amplified Bible)
Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace – the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners; that we may receive mercy for our failures and find grace to help in good time for every need – appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it.

Christ’s blood qualified us for grace (Hebrews 2:9). Grace reigns through right standing with God and grace superabounds over sin (Romans 5:20-21). God is able to make all grace come to us in abundance (2 Corinthians 9:8).

We receive God’s grace by faith. We trust ourselves to God and we stand fast being humble-minded enough to receive. God gives grace continually to the humble but will frustrate the proud (1 Peter 5:5). Receiving grace depends not on one’s own strenuous exertion but on God having mercy on us (Romans 9:15-16).

We are justified, made right by grace through the redemption provided in Christ. If we distrust Christ, then we have a hard time receiving from Him. Grace belongs to Christ. It is a gift found only in Him. We will never deserve it. It is an issue of coming to God to receive mercy for our failures. If we seek to justify ourselves by what we do or do not do we will fall short of the grace of God. We will be frustrated, struggle, grow weary and faint in our minds.

We are to be to the praise of His grace, We have been called with a Holy Calling, not because of any merit of our own but simply to further His purpose and His grace that was given to us even before the world began (2 Timothy 1:9).

Therefore we come with assurance before the Throne of Grace, receive God’s mercy and find His power to help us. Then we must be obedient and humble-minded enough to do things God’s way.