Welcome to Hank’s Place —
It’s August 2021 and the world may be experiencing those birth pangs Jesus spoke of. Mark 13:8. Tumultuous things happening.
“Where is God?” you might be asking. Well, remember Psalms 46. It begins, “God is our refuge and strength, a very ready help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth shakes and the mountains slip into the heart of the sea.” The Psalm ends, “Stop striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth. The Lord of armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.” The Message says, “the God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.”
God IS with the believer, although people may perish on our left and right, be struck by COVID plagues; whatever, it shall not approach us. God’s PROMISE. Psalm 91:6-7.
What it takes on our part is — to BELIEVE this promise, believe ALL God’s promises! I faced this challenge of believing in a small way, just this week. I had just purchased a new iMac M1 – golden yellow – what a beauty. I was trading in my old Intel iMac; Apple indicated they would give me over $900 for it; a good deal.
So I shipped all 30 pounds of it to Apple – they checked it in — and revised the trade-in value downward: ZERO dollars; a cracked screen they said. My heart sank – it was perfect when I had packed it off.
I picked up my heart and I shouted, “I don’t receive this bad report in Jesus’ name!” Must have said it several times. I reminded God I was His son, adopted, and lived in His kingdom, not in the darkness. Mary came in the room, heard the bad news and said, “I don’t receive this report either! God, DO something!”
I called Apple, explained the situation and a nice person said they would initiate a shipping inquiry that should take about 3 days. I went back to work. A short time later I heard a whisper. “I’ve given Mary a word for you.” Before I could go and ask her what God had spoken to her, she came in my office and said, “Don’t worry, God’s got this all taken care of. So relax.”
As you might imagine I struggled to relax! The fight of faith versus tendency to panic. I had no proof the computer was undamaged. I only had (drumroll) — Almighty God…. Time passed.
About 2 hours later I get an email from Apple. It read, “Good news. Your trade-in is complete. Thanks for using Apple Trade In. Everything checks out, so we are issuing you a refund in the amount of $910.00.” I began whooping and shouting and thanking our Lord Jesus with tears streaming down my face. Fast work by the Almighty, right?
Then I heard another whispered, “Well, you gave ME something to work with.” Did you hear that my friend? Do you get it? God is on OUR side. He WANTS to help us, protect us, deliver us, be gracious to us. Let’s believe His promises and with our mouths let’s give Him something to work with!
The world may be falling apart. BUT — the God of the Angel Armies, the God of the Impossible, the ALMIGHTY, is OUR GOD. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4:13 says, “But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written: “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak.” So speak — and COME ALIVE!
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