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Day: May 1, 2024

Lift Up the Word, Light Up the World.

Written by Josh Davis on . Posted in Encouragement. No Comments on Lift Up the Word, Light Up the World.

“Lift up the Word. Light up the world.” That is the theme for the 73rd National Day of Prayer, observed across America on Thursday, May 2, 2024. God has equipped His followers with two powerful weapons – prayer and the Bible. How can we wield the weapon of prayer to fight the good fight of faith?

Pioneer Christian Missionary to China, Hudson Taylor (1832-1905), advised a fellow missionary seeking to reach a new area with the Gospel, “Brother, if you would enter that province, you must go forward on your knees.” Prayer unlocks doors we cannot open when we begin to rely upon God’s strength instead of our own.

We can learn three powerful lessons about effective praying from David’s psalm found in 2 Samuel 22:29-31, the theme verses selected for the 2024 National Day of Prayer:

  1. God gives sight through prayer.

“For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness” (2 Sam. 22:29).

As David reflected on God’s guidance in his life, he referred to God as his lamp. The lamps of David’s time were palm-sized, bowl-shaped lamps that would hold olive oil and a small wick. Unlike car headlights or modern flashlights, these lamps would illuminate only one step at a time.

The life of faith is lived by taking one step at a time, following behind Christ our Captain. Some people refuse to move unless God reveals the whole roadmap for them. He never promised to do that in His Word. Just as He did with Abraham, Moses, David, Peter and Paul, the Lord guides His followers step-by-step along this journey. Would faith be needed if God revealed all the steps at once? No, it wouldn’t. God knows how to reveal the next step as we seek Him in prayer and follow Him by faith. Keep taking the next step in your journey with Jesus.

Ask God for wisdom so that you can take the correct next step. Do not be afraid to be specific in your prayers and do not be afraid to trust God as He shows you the next step to take. Walk confidently with Jesus on the trail He blazes for you (Heb. 12:2). He will never lead you down the wrong path. Prayer and the Word give us insight into His path for us.

  1. God gives strength through prayer.

“For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall” (2 Sam. 22:30).

Through faith in God’s strength, David knew that he could attack enemy troops and scale any defensive walls in God’s strength. This was a lesson about faith that David learned early in his life. When he faced Goliath as a young man, he depended totally on God’s strength instead of his own. As Goliath thundered threats to crush David, the shepherd boy boldly replied, “And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands” (1 Sam. 17:47). David stood in God’s strength that day and God gave great victory! Remember that phrase, “The battle is the Lord’s.” It will strengthen you as you pray to the same God who David served.

When attempting great things for God, there is a temptation to do God’s work in our strength. This temptation can spill into Christians’ prayers as well. If God were to bring a sweeping revival to the church in America and a Great Awakening in our nation, would we subtly take any glory away from God by bragging, “I’ve prayed two hours a day for fourteen years for God to move and He answered my prayers in a big way”? Don’t misunderstand; we ought to be excited when God answers prayer. Certainly, we need to seek His face on behalf of the nations. However, we have no right to take glory away from God.

When David defeated Goliath, he didn’t announce, “Look what my big faith in a big God accomplished!” Strikingly, the Scripture records no statement from David about his victory over Goliath. God alone got the glory for providing great deliverance for His people through a humble and willing servant named David. Could it be that God has not answered prayers for America and other nations because Christians are eager to take credit for a divine move of God?

  1. God gives safety through prayer.

“As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him” (2 Sam. 22:31).

David reminds his readers that they can run to God who is like a buckler, a shield, against the enemy’s attacks. Paul echoes these words when He alerts Christians, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Eph. 6:16). The battle is the Lord’s and the enemy is not flesh and blood, but the rulers of the darkness of this world (Eph. 6:12).

Remember whom you fight against. Be alert for the arrows flying toward you. Take the shield of faith and remember that God is your shield against the wicked one. How can we do that? Through prayer. Ask God to help you remember who the real enemy is, and who it is not. Ask Him to help you stand strong against the arrows shot at you today. Ask Him to give you refuge under his mighty shield. After you pray these things for yourself, zoom out and pray the same for your brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

Grab your weapon, the Word of the Lord, and stand your ground as a good soldier of Jesus Christ! His Word is tried and true – just as a steel blade is hardened through the fire – and forged for His people in this hour. Lift up the Word! Light up the world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

David-era lamp

The Plan for Israel’s Salvation

Written by Larry Stamm on . Posted in Prophetic Observer. No Comments on The Plan for Israel’s Salvation

EDITOR’S NOTE: Romans 11 reveals God’s future for Israel. Misunderstanding this important doctrine creates many problems for students of God’s Word in general and Bible prophecy in particular. This is Part 3 of a three-part series from Larry Stamm based on Romans 11. The first two parts are available here: Part 1 / Part 2

It’s safe to say that in 2024, among the nations of the world, Israel perhaps evokes stronger thoughts and emotions in people around the world than any other nation. Israel and polarization seem to fit hand in glove, as people either strongly like or love Israel or dislike or even hate the Jewish nation. It seems most people tend to feel very strongly about Israel, one way or another.

In the church today, the nation of Israel is also a point of contention, not geopolitically, per se, but biblically. In short, as it pertains to God’s relationship with Israel in the future, there are only two basic viewpoints: God is either finished with Israel or God has a future for Israel.

In this brief series, we have considered this question by exploring what God has to say in Romans 11.

I’ve broken down Romans 11 into three Ps—The Perception, The Purpose, and The Plan. In our first submission on Romans 11:1–10, we dealt the perception that God has cast away His people. In our last submission (Romans 11:11–24), we unpacked the purpose of Israel’s blindness. Now, in this article, we ponder the profundity of God’s plan for Israel’s future salvation in Romans 11:25–36.

God’s Future for Israel—Rom. 11:25–36

We see in Romans 11:25–36 God’s glorious plan for the future salvation of Israel. Verses 25–27 say, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”

Notice in verse 25 that Paul doesn’t want the brethren to be ignorant of this mystery. The word “mystery” in the New Testament refers to truth not previously revealed. Specifically, the mystery is that Israel’s hardening is partial and it will only last for a divinely specified time until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. This is the completion of what we know as the Church Age when all the Gentiles from all the nations who will be saved are saved. God knows the beginning from the end. 

When that time comes, verse 26 states that all Israel will be saved. Paul quotes Isaiah 59 about the Deliverer coming from Zion to remove ungodliness from Jacob, a reference to Israel, and to take away their sins. Maybe you’re wondering what it means that all of Israel will be saved. Some Bible commentators believe Israel in this verse refers to the whole nation. Others believe it refers to all Jewish people everywhere in the world, including the nation of Israel, who are alive when Jesus returns.

Hear the words from Zechariah 12:10, a prophecy about the Second Coming of Christ, when the Jewish people repent and turn to Him. God says through the prophet, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Paul’s Response to God’s Plan

Paul’s response to this revelation God gives him about Israel’s future is this: Praise! Consider Romans 11:33–36: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

God’s plan is beautiful and will be beautiful in its time. History is His story, and part of His story of redemption is that all Israel will be saved in such a way that God’s mercy will be evident to all. Knowing God’s plan for Israel is like being part of a wedding party. You know the wedding is going to be beautiful, and your anticipation is great. You know the plan. Yet, you still have to work the plan. No matter what your place is in the wedding ceremony, you’ve got to take your rightful place and fulfill your responsibilities.

You and I who know the Lord are part of the bride of Christ. We are His church and our response to God’s future restoration of Israel should mirror Paul’s—the praising of God. No doubt it’s miraculous that Israel, a nation conquered and dispersed two thousand years ago would become a nation again in 1948 out of the ashes of the Holocaust. 

Is God finished with Israel? NO! God is working out His plan and we as His bride are called to praise Him, communicate His plan, and proclaim His Gospel to Jewish people and to all people. May our confidence in God and His promises renew and reinvigorate us today.