What you ought to say ∙

What you ought to say ∙

The Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. – Luke 12:12

Exodus 3:11-14

 11 But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”

 12 God answered, “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.”

 13 But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”

 14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”

Speech therapy involves the assessment and treatment of communication problems and speech disorders. The techniques used in speech therapy improve communication. They include articulation therapy, language intervention activities, and others depending on the type of speech or language disorder.

Speech therapy is often required for speech disorders that develop in childhood or speech impairments in adults caused by an injury or illness, such as stroke or brain injury.

Some children of the King have difficulties communicating well. Occasionally they need help with saying what they mean or perhaps what is most appropriate. They may have diminished social, language, communication, hearing, or fluency skills. This is often called a “Speech and language impediment.”

While Solomon got it right, “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent” (Proverbs 17:28). Restraint is possible even for a fool, although unlikely (Proverbs 18:2). When he “does not talk” or “keeps his mouth shut” he gives the impression that he is wise. Thus even fools appear intelligent and prudent when they are silent (UBS).

“The proverb aims to admonish the disciple to hold his tongue when provoked, not to conceal his stupidity as in the Abraham Lincoln’s witticism: ‘It is better to keep your mouth shut and let them think you a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt’” (Waltke).

However, speech impairments are never an obstacle for the Father.

The Father is always at work, and He invites us to participate in accomplishing His will and plans on earth. It may seem overwhelming when we contemplate what He asks us to do. We do a fast self-check and respond much like Moses did, “who am I?”

The bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter who we are. What matters is Who He is. He is “I AM.” The Father, the Lord God, omnipotent who He reigns from heaven above. There is no one and nothing like Him, no force, power, or created thing.

Our confidence does not come from our abilities but from His abilities. We are the “are nots” (1 Corinthians 1:28). Perhaps, as some might say, “a bucket of deplorables.” The Father loves to use weak, despised, and “inconsequential” things, people, and events to demonstrate His majesty so “that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7) (Stanley).

1 Corinthians 1:26-29

 26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.

 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.

 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing that the world considers important.

 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

REFLECT & PRAY

Unlimited power, knowledge, and ability are the resources available to any child of the Father. When He asks us to do something, He will give us what we need to accomplish His task when we need it.

Father thank You for always being at work and asking me to participate. I trust in You alone for the ability You alone provide.

INSIGHT

This world is dark and toxic. It offers a suffocating miasma of despair and futility. We are sent out as sheep in the midst of wolves. We are the light of the world. Jesus was under no illusions as He sent His disciples out to serve. He knew what was waiting for them – and He knows what is waiting for us. Still, He sends us to represent Him under the protection of His Father (Stanley).

Matthew 10:19-20

 19 Don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time.

 20 For it is not you who will be speaking– it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

This marvelous promise becomes a reality as the Holy Spirit teaches and empowers us to speak. The words may be totally of the Spirit of the Father. They are instantaneous in the moment. Yet, while spontaneous, they may represent years of training, experience, and walking with Father. A pastor was once asked, “how long did it take you to prepare that sermon?” His answer was 40 years.

Consider that our present difficult circumstances and trials and our reaction to them are the stuff from which the Holy Spirit later constructs the words we speak.

Luke 12:11-12

 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say,

 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.

We are qualified to do the Father’s work, not because of our own talents or abilities or training, but because the Father is with us. And if He is not with us, then no amount of skill or experience will make us qualified (Stanley).

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© Dr. H 2022

Ambiguous loss ∙

Ambiguous loss ∙

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” – John 20:1-2

Luke 24:9-12

 9 So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples – and everyone else – what had happened.

 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened.

 11 But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.

 12 However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.

Doug Horner tells the story of Gene and Sandy Ralston, a married couple in their 70s. They spend much time every year traveling to search sites or on the water. They are recognized experts at searching for and finding missing bodies of the dead. They have a fantastic talent for doing so (Theguardian.com, 1-16-2020).

When people drown without a trace, it is very difficult on friends and family. Without the body’s recovery, there is little chance for “closure.” But in addition to that, there is something called “ambiguous loss.” The absence of the body creates legal problems for courts, banks, insurance companies, and creditors. According to Robert Jarvis, a law professor at the Shepard Broad College of Law in Florida, such a circumstance “freezes the person who is missing, it freezes all of their assets, and it freezes all of their loved ones or anybody else who’s depending upon them.”

Perhaps the most well-known of all missing bodies is that of the Lord Jesus Christ. We all know the story. He died on a cross and was buried. On the third day, the stone that had sealed the tomb was rolled away, and the body was missing. It was perhaps the most “ambiguous loss” of all time.

Lies were immediately spun. Fake news was immediately spread via word-of-mouth.

Matthew 28:11-15

 11 Some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened.

 12 A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe.

 13 They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’

 14 If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble.”

 15 So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely . . .

Who Moved the Stone was first written in 1930 by Frank Morison. He was an investigative journalist and a skeptic of Christianity. He set out to disprove the Christian faith by showing the resurrection of Christ to be a farce.

The strangeness of the Resurrection story had captured his attention. He decided to prove once and for all that the story of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was only a myth. He probed, he investigated, and he went over and over the New Testament writings that referenced it. He focused on the Gospels. But something amazing happened!

The evidence demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. It was the only explanation that fit all the known facts of history. Only one thing was needed to prove that Christianity was a farce. The missing body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The body would never have been found even if Gene and Sandy Ralston had been on the scene and thoroughly investigated. The Lord Jesus Christ was no longer dead but miraculously raised from the dead.

REFLECT & PRAY

1 Corinthians 15:17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins

Father I pray that I will be able to understand the incredible greatness of Your mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at Your right hand in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:19-20).

INSIGHT

As Paul Harvey used to say, here is the rest of the story.

Matthew 28:1-8

 1 The new day was dawning; Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.

 2 Suddenly, there was a great earthquake! An angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it.

 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him and fell into a dead faint.

 5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come see where his body was lying.

 7 And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”

 8 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message.

John 20:3-9

 3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb.

 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

 5 He stooped, looked in, and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in.

 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there,

 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings.

 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed–

 9 for until then, they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead.

The fact that the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty is an undeniable historical fact. That the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead was no “ambiguous loss.”

He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

In 1 Corinthians 15:13-19, “Paul argues ad absurdum to show how futile the Christian faith would be if there were no resurrection of the dead. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then how can Christ be raised from the dead? If Christ is not raised from the dead, then everything based on that belief collapses in a heap of broken dreams” (Garland).

If only Gene and Sandy Ralston could be caught up into heaven, they would have solved the greatest body hunt of all time. In all of His glory, they would see not a long-dead lost body but rather the living Lord Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of God the Father. Instead of an “ambiguous loss,” it would be quite the opposite, a decisive, straightforward miraculous find.

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© Dr. H 2022

Bad girl, bad boy ∙

Bad girl, bad boy ∙

He has made us accepted in the beloved. – Ephesians 1:6

Romans 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

How many of us grew up in dysfunctional families? One or both of our parents were over the top with harsh demands and judgmental attitudes. Over and over again, we were told, “bad girl,” “bad boy,”  “you will never get anything right,” or “you will never amount to anything.”

Others grew up in religious homes where they went to church regularly. The fear “of God” was drilled into them repeatedly. Charles Stanley remarks, “The church I grew up in could sum up much of its theology in one statement: ‘Thou shalt not . . .’”

What a terrible legacy to burden our lives with. Indeed, we are damaged and wounded. Some of us carry this all of our lives.

In both situations, two vitally critical fundamental truths are totally lacking – sound teaching on the Father’s love and acceptance.

Stanley reminisces about his life and remembers, “I do not recall hearing about the Father’s love or how to live the Christian life. What I learned was that a wrathful God would punish me if I did not follow all the rules. And there seemed to be rules for everything – including what I could read, what I could wear, and what I could do.”

“As a teenage boy, I spent a lot of time begging the Lord to forgive me for one foolish thing or another. And I carried around a constant weight of guilt and worry everywhere I went. I just could not seem to be good enough. In truth, the rules were a burden to me, and since I thought God made them, He was a burden too.”

Regrettably, this is too often the case. The Father God is entirely different than what many have been led to believe. Sin, guilt, and shame are entirely dealt with by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and His subsequent resurrection. We are totally accepted and forgiven. We rest in the loving arms of our Father God, secure and safe, and totally beloved. There is no reason to fear.

Our distorted self-image is simply that “distorted.” We have to replace it entirely! Wherever there is error and incorrect understanding, it must be replaced with the truth of Scripture. We must choose to believe what the Father says about us as His beloved children.

It is simply time to stop believing lies, half-truths, partial truths, and outright deceptions that are only intended to drive a wedge between our Father and us and make us ineffective in His service. We have to totally abandon the fiction and myth that because of what we have done, we will never be good enough to be truly accepted and loved.

It is as though we have been working in a coal mine all day and are completely covered from head to toe in coal dust. We need a good scrubbing and cleansing to get rid of all the grime and filth.

Our souls and spirits become polluted by half-truths at best and erroneous, false teaching and distortions at worst.

The problem is twofold. On the one hand, we have a totally false conception of what the Father is truly like. Part of our misunderstanding is derived from our fears and dreads. This is analogous to the proverbial monster that lurks under our bed in the dark of night. We think to ourselves, “if I just hide under the covers, I will be safe.” The rest comes from our learned deformed and misinformed self-concept and self-image. It may haunt us throughout our lives.

What is the Father’s solution for false information, misinformation, or disinformation? In a word, Truth. What has the Father provided for erroneous and deformed self-image? A total makeover and transformation from the inside out.

The Truth is that whatever we have done in our lives before our adoption is totally forgotten by the Father when we become His children. The Father, who knows everything all the time, has chosen to forget!

Let that sink in.

He took us as we were, sinful, in some cases utterly horrid, and adopted us into His Forever Family. The act of adoption expunged the record of grievances He had against us. We start with a completely clean slate. He totally and completely accepts us. He places into His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

REFLECT & PRAY

“We cannot make ourselves acceptable to God; but He, by His grace, makes us accepted in Christ” (Wiersbe).

Father I can hardly imagine the incredible truth that You love me, favor me and have completely accepted me just as I am. But You have. You, my dear Father, have a special place for me in Your heart. Nothing can ever take that away.

INSIGHT

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic nearly shut down planet Earth. The death toll may never be completely known. But the truth of Scripture always stands firm, unmovable against short-term, although exceedingly deadly, awful, life-altering circumstances.

When we think poorly of ourselves, we are in direct conflict with what the truth of Scripture says. The Father does not lie. What He says is always true. If there is a disagreement between what He says and what we believe, it is time to abandon our way of thinking and align with His.

Romans 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

It has never been about who we once were or what we once did. Instead, it is about who we are and where we are now. We are the adopted children of the King. Each of us has been placed into Christ in some mysterious and mystical fashion; we are united with Him. We are precious in our Father’s sight.

In fact, being in Christ, His beloved Son, we are also beloved to the Father.

Ephesians 1:4-8 

 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

This passage is so very rich. The heart of this passage is Ephesians 1:6. Seeing it in several translations provides a bit of insight.

NAS Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

ESV Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

NLT Ephesians 1:6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

KJV Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved.

NIV Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

The Greek word translated as freely bestowed, glorious grace he has poured out, freely given, and accepted is charitoo. The noun form of charitoo is charis. Charis means grace or unmerited favor. It is getting something we could never deserve.

“The apostle is speaking about the love or grace of God as shown in our redemption. He has predestined us to be adopted as his sons, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which grace he has exercised towards us in the remission of sins . . .. Therefore, here ‘he has freely given us means to accept, to treat with favor” (Hodge).

Simply stated, the Father has “graced us.” He has favored us and given us what we could never deserve, adoption into His Forever Family and total acceptance and love. The very idea is beyond the capability of our human comprehension.

Perhaps an analogy we can grasp would be going to a pound, finding a battered, mistreated, and abandoned puppy, and adopting it. Bringing it home and welcoming the pup as a beloved family member. The puppy did nothing to deserve it. But his life is forever changed.

He is part of a new family and is dearly loved and cherished.

And so are you!

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Touching heaven and changing earth

Touching heaven and changing earth

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. – James 5:16

James 5:17-18

 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!

 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain, and the earth began to yield its crops.

Charles Grandison Finney was born in Warren, Connecticut, on August 29, 1792. He grew up on a farm with eight siblings. On October 10, 1821, while he was a law student at age 29, Charles Finney became concerned about the salvation of his soul. He entered the woods near his home to come to terms with God. That night, he had a dramatic conversion experience. In his own words, he felt “waves of liquid love throughout his body.” At the age of 29, he became a licensed minister. In 1835, he became a professor at Oberlin College, teaching systematic theology. Eventually, Finney became president at Oberlin College.

Charles Finney was not your average minister. He went far above and beyond. He became one of American history’s most influential (and controversial) revivalists and purportedly converted 500,000 people (Christianity Today). Finney is considered responsible for the Second Great Awakening Revival.

Finney was a man who believed in the power of prayer and letting God move in time. Here of some of his more well-known statements.

“Prevailing prayer is that which secures an answer. Saying prayers is not offering prevailing prayer. The prevalence of prayer does not depend so much on quantity as on quality.”

“Nothing tends more to cement the hearts of Christians than praying together. They never love one another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each other’s hearts in prayer.”

“If the presence of God is in the church, the church will draw the world in. If the presence of God is not in the church, the world will draw the church out.”

“Revival is a renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense desire to live in obedience to God. It is giving up one’s will to God in deep humility.”

“A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.”

“There can be no higher enjoyment found in this world than is found in pulling souls out of the fire and bringing them to Christ.”

“You hear the word and believe it in theory while you deny it in practice. I say to you that ‘you deceive yourselves.’”

“When you come back to God for pardon and salvation, come with all you have to lay all at his feet. Come with your body to offer it as a living sacrifice upon His altar. Come with your soul and all its powers, and yield them in willing consecration to your God and Saviour. Come, bring them all along everything, body, soul, intellect, imagination, acquirements-all, without reserve.”

“Christ is not only in heaven but Christ within us, as really and truly inhabiting our bodies as we do, as really in us as we are in ourselves. This is the teaching of the Bible, and it must be spiritually apprehended by a divine, personal, and inward revelation to secure our abiding in Him.”

“Sin is the most expensive thing in the universe. Nothing else can cost so much.”

REFLECT & PRAY

No child of the King is greater than their prayer life. The two prerequisites to successful Christian living are vision and passion, both born in and maintained by prayer (Ravenhill).

Father how I desire to touch heaven and change earth. Teach me and strengthen me to be a man with a passion like Elijah. May I hear Your voice and follow your directions.

INSIGHT

James 5:16 The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

In Greek, the word translated as effective is energoumen. Energoumen could be well translated energized. The English word energy is derived from it. Successful prayer is energized prayer.

When James speaks of effective prayer, the unspoken implication is that there is also ineffective prayer. How can we tell the difference?

By the results!

Effectual prayer is prayer that accomplishes something. More particularly, it results in the will of the Father being accomplished on earth.

Charles Finney was a man who prayed effectively. He touched heaven and changed earth.

The Father is always at work around you. The Father invites you to become involved with Him in His work. He does not ask us to dream our dreams for Him. He does not invite us to set magnificent goals and then pray that He will help us achieve them. The kingdom of God is not a democracy. It is a theocracy.

The Father already has His own agenda when He approaches us. He desires to invite us to leave behind our plans and aspirations and to accompany Him where He is working. He leads us from being self-centered to being God-centered. When the Father reveals to you where He is working, that becomes His invitation to join Him in His activity (Blackaby).

Effective prayer is a science whose laws can be learned. Effective prayer is praying the Father’s will into existence. To pray effectively, we must know what the Father wants to accomplish and pray toward that end.

James 5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

What is the difference between Elijah and us? This is not a trick question. There is a simple one-word answer: Nothing! Elijah knew what to pray and how to pray because he knew the Father’s plan. He heard the Father’s voice and told him what to pray and say. Elijah’s task was to pray what he was told into existence.

1 Kings 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives – the God I serve – there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”

1 Kings 17:2 The word of the LORD came to him, saying

1 Kings 18:1 Now it happened after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth.”

Praying is not a shot in the dark. It is not a net cast into the sea hoping for a good catch. Praying is working with God to fulfill His divine plan (A.W. Tozer).

To pray effectively is a skill that can be learned. Any child of the King can master it. Prayer is the hardest thing we will ever be called upon to do, and being human, it is the one act we will be tempted to do less frequently than any other.

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Guaranteed deposits ∙

Guaranteed deposits ∙

For I know the one in whom I have put my faith, and I am convinced that he has the power to keep for that day what has been deposited with me. – 2 Timothy 1:12

Luke 12:42-48

 42 And the Lord replied, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them.”

 43 “If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward.”

 44 “I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns.”

 45 “But what if the servant thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk?”

 47 “And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished.”

48b “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more, will be required.”

On June 16, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., or FDIC. The FDIC was established in the early years of the Great Depression after thousands of banks failed, resulting in about $1.3 billion in losses to depositors.

The act raised the confidence of the U.S. public in the banking system by alleviating the disruptions caused by bank failures and bank runs. The FDIC insures bank deposits: checking, savings, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, or CDs, for up to $250,000.

Perilous times, business failures, and bank failures disrupt and unsettle people’s lives and create fear and dread. To turn things around, a radical intervention is required.

What the Father has done for the children of the King is to provide confidence and overcome fear and dread. Is the Father capable of intervening and establishing stability? Does He have the resources? Can He be trusted?

The apostle Paul answered all these questions for all time. Paul knew the Father intimately.

2 Timothy 1:12 For I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he has the power to keep for that day what has been deposited with me.

The Greek word translated as know is oida. Oidahas the basic sense of perceiving or seeing, hence know. It is in the Greek perfect tense. The Greek perfect tense involves an action that occurred in the past, and the results continue into the present. Paul has come to know the Father, and their relationship continues to the present day.

This knowing comes through person-to-person experience. It requires a close and intimate relationship. When we get to know the Father in such a firsthand way, respect, appreciation, deserved recognition, understanding, and high regard automatically flow.

Simply stated, to know Him well is to trust Him completely.

Paul’s statement is pointed and emphatic; I know whom!The impact of Paul’s statement would have been significantly reduced if Paul had said ‘what’ instead of ‘whom’ (Guthrie).

2 Timothy 1:12 For I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he has the power to keep for that day what has been deposited with me.

Whom “I have believed” is translated from the Greek verb pisteuo, which means to believe, to entrust, or put faith in. It is also in the Greek perfect tense. Thus, it has the sense, “I have believed with the present result that my faith is a firmly settled one.” It is like hammering a nail through a board and clinching it on the other side. It is there to stay. So, Paul’s faith was permanently placed in his Father God. His faith was immovable (Wuest).

2 Timothy 1:12 For I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he has the power to keep for that day what has been deposited with me.

The Greek term translated as convinced, persuaded is peitho. Peitho means to persuade, to have confidence, and to be convinced. It is also in the perfect tense in Greek. He is utterly convinced and is continuously reassured.

As children of the King, how are we able to not live in fear and dread and have great insecurity regarding the future? Paul’s answer is to get to know the Father and spend time with Him. Getting to know Him as a person will inevitably develop trust and confidence.

Most of us know people who take over a room when they enter. Their presence automatically engenders respect and confidence. Suppose that person was a close personal friend. How would that change things for you? Suppose that person was your heavenly Father.

Paul had just that type of personal face-to-face relationship with the Father. The result was that Paul was totally persuaded regarding the character and integrity of the One in whom He had believed. Trust was no longer an issue. He had complete and total confidence in his Father God.

“His certainty did not come from the intellectual knowledge of a creed or a theology; it came from a personal knowledge of God. He knew God personally and intimately; he knew what he was like in love and in power; and to Paul it was inconceivable that he should fail him” (Barclay).

REFLECT & PRAY

Knowing the King of the universe can make all the difference for each child of the King. Because the King of the universe is our Father changes everything. But only if we know Him intimately.

Father thank You that I can trust You totally, encourage me to do just that with all things. Encourage me to get to know You better and better.

INSIGHT

But there’s something far more important than our bank accounts, certificates of deposit, and investments. The Father is not a bank in whom we place our deposits. We do not invest in Him. Instead, just the opposite is true. He has invested in us.

He has deposited in us great riches from his infinite reserves! He has the power to keep and protect what has been deposited within us. What is the nature of that deposit? He gifted us with untold resources and treasures. He gave us our minds, abilities, and personalities. He arranged our life experiences from before the foundation of the world. He gave us our spiritual gifts and provided opportunities to serve. With such riches come responsibilities and guaranteed results.

Each child of the King is responsible for investing and managing wisely. He expects us to be prudent, diligent, industrious, and tenacious. The two extremes of fearful conservativism and foolish, wasteful profligacy are to be avoided.

“Those who have heard and confessed Jesus as Lord are blessed above all others and may expect a wonderful future filled with privileges and even greater responsibility when Jesus comes to fully establish the kingdom of God. However, those who know fully well what Jesus demands and do not do His will receive greater punishment than those who never knew what was demanded. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded” (Black).

Have you buried the treasure He deposited within you? Have you wasted it on mere earthly pursuits? Or have you invested it wisely in the Father’s Kingdom and His pursuits? It is never too late to get with a judicious and farsighted spiritual investment counselor and reallocate your treasure portfolio.

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