STANDING ON THE PROMISES: The Never-Ending Story of How We Are to Live

July 05, 2016

What is your process for finding direction and handling the issues that are in front of you? In fact, what is your process for living? You DO have a process. It may not be the right one, but it will most assuredly produce either fear or faith.

Reading today in Psalm 3 and Acts 23, I am overwhelmed with two godly men, David and Paul, and how intensely PRACTICALLY their process illustrates how we are to live.

PSALM 3

David was being besieged by his own son, Absalom. Many were saying, ""There is no deliverance for him in God.""

But David prayed and reminded himself of the promises of God.

""But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain.""

He cried out to God, God gave Him a promise about protection. And the result?

""I lay down and slept; I awoke for the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about.""

• He was in a tough situation
• He sought God in prayer.
• He received a Word from God.
• The Word took him from fear to faith.
• He lay down and slept, resting in God's promises.

FAST FORWARD TO PAUL, HUNDREDS OF YEARS LATER

Paul was being falsely accused and threats made upon his life. But the Lord came and ""stood at his side and said, ‘Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.’""

• He was in a tough situation
• God came to him—right to his side!
• God gave him a literal promise and direction
• Paul was at peace and could move forward in faith. (We later see him basing many of his steps of faith and actions upon this word from God.)

FAST FORWARD TO YOU AND ME, HUNDREDS OF YEARS LATER

The process God has is still the same. These are not mere stories, but instructions for us. Here’s the lesson: we only operate properly and move forward rightly (and sleep in the process) when we live by faith in the actual, literal promises of God (see Hebrews 11:6)

• We are in a tough situation, needing assurance or direction.
• We must cry out in prayer and seek His Word until we hear Him speak.
• He gives a Word from heaven: a promise and/or direction.
• We move from fear to faith.
• We lie down and rest.

If there ever was a moment in our nation when we need men like David and Paul, it is now. Men mighty in faith. Men who stand and speak God’s Word in the midst of a “crooked and perverse generation.”

The question now is simple: Will you and I be men of faith, like David and Paul? Will we cry out, hear God’s specific promises for us in His Word, and move forward in faith?

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