The Power of Promise

Four of us. Two sitting comfortably with their meals before them. Two who had prepared to leave but now stood with heads bowed. In a diner. Praying for God's favor. Having church.

Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. ~ Matthew 18:18-20

I am not even going to pretend I understand all the implications of those verses, but I do know that God was in our midst. The two sitting were complete strangers to me. The woman who stood with me, one whose friendship I've only begun to savor and, I pray, will enjoy for years to come. And God. 

It is God who does the binding and loosing. It is God who does. And it is God, through the name and person of Jesus Christ, who is present. And it is His people who obey in faith.

Hebrews 11:1-2 tells us that those who served God, going before us, gained a good testimony (or had counted to their credit) because of their faith, and that faith is the substance of the things for which we hope and the evidence of things we can't see. Verse 3 assures us the earth itself was formed from that which we cannot see, the word of God. And verse 13 drops the bomb:

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Not having received. Does this mean they were fools? Does this mean God is the maestro of some cruel joke orchestrated throughout the lives of "His people" for centuries? No, this is faith. Faith in a God who is always merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth, forgiving and just; a God who does not change His mind or lie. A God who has prepared something better for us in the land to which we are called, the land for which we were created, the land that is our home. Hebrews 11:14-16 continues:

For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Speaking of those who died in faith not having received, God, through the author of Hebrews explains that not a one was lying on their deathbed mourning what they hadn't received, but were instead rejoicing, eyes pointed upward, knowing that they were about to receive all that had been promised to them in its perfect glory.

Assuredly I say to you, Jesus says. He is in our midst. The power of Promise. Believe and obey.

Can You See What God Sees?

I was having breakfast with a friend and discussing past relationships --exchanging war stories, you might say. When speaking of his divorce, he said, "It sounds crazy, but what really bothered me was that I could see just how good it could be between us; but she didn't get it." Not crazy at all. I've heard that divorce can be for some, like the death of a dream. I was standing in my kitchen the day I realized I was grieving what might have been. I'd had a vision of what my marriage would be: a growing old together thing, a 'til death do us part thing. I was, when it came to my ex-husband and I, apparently, the only one who could see the vision. My friend felt the same way in his circumstance. Why stay married? our exes argued. They couldn't see. 

As my friend and I talked that day, God began impressing upon me the importance of vision. Do you know that God has a vision? Not just for everybody, but for each everybody. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." His vision is for the world and each and every whoever who will believe in His Son, Jesus, as the Lord and their Redeemer. Ephesians 1:4 says that those who are in Christ were chosen before the foundation of the world. Even before God created this perfectly designed place for us to live and breathe and thrive, He knew our names and had a vision for us. 

When it comes to the visions my friend and I had for our relationships, we couldn't tell our exes how many children we would have, or what they would look like, or how --exactly-- we'd be able to afford our mortgage each month, or even guarantee neither of us would ever get COPD or laid off from a job or suffer a breakdown. Maybe it was that very lack of specifics that made the visions too scary for our exes to stick around. As spouses, they were going to have to trust us when their eyes would not allow them to see for themselves. Perhaps, as their spouses, my friend and I didn't always prove to be perfectly trustworthy; maybe there was trauma in their pasts they allowed to prevent them from trusting, no matter how trustworthy we were. 

Our relationships, specifically our marriages are meant to be a picture of our relationship with Jesus. You see, God doesn't always lay out every detail of His vision for us either. We don't always know if the IVF will work, or if our children will be healthy, or if we will be approved for the mortgage, or if we will ever be well or employed or free of suffering this side of heaven. And maybe it's that very lack of specifics that has kept you from coming to Jesus or following too closely. As our Spouse, Christ has promised He is with us always and He is working on our behalf, preparing a place for us in heaven, giving us peace, guarding our hearts and minds, enabling us to obey, and making intercession for us. We can trust Him when our eyes will not allow us to see the vision for ourselves. He is perfectly trustworthy. Whatever trauma or betrayal we have experienced in our past, whatever things may have caused us to mistrust everyone or maybe even, lay aside dreams, those things can be healed, redeemed by the truth of God's Word and the renewing of our minds in Christ Jesus.

Someday, who knows when, maybe you and I will meet in Heaven. We won't be swapping war stories or questioning why we stayed, I'm sure. But I imagine us sitting over a cup of coffee, laughing and telling one another how the plan God had for our lives on earth was shocking, unpredictable, bigger than anything we could imagine, and the most magnificent ride we had ever been on! All we had to do was trust the God who sees the vision.