Promises
Relationships are full of conditional promises. Both spouses take vows in a marriage, an employee and an employer agree on the terms of employment, you know what to expect of your best friend and they know what to expect from you.
There are conditional promises in our relationship with God, too. If I think about it, this blows my mind. God, who made everything, owns everything, can create or destroy with one word, can "lay bare the depths of the sea," and measures the earth with the span of His hand...this same God has offered to enter into a conditional relationship with me! If He wanted to, He could set the terms of our relationship with no conditions on Himself, demanding what He desired, but He doesn't. The very nature of His words show the gentleness and kindness of His heart. He is so loving towards even those who have no interest in the terms of relationship with Him. This humbles me when I consider it.
One of the most amazing conditional promises God makes to man is in Psalm 91. If I really believed it, took it at face value, it would change my whole life. If I really believed God's word was His word, that His power was without limit, and that He never lied, reading this one passage would defeat worry in my life forever. Here it is:
Psalm 91:14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”
God PROMISES that if I will "set my love on Him," complete deliverance, safety, protection, and salvation WILL be mine. To set your love on God means to "put all your eggs in God's basket." It is what Jesus described as loving God with all your heart, soul, and strength. It means to make the first commandment (have no gods before Me) first again.
This is true on every level of existence. If I will personally set my love on God...make Him my only plan and knowing Him the most important desire in my life, then I can expect this promise of security, deliverance and salvation. It is also true for my family. As the leader of my family, I get to set the tone for where we set our love by where I set my love. I don't have to force my family to see things the way I do, I just choose the way I am going to go and let the truth of it, the fruit my decision, defend itself. This is also true for a city, a state, and a nation. What we set our love on...as individuals, families, cities, states, and nations...it really matters.
Probably the most obvious example of this is the United States. Despite a concerted and unrelenting effort to re-write history, the founders of our country intentionally set their love on the God of the Bible. George Washington, after being inaugurated as our first national leader, marched from the Federal Hall in NYC (the then capital of the newly formed US) and actually prayed a covenant with God, along with the other representatives of our country (it is no coincidence they prayed this covenant to God at the site of the World Trade Center). By setting their love on God, not only had these men just won a war against the largest superpower on earth at the time, they set in motion an experiment of freedom and self rule like the planet had never seen before. Despite trials, hardships, and numerous mistakes, the first country in the history of the world, next to Israel, to set its love on the God of the Bible flourished and, to this day, is still one of the only places in the world millions have risked their lives to get into.
In about 1960, the US began changing its mind about where to set its love. Since then we have seen the truth of this conditional promise from God. As we continue to divide our love, and even deny that God has ever had a place in the heart of our country, we have literally been pulled and stretched in every direction: morally, economically, militarily, environmentally...our world influence has diminished dramatically in that time as well.
This is the simple expression of our failure to keep a conditional relationship in place. But it isn't too late! The same thing happened in Israel, the other country to enter into this relationship with God. The prophet Joel (not to mention Solomon, who George Washington modeled His national covenant after) gave instructions for how to fix the relationship when we had broken it:
Joel 2:12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. 14 Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him— A grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; 16 Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room. 17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ 18 Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, And pity His people. 19 The Lord will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
If I will turn to God in my house, it will certainly be spared. If we will turn to God in our city, it will certainly be spared. If we will turn to God in our country it will certainly be spared...but it only happens in that order. It is my decision to go wholeheartedly after God that will change my nation from the inside out.
This weekend, from tonight at 6:00 until tomorrow night at 6:00, there is an opportunity in Kalamazoo to join together with others who want to see our city right with, and blessed in great measure by, God. Others who believe His words, and this conditional promise, are true. You can drop in anytime and ask God to have mercy on your home, your city, your state, and your country. Who knows? Maybe He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing?!
There are conditional promises in our relationship with God, too. If I think about it, this blows my mind. God, who made everything, owns everything, can create or destroy with one word, can "lay bare the depths of the sea," and measures the earth with the span of His hand...this same God has offered to enter into a conditional relationship with me! If He wanted to, He could set the terms of our relationship with no conditions on Himself, demanding what He desired, but He doesn't. The very nature of His words show the gentleness and kindness of His heart. He is so loving towards even those who have no interest in the terms of relationship with Him. This humbles me when I consider it.
One of the most amazing conditional promises God makes to man is in Psalm 91. If I really believed it, took it at face value, it would change my whole life. If I really believed God's word was His word, that His power was without limit, and that He never lied, reading this one passage would defeat worry in my life forever. Here it is:
Psalm 91:14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”
God PROMISES that if I will "set my love on Him," complete deliverance, safety, protection, and salvation WILL be mine. To set your love on God means to "put all your eggs in God's basket." It is what Jesus described as loving God with all your heart, soul, and strength. It means to make the first commandment (have no gods before Me) first again.
This is true on every level of existence. If I will personally set my love on God...make Him my only plan and knowing Him the most important desire in my life, then I can expect this promise of security, deliverance and salvation. It is also true for my family. As the leader of my family, I get to set the tone for where we set our love by where I set my love. I don't have to force my family to see things the way I do, I just choose the way I am going to go and let the truth of it, the fruit my decision, defend itself. This is also true for a city, a state, and a nation. What we set our love on...as individuals, families, cities, states, and nations...it really matters.
Probably the most obvious example of this is the United States. Despite a concerted and unrelenting effort to re-write history, the founders of our country intentionally set their love on the God of the Bible. George Washington, after being inaugurated as our first national leader, marched from the Federal Hall in NYC (the then capital of the newly formed US) and actually prayed a covenant with God, along with the other representatives of our country (it is no coincidence they prayed this covenant to God at the site of the World Trade Center). By setting their love on God, not only had these men just won a war against the largest superpower on earth at the time, they set in motion an experiment of freedom and self rule like the planet had never seen before. Despite trials, hardships, and numerous mistakes, the first country in the history of the world, next to Israel, to set its love on the God of the Bible flourished and, to this day, is still one of the only places in the world millions have risked their lives to get into.
In about 1960, the US began changing its mind about where to set its love. Since then we have seen the truth of this conditional promise from God. As we continue to divide our love, and even deny that God has ever had a place in the heart of our country, we have literally been pulled and stretched in every direction: morally, economically, militarily, environmentally...our world influence has diminished dramatically in that time as well.
This is the simple expression of our failure to keep a conditional relationship in place. But it isn't too late! The same thing happened in Israel, the other country to enter into this relationship with God. The prophet Joel (not to mention Solomon, who George Washington modeled His national covenant after) gave instructions for how to fix the relationship when we had broken it:
Joel 2:12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. 14 Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him— A grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; 16 Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room. 17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ 18 Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, And pity His people. 19 The Lord will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
If I will turn to God in my house, it will certainly be spared. If we will turn to God in our city, it will certainly be spared. If we will turn to God in our country it will certainly be spared...but it only happens in that order. It is my decision to go wholeheartedly after God that will change my nation from the inside out.
This weekend, from tonight at 6:00 until tomorrow night at 6:00, there is an opportunity in Kalamazoo to join together with others who want to see our city right with, and blessed in great measure by, God. Others who believe His words, and this conditional promise, are true. You can drop in anytime and ask God to have mercy on your home, your city, your state, and your country. Who knows? Maybe He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing?!
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