Our God, who is all-wise, knew before the foundation of the earth that man would fall. He made arrangements for Jesus to trade place with us. Our Father knew that our heredity tendencies would be sinful but we could be nurtured into righteousness. We can be nurtured (through teaching and loving) back to Him. So He sends Jesus to show us how. This is so assuring, it’s not who I am now but who I can become through Christ.

And so we wait, groaning yet waiting, working yet waiting, occupying yet waiting, witnessing while waiting because we know, it will be any day now. Jesus will come again and make all things new. Everything that hurts or annoys will soon be no more. Patiently we wait for our home where changes never come. Things will be better one day, not on this Earth, but in the recreated Earth. There is still hope.

We are thankful for all our graduates and celebrate with them for sticking it out when the challenges were great. Do keep your eye on the prize. In Heaven, you will exchange your graduation cap for your crown of life. For those with young children, seek God’s way to educate them. The returns will be huge, not only in this life but in the life to come.

Like Jesus Christ, we can choose to conquer our enemies by doing good, or we can be conquered by our hate and malice. We can choose to use good deeds as our weapon or we can use the same weapon of revenge that our enemies used. We can choose to heap coals of fire on their heads or we can keep the smile on their faces as they gloat over us. We can choose peace by fanning, and keep fanning the flames of our fire of coals, or we can chose to be miserable and defeated.

Get acquainted with God’s promises today. They are more than money in the bank. He promised that in times of trouble, we should call on Him and He will deliver. You can rest assured that the grass will wither and fade away, but the word of God will stand forever. Just trust the Lord with all your heart and He will direct your path. Commit everything you do to the Lord and He will help you. And just in case you do need help locating His Bible promises, you can go to Guaranteed Bible Promises on Facebook; a compilation of some of God’s tried and proven promises that I have put together.

God was there when Jesus was being nailed to the cross. He was there when Stephen was stoned to death. He was there when so many of His children suffered for their faith. He delivered them all – in different ways. God sees everything and He’ll work it out for your good. Just continue in the faith. Don’t allow your temporary troubles to rob you of your eternal peace. Do not give up on God. Soon we’ll be done with the troubles of this world. We are going to meet our God.

If our good God saw the importance of allowing an axe to swim on murky waters, it is a straight testimony to his servants then, and now that God’s work would go on in-spite-of the increase in idolatry in the land. God’s truth would ‘swim’ irrespective of all the apostatizing – even among the sons of the prophets that were happening. We can take courage from God’s words that nothing is impossible for God to do. Absolutely nothing!

God’s people are being bombarded with one crucible after another. The enemy of souls is on a rampage of destruction. The fight is on! But we are assured that the hotter the battle, the sweet the victory. Our God Who caused fire to burn on water; Who lights fire without matches; and Who caused water soaked timber and stones to blaze in a pool of water will deliver His own! Our crucibles are only fuel for the fire! You can rest assured that though iniquity increases more and more, God’s grace and protection is here in even greater amounts. We will not fear because the Lord, He is God. He is God of the impossible.

Elijah called his fellow countrymen to take a stand. He knew very well that you are either for or against. You cannot be on both sides. Just like Joshua’s call to his people: “If God be God then serve Him”, Elijah asked for a decision – for or against. He said, “If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” My question to you this day is similar. Whom do you worship? What guides your belief system? Is it the God of Heaven or someone else? Make up your mind.