Promises

Psalms 116:8-9
He has saved me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. And so I walk in the Lord’s presence as I live here on earth!

Do you believe that what the word of God says is true at face value? This is a tough question to answer. A lot of times as Christians we get so focused on establishing the groundwork for our faith in a six day creation, literal temptation and fall of man, or Noah’s Ark, that we forget the rest of God’s word. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that the aforementioned aren’t true, and that we shouldn’t believe that they happened. By all means these things are fundamental to belief in God, the supreme Creator. What I am saying is this: we should focus just as much effort on believing and teaching passages like this one as we do on establishing the foundation of our faith on a six day creation!

There is power in this passage, confidence, strength, grace, favor, and forgiveness. The gospel is in there; Jesus’ redemption is in this passage. These verses are full of hope and encouragement. Hope is what brings about faith (Hebrews 11:1); faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).

If you don’t believe me, let’s check it out and see. “He has saved me...” This is in the past tense; it’s already been done. God, through Jesus Christ, since the beginning of time, has saved you (Revelation 13:8). But the second verse is present tense! That means the work of salvation is done so that you (we) can currently, right now, walk and live in the presence of the Lord, on earth.

There is no need to wait for heaven; no need to think, “When I die I’ll have peace; my (insert problem) will be gone,” because the Bible says you have it now, ON EARTH! Do you believe it? That’s the question!

We believe that Noah floated with the animals. We believe that David killed Goliath. We believe that Moses parted the Red Sea. We believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again on the third day. But do we believe that the abundant life He came to give is really ours (John 10:10)? Do we believe that we walk in His presence right here as we LIVE on earth? Or are we so caught up in our anticipation of heaven that we look right past the Christ who is with us?

It’s challenging, I know. You may even think that this is out of the norm; that’s okay. I believe all of the Bible, not just the fundamental stories that establish a base for religion. It’s time that we all start believing what the word of God says. It’s good to believe the stories (they’re true) but we have to believe the rest as well. We have to lay hold of the promises. We have to claim each word of the Bible as our own. We have to say, “I walk in the Lord’s presence as I LIVE here on earth!”