Backsliding…slipping from good behavior to bad. Most times it’s slow and insidious…our waywardness creeping steadily towards what’s wrong…and before we realize it, we’re caught up in evil. Rarely do we see a Believer blatantly plunge into the deep end of wickedness without regard of the consequences for themselves and their relationship with God. Backsliding is rationalizing away God and putting ourselves in control…and that never ends well.
Tag: promises of god
Acts 18: 9-10 ” One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid; Keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.’ “
After this revelation, Paul boldly stayed in Corinth for almost 2 years preaching and teaching the Word of God. Even when the Jews attempted to bring Paul before the Proconsul, Gallio, he refused to listen to the case. Proverbs 16:7 states, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies live at peace with him.” The very safest place to be is in the center of God’s Will.
I Chronicles 16: 31 ” Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns! “
All authority, dominion and power belongs to God. His throne is established from everlasting to everlasting… His glory displayed for all. Let the heavens and earth shout for joy, for the Lord reigns!
Revelation 19:9 ” Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb!’ And he added, ‘These are the true words of God.’ “
Jesus illustrated this passage in Luke 14: 15-24 in the Parable of the Great Banquet. When the invited guests declined dinner, the master had his servants go out into the streets and bring in the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. But with room still left at the table, the master then told his servants to, ” Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in so my house will be full.” Those who will be gathered around that magnificent banquet table some day will be exalted, glorified, and redeemed of God.
Lamentations 5: 19 ” You, O Lord, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.”
Over the course of time, kingdoms rise and fall. Mighty Rulers are in power, and then fade from history. But God’s all-powerful throne is established forever, His Kingdom permanently fixed and rooted from everlasting to everlasting.
I Corinthians 15: 10 ” But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect…”
Every time you discount the work of the Lord in your life…every time you treat with insignificance the miraculous things He’s done in and through you…you are maligning God. In effect you’re saying to the Lord, ” Your unearned favor towards me means nothing .” So today, think about just how far the Lord has brought you, and then thank Him…for you are who you are today because of Him.
Proverbs 21: 23 ” He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.”
You may know someone…it might even be yourself that’s developed this fateful disease know as Foot in Mouth. Some people are so affected, that the only time their foot comes out of their mouth – is to change socks! It takes wisdom and discipline not to just blurt out anything that comes to mind. It takes us thinking before we speak…is this appropriate?…is this kind?…will I regret saying this tomorrow? So much trouble and misery could be avoided if we’d just learn to think before we opened our mouth.
Isaiah 13: 11 ” I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.”
The day of the Lord is coming, and with it, judgment. The proud will be brought low, the cruel will be stopped in their tracks. The Lord’s fierce anger and wrath will not be held back from the unrighteous. The day of the Lord is coming.
Jeremiah 51:15 ” He made the earth by His power; He founded the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.”
At that pivotal moment…at the beginning of time…God brought into existence the heavens and earth. He created the world and everything within it, and stretched out the heavens like a tent across the sky. In God’s infinite intelligence and knowledge, all was called into being…where there had been nothing before.
I Thessalonians 3:13 ” May He strengthen your heart so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones.”
While the authority of Jesus may go totally unnoticed and often maligned by the world today, it’s not a matter of if…but rather when His return will take place. And on that magnificent Second Coming of Christ Jesus, His power and glory will be revealed to all the earth.