by Mr. Francis D'Souza
God has made provisions for every need of ours and hence we can pick up any of our problem, difficulty and say “FOR THIS I HAVE JESUS”.
The preacher was speaking on the subject “The Abiding Love Of Christ” As he was concluding his talk he kept on repeating the words “for this I have Jesus” and then he invited some testimonies. A girl came up and testified thus “while listening to the message I received a telegram saying, mummy is very serious rush by the earliest train, my heart sank at first but then I told myself – for this I have Jesus and instantly my heart was flooded with peace. Then I had the anxiety of traveling alone by train – but again those words gave me a deep peace. And thinking of all the pain tension and anxiety my heart ached, once again the words – for this I have Jesus gave me the peace that passes all understanding.”
Taking a close look at God’s deeds we see the saving hand of God and for this a we will look at some scriptures which will indeed give us a lot of hope and assurance to face life which is already full of problems and also help others along our journey through life.
Exodus 14:22, 29 talks about God’s deliverance for his people from Egypt, the land of bondage and suffering. The familiar words in these verses are “the people of God walked across the Red Sea as on dry ground with walls of water to the right of them and walls of water to the left of them.” God will raise walls whenever necessary to save us and deliver us. These walls will provide us the passage to the land of liberty in spite of the problems.
Joshua 6:5,20 talks about the walls of Jericho which prevented the people from advancing into the promised land. God instructed Joshua to go around the city walls once each day for the first six days but on the seventh day to circle the city walls seven times and on the seventh time to give a loud shout. At this shout the walls would collapse Joshua was told by God. AND COLLAPSE THEY DID. Whenever walls come our way in any form we can experience victory by shouting the praises of God, as did Paul and Silas in Acts 16 as did Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20.
Job 1:10 talks about the wall that protected Job, his family and all that he had. The devil trying to incite God against Job lets out the secret of the WALL OF PROTECTION that God has put around each of us. In addition to what God says in Psalm 121 he also sends his angels to guard and defend us. Psalm 139: 5 talks about God fencing or hedging us in from front and from behind. Elsewhere we read, He is to the right of us, to the left of us, He is above us, and below us, He is within us as well.
Finally Zechariah 2:5 talks to us of the wall of fire which the Lord says he will be for his people. He says that Jerusalem will be so blessed with prosperity that walls will only be a limitation and hence no walls would be required and as far as the protection goes God says he himself will be the protection around the city.
With all this i.e. God’s protection and presence we have nothing to fear because God is with us and is faithful to his word. The Old Testament is a shadow of the great things he would do in the New Testament which he did by sending his only son Jesus who alone is the yes to all of God’s promises (2Corinthians 1:20). Jesus himself reassures us as he tells us in Matthew 28:19 “I am with you all days even to the end of time”. Hebrews 13:5 I will never leave you or forsake you”
My part is to trust him, glorify him and call upon his name Psalm 91:14,15
May you be blessed with the ‘upward look’ of faith in the almighty God, ‘forward look’ of expectation of his deliverance and the ‘backward look” evoking gratitude unlimited.
Additional scriptures:
Exodus 14:14
2 Chronicles 20:15
Romans 8:31ff
So do not loose hope God is always with us.