Skating On The Promises

This morning's sermon was extraordinary! I don't think I could even begin to do it justice, but there was a quote that jumped out and grabbed me:

"The weakest child of God can take the smallest promise of God;

stretch it over the mouth of Hell and skate across it."

WOW! What a thought!

The Scriptures are so full of the promises of God, that none of us should ever lack comfort, assurance, or faith. Yet we do. So many times we fret and worry regarding our lives, our souls, and our futures.

So it got me to thinking...what promise can I use to skate over the mouth of Hell?

Instantly, Romans 5:9 popped in my head, "Wherefore, being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."

But this promise does not always comfort me. I struggle constantly with assurance of salvation, since my heart is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9)

Then I thought of another favorite promise, "when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2)

Again, this failed to encourage. This is talking to the children of God. How do I know that it applies to me? Prayerfully, I bowed my head right there in the service, asking the Lord for one promise that I knew applied to me. Like a still, small voice, it came; "For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" (Hebrews 12:6-7)

This may not seem like much of a promise, but it was the greatest encouragement I could receive at the moment. I sin often, willfully. I stumble and fall on a daily basis. Yet my Father doesn't leave me in that sin. He rebukes and chastens me. His Spirit convicts and pricks, bringing me to a state of repentance. He never gives up or lets go. And His preserving grace is no less amazing than His saving grace. What a promise! What a Father! Clinging to that promise is like holding a chain to which all the others link. If I am His child then they do apply to me and I can boldly take comfort from them.

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,

but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth

the peaceable fruit of righteousness

unto them which are exercised thereby." (Hebrews 12:11)

Are you Skating on The Promises of God?