Even To Your Old Age

Even To Your Old Age

Isaiah 46:4 ESV "Even to your old age I am he, and to Grey hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and I will save."

I Will be 60 years old next year, and I work as a painter, a very physical and demanding job. Some days I come home exhausted and weary of mind, and my body aches everywhere. I had a ten hour day like that yesterday, but I woke up this morning and the Lord gave me this verse from Isaiah. What a promise! what a blessing to know that I He has everything under control, and I am his forever. (that's not presumptuousness on my part, that's confidence in His grace and faithfulness!)

It is a great comfort to know that I will grow old with the grace and mercy of God still with me and protecting me. Just as He has kept me alive this long, and has brought me through many dark and disappointing days, my God has promised to 'carry' me through this life, and into glory.

Even on those days when we feel useless and decrepit, He is in our corner, at our side, and In the heart of the believer. He has said "I will never leave you or forsake you", and " I will be with you to the end of the age".

As an ignorant new believer, a helpless child, God led me and protected me through many trials and failures, and I am still here in His service, 40 years later, because of his faithfulness and grace. I expect that he will carry me and lead me until I die and go to the Jerusalem Above, where I will see him face to face, and stand before his throne with all the saints who have gone on before me.

Ps.92:12-15 ESV "the righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him."

The born-again Christian is righteousness because of the finished work of the cross. We can continue to grow in Him, as we drink from his endless supply of Living Water. This grace in which we stand (Rom. 5:1,2) is a free gift from our heavenly Father. We flourish in His courts because we are in Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly places.(Eph 1:3, and Col.3:1-3)

We can continue to bear fruit in our old age, because Christ lives in us, and we are in Him! Eternal life flows through us and will carry us through this mortal life, and into eternity, where mortality will be swallowed up by immortality.

The hope that we have, is not 'wishful thinking', it is a confident expectation that God will complete what He has started! Christ in us, is our hope of glory (Col.1:27). Just as surely as Jesus is our Savior and His Spirit is in us, we are assured of a home in glory! Our sin has been washed away by His blood, and is no longer imputed to us (2 Cor. 5:18-21).

Like trees of righteousness filled with the sap of his grace, and rooted in the person of Jesus Christ, we can flourish and bear fruit into and beyond our old age. We won't always feel fruitful, but our faith and hope are in Him and we can remain always confident of His faithfulness.

God Bless you, as you rest in His grace!

©2012 Rev. Charles J. Loubert

Got The Victory?

Got the Victory?

1 John 5:4,5 "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"

When I was a new believer, there was a brother in our church who was an old-timer with many battle scars, and he would always greet people with the question "good mornin' brother, you got the victory today?"

I didn't know then what I know today, so I thought that 'the victory' was something that would come or go, depending upon my performance as a Christian, or upon my circumstances. Thank God, I have since learned from the Bible, that our victory is the result of our standing in Christ, and not some elusive state of mind or circumstances that can come and go in random fashion.

Our victory is the result of the God-given faith that is the birthright of every Born-Again Christian! When you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and you know that you have been placed in the body of Christ and forgiven through his grace and mercy, you will know that your victory is a guaranteed fact. You are free from all condemnation and guilt as a result of Jesus' victory over sin and death at the cross, and by his resurrection.

Consider these promises from the New Testament:

1 Cor. 15:56,57 "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God , which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (We are victorious because Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf, suffered the punishment for all of our sin, and defeated death by his resurrection!)

Rom. 8:31-35 "What shall I say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? it is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?..."

Things don't always go our way, and we sometimes feel that we are going to be buried under our trials and our problems, but always remember that God is truly on your side, and he does not withdraw his love from you every time that you make a mistake or fail to do the right thing.

He is our peace! Just knowing and believing in his freely-given grace towards us, gives us the firm expectation that all things will work for our good. Our victory is in Jesus, because WE are in Jesus. Always believe that God is on your side, in spite of how things look to you!

Rom.10:12,13 " For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lords shall be saved."

When the frijolies hit the fan, and you get splattered, always remember, you are still his child and he will never leave you or forsake you!

God Bless you, as you rest in him!

©2012 Rev. Charles J. Loubert

Are You Thirsty?

Are You Thirsty?

John7:37,38 "In that last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scriptures hath said, out of his belly [heart] shall flow rivers of living water."

In this scripture, we see Jesus offering living water to anyone who thirsts, and who believes on him. The only prerequisites here: be thirsty, and believe on Jesus. He is freely inviting us to enjoy his Spirit, to partake of his divine, eternal life! Jesus didn't offer Living Water to those who deserve it, or to those who 'tarry' for it, or to those who try to earn it through good works and good intentions; Any one who is thirsty and believes that Jesus is the source of living water, is invited to freely drink it.

Be thirsty, Go to Jesus, drink, and believe. What could be simpler? Yet, God's people, have managed to complicate and distort his simple offer of grace. We have piled on so many prerequisites and requirements, that many of the people who we want to reach, feel that they have been disqualified and must jump through a dozen hoops before Jesus will take time from his busy schedule and hear their prayers.

If you are thirsty for truth, and feel that something has been missing from your life, go to Jesus and freely drink from the fountain of his love! He has made the way clear for you! He has removed the stumbling blocks, and straightened out the road. Jesus has given you the green light, the go-ahead. He has and paid for your ticket!

No man, woman, or devil can prevent you from drinking from the well of eternal life! 'Whosoever will' is free to partake of the life of Christ! Even your own sins can not prevent you from approaching Jesus and receiving his forgiveness and his living Spirit! The people that Jesus has invited to his table of blessings, are all sinners. JESUS CAME TO SAVE SINNERS!

We all have fallen short of his perfect law, and none of us is good enough to earn his love; but through the cross, Jesus has made the way clear. He has paid the price, and has taken upon himself the judgment that we deserve. He has not imputed our sins to us, but has rather made it possible for his righteousness to be imputed to us. Don't take my word for it, read your bible, and quit trying to complicate the simple truth of God's grace with your theological systems and your unbelief. A New Covenant has been established, and everyone is invited to be adopted into the family of God, and to be a citizen of His Kingdom.

It's simple! You need eternal life. Jesus is the source of all life. You are invited to enjoy His life. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and He has freely invited ALL of us to drink from the fountain of his favor.

Isaiah 55:1 "Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Isaiah 12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

©2012 Rev. Charles J. Loubert