What a joy it was to have Dr. Allen McFarland as our special guest on Sunday! He preached a powerful message on how to overcome the enemy, and if you missed it, I encourage you to watch it here.
“Dr. Mac” reminded us that we can be victorious in this life because Jesus was victorious. I don’t know what you are facing today, but I just want to remind you that there is hope and that you can overcome!
If you find yourself stuck in a pattern of sin, buried under the weight of depression, overwhelmed by current events, wounded from another’s words or actions, at a loss with your health or finances, in Jesus there is hope!
Jeremiah is known as the “weeping prophet.” In Lamentations 3 he says, “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.” Sometimes we all get downcast. This earth is not our home. Looking at the situations we face or the situations around us, we can get down. Maybe you feel more than downcast though. You feel bitterness and gall. Hey, you are not the only one who has ever felt that way!
The key is what Jeremiah says in the next verse. “Yet, this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’”
In the middle of Jeremiah’s lament, he says, “Yet I call this to mind and therefore I have hope.” It’s not that he wasn’t hurting, but in the hurt, He remembered who God is and that gave him hope. What do you need to call to mind today? That Jesus is your Healer? Your Provider? Your Victory? That He is in fact who He says He is? That “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world”? That He is light? That Heaven is waiting for you? That you are no longer a slave to sin? That other people don’t have the final say?
Remember who God is. Remember His promises. You are not consumed. His compassions NEVER fail (not for you or me or any situation, no matter who’s fault it is). They are new EVERY morning (not just in the past, not just in the future, but today). Great is HIS faithfulness (not dependent on ours)! The Lord is your portion. He is enough to get you through. Wait for Him. In Him you will see healing and victory and provision. You will make it to the other side with an amazing testimony to tell! We can be victorious because Jesus is victorious!
As your Pastor, I have found myself disappointed that we are not able to meet together and do all the things we could do before COVID. I wish we could have Family Reunion and Student Camp and normal activities for kids and students. But, as I have said many times before, just because the church has been unable to meet like we used to, doesn’t mean we aren’t still the Church. We have never shut down and will never shut down. Jesus said that He builds His Church and even the gates of Hell will not prevail against it! We have hope to share and people need hope!
I’m praying this week that you will be encouraged, that God would revive your hope, that you would remember that you can be victorious because Jesus is victorious, and that you and I would have opportunities to share this good news with others. The best is yet to come! It is a joy to be your Pastor!