He Does Not Change

Not to long ago, a friend asked me about a specific decision I made last year.  What made you do it? she wanted to know.

My answer was simple: the Lord directed.

I went on to explain to her that God had made His mind clear to me in regard to this event, and He gave me a peace that He would bring it to pass.  What I didn't tell my friend, however, was that that particular season in my life was excruciatingly hard.  I felt pulled in multiple directions, stretched thin until I couldn't stretch any more.  The Lord's will was not always clear to me; many nights I spent on my knees beside my bed literally crying to Him for an answer.  Time was ticking away quickly.  Yet there was always a pull, a divine pull, that drew me to God and gave me a [very] subtle assurance that He would provide.  Matthew 6:25-34 became my go-to verse for everything.

The Lord provided an answer.  It certainly didn't come in my timing--in fact, it came far later than I was even remotely comfortable with.  But it came.  And once I had it, I clung to it with all of my being.  Unforeseen circumstances continued to take place, making God's promise seem utterly impossible.  Perhaps it was, to the human eye.  Not to God.

Eventually the promise came to pass.  And as I was giving my friend the very condensed version of the story, she looked at me in awe.  "That's amazing," she said, "how you could just know God's will like that."  She couldn't wrap her mind around the idea of God revealing Himself like He had to me.

This post is aimed at my fellow Christians.  It is meant to be an encouragement, not a condemnation.

Revelation 4:5-8 - "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"

Hebrews 13:8 - "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

He does not change.  The God of the Old Testament, who provided water from a rock in the desert and who drew back the waters of an entire sea, is the same God of the New Testament, who turned water into flavorful wine and who overcame the grave.  This God is our God today.  He does not change.


It's scary though, isn't it?  To think that when Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given unto you," He meant it.  To think that He desires such an intimate relationship with us that we would know His heart and be completely consumed with Him.

My situation last year was not unique.  It isn't supposed to be unique.  In fact, it was a very, very mild example of what the Lord can (and wants to) do.  He wants to reveal Himself to His children.  He wants us to know Him.  And what's more, He deserves these things. 

Our God does not change.  He cannot change.  He has not lost any of His power over time, even though we may not see Him clearly in this world.  Take heart!  Push through the ceilings that are blocking your communication with your Lord.  Seek to know Him and hear from Him.  Know that He will not fail you.  Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

By Grace Alone

"...one of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God; that belief in Jesus Christ alone is all that is needed for salvation."  - Spencer W. Kimball

This quote makes me mad.  Actually, that's an understatement.  It infuriates me.  What Mr. Kimball is saying is that Jesus Christ died for nothing.  that He came to our sinful, wretched earth and died, just because that's what He did.

I have a question for Mr. Kimball, and everyone else who finds themselves siding with him:  Who is God to you?  Is He a fantasy; someone who lives in the sky and sends rain once in a while?  Is He someone who judges with lightning and anger?  Is He nonexistent?

I also have an answer for Mr. Kimball, and everyone else who finds themselves siding with him.  God is LORD.  He was and is and is to come (Revelation 1:8).  He created the heavens and the earth, and all of humanity (Genesis 1:1, 27).  He is love; He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us.  "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9).

Did you read that last sentence?  "...that we might live through Him."  Jesus Christ "made Himself nothing... He humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:7-9).  Why?  So that we would have eternal life.  Jesus Christ died, because we humans are too sinful and faulty on our own.  That is absolutely clear in Scripture; just read Leviticus and see all of the requirements and sacrifices because of our sin.  When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He took all of those sacrifices away.  Instead of pursuing works as a means of salvation, He provided the Way to heaven.  He IS the Way (John 14:6).  "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our LORD Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

Mr. Kimball claims that Satan is the author of this truth.  Do you see how perverted and downright twisted that is?  Satan has used the hard-to-grasp concept of the truth to say that because we can't wrap our minds around it, it must be false.  But there is ultimate beauty in the cross!  Of course Satan would try to strip that away.  Of course he would prey upon weak men to manipulate and turn humans against God.  Of course he would try to take any and every ounce of glory away from the Father.

But that is not Truth.  That is not what God intended, and it is not how man can truly live.  "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men" (Titus 2:11).  Salvation is in fact available to all men, but not by works.  It is ONLY by grace.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:8-10).