His Faithful Love Endures Forever
My husband and I were supposed to be in Uganda this past week for an extraordinary opportunity to build churches and spread the message of Jesus Christ on a mission’s trip. We made the commitment in January and then COVID-19, the global pandemic, hit in March. We were concerned about the trip due to the health implications and I started to pray for God to give us an out to not have to go. But He still put it in our hearts to go, giving me some very clear signs of His direction upon my request. So, instead of praying for an out, I started praying bold prayers of protection and for us to have a great impact while in Uganda. I also asked my prayer group to pray for us and we made preparations to go as planned. Once I had finally surrendered to go on the trip in the midst of COVID-19, the trip was cancelled in July. What I learned was I cannot dictate the terms of my obedience to God. I must trust and obey His path for me!
While we were not able to go on this extraordinary trip to Uganda, I did some reflection and realized some extraordinary things had happened right here at home during my ordinary routine during the time we were supposed to be there. First, I was able to share a cloth that I blessed at the Stone of Anointing in Jerusalem last year with a family member that is battling cancer. God has placed the story of the woman with the issue of blood in my heart for what that cloth represents. That woman knew by faith she would be healed if she could just touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. Although we know the power of the Holy Spirit lives in us, the cloth I shared is a representation of faith for that dunamis power to release its healing. The action of giving the cloth to my loved one seems ordinary, but how it was blessed and its representation is extraordinary!
Additionally, I was able to share a job opportunity with someone close to me. I simply texted them the job details and contact information to send their resume. The next day, during my time reading God’s Word, I received a text from the person that they got the job! I was literally reciting Psalm 118 out loud and completing the chapter (verse 29) that states “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever” when I received her text. This was amazing because I have been praying in my prayer closet for God to bless this person with financial provision. I got a clear example that when we pray to the Lord, He hears us. And, when we say His Words out loud and believe them, He will deliver. My seemingly ordinary action of texting led to God answering my prayer, providing financial provision as requested for this person…extraordinary!
During this same week, when we were supposed to be in Uganda, I participated in the weekly prayer call with the group that had prayed for our protection during the trip. Three of us had heard a word regarding Rosh Hashanah, which leads to Yom Kippur and Sukkot, all Jewish holidays. I personally had read Numbers 29 during Rosh Hashanah, not intentionally, but by the sequence God has me reading and studying His Word. We are Christians, not Jewish, so we do not celebrate these holidays. But, I realize when the Lord repeats something and aligns a message to come at a particular time to you, there is a meaning behind it. I began to pray for God to reveal the message to me! I prayed for several days, Thursday – Sunday, and nothing sparked. I literally said out loud on Monday, which was September 28, “I guess I’ll have to wait on what it meant” and I went to start work.
Less than an hour later, upon reading my emails, an ordinary work task, the words “His faithful love endures forever!” were in a Daily Spiritual Fitness newsletter I’m signed up for. Wow! This time it was a reference from 2 Chronicles 5:13. This passage was occurring during Sukkot, hence right after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. All of my week’s events and repeating words were converging for God to relay a powerful message! But I knew not to force the meaning in my own wisdom and to wait on the wisdom of God. Through my surrender and letting God lead the way, a lesson reenforced from the Uganda trip plans, He brought it all together the next day when I woke up!
He spoke Rosh Hashanah to a group of Christians for us to reflect on what used to be required to be forgiven by the Lord. Rosh Hashanah begins a period of reflection prior to the forgiveness of sins on Yom Kippur. Then, Sukkot is observed to remember what God did for the Israelites in the wilderness when they left Egypt. Under the Old Covenant, during the time of Moses, there were very specific instructions and sacrifices that had to be made and repeated, year after year during these observances.
But, as Hebrews 9 and 10 explains, Jesus came and made a New Covenant to be the perfect sacrifice, once and for all, forgiving our sins forever. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NLT) He freely gave us salvation and eternal life as a gift, canceling the wage of sin, which is death. “His faithful love endures forever!”
The message God revealed to me from this past week’s encounters is this: we need to see the extraordinary in all the things God has done and continues to do for us and not take them for granted as ordinary! The gift of salvation is extraordinary! The ability to come to the Father through the Son because we simply confessed with our mouths Jesus is Lord and believed in our hearts God raised Him from the dead is extraordinary! Our ability to talk to God through prayer may seem like an ordinary routine, but that is extraordinary! And we get to come into the presence of God every single day, all day, whenever we choose! Compare that to what the Israelites had to do and repeat under the Old Covenant! God can and will do extraordinary things through us in Uganda, Jerusalem and right from our prayer closets, if we let Him use us, because He lives inside of us! We should constantly be amazed by all He does through us!
When we truly reflect on this, how immensely blessed we are through our salvation, we should want to obey God! Whether He wants us to go to Uganda during a pandemic, give someone something or simply send a text from our bedrooms, listen to God and follow His path! We can hear His voice by praying, reading and reciting the Word, meditating on it, and putting it into action! He has given us direct access to Him! We can’t let the ease of this access cloud our perspective of how extraordinary it is!
“His faithful love endures forever!” He has proven these words to be true. From creation, God has made provisions for us. He has revealed His ways, though we cannot fully comprehend them. And, in His perfect way, He gave His one and only Son to forgive us for our sins, allowing us to receive all that He has promised us! The more trusting we are with what He directs us to do, the greater the impact we will be able to make, wherever we are, because God is with us wherever we go! That is extraordinary! “His faithful love endures forever!” And because of this, I will never look at anything He does through me as ordinary again!
Be reminded that our God is extraordinary. Get the Centered in Christ: Steadfast and Immovable Devotional Volume I here!