Awaken the statues

The various promises of God stand firm throughout the ages:

"Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations …" (Psalm 119:89-90).

Man passes away like the grass, but the Word stands forever, including the promises of God that wait for someone to believe them.

I was in Maine recently on a college tour when the enemy of my soul struck with that old nemesis: depression. In my motel room I happened across these promises:

"The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore" (Psalm 121:7-8).

I claimed those promises as my own, remembering what God had cited in Hebrews as the reason for the downfall of the Israelites:

"… but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened" (Hebrews 4:2).

This is heaven's own alchemy; this is the open secret of a divine principle-that the promises of God come alive in our lives as they are activated by belief.

I picture God's promises like a garden of enchanted statues. To the faithless and insensible they seem lifeless and inert: uninteresting relics; people walk on by. But faith makes them operative toward the one who believes. God longs to bless-but He will insist on our believing Him!

So I made Psalm 121:7-8 my own:

"Lord, I believe that you will keep me from all evil, that you do keep my life. I believe that you will keep my going out and my coming in, from now and forever, and believing this and counting on it gives me courage to go on. For I have asked in Jesus' name. Thank you, Father."

There was power in the praying of it. I went forward with confidence.

Your garden is filled with statues. Awaken the statues.