What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31
Sometimes, even cartoons can be harsh. I once saw a “Peanuts” cartoon where Lucy
says to Charlie Brown, “Sometimes I feel we are not communicating: You, Charlie
Brown, are a foul ball in the line drive of life. You’re often in the shadow of your own goal post. You’re a miscue. You’re 3 putts on the 18th
green. You are a 7-10 split in the 10th
frame. You have dropped a rod and reel
in the lake of life. You’re a missed
free throw; You’re a shanked 9-iron; a called third strike; a bug on the
windshield of life! Do you
understand? Have I made myself clear,
Charlie Brown!”
There may be times when we feel like Charlie Brown. Our circumstances in life may cause us to
ask, “Is God for us?” I’ve heard people say that they truly
believe that God is working against them.
They pray for certain things to happen, and, later, when it doesn’t,
they think that God didn’t want them to have success. It is that type of thinking that God’s Word
dispels. It has been that type of
mentality that has kept churches stagnated and individuals from growing and
maturing. It’s that type of mentality
that leads people to say things like: “Maybe it wasn’t meant for me to be
married happily ever after. Maybe I am
always supposed to be sick or poor. Maybe God doesn’t have anything better
planned for me.” Because of past
failures and disappointments, we become filled with doubts, anxieties and
fears.
But the Gospel may be summarized in four small words: God is
for us!
God has given us this Good News to apply to our own lives and He has
given us this Good News to share with a dying and hurting world: God is for
us! No matter who you are. Regardless of what you have done. In spite of where you are in your walk with
Him. You are not on the battlefield
alone. God has your back. He is walking with you. David once wrote, “God is our Refuge and
Strength, a very present help in trouble.”
God is present in each of our troubling times. Jesus Himself said, “I am with you always,
even to the end of the age.” Wherever
you are, whatever your situation, and whoever you may be – God is with you and
God is for you.
Satan is always looking to accuse, to pile on the guilt, to
rub our circumstances in our faces to convince us that God has abandoned
us. Satan is quick to put people in our
path that will tear us down, gossip about our weaknesses and our struggles;
people who will remind us of our limitations and our boundaries – but satan
doesn’t have an answer for the Cross.
There is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ.
Christ Jesus comes to our defense. He provides for us. As the Good Shepherd, He tells us that
nothing will snatch us out of His hand.
As our Cornerstone and Foundation, He says build on Me, and WHEN the
flooding rains come, AND THEY WILL COME, they will beat against you but you
will remain standing. As the Vine, He
will bear fruit through His branches as they remain in Him. The God who willingly gave His own Son for us
while we were yet sinners, is more than willing and able to give us all THINGS.
God is for us – and because he is for us we have been
justified. Through the giving and shedding of Jesus’
blood on the cross, God sees us “just as if we had never sinned.” That is what we have been given through the
cross. The victory of Christ is
ours. As Christians, we can place our
confidence in the fact that no matter what we face in life we know – God is
with us, and God is for us.
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