Confident that God's Promises are Unbreakable

What phase of life creates the most stress for a human, the past, present or future?  I would say that it is the unknown in our future that brings the most anxiety.  We all wrestle with questions every day that involve our future, like, "What will my health be like tomorrow?"  "Will my kids ever learn to make the right choices?"  "Will I have enough money to retire?"  "Will we be destroyed by a meteorite?"  On and on the questions about our future can dominate our thinking and bring about an extra added burden of stress.  As we are finishing up with the book of Daniel, God uses the last chapter to reassure His faithful, yet aging prophet Daniel, about the needless burden of stressing about Israel's future.  This burden is alleviated by this simple fact: God is in our future!  It is this fact that allows God to make the following four absolute promises concerning humanities future:

First, God promises His children that He will rescue them (12:1).  This promise not only applies to Israel, but also for the church today (1Thess. 4:13-ff;Rev. 2:25;3:3).  Second, there is a promise of a resurrection (12:2,10).  Those who live a life according to God's Word will receive life, and those who live opposing lives will experience a resurrection unto death.  If there is no eternal second life, then Jesus is a liar (John 5:25-29).  Third, there is a promise of resolve (12:5-12).  No matter how bleak this world's future may seem, there is coming a definite end.  All things good and evil will come to a predetermined end.  The anti-Christ and Satan will be defeated and judged, and the righteous will be rewarded with the rule of Jesus Christ.  And fourth, there is a promise of rewards for the faithful (12:3,12-13).  This reward includes the promise that God would grant Daniel a peaceful life and death.  It is the God of the Bible that alone knows every man's future, and has promised to walk with those who choose to walk with Him.  With a God like this, why should we allow worry and stress to dominate our lives?  Until next time, keep walking close to Christ.

Confident that God Sees Each Step I Take

As parents, we look forward to the many special moments that make up the growth of our children.  When they are born, we love being able to hold them in our arms and surround them with all the love we can squeeze into their tiny bodies.  But it is not long before they begin to grow up so quickly, and we find ourselves not able to hold them as we once did.  One aspect of this development is waiting for your baby to take their first steps.  They go from laying, to rolling, to crawling, to standing, to walking, and then running.  And even though as a parent we long to experience all these events with our children, there have been many parents who were not able to share these momentous endeavors with their children for one simple reason:  they could not be in two places at once.

This is never true of God, our Heavenly Father.  The whole book of Daniel has proven this very fact.  In fact, in Daniel 11, God gives Daniel detailed instructions of specific step several of the great kings of this world would take.  God walks in the future and saw every step king Alexander the Great made in life(11:3-10).  God witnessed every step of Antiochus the Great (11:11-20).  God watched every step of Antiochus Epiphanes (11:21-35).  And God knows every plan and step the final anti-Christ will make(11:36-45 & Rev. 13-17).  It does not matter who you are, where you are, or what you do, the Almighty God has His eyes on you.  He knows every step the wicked and righteous will make in their life.  He sees every day of man's life.  The Bible says that there is nothing hid from God.  With God's eyes fixed upon you, as if you are the only person in the universe, it should motivate us to live a more righteous and obedient life before Him, as well as, be comforted in knowing that God never leaves His children alone.  Until next time, keep walking close to Christ.