Promise

Well, I took my test today and did not do as well as I would have like, but I did to better than I did the last time and actually improved my grade a little instead of digging a bigger hole. There is still time to salvage the grade and make the semester a pretty good one. I fell down again today but I picked myself back up and reminded myself of the promises God has made as well as the ones that I have made and am trying to keep. I cannot let myself stay on the floor when I fall because then I sit there in my sin and have self pity. Getting up and moving on while asking for forgiveness, is a much better decision and reassures me that I am stronger than sin and I have a God who is willing to guide me and fight with me until the end. See, he will fight to the end no matter what, who we choose to fight with is a whole other story. The struggles we face are not ones that we face on our own and God has promised to watch over us and pick us up. He has given us an awesome chance to show him why we were created and what we can give back to him in return for giving us such a great opportunity to live. When God brought the flood it was because he was not pleased with the direction in which the world was going. They had turned their backs on him and he could no longer stand it. He still had some who were faithful to him and he saw it fitting that he spare them and let them begin life all over again but he set forth guidelines and a new covenant which is still upheld today. Let me say this, with the way our world is living right now, let us be thankful that God has promised not to destroy the earth again until the end times of the world.

For those of you that do not know what I am talking about, I am referring to Noah in Genesis 9:4-6. Here we pick up right after Noah got off the ark with the animals and his family and God is speaking to him. The verses state, "I will demand an accounting from ever animal. And each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 'Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made man. As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.' Then God said to noah and to his sons with him, 'I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you -- the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you -- every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you. Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.' " We are assured that we are safe and now that atonement has come, we have open access to the Lord so that we can live a life pleasing to him and . We are pretty much told that there is a penalty for murder in that man was made in God's image and if a man is killed, his blood must be shed as a result. We should feel privileged to be loved by a God who has promised to let us live here as long as we naturally live and he will not intervene in the sense that he will not kill all of us off. Though he has wrath, he seems to use it sparingly because his grace is so great and he has blessed us. I was telling a friend the other day that because of Romans 3:23, none of us deserve the grace of God but he has extended us a gift that we choose to accept or we do not. God is willing to take a chance on us even when he knows that some will reject him. Jesus went on the cross knowing that people would reject him but that does not change the fact that he died for them. The promise of life through the Father is one that will stand forever and I do not ever want to lose sight of that. I hope that you will extend this message to your friends, saved or unsaved, we need to be reminded of this from time to time because it really puts things into perspective.

Thanks to all of you who are reading everyday or at least trying and for those who can only read sparingly, stick with it and do not give up. Some of you may only get to read this and that may be the only glimpse of God you get. I encourage you to take advantage of this and continue to work towards his kingdom.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson