February 5, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Final Family Reunion
Passage of the Day: Genesis 46: 28 – 30 … 28 Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 29 Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.
30 Israel said to Joseph, "Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive."
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll is right in his devotional book for today that this short reunion scene, as touching is it is, becomes an apt reminder of the hope we have in Christ and our readiness to be with Him for eternity. In verse 30 of Gen. 46, Jacob, after holding his long lost son, Joseph, and after weeping and laughing with him, declared that he, Jacob, was ready to die.
What is not said in this passage is that Jacob could be ready to die only if his hope and faith were placed in The Messiah to come. “Israel” (i.e., Jacob) expressed his readiness to die because of Joseph being there to hold; and that’s a very human emotion. Maybe you have very deep emotions when you think of dear ones who are no longer with you in this life; and you know that the only way you’ll see them again will be in heaven.
But that latter reunion will never take place in the future unless your loved one was given over in faith to Christ sometime in the past before he or she died; and you are in Christ now. Perhaps you reckon that you’ll never see your loved one because you know, in your heart of hearts, he or she never accepted Christ as Savior/Lord during that dear one’s life. Perhaps you know that your departed loved one was a Christian and you now have doubts about your salvation. If this is the case, the most important question of your life now is …, “Will you be reunited in heaven with any Christians from your past who’ve gone on to be with the Lord?”
If you have doubts about that, you cannot go back and justify your lost loved ones in Christ. However, you can KNOW that you will be in heaven with any Christians who’ve gone on before you to heaven. And you can know that - IF - you really believe, acknowledging that you’re a sinner, Christ died for your sins; and - IF - you believe and declare Christ (to anyone) to be your Lord. And - IF - you’ve confessed that from your heart and with your mouth, YOU ARE SAVED! That’s the promise of God’s Word (see it in Romans 10: 9 – 13) And nothing you’ve done in your past or nothing you can do in your future can now separate you from any heavenly reunion you will experience when you die and are reunited with the most important dear One in your life; ... and that, of course, is Jesus Christ.
Since Joseph is a type of Christ in the Bible, imagine, after many years of not seeing Him, when you are translated into Heaven at your death, being able to spiritually embrace Your Lord. But there will be no tears of missing Him from the past. The only spiritual tears you will have, in Heaven, will be those shed out of sheer joy of being in the presence of Yeshua Hamashia, … Jesus, The Messiah.
Oh, how I longingly look forward to that reunion; but, to be honest, I’ve still got a lot of living to do – at least in my own hopeful time-table. But if, in God’s time-table, He would have for me to be with Him tomorrow, or in the next hour for that matter, paraphrasing what old Jacob said, “I am ready to die, because I know my Savior lives!”
How about you? Do you know Christ lives; and that He died for you? If you need to make that clear, for eternity, it would be my eternal privilege to usher you into heaven by hearing your confession and declaration that Christ is Your Savior. Contact me (you probably know my phone/email contacts) and let’s get this settled for eternity. Or get with some other person you know to be a Christian and give them the privilege of embracing a new Christian when you declare to God and to them that you’ve accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. That will be a union here in this life; but it will set up a reunion in the next and for eternity.
Oh, how I pray that we’ll one day embrace in heaven as brothers or sisters in Christ.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I long to be You, my Yeshua Hamashia; but as long as You give me life on this side, I will live for Your glory! Amen
Showing posts with label saved. Show all posts
Showing posts with label saved. Show all posts
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
2009 - Day 13 - The Turning Point
January 13, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: The Turning Point
Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 1 - 16 ... Please read and study this passage to which you are linked here.
My Journal for Today: And after I read that this morning, Charles Swindoll in his devotional makes a good point. That day when Joseph woke up I doubt if he had an inkling that his day would be a turning point in his life. Swindoll reminds me that the day Moses would witness the burning bush probably looked like any other dull and dreary day in the life of a shepherd when he woke up. And young David, who was out there in the fields watching over his daddy’s flocks, on the morning before he was to be anointed king by Samuel as the king-elect, probably had no clue that the day was to be a turning point in his life.
I remember that day on April 13, 1983 when I woke up to head in to work. And little did I know that when I plunked in a cassette tape in my car’s tape player to listen on the way to work that what I was to hear, and what was to happen shortly thereafter, would change the course of my life forever – yes, even my eternal life. Because on that morning I heard a story and some things transpired shortly thereafter that broke me to the point of me being able to receive Christ as my Savior and Lord. Yes, for me that morning, which started out as just another day, was THE TURNING POINT for my life.
And for Joseph, his day, depicted in Gen. 41, when he woke up as a prisoner in a dungeon in Egypt, had spent two full years there and had been passed over by the very man he was about to see in Pharaoh’s court again. But as events unfolded, Joseph began to see that that things would never be the same for him again.
You’ve read it in today’s highlight passage above. Joseph was brought to the king’s court because FINALLY Pharaoh’s butler, prompted by the king having a dream which couldn’t be interpreted by all the Egyptian wise men, remembered that Joseph, two years before, had interpreted his dream accurately. And so, Pharaoh called for Joseph and laid out the dream, telling him, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.”
And don’t you just love Joseph’s humble witness, as he retorts, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” As Swindoll point out, most of us, being put in Joseph’s place would probably have said something like, “Yeah; good Pharaoh; … and if that dude over there (pointing to the Butler) had just remembered me two years ago, I would have been here a lot earlier to help you with your dreams” But there were no sour grapes from Joseph. No, this was a man, as we pointed out yesterday, who had been put through the caldron of heat for two years; and he was ready for this TURNING POINT moment. And his reply was cool and calculated … humble to the core, conditioned by his readiness from the previous two years.
I’m thinking about that this morning as I sit here in my quiet time with God. I say to myself, “What could happen today which could be a turning point for me or for someone else?” Yesterday, our cleaning lady told me that she’d like for me to help a friend of hers come to receive Christ into her life. Who knows, maybe on that day, God might use me to be part of His design in the turning point in someone’s eternal life. Yes, who knows? Well, God knows; … and that’s all I need to know.
My Prayer Today: Lord, I’m in your hands. If this is to be a turning point day; I’m ready! Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 1 - 16 ... Please read and study this passage to which you are linked here.
My Journal for Today: And after I read that this morning, Charles Swindoll in his devotional makes a good point. That day when Joseph woke up I doubt if he had an inkling that his day would be a turning point in his life. Swindoll reminds me that the day Moses would witness the burning bush probably looked like any other dull and dreary day in the life of a shepherd when he woke up. And young David, who was out there in the fields watching over his daddy’s flocks, on the morning before he was to be anointed king by Samuel as the king-elect, probably had no clue that the day was to be a turning point in his life.
I remember that day on April 13, 1983 when I woke up to head in to work. And little did I know that when I plunked in a cassette tape in my car’s tape player to listen on the way to work that what I was to hear, and what was to happen shortly thereafter, would change the course of my life forever – yes, even my eternal life. Because on that morning I heard a story and some things transpired shortly thereafter that broke me to the point of me being able to receive Christ as my Savior and Lord. Yes, for me that morning, which started out as just another day, was THE TURNING POINT for my life.
And for Joseph, his day, depicted in Gen. 41, when he woke up as a prisoner in a dungeon in Egypt, had spent two full years there and had been passed over by the very man he was about to see in Pharaoh’s court again. But as events unfolded, Joseph began to see that that things would never be the same for him again.
You’ve read it in today’s highlight passage above. Joseph was brought to the king’s court because FINALLY Pharaoh’s butler, prompted by the king having a dream which couldn’t be interpreted by all the Egyptian wise men, remembered that Joseph, two years before, had interpreted his dream accurately. And so, Pharaoh called for Joseph and laid out the dream, telling him, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.”
And don’t you just love Joseph’s humble witness, as he retorts, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” As Swindoll point out, most of us, being put in Joseph’s place would probably have said something like, “Yeah; good Pharaoh; … and if that dude over there (pointing to the Butler) had just remembered me two years ago, I would have been here a lot earlier to help you with your dreams” But there were no sour grapes from Joseph. No, this was a man, as we pointed out yesterday, who had been put through the caldron of heat for two years; and he was ready for this TURNING POINT moment. And his reply was cool and calculated … humble to the core, conditioned by his readiness from the previous two years.
I’m thinking about that this morning as I sit here in my quiet time with God. I say to myself, “What could happen today which could be a turning point for me or for someone else?” Yesterday, our cleaning lady told me that she’d like for me to help a friend of hers come to receive Christ into her life. Who knows, maybe on that day, God might use me to be part of His design in the turning point in someone’s eternal life. Yes, who knows? Well, God knows; … and that’s all I need to know.
My Prayer Today: Lord, I’m in your hands. If this is to be a turning point day; I’m ready! Amen
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