Heart Meditations

Scripture – Acts 2:29-33 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.  (30)  Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,  (31)  he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.  (32)  This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.  (33)  Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”

Observation – The word “Oath” in vs 30 and the phrase “This Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witnesses” jumped out at me.

Application – What has God promised to me by oath?  To be honest I was not sure exactly what an oath was.  After doing a little searching I found a few verses where God’s makes this oath to David.  Here is one of them.

Psa 132:11  The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.

So from what I can tell an oath is basically a firm promise, about which God will not change his mind.  A few promises like this came to my mind;

Luk 11:13  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Joh 14:2-3  In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (3)  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

I am sure there are hundreds of promises or oaths in the Bible.  However the thing that stood out to me was that though David was long dead and buried.  Though he died never seeing the fulfilment of the oath God had made to him.  Though everyone had forgotten about the oath and God could have ‘gotten away’ without keeping it, God still kept His oath and more than that, He wanted people to know He had kept His oath.

God will keep His promises to me long after I have forgotten about them.  I want to share a personal story about how God has done this in my life.  My wife Jodi (the beautiful one in the picture) is from Alabama from a typically close knit (if a little bit insular :)) southern family.  So when we got an opportunity to come to the UK (i’m from the UK) to minister the major issue that was on our hearts was how we would get to see her family as often as we would like.  Well flights aren’t cheap and minister’s don’t get paid a lot so before we left we prayed about it, and to be honest it was kinda half hearted because it just didn’t seem possible.  We reasoned that God knew our family and their needs and if God was calling us to the UK he must have a plan for us to be able to get back at least twice a year so we asked that God would bring us back twice a year.  As God is my witness God has faithfully kept that deal with us in the most unexpected and miraculous ways.  God keeps His promises.

But the last part that caught my attention was the statement that Peter makes that they have all been witnesses of the resurrection and I just wondered, could the same be said about me.  Have I been a witnesses of the ressurection?  Of course I wasn’t there to see it, but have I had an real encounter with the resurrected Christ?  Have I been filled with the Holy Spirit that the Father promised?  If you had asked me this question a few years ago I would have given a qualified answer.  But I am so glad to say that over the last few months God has really been moving in my life, not that I am perfect, but I have experience His power and presence in such an undeniable way.  I know for a certainty that Jesus is alive and that the Holy Spirit is real and that of all people He has been poured out on me.  It is such a humbling thing, but the real question is what am I doing with what I have been given?

Prayer – Father thank you so much for keeping your promise to me.  Especially your promises to give me your Holy Spirit if I ask.  I ask for even more of your Spirit, that you would stir up the gift that was placed in me by the laying on of hands.  Lord and I ask that you give the faith to remember the the Holy Spirit is the guarantee that you will fulfil your promise to come back for me and bring me to be where you are.  Help this to become more real in my mind and life.  Like David help me to see it and live in this reality.

Amen