Life Preserver

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture, rejecting fear and championing faith in God. It discusses the judgment and preservation of life during the time of Noah and the flood, as well as the importance of seeking the Lord and listening to His voice. It emphasizes that God has a plan and will provide strength and peace to His people. The message encourages obedience, preparation, and being active in fulfilling God's purpose, while reminding us of God's infinite love for us. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Psalm 29.10-11 The Lord sat enthroned at the flood. Yes, the Lord sits as king forever. The Lord will give strength to his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. The Lord is a preserver of life. He is also the righteous judge. He gives chance after chance after chance. But sooner or later, there comes a time when the chances are done and judgment is rendered. He is still a preserver of life. Egypt was judged for falling away from the worship of the true God. They originally came from Ham, the son of Noah. They knew who he was. For the abuse of the Israelites for decades upon decades. Exodus 1.8-11 And when judgment came, the angel of death came to Egypt. So did the Lord. The Lord came to prevent death from entering marked homes. Exodus 12.23 The Lord came to preserve life. The judgment was a righteous necessity that we as humans will never fully understand. But we can clearly see that the Lord saved people that night. At the time of the flood, there was almost nothing but sin on the face of the earth. Genesis 6.5 It had spread and was infecting everything. Well, almost everything. There was still one family following the Lord, for sure. They weren't perfect, but none of us are. They reverenced the Lord. They pleased the Lord. Genesis 6.8 The Lord had Noah build an ark and preach. For 120 years he preached. Genesis 6.3 Noah spread the word of coming destruction. 2 Peter 2.5 He probably had help in that. I mean, Lamech and Methuselah, his father and grandfather, were still alive. But in the end, despite their efforts, 1 Peter 3.20 people did not choose the Lord. So God closed up the ark. Genesis 7.16 And judgment fell. More than that, God sent the flood to preserve the earth. To save and restore his creation. To eliminate the sin that, like a cancer, had spread to almost everything. Yes, hundreds and thousands of people who had chosen sin and not listened to the warning died. But billions and billions of people have come since then. We were able to come because of God's actions at the flood. God was a preserver of life. The Lord, righteous God of all, was enthroned when the flood came. He pronounced judgment from his throne. He wept over the loss of life. He preserved faithful followers. He made a way for life to continue. As king and sovereign Lord, he did what he had to. When the time of mercy had ended, judgment and rescue came. Yes, even in judgment there was mercy for those who had sought him. Jesus gives another warning, like Noah had in the century before the flood. As the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in those days which were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship. And they didn't know until the flood came and took them all away. So will the coming of the Son of Man be. Matthew 24, 37-39 The Lord was enthroned back then. The Lord was enthroned when Jesus was here. The Lord is enthroned now. Noah warned. Jesus warned. Is warning and will continue to warn until the judgment falls. Are we listening? If so, what are we supposed to do? I'll give you a hint. Not fear. Upheaval is never fun. Not on a small scale and not on a big scale. We stress about it. Things can seem to get out of control. We don't like that. As a species, we like to have things in hand. It's a throwback to the garden where we were the ones in charge. That God-given drive to run things has never really left and has been used to terrible purpose by the enemy over the years. When things spiral out of control, regardless of scale, we flounder. We feel lost. I think that's why we put the possibility of a disaster far from us. Take the big one due to the Pacific Northwest of North America. We know from history and the geological record that one occurs about every 250 years. They are overdue for one. But you don't see earthquake kits in everyone's homes. You don't see the homes protected against major seismic activity. People seem to know about it, but no one talks about it. Emergency plans are not well tuned. No early warning system exists there as it does in Japan. Children in school aren't really taught much more than duck and cover. They know a bad thing is coming, but they're avoiding thinking about that. How much more do we do this regarding the coming events of this world? We all know about the book of Revelation. It doesn't get read much. When it does, it tends to go like this. And the vision came to John of what will come, great trials, great tribulations, mumble, mumble, mumble, and we'll all get caught up in the clouds with Jesus and live forever in the new heaven and the new earth and the Bible. This is not helpful. It was given to us for a reason, so that we could see all that was going to happen, so we could see it and know that when it happens, we can be assured that God has a plan. He is not surprised by the events of the world. He knew from the beginning what the deal was, and He arranged everything the way He needed to. We may be woefully underprepared, but He is not. We need to be seeking the Lord. Matthew 6.33 If we are not humble and broken before Him, how are we ever going to get ourselves to shut up long enough to do what He's telling us to do? It's like having someone on speakerphone beside you while you watch TV, do your taxes, talk to your kids, argue with a partner, and have the fan on in the kitchen because you're cooking dinner. The chances are extremely high that the one thing not physically in the room with you is going to be the thing you're not paying attention to. The more we let the things of this life get our attention, the less likely it is that we will be listening to the Lord's voice. Listening to the Lord has become more important than ever. Sometimes it's because He's our early warning system, telling us to do this or that, which turns out to be just what we need to have done when the pinch comes. Other times, He is the guidance to get you through the thing that showed up out of the blue. Nothing ever comes out of the blue for the Lord. He's always ready. He's never surprised. If we're listening, we won't be worried about whether we are surprised or not. We'll be able to stay confident and have peace that He knows what to do. For as the lightning flashes from the east and is seen even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Matthew 24, 27. The Lord warns us. He'll spend years or even decades telling His church a message. But when the Father says, move, things happen fast. Those plugged in to the Lord will not have issues. Problems may face them, but the Lord will have solutions. Those obeying His voice will have nothing to fear. They will have confidence in the Lord and what He is doing. We live in a world that is not following the Lord. Quite the opposite. They are trying to smash God in every way they can. When the consequences of their actions arrive, there's going to be total chaos. That chaos will be outside the yard of the Lord. It will be on those outside His fence. Inside, sunny skies and no panic. Because we know that the Lord planned this. We know that this was not happenstance. We know that everything is going to be fine. We have a good Father, and He will not let our feet get caught in the trap of this world. Proverbs 3, 25-26. The Lord has strength for His people. He will lend us what we need to get through what is coming at us. The Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise Him. My Father is God, and I will exalt Him. Exodus 15, 2. The Lord is our strength. His joy is our strength. As we truly enter His courts praising, we get help. We get strength. When we rely on His strength, not ours, through praise and worship, then we can do all things that we have been called to. Philippians 4, 7. It doesn't happen by accident, but only when we seek Him. 1 Chronicles 16, 11. This is imperative. This was the message Noah preached for 120 years. Seek the Lord. He knows what's coming. He prepares us and gives us strength. Seek the Lord. Only He can save you. Seek the Lord. He is eager to be found by you. The message hasn't changed or diluted in the years since Noah. We have the same message. We have the same mission. Consequences are coming. Signs and wonders are about to erupt in the world around us. In Him we have no worries. We can lay aside all that troubles us after having taken it to the Lord. Psalm 55, 2. And Philippians 4, 6-7. The Lord has it. The Lord has us. Why fear? Why worry? He has us. The peace of the Lord comes after we lay our cares on Him. Because as long as we are holding those things, we can't have peace. They are links bringing us down into the flesh, into the here-and-now worries, into the here-and-now distractions. We should be using the Word to strengthen the bond between us and the Lord, to not only acknowledge that He is the vine and we are the branches, John 15, 1-7, but to start taking our food from Him. He says in His Word that He will sustain us, Isaiah 46, 4. If that is true, and God is incapable of lying, then we had better start getting the Word into us. We need feeding. We need strengthening. We need peace. Yahweh God Almighty has all three for us if we'll take them. If we will obey the voice of the Lord who speaks to us always, we'll have confidence that He knows what He's about. That confidence breathes into us and helps us prepare for what is coming. We get to walk in perfect peace, peace that others won't understand. That is okay. Our witness is them seeing Jesus in us. It's about them seeing us panic-free. It's about them seeing us full of strength and confidence. It's about giving Him the glory to be lights on the hill, light in the darkness. He is the King forever. We'll help. Just listen. Then obey. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Acts 1, 10-11. These are great verses. The church was full of excitement and anticipation. His voice was still ringing in their ears. He had just gone, and they were looking for His return. God didn't leave them there. Jesus answered their anticipation. He sent two angels to shock them into obedience. They didn't deny anything the disciples had been told. They confirmed it. But there was another message. Be about what Jesus said. The implication is that it isn't rest day yet. We are still in the midst of the week. Sabbath is coming, but it isn't here yet. He wants us looking forward with eager expectation. He wants us thinking of what is coming so that we can be secure that He has a plan. But He doesn't want us standing and staring. He doesn't want us lost in the wonder. We are called to be a church of doers, not lookers. Of sayers, not players. He has prepared our hearts. He has prepared the harvest. Time is running out. Sickles are sharp. Double-edged, in fact. It's time to use them. To enter the fields with those who are bringing in the harvest and get to work. Don't be complacent. Rest is just around the corner. How full can we make the harvest? Let's go for quality and quantity. With God, all things are possible. So shoot high. Shoot a lot. And don't worry. He is coming back. Sooner than we think. As we close, remember that you have earth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I... Now you fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love. And no end to the things about you that he loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you. Just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us. That God has sent his only born son into the world. That we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we loved God. But that he loved us. And sent his son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because he first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.