October
18, 2003
GOD'S
PROVIDENCE
"For
it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His
good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13, NKJV).
Jesus
has promised the gift of His Holy Spirit to His people. "If
you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father,
and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with
you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive...
But you will know Him, for He dwells with you and will
be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you"
John 14:15-18). Jesus Himself has promised to come and be
with us via the agency of His Spirit. He sends His 'Helper'
to be with us 'forever'. If we walk with Him, obey His commandments,
cherish His values, you and I will live with our Creator forever.
It's
pleasurable to watch young people flying model airplanes.
The model planes take off, fly around and land again, all
by radio control. The guidance is not in the graceful little
plane, but in the hand of the young person who holds the control
mechanism. The direction is not in the airplane at all. It
resides in the intention of the intelligence piloting it.
God has
given us intelligence and the freedom of choice to do our
own will and pleasure. He has allowed us to know good and
evil. He has told us the story of how evil entered into the
universe. He warns us of the evil and instructs us in what
is good much like parents teach their children values to live
by.
It is
God's purpose that everyone come into unity with Jesus. However,
He knows that not everyone will choose to do so. But for those
who do He has promised eternal life. "This
is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3).
According
to God's eternal purpose, all things contribute to the good
of those who love Him. "And we know that all things work
together for good to those who love God" (Romans 8:28).
Even the troubles, sufferings and sorrows of this life, instead
of hindering our salvation, help to secure it as we yield
ourselves to God's Holy Spirit, our Helper.
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