Tag Archives: God remembers

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What Impresses God

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Hebrews 6
Meditation: Hebrews 6:10

“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”

Shift Your Focus… We are enamored with celebrity in our culture—even in the Christian world. We elevate TV preachers; we give special attention to pastors of mega-churches; we idolize Christian singers, entertainers and authors of best-selling books.

God doesn’t. He is not all that impressed. He isn’t enamored with celebrity, he does not elevate high profile Christians, he is not drawn to talented and successful believers any more than he is to ordinary ones.  God sees the little person—the one who faithfully and diligently serves behind the scenes in his kingdom, doing the things no one notices and rarely appreciates.  And he will not forget their sacrificial service.  In fact, he personally and joyfully receives our every act of service as an expression of authentic love.

To every usher who faithfully serves at their post; to every nursery worker who rocks a crying infant; to every senior citizen who stuffs a bulletin; to every volunteer who pulls weeds and plants flower at the church; to every choir member and musician who practices every week; to every Sunday School teacher who stays up late on Saturday night to polish their lesson; to every person who gives someone a ride…

God sees!  God remembers!  God is pleased!  God will not forget your work!  God will reward!

“The reward of being ‘faithful over a few things’ is just the same as being ‘faithful over many things’; for the emphasis falls upon the same word; it is the ‘faithful’ who will enter ‘into the joy of their Lord.’”  ~Charles S. Robinson

Prayer… Lord, I pray for a special blessing on all of the people in your kingdom who faithfully and sacrificially serve your church.  Bless them abundantly.  Show them a sign of your favor today.

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God Never Forgets

Essential 100—Read:
Luke 1:1-80

“Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people.’” ~Luke 1:67-68

Over the years the church has given Zechariah’s song the title, “The Benedictus,” or “The Blessing.” The lyrics of this brief song, which we read in Luke1:67-79, were sung by one of the proudest and oldest first time fathers of all time. But more than being just a happy little diddy from a happy old daddy, Zechariah verbalizes two timeless and timely truths about God’s character that you and I probably need to hear again today.

First, we are reminded that God never breaks a promise! John’s birth was living proof of God’s faithfulness. In His song, Zechariah belts out to all who will listen, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people.” (Luke 1:68)

God keeps his promises—every one of them. He can’t help himself; it is just his nature. He had promised through the prophets a redeemer for Israel hundreds of year before, and 400 silent years had passed since the last prophet Malachi had uttered the oracles of God until the time the angel Gabriel revealed God’s plan to Zechariah. Though God’s promise had been ever so slow in coming, it was nonetheless fulfilled.

Zechariah’s song reminds us that even though God may be slow, he is never late!

Second, God never forgets. “Zechariah’s” name meant “God remembers.” And in his song Zechariah exploded with the joyful realization that God does remember: “God has remembered his oath…” (Luke 1:72-73)

Zechariah must have been discouraged. He was a priest of a nation that had turned its back on God. He and Elizabeth, whose name meant “the promise of God,” had been faithful to God all their lives—they lived up to the meaning of their names. Yet God had not blessed them with a son, and wayward Israel continued to be oppressed by its pagan enemies.

But Zechariah clung to this truth: Our Creator remembers! God knows who we are, where we are and what we need. He remembers us. He remembers his promises, and God graciously acts at the proper time.

Isaiah 49:15-16 reminds us, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”

God can’t forget!

If you are reading these words today and feeling a little forgotten by God, thank God you’re wrong! Zechariah reminds you from first hand experience through his song that God remembers you and will fulfill every single one of his promises to you at the proper time!

So be faithful!

“God often gives in one brief moment that which He has for a long time denied.” ~Thomas A` Kempis

Reflect and Apply: Take a moment to thank the Lord for his unfailing faithfulness. He remembers his promises to you and he will fulfill them all. Rejoice in him today, then offer your life faithfully back to him and his purposes.

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You Are Unforgettable

Essential 100—Read:
Genesis 8:1-9:17

“But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.” ~Genesis 8:1

As you read the account in Genesis 8 and 9 of Divine judgment coming upon the whole earth—that man’s evil would be so great it would force God to completely destroy everything he had lovingly created—you can’t help but at least find a silver lining in the otherwise ominous wrath clouds in the very first line of Genesis 8:

 “But God remembered Noah.” 

What a great line—and what a great hope we have. God didn’t forget Noah, which means, by extension, that God will not forget you or me. Don’t underestimate the significance of that statement.

You see, no human being has ever wanted to live a forgettable life. Everyone wants to be remembered; God has wired that deeply into our DNA. Perhaps the reason he made us that way was to cause us to crave his attention—which in human relationships is usually, at worst, a bad thing, and at best, a very annoying trait.  But with God, being an attention-getter is actually okay, since he made us for that.

And God will oblige our cravings.  If man is chronically, stubbornly and unrepentantly sinful, oh yeah, he will get God’s attention all right—and not the kind that will be pleasant. Revelations 18:5 says a time is coming when the Lord will remember mankind’s evil with a final and unfettered wrath: “For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.”

But most encouragingly, the Bible speaks of God remembering his people, especially at times when they think he may have forgotten them. If you want to really be encouraged that God won’t forget you, consider the following: Genesis 19:29, Genesis 30:22, Exodus 6:5, I Samuel 1:19, Psalm 112:6, Isaiah 49:15, Hebrews 13:5.

Obviously, God wants to convince us that to him, we are unforgettable. And to convince Noah, we see in Genesis 9:12-15 that God offered a sign as proof:

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant.”

So the next time you see a rainbow, I hope you will see in it a paintbrush of the Divine Artist beautifully inscribing your name in the sky as a permanent reminder that you are unforgettable.

Yes, you are unforgettable to God.  Now don’t ever forget that!

Reflect and Apply:  Take a moment to consider God’s promise through Isaiah the prophet: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”  (Isaiah 49:15)  Now every morning until your next reading assignment, offer a prayer of thanksgiving back to God for his promise to keep you as unforgettable in his eyes.