GOD TENDS TO MAKE OUR TOTAL INABILITY HIS STARTING POINT

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Indeed, our utter incapacity is often the prop He delights to use for His next act. It is one of the principles of Yahweh’s modus operandi. When His people are without strength, without resources, without hope, without human gimmicks—then He loves to stretch forth His hand from heaven. Once we see where God often begins, we will understand how we may be encouraged.

Think about how Isaac was brought into existence. God waited until it was impossible for Abraham and Sarah to produce offspring. Abraham was 100, and whilst we don’t know Sarah’s age, we do know she was barren and now of great age. What about the prophet Samuel? His mother Hannah was barren. Look at her prayer:

“She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” (1 Samuel 1:10-11)

“They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:19-20)

Wow, that is amazing stuff, and I encourage you to read the chapter in full. So many things stand out here. One, we see it was God who had prevented Hannah from conceiving – at least at first. Two, she cried out to the Lord, asking Him to ‘remember’ her and not ‘forget’ her. Three, God did as she asked, and He did indeed ‘remember’ her – not by overcoming His own ‘forgetfulness,’ but by hearing her plea and taking action.

That should be of great encouragement to us all. Of course, this is not some name-it-and-claim-it passage if you happen to be infertile. What God did for Hannah was special, and served a special purpose in His overall plans. Yes, infertile couples can pray and ask God for help, but it is He who ultimately knows what is best and how we should proceed.

A few comments from others are helpful here. As to how God remembers and acts, John Woodhouse remarks:

Just as the Lord had “remembered” Noah in the days of the flood, Abraham when he destroyed Sodom, Rachel when she conceived Joseph, and His covenant with Abraham in the days of Moses (Genesis 8:1; 19:29; 30:22; Exodus 2:24; 6:5; cf. Numbers 10:9), so He “remembered” Hannah. Whenever God “remembered” His people, it led to His action on their behalf. We will not be mistaken if we expect that His remembering Hannah will involve His remembering His people Israel. He rebirthed the nation miraculously in 1948 and has been regathering Jews from all around the world. We can be certain that God will fulfill the covenants: 1, made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, 2. made with David and 3. the new covenant

Recall how 1 Samuel follows immediately after the book of Judges, with all its woeful misery and chaos. Israel was in desperate need of a real leader, and Samuel would become that man. And for this turning point in Israel’s history, God would use a barren woman! Says Woodhouse:

First Samuel 1 points us to a most unexpected starting point for the answer that God is going to provide for the leadership crisis. Who would have looked twice at miserable, sobbing Hannah for the answer to Israel’s crisis? We expect to find answers from the powerful. Hannah was not powerful. Her family were “nobodies.” The point of her story, however, is that God cares.

Does God care? Yes, He cared about the leadership of his people Israel and gave Hannah a son. Yes, He cares about the leadership of the world and of us. Hannah’s son will be surpassed by Mary’s son. God’s care for us all finds its fullest expression in Jesus Christ. If you belong to Him you can learn to “cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

God Begins Where We End

I quite like how Dale Ralph Davis picks up this theme:

Hannah, therefore, shares in a fellowship of barrenness. And it is frequently in this fellowship that new chapters in Yahweh’s history with His people begin—begin with nothing. God’s tendency is to make our total inability His starting point. Our hopelessness and our helplessness are no barrier to His work.

Indeed, our utter incapacity is often the prop He delights to use for His next act. This matter goes beyond the particular situations of biblical barren women. We are facing one of the principles of Yahweh’s modus operandi. When His people are without strength, without resources, without hope, without human gimmicks—then He loves to stretch forth His hand from heaven. Once we see where God often begins, we will understand how we may be encouraged.

He goes on to speak about Hannah’s prayer:

This is no piddly little affair – this is a manifestation of the way Yahweh rules and will bring His kingdom (vv. 5b,8). Hannah’s relief is a sample of the way Yahweh works (vv. 4-8) and of the way He will work when He brings His kingdom in its fullness (vv. 9-10). The saving help Yahweh gave Hannah is a foretaste, a scale-model demonstration of how Yahweh will do it when He does it in grand style.

Each one of Christ’s flock should ingest this point into his or her thinking. Every time God lifts you out of the miry bog and sets your feet upon a rock is a sample of the coming of the kingdom of God, a down payment of the full deliverance, the macro-salvation that will be yours at last.

True, such tiny salvations are only samples or signs of the final salvation…[Y]ou should not despise or demean these little salvations Yahweh works in your behalf, these little clues He gives, these clear but small evidences He leaves that He is king and that He has this strange way of raising up the poor from the dust and lifting the needy from the ash heap to make them sit in the heavenly realms with Jesus Christ. Ponder every episode of Yahweh’s saving help to you…

The Power of Prayer in God’s Sovereign Plan

Richard D. Phillips discusses the afflictions of Hannah, and what we can learn from them:

Rather than assuming some unholy, spiteful, or condemning purpose in God’s afflictions, believers need to remember that God is holy, so all His deeds are holy; God is good, so He intends our sorrows for good; and God is filled with mercy for the brokenhearted.

God does not seek to destroy us through our trials but to save us through our trials. As Hannah herself would later testify: “He raises up the poor from the dust; He lifts the needy from the ash heap” (1 Sam. 2:8) So if God is the One who closed the womb, we should take heart, since He can surely also open it.

In Hannah’s case, God was using her plight to orchestrate Israel’s deliverance from the dark era of the judges. This was a cause dear to Hannah’s heart, as we know from the song she later lifted up to God’s praise (1 Sam. 2:10).

We may never know how God has worked through our most bitter trials to bring others to salvation, to equip us with sensitivity in ministry to others, or even to launch a significant gospel advance. But we do know God, and we know from His Word that “for those who love God all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28). So we can have confidence in God’s purposes in our lives.

He goes on to say this about the importance of prayer:

Not only does prayer change us, but prayer changes things. God is pleased to act in response to our prayers. Some people react to the knowledge of God’s sovereignty by thinking that prayer therefore does not matter, since God has decided everything in advance. Hannah did not reason this way, but understood that God’s sovereign will is achieved through the acts of men and women, especially our prayers.

John Woodhouse comments that her turning to the Lord “will turn out to change not only her life but the life of the nation, and indeed… the history of the world.” He adds, “Faith in God, therefore, leads us in our troubles to pray to the God who is sovereign over all things.”

All this is encouraging good news. The next time you find yourself on the ash heap, and you are questioning if God has forgotten you or has abandoned you, just bear in mind that He knows all about you and your situation, He hears your prayers, and He will act. He remembers us, and He acts accordingly.

Adapted from the article by Bill Muehlenberg, Good News: God Remembers Us – The Daily declaration, 19th March 2026

TRUE PEACE IS KNOWING THE GOD WHO IS IN CONTROL

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True peace must be rooted in something lasting. Only our omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, God will do. Combining these in order, the words translate to “all-powerful, all-knowing, and “all-present” or “present everywhere”

The peace of God is found in the decisive victory of a monumental conflict. The alienation of humanity from God by the product of our willful rebellion against His authority put us clearly on the wrong side of an unequal equation. We became God’s enemies, and any peace we could offer fell solidly into the counterfeit category. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, we were without hope and God in His world. But by the blood of Jesus Christ, God preemptively made the offer of peace to his hopeless enemy:

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near” Ephesians 2:13–17

We can be at peace only when we are reconciled to God through Christ. In Him, our anxieties are alleviated, and our hostility is put to death. Nothing can disrupt that kind of peace. Wars and rumors of wars will still rage, but the person who walks by the Spirit will walk amid the storm to a voice that cries, “Peace! Be Still!”

God has given us detailed information on the fast-approaching end of this era for Earth. It is a time of intense tribulation for Christians so only those in Christ will have peace and be able to be used by God to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to all the world.

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:6-14

You need to be Living Eternal Now – Ready for Jesus Return. Available as an ebook or paperback on Amazon.

GOD, HOLY SPIRIT AT WORK IN IRAN

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Christianity is illegal in Iran. Yet, despite facing imprisonment, torture, and execution, millions of Iranians are forsaking the Muslim faith and converting to Christianity. According to Open Doors International, there are more than 1.2 million believers residing in Iran. This phenomenon is happening despite the regime’s efforts to target believers and spread false information and encourage a negative opinion about Christianity. Lela Gilbert, Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom at Family Research Council, suggests that Iran holds little power over curtailing the Good News of Jesus Christ. “In my research and interviews, it has become clear that new Christians’ witness to others is mostly shared in quiet conversations, encouraged by low-profile online Bible studies, and affirmed by visions, dreams, and miraculously answered prayers,” she explained.

“Due to their risky circumstances, recent Christian converts are enthusiastically communicating about their changed lives with friends and loved ones, but quietly and carefully. However, their discreet but persistent witness accounts for the extraordinary number of new Iranian believers, who meet in small house churches,” Gilbert continued. “Those involved with the ‘house church’ movement in Iran are convinced that there are likely several million Christian believers there,” she added. Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, also reports Christianity is flourishing.”An evangelical pastor, formerly an Iranian Muslim, concurred as far back as 2008: ‘We find ourselves facing what is more than a conversion to the Christian faith. It’s a mass exodus from Islam’,” he explained a few years ago. Pipes adds that the house church is key to the growth of the Christian faith in Iran.

He explains, “The practices of what are sometimes called Muslim Background Believers (MBBs) lacks clergy and church buildings, but instead consists of self-starting disciples and tiny house churches of four to five members each, with either hushed singing or none at all. Its lay leadership, in striking contrast to the mullahs who rule Iran, consists mainly of women.” Women like Marziyeh Amirizadeh have remained formidable in their faith despite being incarcerated and tortured in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison for being a Christian.  Marzi, as she is known, eventually escaped Iran and started a new life in the U.S. But before her exile, she and a friend smuggled 20,000 Bibles into Tehran because God told her to “plant the seeds.” “We knew how much Iranians are thirsty. And when we returned to Tehran, we had no idea what to do and how we can serve the Lord. And I remember we just prayed and asked Him to give us a vision,” Marzi recalled.

Marzi went on “One day I was reading the Bible and God show me that Iran is like a big desert. And He said, ‘Plant some seeds, then I will grow it with the power of the Holy Spirit.” That was the beginning of her effort to get the New Testament into the hands of believers in that nation. Marzi was eventually jailed for sharing her faith and was sent to Evin prison. They are cruel and evil people,” she said describing Iran’s Islamic leaders. Marzi now travels the world sharing her story of faith in the face of persecution and she acts as an advocate for the Iranian people’s freedom. She calls on Christians around the world to pray for believers in Iran. “We can pray for them to reach more people and share the message of salvation,” Marzi expressed. “I know how much Iranians are thirsty. And we can pray for those who have their loved ones in prison. The most important thing to pray is for the fall of this evil regime.” “A great awakening has started in Iran,” she added.

Source: Faithwire

GOD IS IN CONTROL: IS GOD IN CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE?

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The world is increasingly operating as if God does not exist and is not in control of the Cosmos He created and the people He made in His image that live in it. Due to Scriptures like the following one in 2 Chronicles, we know that God is in command of the elements and the creatures on earth.

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:13-14

This Scripture was written for the nation that God created to reveal Himself to the world, but now that Jesus has come and revealed the truth about God and provided a way for us to get back into a relationship with Him, this verse equally applies to the world today. If we would humble ourselves, acknowledge God, and turn from our wicked ways, He would heal our land.

Over the past six weeks, hundreds of out-of-control wildfires have spread across Canada causing mass evacuations and burning through millions of acres.

While the Canadian wildfire season runs from May through October, such destruction this early is rare. One month in, Canada is on track to have its most destructive wildfire season in history. Man-made climate change is blamed as the causative factor which will only further fuel the panic to get rid of fossil fuels. 

This Canadian crisis has not been limited to the Great North. Smoke from the fires has spread across a large portion of the U.S., affecting air quality for millions across the East Coast, as the fires rage on without signs of stopping. 

According to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, the destruction from these fires up to this point in the season has been 13 times worse than the 10-year average.

As New York City suffocated under a thick smog that turned the skies orange and shrouded its skyscrapers and the Statue of Liberty, climate activist, Sen. Chuck Schumer said on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday that climate change was driving the smoke blanketing the Eastern seaboard. “These Canadian wildfires are truly unprecedented and we cannot ignore that climate change continues to worsen these disasters,” he said. “Warmer temperatures and severe droughts mean forests burn faster, burn hotter, and burn bigger, and the warming is happening faster in countries with higher latitudes. None of this — none of this is a coincidence.”

And forecasts hold little hope. On Monday, the Canadian government issued an updated outlook for the wildfire season stating that, “current June projections indicate the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity across most of the country throughout the 2023 wildland fire season due to ongoing drought and long-range forecasts for warm temperatures.”

What we are seeing are but the birth pangs Jesus spoke of prior to His second coming to earth.

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places, famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you… You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” Luke 21:10-12 ,16-19

God’s Word tells us exactly what will unfold in the final seven years prior to His return. God is ultimately in control of all that transpires on His planet. Do you believe that, and if so, how is it affecting what you do today?