PROVIDENCE IS REAL...FOR SURE, FOR SURE!

 PROVIDENCE IS REAL…FOR SURE, FOR SURE!

 Almighty God, who watches over His Word to perform it, is consistently looking out for you.  I love the awesome promise He reveals in Jeremiah 29:11.  “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”  This means that God has been proactively contemplating the totality of your life and mine, our moments in time and our destiny in eternity, long before the foundation of the world.  Wow!

 There’s an awesome story drawn from the early life of Abraham Lincoln that speaks so eloquently about the phenomenal plans and provision of God.  On the front porch of his little country store in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln stood wondering with Berry, his business partner.  Things were in a nosedive, and Berry asked, “How much longer can we keep this going?”  Lincoln answered, “It looks as if our business has just about winked out.”  Then he continued, “You know, I wouldn’t mind so much if I could just do what I want to do.  I want to study law.  I wouldn’t mind so much if we could sell everything we’ve got and pay all our bills and have just enough left over to buy one book, Blackstone's Commentary on English Law.  But I guess I can’t.”

 A strange-looking wagon was coming up the road.  The driver angled it up close to the store porch, then looked at Lincoln and said, “I’m trying to move my family out west, and I’m out of money.  I’ve got a good barrel here that I could sell for fifty cents.”  Abraham Lincoln’s eyes went along the wagon and noticed the wife looking at him pleadingly, face thin and emaciated.  Lincoln ran his hand into his pocket and took out, as he later described it, “the last fifty cents I had” and said, “I reckon I could use a good barrel.”  

 All day long the barrel sat on the porch of their store and Berry kept chiding Lincoln about it.  Late in the evening Lincoln walked out and looked down into the barrel.  He saw something in the bottom, papers he hadn’t noticed before.  His long arms reached down into the barrel and hit something solid.  He pulled out a book and stood there shocked and petrified.  It was Blackstone’s Commentary on English Law.  Lincoln later wrote, “I just held onto the book and looked up toward the heavens.  There came a deep impression on me that God had something for me to do and He was showing me that I had to get ready for it.  Why would this miracle happen otherwise?”  What a mighty God we serve!

 My friend, you may be assured that the God who loves all of us equally has something especially designed for you.  Never lose heart or hope.  Be faithful to His Word and be ready to walk into your personal season of fulfillment.  Never doubt.  God has great expectations for you!

 Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!