A Nugget from New Life Network
(by Dr. Larry Ollison)
Scripture for the Day (October 13, 2017)
The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. (Deuteronomy 33:27)
One day I watched as a two-year old boy stood on the edge of a table. His father was close and was holding out his arms. The young boy fell forward and the father caught him in his arms. The father stood the young boy back on the table and this time stepped back a few feet. The young boy, with a smile on his face, began leaning forward again. The father immediately stepped up and caught the boy. This happened several times and each time the father would step back just a little farther. It didn’t matter to the young boy, though. He would still fall forward with the same confidence. He had confidence in his father, knowing that no matter how far away the father seemed to be, Dad would always catch him if he fell.
The young child had faith in his father. He knew the father would catch him, regardless. We as adults need to be like this young boy. His faith was so simple, but sometimes ours is so complicated.
Jesus said in Matthew 18:3 that unless we became as little children, we would by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. But how do we become as little children? How does a little child act? Usually they imitate their parents. They say what they hear their parents say and trust in their words. That’s the way we are to be with God the Father.
As Christians, we are children of God. When we accept Jesus, the Son of God, into our hearts and recognize Him as our Lord and Savior, then the Bible tells us that we enter into the family of God as adopted sons (Romans 8:14-15; Ephesians 1:5). We are saved, born again; we are believers. We are then subject to our heavenly Father and we are to listen to and trust Him.
When Jesus was here on the earth, He told us something about His relationship with the Father. He said, “I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak” (John 12:49,50).
Jesus himself tells us here that He only said what the Father told Him to say. In John 5:19, Jesus said He only did what His Father wanted Him to do and in John 8:38 He said He only spoke what He saw when He was with His Father.
We as Christians need to speak what the Word of God says. When we pray, we need to pray the Word of God. Too many Christians are out there praying for things to happen in their lives that are totally against God’s will for them. If we want God to hear us when we pray, we must know His will.
The Bible says, “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14,15).
Now, here’s the key. We need to read and meditate on the Word of God and spend quality time with God our Father in prayer. We can’t speak the words of our Heavenly Father if we never listen to Him. We must be like the little boy standing on the table. We must trust in the Father and His Word. And then, His arms will always be there to catch us.
