Finding Fulfillment in the Failures

Preface:
So I prayed that someone new would come to Campus Christian Fellowship tonight. Because I had this feeling that there was someone out there who needed to hear what God was telling me to say who doesn't normally join us on Tuesday nights (*cough*at 9:20 in the commuter lounge*cough*). Then after CCF, I felt the Spirit leading me to write it all out in a blog, perhaps for you, who are reading this, and didn't come to CCF tonight. And, before reading this, please say a quick prayer for me, as I have deliberately avoided looking at the list of things I wanted done before tomorrow until after finishing this blog entry. . .thus the can of Starbucks doubleshot sitting at my elbow.

by the way. . .if the past tense of "pay" is "paid," the past tense of "pray" should SO be "praid"

OK, ON TO THE POINT.

HOW GOD FULFILLS PROMISES
I wanted to talk about this because it is a huge part of my testimony, really, of the testimonies of all Christians. One way God has consistently pursued me is through reminding me, through His Word, of the promises He has made - and fulfilled. And it is through those promises that He makes promises to me. So far, I can identify three specific promises God has made to me, and fulfilled, or is fulfilling, since I was saved. They are what I like to call, for lack of better description, "The Promise for Christian Friendships," "The Marist Promise," and "The Water Polo Promise."

Promise the first:
"The Promise for Christian Friendships"
The summer after my sophomore year in high school, I began to recognize that I was living a split life. Not that it was a life of sin vs. a life of righteousness, necessarily, but I noticed that the friends I had at youth group I never hung out with at school, and the friends I called my best friends weren't Christians. It was a period of relative stagnation in my walk with God. It was as if a flood of His grace had come down upon me, but there was a huge dam blocking it from flowing out into all parts of my life. It had backed up and become fuller and fuller, until it had become a raging and stormy sea.

God was pulling at my heart, telling me that those Christian friends I had at youth group needed to become the people I turned to first in times of trouble, the people I went to for advice, because they could offer wise counsel based on the Word and prayer. But I resisted. I loved my non-Christian friends. I didn't want them to think I was spending less time with them because I didn't like them anymore - because I did! I needed them. They needed me. I was so frustrated because I couldn't figure out what to do about it all.

Then, one night at a routine Celebration service at First Baptist in San Luis Obispo, God began His deliberate pursuit of me through promises. On the verge of tears, wrestling with how to go about what I knew was right but was too scared to do, the following verse shone from the projection during the worship set:

"And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O you of little faith, why do you doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased" Matthew 14:28-31

It was at that moment that God promised He would be faithful in return for my faithfulness. If God was calling me out into the water, what possible reason did I have to believe that I would fail, that it would not result in good? God was asking me to do something important, and promising that He would take care of me, that the storm would cease, and that He would be glorified. But God knew I would still doubt. So He sent the very same Christian friends he had planned for me to ask if I needed prayer for anything that same night. A long story short, He has been faithful. That group of Christians are some of my closest friends today, and I am happy to say that the "non Youth-group" friend who I was afraid of hurting is still one of my best friends to this day.

Promise the second:
"The Marist Promise"

Then came Senior year. And Calvary High School Youth Group. We were reading through Genesis. I was making college decisions. By crazy twists of fate, this random college in a town across the country with a ridiculous name I still can't pronounce right was one of the top choices for college. It seemed crazy - who would leave California to play water polo in New York? I always scoffed at people who moved away from college and insisted I would never attend college outside of California. And yet here I was, facing the potential decision to go to school in Poughkeepsie, New York - where NOTHING happens (or so I thought).

And this time, there was a different verse tugging at my heart:
"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him. . ." Genesis 12:1-4

So, I went.
I would like to pose this question - What are the odds that I would go almost as far away from home as I can get and still stay in the U.S., and end up finding a Calvary Chapel that has connections with a Calvary Chapel near my hometown, with a college group led by people who lived in my hometown/area, and whose high school seniors are AT THIS VERY MOMENT on their senior trip, and in San Luis Obispo? That is just one brief example of how God has totally filled a promise that He would take care of me, that great things would happen if I followed Him here to New York. . .just His faithfulness here alone would take a novel.

Promise the third:

"The Water Polo Promise"
So I came to Marist, to play water polo. But the real reason, in all honestly, was simply because God told me to come to Marist - water polo was just the way He got me here, probably in case I chose to ignore the leading of the Spirit. So perhaps it isn't surprising that water polo didn't last for me all four years. It was an awesome experience, but come the end of my junior year, I had the strongest feeling that my days of water polo at Marist were over. Of course, in my stubbornness, I came in and played for a couple months in the fall semester.

But then the leading of the Spirit was too strong to ignore. I knew water polo had to go. I had no time for anything else. I looked back at my college years, and I realized I had been in the same church for all four years and hardly knew anyone outside the college group. I wanted so badly to be involved in ministry in the church, and the only way that was going to happen was if water polo was not in the picture. So I quit. It wasn't as easy as it sounds; it is one of the more difficult decisions I have made in my life. For a good two weeks afterwards, not a day went by that I didn't consider going back and asking for my spot back on the team. I started to feel unproductive, bitter, and questioning my logic for quitting - I could always find the time I thought, it really wasn't all that difficult, I reasoned. And then I remembered that the rational answers I gave people about quitting weren't the reality behind it all - I quit because God was calling me to something else. I should be full of joy, eagerly seeking the purposes He had for me. And things started to get better.
But it wasn't until the next semester that God fulfilled His promise to me that I would be involved in ministry at the church. At the beginning of this Spring semester, I was asked if I would be willing to help with the Jr. High Group. I was thrilled - that is what I had most wanted to do, but I did not know if it was possible. But it has been possible, and it has been some of the best weeks of my time here in NY. They keep telling me I am an answer to prayer, and I keep telling them that they are a fulfillment of God's promise to me.

Ok, so what are some examples in the Bible of fulfilled promises?
This one could take awhile. . .first, I am going to go back to the reference I made to God's promise to Abraham, when he was still Abram. And now, I am fast-forwarding to the book of the Bible I am now reading in my senior year - of college. Joshua. In high school, it was a picture of a promise. In college, it is now a picture of the fulfillment of that promise. How convenient. Joshua is all about how Israel crosses Jordan into the promised land and God fights for them and they conquer and destroy and wipe out EVERY SINGLE CITY in the promised land. . .and those they did not kill, became subject to their power as servants and laborers. Talk about God coming through with His end of the deal!

*But wait. . .there is a picture of an even more amazing promise to be found here.* Now, to discuss this, it will take much of Joshua Chapter 2. I would just reference the verses, but it has occured to me that some of you reading this may not actually own a Bible.
So here's a link to it online:

Joshua 2:1-24
After reading the Word, continue here:

Does anything sound familiar here? Any phrases catch at you - anything you've seen somewhere else? Something about a scarlet thread, three days in a cave? Let's look at this, why don't we? (I am going to acknowledge here that you should not take my speculations as truth, I could be delusional, but I thought this was a pretty cool parallel anyways).

So these two men are sent by Joshua to scope out the situation in the promised land. They know God's promised it to them, but they have to make sure - they have to know what they are up against, what they will need to conquer these people. So he sends two spies out to Jericho. (Yes, that Jericho, the one the peas marched around with slushies in Veggie Tales). They come to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and she hides them from the men of Jericho trying to find them and kill them. She tells them she has heard of the deeds of their God and believes that the God of Israel is the one true God, and all of the land fears Israel because He is on their side (step 1: belief). She betrays the "land of her fathers" and takes the spies and hides them from the men pursuing them, and then works out a deal with them for her loyalty (step 2: action). They tell her that she must hang a scarlet thread in her window and she and all her family must stay in her house, so that when Israel comes and destroys the city, she and all her family with be spared.

(interesting. . .in Joshua 7, Achan and all his family, though of the nation of Israel, are killed for his disobedience, while Rahab and all her family, though foreigners, are saved because she feared the Lord).

Anyway, so they promise she will be spared if she does as they say, and if she does not betray them - otherwise they will have no obligation to uphold their end of the bargain. And so, it is agreed, and the spies escape by the scarlet thread (i'm thinkin its like a sheet of some sort) - so the very same scarlet thread by which the spies escape death, is the same scarlet thread which marks Rahab as loyal to them (hello, Passover). And then what do the men do? After hiding in the caves for 3 days, they emerge and ride victoriously back to the camp of the Israelites to proclaim, "Truly, the Lord hath delivered unto our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us" Joshua 2:24.

So there's a promise of God fulfilled to the Israelites. And they fulfill their promise to Rahab. (step 3: salvation). She becomes as one of the Israelites, because she feared the Lord. "And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho" Joshua 6:25. (If I am not mistaken, Rahab and her family are the only ones out of ALL the people conquered by the Israelites, who did not end up either dead or as slaves).

Where else does God makes promises in the Bible?
See Genesis 22:8 and well, all of Isaiah. Heck, check out the entire Bible!
God promises time and time again salvation through Jesus Christ.
Are promises always good?
I would argue that's not necessarily so. I would say a promise is anything God says He will do, or any future God says awaits us. What He says will happen, will happen. It's a promise. So I would probably classify the curse after the fall as a promise - a promise fulfilled. But a consequence reversed through a new promise of salvation through Christ.
What does it look like when a promise is fulfilled?
But fulfillment of promises might not always look like we think it will. Think of what many Jews thought of Jesus. They were awaiting an earthly King, one who would lead a revolution against Rome and reign on Earth. But when Jesus came to die on the cross, it was not the time for Him to reign over the Earth, and they did not understand. They were expecting earthly deliverance, not spiritual deliverance.

I know oftentimes I ask God to carry through with His end of the deal. I pray for doors to open and close. But I often finding myself praying that one specific door will open, and one particular door will stay shut forever. And it doesn't always work how I want it - but that doesn't mean God isn't fulfilling a promise.

So then, how do we know a promise has been fulfilled?
Now, here's a place where I especially encourage suggestions about what the Word says about it. But I would probably say that any time you notice a shift in your relationship with God after you make a commitment or step of faith for Him in some way, a promise has been or is being fulfilled.

Recently, I have just been away of a tremendous outpouring of the Spirit in my life, and an unquenchable desire to be in the Word and to spend every waking moment with my Savior. I can honestly say it does not come from me. I have also noticed God revealing more and more to me through His Word, more evidence of the Spirit increasing in my life and promises being fulfilled.

So what did it look like in the Bible when promises were fulfilled?

It ranges from EPIC -
The Israelites' conquering of the promised land as recorded in Joshua.
to PATHETIC -
The crucifixion

But yet, which of the two was the most powerful, the most important, the ULTIMATE CONQUERING?

- That which looked like failure at first.






So if you are left with nothing else, come away with this:
If you are ever in doubt that God will come through for you, if you are ever despairing that all is lost, that you have failed somehow or that God has failed you, seek God ever more fervently. Chances are His promises to you are going to be fulfilled by epic proportions.



What promise do we have to hold on to today as Christians?
(Did you really think you'd get away with not reading something from 1 Peter? c'mon...)

1 Peter 1:3-5
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."



Be blessed today!



Now. . .about baptism. . .I sense a "promise the fourth" coming on....