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- Written by: Don Goulding
The Lord is your protector; the Lord is the shade at your right hand. The sun will not harm you by day, or the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from all harm; he will protect your life. The Lord will protect you in all you do, now and forevermore. (Psalms 121:5-8)
“What you doin’ here, white man?” A thug barked at me as I picked my way through the Oshodi Marketplace in Nigeria. “You don’t belong.”
John, a Nigerian believer, pushed his small body between us and yelled back. We were caught in the most densely populated location on the African continent. There were shouts of owiibo—white man—most were friendly, a few were not. A knot of hoodlums, led by the mouthy thug, bullied me to buy goods at exorbitant prices so they could snatch part of the proceeds. It was time to get out of Oshodi.
Unseen to all, floating above my head, was the promise that God protects those who entrust their hearts to him. Three months earlier I had embraced that promise. I would simplify my life, go to the mission field, and trust him to provide everything necessary.
In Oshodi, and in other tight spots, God kept his promise to the letter. I recall the bus that showed up at the right time to snatch us from a criminal infested jungle in Côte d’Ivoire. I know how God sent an angelic helper to guide me out of the bush in Zimbabwe. I realize he made my ministry partner and me invisible as we walked past Chinese police during a raid of the secret church.
It has to be said that God’s promise of protection is for the spirit of those who love him—not necessarily their body. Nevertheless, in every case so far, he protected my earthly life as well.
While my friend of small stature and large courage, argued with the Oshodi ruffians, I prayed. John negotiated our way into a more reasonable price, or ransom, if you please, and I passed the naira bills to the vendor. While our swindling brokers celebrated, John and I slipped away, because the LORD protects us in all we do, both now and forevermore.
Prayer: Lord, help me trust you for everything.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. (James 1:17)
The weather is changing. Trees that were clothed a week ago are running about naked and giggling in the wind. Days are shorter, geese are migrating, snows are coming.
The seasonal upsets are the least disruptive of life’s many transitions. Morals, technology, and governments are in constant flux. Thousand-year-old castles decompose while skyscrapers pop from their shrink-wrap. Many of my own cells replace themselves every three weeks. From the expanding universe to subatomic decay, our existence is so much material fickleness in dire need of eternal solidity.
Scripture provides a refreshing consistency in the Kingdom laws. God says the same things repeatedly from different angles. Lean not on your own ways is the same truth as he is the vine and I am the branch. The death angel, passing over marked doorways, is echoed when I escape eternal death through the blood of Jesus. My world may not be the same place it was a moment ago but when God speaks a truth, it hangs irrevocable throughout time.
The unwavering endurance of God’s word trumps every temporal instability. It is my anchor, my one true hope. So let the world degenerate, let my own faithfulness zigzag, even if the universe melts away—I have an unchanging promise from the Father of time. He is the one eternal bedrock that cannot bend, sway, or even vibrate.
Prayer: My Rock and my Redeemer, to you alone do I cling.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is understood by no one. (1 Corinthians 2:14-15)
I watch Chinese faces in the underground church as they cry out in passionate worship, and I know why they risk gathering. I join Africans in a praise dance, clapping out complex rhythms and shouting between lyric phrases, and I know exactly what's inside their hearts. I overhear a political fracas or gasp after the latest school shooting, and a secret knowledge of the cause burns in my soul.
As a Christian, I have clearance for intelligence on the state of two opposing unions. I am briefed on what makes heaven sing and what makes hell screech. But I can’t talk about it openly. Discussions of divine glory and eternal burning appear fanatical to those who do not lift the lens of Jesus Messiah to their eye.
An agent of God is called to fix what they can that is broken in this world. Jesus bestows far more authority on us than our enemy would have us know. We can pray down strongholds, speak the words of God, and be operatives of reconciliation. Every Jane and Joe Christian among us needs to rise up as the spiritual warrior we were meant to be.
There are, however, struggles that are destined to continue until Christ returns. Jesus lamented Jerusalem when he longed to gather her children like a hen gathers chicks under her wings. Paul spoke of holy groaning—a deep, commiserating heartache that we are not home in God’s perfection.
I am moving through an epic tragedy with my best comrade, Jesus. We shout victory after some fights, after others we weep—in everything we are together. Throughout eternity, he and I will retell our adventures under a giddy bond because we lived them—both the heavenly and the hellish—together.
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, you for entrusting me with your knowledge.