Faith Fulfilled

Sitting here with my cup of coffee with French vanilla creamer enjoying a quiet morning.  My apartment is a mess.  There are boxes everywhere (I'm in the process of moving) and in the midst of it all, He is still speaking. I really love mornings like this- where lots of things are in chaos, but that constant peace in your life is God.  I was reading the story of Jacob this morning and how God gave him a dream.  In the dream, Jacob sees a ladder from earth all the way into the Heavens.  Angels were ascending and descending from the ladder.  At the top of the ladder, there was God who began to speak promises into Jacob's life.  Here's what He told him,

"...I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  And behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thous goest, and will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. "  Genesis 28:13-15

When I read this portion, I was reminded of a couple of things. This promise to Jacob was the same promise that God gave to his grandfather Abraham and his son Isaac.   The promise was not fulfilled in either of their lifetimes and neither would it be in Jacob's, but that didn't stop them from believing God.  God began the work in each of them and they were certain He would finish it.  Now that's faith!  I thought back to how my grandma prayed for my grandpa to be saved for more than 25 years and then she developed Alzheimer's disease.  Although mentally, she was no longer here with us and had to be placed in a home, her precious prayers that she had prayed all those years continued to come before God as a sweet fragrance.  My grandfather, in his late eighties finally surrendered to God and was baptized in Jesus Name. Although my grandmother did not get to see God answer this prayer in her lifetime, she saw it by faith and knew that even if she weren't here to see it, God would still fulfill his promise to her.  She joined the faith ranks with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as well as many others since then. Remember, God cannot lie.  Every promise He has given to you will be answered.  I love it how God told Jacob, "I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" (verse 15).  God was essentially saying that he would always be with the seed of Jacob who is now known as the Jewish nation or Israel. God has never left the Jewish people through everything they have gone through. He is not done with them yet. We see that although not all the promises are yet fulfilled, much of what God told them and their forefathers has already taken place.  The Jewish nation has spread from the north, to the south, to the east, and to the west. Not only that, but all the families of the earth have been blessed not only by all the amazing inventions and people who have come out of the Jewish nation, but also through Jesus Christ who was a Jew and became the Savior of the world. I can't wait until the day when God completes what He started in them and in us a church. He finishes what He started. That's the kind of God that we serve!  He did it for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Jewish nation, and my family. He'll do it for you!