Promise - Simeon Nenadov

August 19, 2024

I have spent so much time planning my life or thinking about what plans I should make. Thinking about where I want to go to school, what career I should get into, and what goals I want to reach in life have controlled my mind at times. Thinking about my future has often led me into worrying about not having a definite plan, and being anxious about the possibility of not being good enough to carry out God’s will for my life. My continual shortcomings and personal failures have added to my doubts and lack of comfort in my future. The good news is that God works in unexpected ways, and in broken people, through his unconditional promise. 


At Legacy Bible Institute we are currently studying three different books of the Bible in our classes, along with a daily devotion in Psalms and Proverbs and three topical textbooks. It has been amazing to see how the first half of Genesis and just the first few chapters of Luke and Acts tie together to paint the picture of God’s sovereign and invincible plan, and I hope to give my readers a glimpse into some of these powerful connections. 


We started in the very beginning, where God created a perfect world, and made man in his own image to have dominion over the whole earth. Adam and Eve fell into temptation, broke the only rule God had given them, and brought the curse of death upon all of their descendants, including us (Romans 5:12). Out of love for his creation, God accompanied the promised curse of death with a new promise of redemption, immediately after the fall of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15). 


This promise was unconditional, there was no requirement of Adam and Eve. It is true for me as a child of God, and it has been fulfilled through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, my Lord. By God’s unconditional redemptive promise my future is secure, and all my anxiety, worry, and doubt is silenced. 


I take comfort in the ways we see God administering this promise to his people throughout the scripture we have studied so far. God chose the line of Seth and cursed the line of Cain (Genesis 4:8-12, 5:3), graciously chose to save Noah’s entire family (descendants of Seth) from the flood (Genesis 6:18, 7:1), and decided to make a covenant with Abraham to start a great nation (Genesis 15) and bring about a blessing to the whole earth from his seed (Genesis 12:3, 18:17-19, 22:18, Luke 2:32, and Acts 3:25), which has been fulfilled in the eternal and atoning sacrifice of Jesus (Luke 1:68-75).


In all these examples, I see that two things are made clear: it is only by God’s grace that saving faith is granted, and he is often pleased to use the family structure in choosing to give his grace to his children, and their children. Despite the drunkenness of Noah, the lies of Abraham, the doubt of Sarah, and the sins of many more who God had chosen to use for his purpose, he instilled a fear of the Lord in them, a saving faith by which they were counted righteous (Genesis 15:6). I am so thankful for the work the Lord has chosen to do in my heart, and how he has instrumentally used my family to lead me in his ways, and set an example to me of what it means to live by faith. 


God wonderfully designed marriage (Genesis 2:24) and the family, in a way that we inherit many characteristics, attributes, and practices from our family both biologically and by example. These biological characteristics and attributes include things like size, shape, talent, and even personality. These things combine with the example our families set, such as their beliefs, habits, attitudes, and other practices. All of these things that run in our families are used by God to make us who we are, and bring us to be who he has called us to be (Proverbs 22:6). My grandmother has shared with me that through her family I mark the 8th generation of born again believers. God’s amazing love for those whom he calls to be faithful shines through his providence for their children. The Lord loves his children, and knows that his children desire for that same love to be extended to their children. In working through families, “generation to generation”, all the more glory can be given to God as his children, or “those who fear him”, praise him for the work he is doing within the hearts of their children (Luke 1:50). 


I do not have to know exactly what my future holds, and I do not even need to know what tomorrow holds. My eternal future is promised by the Lord my God, and it is impossible for God to break a covenant he makes (Genesis 15:17). I praise him for the undeserved and unconditional promise to redeem his children that He has passed down from Adam and Eve, to Abraham, and by the work of his seed Jesus on the cross, to my ancestors, and to me. No joy could be added to my heart by any worldly gain or future. I know my identity, purpose, and my future.


Acts 2:39 says, 


“For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

In the Hallway - Linda Kovacs

August 20, 2024
Have you ever felt like standing in a hallway? Like you would need a direction, a signal, a word or just something or anything that would show you how to move on, what step to take next but nothing seems to happen? I believe that each and everyone of us knows that feeling. And it can get really challenging. Especially when we feel like our time is running out but you feel that God is still waiting and nothing is really changing. It could be a sickness, a difficult marriage, singleness, loss of a job, loss of a loved one, waiting for a child, or just simply a graduation. We have many examples in the Bible that show us similar stories or situations. How about Noah who was building the ark in the desert for approximately 75 years. How about our famous Abraham, how did he wait for his promised son? How about Joseph after his brothers sold him to Egypt or when he was imprisoned? How about Moses who spent 40 years in the desert before God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and then he had to wait another 40 years wandering through the desert towards the promised land? Or how about David whom Saul loved first but later became his enemy and chased him for about 4 years? There are so many more stories in the Bible about someone waiting on God, and not only for a few days but for weeks, months and years. How did these people spend those times of waiting? As we know, not all of them were able to wait faithfully. But we don’t want to raise our fingers to judge them. Rather, how do we deal with the times of waiting? With the times in the hallway where we seem to be alone, where every door seems to be closed and maybe we only glimpse a tiny window if we look up? I believe, that God is using those times for something good. He wants to see, how we react and behave in the hallway. If we get desperate, hopeless and depressed Or, if we look around us to see if there are other people in the hallway waiting just like us, who might need our encouragement, advice, a listening ear or simply a smile. How do we act in the hallways of our lives? A few days ago I had a conversation with someone about the “waiting in a hallway” and he said that sometimes it’s not easy to wait in the hallway. He sees it more as a desert. A plant challenged by drought learns to develop stronger roots. And that this is exactly the case in our spiritual life. Looking back, we see that God meant it well and that we were allowed to grow through our situation. Let us trust in God during the process, during the wait in the hallway and keep in mind that the hallway is just a season, not a destination, which God can and wants to use for our good, if we are willing to follow him and seek his will.

Surrender - Hanna Isakov

August 20, 2024
God has been teaching me so much during my stay here at Legacy, through the study of His Word. One of the most dominant lessons lately has been to surrender my ideas, hopes and dreams to Him. To surrender means to cease resistance and submit to an authority. To surrender, I must trust. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6  I serve the One with ultimate power and authority. Life is not “all gas no breaks” as lots of us young people seem to think sometimes. I have always said that I want whatever God wants for me but how will I know what that is? First, I must truly surrender my deepest hopes and dreams to Him in prayer and display my intent with my actions. I have begun to write my prayers down so that I can look back and praise God for the principles He's taught me and the wrongs He's convicted me of in my everyday habits and practices. Am I intentionally examining myself, my motives? How can I require His guidance while overlooking surrender to the things He has already given me in his word! I am called to be his steward here on earth. Verse 25 of Psalm 73 says: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” I have been asking myself ever since the first weeks of this year, is this verse a reality in my life? Deep down, if I do not get what I am hoping for out of this life, will I still praise Him and be content in Him? Does He fulfill my deepest desires or am I reserving that for something else? Am I experiencing true intimacy with my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ? These are the challenges set before me and I can say, by the grace of God, I will strive to be obedient to the Holy Spirit no matter what my feelings may dictate. This life I have is a gift, I was not brought into this World to fulfill my desires but to shine the Light of the Gospel to those in darkness. Gods' way is best. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20

Life is hard. God is good. - Stephen Weinhardt

August 20, 2024
“Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
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