Recently I was interviewed on a live radio program discussing the new release of the Experiencing God trade book. A caller took exception to my claiming that just as God spoke to people throughout biblical times, so He would also guide us specifically and personally today. He began to explain how all the Scriptures I was citing were for the first century apostles and not for Christians today. I was reminded of a similar experience Vance Havner had. I’d like to quote from his book, The Secret of Christian Joy:

   “In my early Christian experience I set out to read the Bible with all the zeal of the average young believer, taking the promises at face value, believing the scriptures as I found them, without benefit of footnotes and commentaries. I began with Genesis and was claiming the promises for myself when I encountered a Bible student from somewhere who informed me that those promises were not for me but for the Jews!
   It had been evident to me in reading the Scriptures, as it must be to any prayerful student, that certain divine commitments relate particularly to Israel. But the restraint which my well-meaning friend placed upon my appropriation of spiritual truth caused a sudden dampening of my ardor. Then I moved over into the New Testament and began appropriating the blessings of the Sermon on the Mount, and again I was interrupted and duly notified that all those things belonged to the Kingdom age! Next I began in Acts and was moving along, daring to believe that I might claim some, if not all, of the powers that flowed from Pentecost, when I was again reminded that the Acts covered a transitional period and we were not to press those matters too literally!
   I knew they would not let me have Revelation, since it was concerning the future; so only the Epistles were left me. By the time I had made allowances for the Greek roots and marginal references and contradictory footnotes, I came out in the same dilemma in which many Bible Christians find themselves today. I did not know which promises really were mine. I could not stand with confidence at any place in the Scriptures, lest some divider of the Word come along like a policeman to order me off the private property and inform me that my verse did not mean just what it said, or that it was meant for someone else.”

Many people are entering 2009 filled with apprehension and uncertainty. This is a time when people are looking for those things which are certain. God’s promises for His people are just as relevant and applicable in times of difficulty as they relate to seasons of prosperity and ease. As you enter the New Year, ask yourself: “What promises of God have I not been experiencing in my life, my family and my church?” Don’t spend another year of your life without experiencing every promise God has made available to you!

Let me encourage you once more to register for the Fresh Encounter conference February 27-28, 2009 at www.blackaby.org/FreshEncounter/. We pray that in the midst of a challenging year for people across North America, that God’s people will encounter Him and become the salt and light God wants them to be for such a time as this.

Posted by Richard Blackaby at 2:17 pm