THE OPERA AIN’T OVER . . . ‘TIL THE FAT LADY SINGS. It was a banner hung over the wall near the forty-yard line of Texas Stadium. The guys in silver and blue were struggling to stay in the race for the playoffs. So some Cowboy fan, to offer down-home encouragement, had splashed those words on a king-size bedsheet for all America to read. It was his way of saying, “We’re hangin’ in there, baby. Don’t count us out.”

Sure is easy to jump to conclusions, isn’t it? People who study trends make it their business to manufacture out of their imaginations the proposed (and “inevitable”) end result. Pollsters do that too. After sampling 3 percent of our country (or at least they say that’s what it equates to), vast and stunning statistics are announced.

Every once in a while it’s helpful to remember times when those preening prognosticators wound up with egg on their faces. Like when Truman beat Dewey, and England didn’t surrender, and the Communists didn’t take over America by 1975.

Yes, at many a turn we have all been tempted to jump to “obvious” conclusions, only to be surprised by a strange curve thrown our way. God is good at that.

Can you recall a few biblical examples?

Like when a young boy, armed with only a sling and a stone, whipped a giant over nine feet tall. Or the time an Egyptian army approaching fast saw the sea open up and the Hebrews walk across. Or how about that dead-end street at Golgotha miraculously opening up at an empty tomb three days later?

Anybody—and I mean anybody—near enough to have witnessed any one of those predicaments would certainly have said, “Curtains . . . the opera is over!”

Unless I miss my guess, a lot of you who are reading this page are backed up against circumstances that seem to spell THE END. Pretty well finished. Apparently over. Your adversary would love for you to assume the worst, to heave a sigh and resign yourself to the depressed feelings that accompany defeat, failure, maximum resentment, and minimum faith.

But take heart. When God is involved, anything can happen. The One who directed David’s stone and opened that sea and brought His Son back from the dead takes delight in the incredible.

In other words, don’t manufacture conclusions. There are dozens of fat ladies waiting in the wings. And believe me, the opera ain’t over!

God delights in mixing up the odds as He alters the obvious 
and bypasses the inevitable. (Charles Swindoll)

And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there shall be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.–Revelation 21:4

How would you define pain? Since 1968, the most widely used definition of pain in clinical settings is the one set forth by pain researcher Margo McCaffery: Pain is “whatever the experiencing person says it is, existing whenever and wherever the person says it does.” In other words, no one can tell another person that they are not in pain. Pain is as unique as the individuals who profess to experience it.

Think about any pain you may be experiencing now–relational pain, physical pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain. Regardless of the kind of pain you are experiencing now it will “soon” be over. The Bible says that in the New Jerusalem “there shall be no more pain, for the former things are passed away.” Whatever kind of pain you feel today, an eternal day is coming in which you will feel it no more if you live in the New Jerusalem. Every God-designed need and longing of the human spirit, soul, and body will be met completely in Christ.

Let today’s pain lead you to tomorrow’s pleasure in heaven.

God…shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
C. S. Lewis                     —–From Turning Point

“We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

“I just love Jesus.” I’ve heard it many times from many people.
Often they mean it like this: “I don’t care much about church or the
Bible or organized religion or theology. I simply love Jesus.” But
simply, truly loving Jesus is full of meaning. Why? Why does
anyone truly love Jesus? John gives us the answer in eight easy
words: “We love Him because He first loved us.”

First, there is a fact stated: “We love Him.” John begins by
declaring the heart of every true follower of Jesus Christ.  Simply
and boldly put, we love Him. This is true of every genuine disciple
of Jesus. Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher of Victorian
England said it like this: “There is no exception to this rule; if a man
loves not God, neither is he born of God.  Show me a fire without
heat, then show me regeneration that does not produce love to
God.” It is something that every Christian should be unafraid to
proclaim: “I love Him; I love Jesus.” Can you say that? Are you
embarrassed to say it? Can you say, “I love Jesus”?

This verse not only declares our love for Jesus, it tells us when He
loved us: “He first loved us.” Some people imagine that Jesus
loved us because He knew we would love Him and come to faith in
Him. But He loved us before that, and even before the worlds were
created, when our only existence was in the mind and heart of God,
Jesus loved us. He loved us when we were still sinners.

This verse tells us where our love for Jesus comes from. It comes
from Him! “We love Him because He first loved us.” Our love for
God is always in response to His love for us; He initiates, and we
respond.   We never have to draw God to us; instead, He draws us
to Himself.

This verse tells us why we love Jesus and how we can love Him
more: “We love Him because He first loved us.” Charles
Spurgeon again said something very helpful here: “Yet we must not
try to make ourselves love our Lord, but look to Christ’s love first,
for his love to us will beget in us love to him. I know that some of
you are greatly distressed because you cannot love Christ as much
as you would like to do, and you keep on fretting because it is so.
Now, just forget your own love to him, and think of his great love to
you; and then, immediately, your love will come to something more
like that which you would desire it to be.”

Did you get that? Instead of working hard to love Jesus more,
meditate more upon His great love for you. Based on this principle
of 1 John 4:19, you can be assured that greater love for Him will
begin to rise within you as you consider more fully how much He
loves you.

Finally, if “He first loved us,” then it is true that He loves us now. 
Do you believe it? Let it sink down deeply into your heart: “We love
Him because He first loved us.”—By David Guzik

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroard in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who was given unto us.
Romans 5:5

Our God is full of surprises. He tailor-makes every miracle; He individually designs every life. Every day is different, and His every deliverance is unique. Yet He is never capricious, changeable, erratic, or unstable. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amid the complexity of His manifold ways, there is the solid foundation of His love.

We can always count on that. The Bible longs for us to understand “what is the breadth and length and depth and height–to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18-19). According to the apostle John, the more we understand the shoreless ocean of God’s love, the less we’ll fear the choppy waters of life, for “perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18).

If you feel your life is unpredictable and unstable right now, focus on His steady, unchanging love. Thank Him for “the love of God—–. Resting in the predictable and perfect security of God’s love will bring revival to our souls.(From Turning Point: Scripture references changed to KJV)

[God’s love] is shed abroad, as sweet ointment, perfuming the soul, as rain watering it and making it fruitful.
Matthew Henry

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come…
Romans 8:38

The late astronomer, Carl Sagan, was noted for his 13-part television series titled The Cosmos–his secular views on the universe and man’s place in it. But there is a part of the cosmos that Sagan’s telescope failed to detect: the existence of bad angels as well as good.

The New Testament contains references to “principalities and powers” (Ephesians 3:10; Colossians 2:15) and Paul equates them with the “rulers of the darkness of this world”–“spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). It is not for the sake of literary creativity that Paul describes the Christian’s spiritual armor; it is for our spiritual protection! Bad angels are nothing less than demonic beings who serve Satan by carrying out his nefarious deeds against the plans and people of God (Revelation 9:15). Only by resisting the devil and his demons (James 4:7) while clothed in the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) can we remain unharmed.

Make sure today that your spiritual defenses are strong by being fully clothed in every piece of God’s armor.(From Turning Point)