SEPTEMBER THEME — “SEEING THE CROSS FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE”
Join us in praise and thanksgiving as Belmont Baptist Church celebrates our Year of Jubilee—fifty years of God’s unwavering faithfulness, rejoicing over answered prayers, souls saved, lives transformed, grace that has sustained us, and the finished work of the cross as we joyfully declare, “Thank You, Lord, for fifty faithful years—to God be all the glory!”
BEATS FROM YOUR PASTOR’S HEART
AND SHEW HIM MY SALVATION
“With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.” — Psalm 91:16
Psalm 91 closes with one of the most beautiful promises in the entire chapter: “I will… shew him my salvation.” That promise means more to me the longer I live. After all these years of walking with God, preaching His Word, serving at Belmont, raising a family with Mae, standing beside hospital beds and gravesides, and even walking through that dark night with COVID when Psalm 91 became more than a chapter to me—it became a hiding place—I can look back and say that God has shown me His salvation in more ways than I ever understood when I first trusted Him. Salvation is not only something God did for me the day I was saved. It is something He continues to reveal throughout my life. I have seen His salvation when He forgave my sin, when He delivered me from danger, when He carried me through trouble, when He restored what was broken, and when He gave me strength I did not know I had. The longer I walk with God, the more I discover that His salvation is far greater than the moment I first received it. The God who saved me once keeps showing me the greatness of His salvation again and again. Every valley reveals something new about Him. Every answered prayer becomes another reminder. Every season I thought I could not survive becomes another testimony that God is still my Savior.
GOD’S SALVATION IS MORE THAN A MOMENT
There is a definite moment when a person is born again, forgiven, redeemed, and made a child of God. That moment changes everything. But salvation is not merely something we look back on as an event in our past; it is a relationship we live in every day. The same Savior who forgave me then walks with me now. The same blood that cleansed me then still gives me confidence before God. The same grace that saved me from the penalty of sin continues working in me to free me from the power of sin. God did not save me and then leave me to survive the Christian life by myself. I have learned through the years that salvation is not simply, “One day I was saved.” It is also, “Today I am walking with the One who saved me.” The God who brought me out is the God who walks beside me, strengthens me, corrects me, carries me, and keeps drawing me closer to Himself. Think about that personally. When you look back to the day you trusted Christ, do not only thank God for where He brought you from. Ask yourself, “What has God been showing me about His salvation since then?” The salvation that begins in a moment keeps revealing the faithfulness of God for a lifetime.
GOD SHOWS HIS SALVATION WHERE I CANNOT SAVE MYSELF
There are moments in life when we come face-to-face with our helplessness. We cannot fix the situation. We cannot change the person. We cannot undo what happened. We cannot manufacture peace. We cannot force an answer. We cannot control what happens next. Those are difficult places, but they are often the very places where God shows us another dimension of His salvation. He may deliver us from the situation, or He may deliver us through the situation. He may change the circumstances, or He may change us in the circumstances. He may open the door we have been praying for, or He may give us grace to stand when the door remains closed. But either way, He shows us that He is still our Savior. I have lived long enough to learn that some of the greatest demonstrations of God’s saving power did not come when everything around me changed. They came when nothing around me had changed yet, but God gave me peace I could not explain, strength I did not have, and grace that was greater than the situation. There comes a point when all you can say is, “Lord, I cannot do this—but You can.” And sometimes that is exactly where God wants us, because when our strength runs out, we finally stop trusting ourselves long enough to see His strength clearly. God often reveals His saving power most clearly at the exact place where my own ability has completely run out. So let me ask you: What are you trying to save yourself from today? What are you trying to fix, control, change, or carry that God is asking you to put into His hands?
EVERY DELIVERANCE BECOMES PART OF MY TESTIMONY
Every time God carries us through something we could not handle alone, He adds another chapter to our testimony. That answered prayer becomes evidence. That unexpected provision becomes evidence. That restored relationship becomes evidence. That moment when God protected you from something you did not even see becomes evidence. And that season when you honestly thought you could not take another step—but somehow God gave you enough grace for one more day—that becomes evidence too. Eventually, if we walk with God long enough, we can look back over our lives and say, “God has shown me His salvation again and again.” I believe that is one reason older saints can sometimes speak with such quiet confidence. They have lived through enough nights to know morning comes. They have cried enough tears to know God still comforts. They have faced enough impossible situations to know that what looks impossible to us has never been impossible to Him. They have seen too much of God’s faithfulness to believe He is suddenly going to stop being faithful now. Yesterday’s deliverance becomes today’s reminder that God will still be God tomorrow. Every rescue from yesterday becomes a stone of remembrance for the battle I am facing today.
THE FORTRESS YOU KEEP DISCOVERING
Imagine walking through an ancient fortress with a guide. When you first arrive, you see the massive outer wall and think you understand how impressive the fortress is. But then the guide begins leading you deeper. You discover rooms you could not see from the entrance. You discover underground passages beneath your feet. You find additional walls built behind the first wall. You climb towers that give you an entirely different view of the surrounding countryside. The longer you stay inside that fortress, the more you realize how little you understood when you first walked through the gate. The fortress did not suddenly become greater. You simply began to see more of what had been there all along. That is what happens when we walk with God. When I first trusted Christ, I knew He had saved me from my sin. But the longer I have walked with Him, the more I have discovered how deep, how wide, how complete, and how faithful His salvation really is. He did not become more faithful as I grew older. I simply lived long enough to see more clearly how faithful He had always been.
Psalm 91 closes by turning our eyes toward the saving power of God. He saved us. He is sustaining us. And He will continue to show us His salvation. There may still be battles ahead. There may still be prayers we are waiting to see answered. There may still be valleys we do not understand and situations we cannot control. But the God who carried us this far has not changed. So keep walking with Him. Keep watching. Keep trusting. Keep expecting. Do not allow one difficult chapter to make you forget all the chapters in which God has already proven Himself faithful. When I look back over my life, I can see places where God protected me, provided for me, carried me, corrected me, strengthened me, and brought me through things I could never have handled by myself. And that gives me confidence for whatever is ahead. The longer I walk with God, the more reasons I have to believe that He will never stop being my Savior.
WARFARE PRAYER
Father, in the name of Jesus, I come against every lie of the enemy that says You have forgotten me, abandoned me, or stopped working in my life. I reject every spirit of discouragement that causes me to forget how many times You have already delivered me. Open my eyes to see Your salvation at work even in the places I do not yet understand. Bring back to my memory every prayer You have answered, every door You have opened, every danger You have prevented, every need You have supplied, and every valley You have carried me through. Break the power of fear that tells me my future is uncertain when my future is completely in Your hands. Silence every voice that tells me this situation is too hard, this battle is too great, or this season will never change. Strengthen my faith to believe that the Savior who kept me yesterday is the same Savior who will keep me today and tomorrow. Lord, where I cannot save myself, show me Your salvation. Where I cannot see a way, remind me that You are the Way. Where my strength is gone, let Your strength be made perfect in my weakness. Let my life become a living testimony of Your saving grace, sustaining power, and unfailing faithfulness. Keep showing me Your salvation until every part of my life points back to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
DAILY CHALLENGE
Today, write down three specific times when God has shown you His salvation, provision, protection, or deliverance. Do not rush through it. Remember what the situation looked like before God moved, remember how helpless you felt, and then remember what He did. Read those three things aloud and thank Him specifically for each one. Then take one present burden that you cannot fix or control and place it deliberately into His hands. Say, “Lord, You have shown me Your salvation before. I refuse to let today’s problem erase yesterday’s faithfulness. I am trusting You, and I am watching expectantly to see Your hand again.” Faith grows stronger when we stop staring only at the battle in front of us and start remembering the God who has already brought us through so many battles behind us.
SATURDAY’S PRAYER NEEDS
Britany Smith
Darlene Kelley
Darlene Thaxton
Ginny Ford
Susan Bankston
Kim’s McClain’s Mother
Nancy Brown – Rehab
Rob Davis