Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Discovering the Fountain of Youth


The story of a magical potion, fountain or scheme to have eternal youth is as old as humanity itself.  Ponce de Leon thought he had discovered it in St Augustine Florida. 

Stories like Oscar Wilde's story the Picture of Dorian Gray are part of this myth.

The quest for the Holy Grail was a key in the mythology.  The movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was a Holy Grail story.

So when someone says there IS a Fountain of Youth.. there better be a good reason to say so.  There is.

Read on.

First let me explain the rules. You can have access to the fountain of youth IF you believe.  Not me. Believe what Father God says about it.  I am not denying that you won't die...eventually.  It is appointed unto man.  I'm not even saying you won't age.  We all do. I am saying we don't have to accept what the world says to us.  That every drug advertisement telling us that the key to solving this or that issue in our body or brain is chemical.  There are things we can do that help, but none so efficacious as grasping what the word of the creator of you body says.


Here's a familiar passage Isaiah 40
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding. 29 He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; 31 But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

Waiting?  That means you look to HIM.  You focus your hope in HIM.  You exchange your hope in your own ability and methods and change to hoping in Him.   Now here is the challenge, is this true?  Do you know that is Father's plant and purpose for you?  I am not denying age and difficulty, I am denying they are the purpose and plan of God for YOU.  His will is that you outlive Thee Score and Ten and live to an age like MOSES did.  120 years and according to the word of God he was strong as ever.  How about his lieutenant Caleb who at 80 years was ready to go to war to take his mountain?  We are not talking ancient Methuselah history here, we are talking modern man.   You have the same genes and life blood that Moses did.  You can be who he was.  You can live and die like Moses:
Deuteronomy 34:7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever.


We don't understand the Fountain of Youth Benefit package in Psalm 103: 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits—5 Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle’s [strong, overcoming, soaring]!


Your age and situation is not irrelevant, it just doesn't have to be accepted without question.  You can still be verdant and strong spiritually and physically in old age.  
Psalm 92
14 [Growing in grace] they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap [of spiritual vitality] and [rich in the] verdure [of trust, love, and contentment].
15 [They are living memorials] to show that the Lord is upright and faithful to His promises; He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
I don't know about you but I want to be a LIVING MEMORIAL to grace and vitality in God.

Our access to these promises of Youth Renewal must be Mixed with Faith.

Hebrews 4:1-3
Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still holds and is offered [today], let us be afraid [[a]to distrust it], lest any of you should think he has come too late and has come short of [reaching] it. 2 For indeed we have had the glad tidings [Gospel of God] proclaimed to us just as truly as they [the Israelites of old did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them]; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith (with the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) by those who heard it; neither were they united in faith with the ones [Joshua and Caleb] who heard (did believe). 3 For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those [who did not believe] should not enter when He said, "As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest; and this He said although [His] works had been completed and prepared [and waiting for all who would believe] from the foundation of the world."

That's pretty rough.  Yet, the word says if we want to enter into the peace and prosperity of health, long life and a good end, we must mix our desire with faith.  The word is for YOU today. You can have a Fountain of Youth... and when you finally step from time into eternity, it will be a seamless transition. I promise you will never be more youthful than you will in that day.

Finally, to access this you must access the Grace of God.  HOW?  By having Faith in God, not faith in keeping rules and regulations, Not methods, not by some earthly discipline.  It's good to eat healthy, to live right, to deal with situations even if it requires a doctor, but if you ponder the first four verses of Romans 4, you start to see a pattern.  You don't access all these promises listed above by doing, you access them by being a person who trusts God's grace. Grace is Free but our Faith is a response.

From the message.  Romans 4:4 The fulfillment of God’s promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God’s promise arrives as pure gift. That’s the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father—that’s reading the story backward. He is our faith father.

The message of all this is clear.. be like Spock, Live Long and Prosper.  That was a promise from a Vulcan who eventually died.. according to a movie at least.  The real promise of Live Long and Prosper is given to you by the creator of the complete universe and the one intimately acquainted with every cell in your body.  

Take a deep breath and give thanks.. for HE IS GOOD AND HIS MERCY ENDURES FOREVER.

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