Salvation; 100% Guaranteed!

Meditation Moments by Clara Crawford-Milton

reverencehim@comcast.net

Salvation; 100% Guaranteed!

²⁰ For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. ²¹ Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, ²² who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. II Corinthians 1:20-22

I am sure many of you have seen the commercials on television where Sears now does layaway of appliances and electronics. But did you know you could actually set up a layaway without going into the store. Wow! Well I was on their site a couple of days ago looking the find best deal on a flat screen for my new children (Glory to God)! Well as most of you know Sears now own Kmart. So I found myself venturing from Sears to Kmart for the same television. The price was the same but there seemed to be a technical glitch on the Sears site. I put the television on layaway without ever leaving the comforts of my home. I put down payment on layaway which secures my initial purchase until all terms are met and the layaway is paid in full.  If I meet the terms of the agreement I am guaranteed to get my merchandise in the end.

The word guarantee derives from the word arrabon. Arrabon is a business word that speaks of earnest money, a part of a purchase price paid in advance, as a down payment. Arrabon is the initial payment or first installment. The arrabon guarantees full possession once the entire amount is paid later. Paul and Timothy was passing through Macedonia for a second time on their journey. He was telling them that when God plans something it is always yes. When we plan it may be yes or it may be no because we are planning according to the flesh. Things are subject to changing when we plan them in the flesh. Since God is who He is and does what He does He only operates in the spirit.

Paul and Timothy was established in Christ and anointed in God to preach the Word to the people of Macedonia and Judea. Paul wanted them to know that God is the one that has sealed us and given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. The Holy Spirit is a guarantee from God on our Salvation. He has put a deposit down by giving us the Holy Spirit and it serves as a guarantee of the things to come. The Holy Spirit living inside of us is a God’s guarantee that we will live forever with Him in heaven and He will complete the work that He has started in us. Aren’t you glad for the guarantee! There won’t be any incomplete work in us or being sold at discount prices. He is going to complete what He started and when He finishes with us we will be at full heavenly value. No one is going to be able to sell us below market.  The Holy Spirit living inside of us is God’s guarantee that we will live forever with Him in heaven and He will finish what He started in us. God is not asking us to trust Him in blind faith, He has given us the Holy Spirit as a deposit for down payment that He means what He says. 

How many times do we make a deposit with the intention of cancelling it from the start? Not very often. I thank God His yes’ are yes and His no’s are no. Anything that He has guaranteed us you better be prepared for it to come to pass. I am living in some “come to pass moments right now.” What about you! If you take a moment and think you entire life is probably more than a moment to think about. Most of us had no idea of where we would be, what we would be doing right now or even how we would be doing. So to invest into something that is definite as salvation is the best investment we could ever have.

Why are we going through life looking for guarantees on temporal things? If it is temporal, there is no guarantee. Good example; if you have asked God for a mate and He promised you a mate, but you have gotten tired so you are just using a temporary one. Don’t you know you are messing up your guarantee? Too many times we try to intervene to step things up and don’t realize that we just cancelled our blessing. That happens a lot of times in relationships.

What about the time that God had me waiting to get a job and an offer came it that I knew would suffice my family’s needs and it would hinder me from looking for other jobs. I wanted a job so bad. The hiring manger convinced me to take it after a few days. I know this job was not from God! But in my mind it was a job and I had been unemployed for a while. My soul was so tormented for 11 weeks until one day I decided I couldn’t do it any longer. You see God had already guaranteed me employment. It was not at the speed I wanted and I didn’t want to wait on God. It was horrible. My first night home from work I  sat in the middle of the bed and cried like a baby. That job was not all it was portrayed to be. I told my husband I shouldn’t have taken the job. It financially hurt us more than it helped. But I didn’t know how to give it up. After 11 weeks when God finished with me, t wasn’t hard to give up after all. Sometimes God allow that to happen so we can come back to Eden and depend on Him. When God guarantees us something we had better believe Him. He never lies. I thank Him for the down payment on my salvation. I am waiting on Him to come back and pick His layaway up. His receipt will be stamped “Paid in Full.” Aren’t you excited about that? The Holy Spirit living inside of us is God’s guarantee to us that we have been bought with a price. Salvation; 100% Guaranteed! Amen!