Message
Phrases like ‘God remembered’, as seen in today’s Bible reading, might look strange because God knows the end from the beginning and cannot forget anything. However, when the Bible uses that phrase, it doesn’t mean that God forgot anything, but at that moment, He decided to pay attention to something in particular. If God has made promises to you in the past, rest assured that He has not forgotten about them. They will surely come to pass at the appointed time.
In 1979, my Father in the Lord, Pa Josiah Akindayomi, and a few of us attended a Kenneth Hagin campmeeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. The meeting ended on a Saturday, so we worshipped at a nearby church on Sunday. As it was our first visit, we were made to sit in the front row. During the sermon, the preacher suddenly got down from the altar, stood before Pa Akindayomi, and said, “Thus saith the Lord, ‘That which I promised you is about to come to pass.’” Pa Akindayomi didn’t understand English, so he asked me, “What did he say?” Because I didn’t want to miss the rest of the sermon, I said, “I’ll tell you when we get to the hotel, sir.” When we got to the hotel, he asked again. After I told him, he started crying. God had told him in 1952, “I am starting a church through you, and it will be known around the whole world.” At that time, the church was still only in South-West Nigeria. The old man was already preparing to go to heaven, so he thought that God had forgotten His promise. Today, God has taken RCCG to 197 nations in the world and still counting.
Has God promised you anything? Rest assured that He will fulfil it. However, His promises will only be fulfilled in His time. After many years of serving God faithfully, Zachariah and Elisabeth remained barren and must have thought that God had forgotten them. The God who does not forget visited them at His appointed time and gave them a son (). God’s plan was to give them a great prophet who would be the forerunner of Jesus. When people thought it was too late for them to have a child, God said, “Now, it is time to attend to this matter.”
Beloved, men can forget their promises, but God can never forget His promises to you. Keep trusting Him, and He will fulfil His promises in your life at His appointed time.