The Lord Remembers Pt. 2

There is nothing that goes unnoticed before the Lord on the face of this earth. He records and remembers every occurrence on earth, even as we learnt previously that God has no memory issues whatsoever.

The Lord often stirs us to remember those who are or have walked with us. The Lord causes us to remember people who have stood with us or done us good, and He desires that we minister blessings unto them now that He has remembered us. God reminds us of people who came our way and got us out of sticky moments, situations and circumstances and inasmuch as He brings them to our attention, the Lord desires that we respond even in prayers for them. As the Lord remembers us, He causes us to appropriately remember others.

Let us continue from where we left off last time, recounting the things that the Lord remembers…

• God honors and remembers righteousness:

Genesis 8:1 (AMP)

AND GOD [earnestly] remembered Noah and every living thing and all the animals that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind blow over the land, and the waters sank down and abated.

God recalled that Noah had been a righteous man. Even at a time when the world was deep in wickedness that God wished to wipe away the creation, however, He remembered His righteous servant Noah.

May the Lord earmark us and create a shelter and a canopy over our lives. It is not in vain that you have walked in righteousness with Him. You are earmarked for remembrance since it is appointed time and season.

• God remembers His covenant    

Exodus 2:24-25 (AMP)

And God heard their sighing and groaning and [earnestly] remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  God saw the Israelites and took knowledge of them and concerned Himself about them

                                                                 

The Lord remembered His covenant with the children of Israel when they cried and called out His name while in slavery. This one time, the cry had reached unto God with a difference, as He remembered His covenant which He had made with them and then came to their rescue.

  

• God remembers souls/lives convicted and ready to turn to HIM

The Lord remembers a soul that is convicted by the power of the Holy Spirit and accords the person freedom and a new life. Forgiveness was paid for and given, but one has to receive it in order to enjoy God’s gift of salvation. We are therefore free because John 8:36 says that ‘If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed’ (KJV), and we ought to live and enjoy freedom, free from any bondage. It is evident that even in this independent nation where we gained freedom many years ago, there are people in prisons; restricted and deprived of desired individual freedom and privileges. In the same manner, there are people who are spiritually bound in various ways that they cannot enjoy freedom even in this dispensation of grace.

• God remembers the wanderings and tears of His own people.

Psalm 56:8 (AMP)

You number and record my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle — are they not in Your book?

Our tears never dry before the presence of the Lord. The tears that we shed are stored in heaven and the Lord remembers them as they are stored in a bottle and recorded in His book. He has a record of everything that you have gone through and even shed tears for in your life. Your sighing, prayers, cries, wanderings and covenants are all numbered, recorded and stored for remembrance. It is a season to be remembered of the Lord.

Revelation 5:8 (AMP)

And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders [of the heavenly Sanhedrin] prostrated themselves before the Lamb. Each was holding a harp (lute or guitar), and they had golden bowls full of incense (fragrant spices and gums for burning), which are the prayers of God's people (the saints).

God receives the prayers of the people and of the saints in a golden bowl. The Lord remembers every tear stored in the bowl of prayers that has been presented to Him for your sake.

• Some Evidence or indicators of a Remembered people

There is the manifestation of one who has been remembered and it is something that the world can see as a testimony of being remembered.

1.       Fruitfulness

Genesis 30:22-23 (AMP)
Then God remembered Rachel and answered her pleading and made it possible for her to have children.  And [now for the first time] she became pregnant and bore a son; and she said, God has taken away my reproach, disgrace, and humiliation.

Shame and reproach and disgrace must get out of our way as we are remembered. Our very families and engagements must flourish in this season of remembrance. Every wilderness and bareness that has been upon the life of believers is no more because the Lord has remembered us.

John 15:4 (KJV)

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

When you abide in Christ and in His word then fruitfulness is evident, tangible and assured hence a life of a remembered person is evident. We shall know people by their fruits.

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

As you stick and abide in the Lord, you prosper and become fruitful. Thus fruitfulness is a sign that you have been remembered. It is an evidence of being remembered when a person ministers to people and experiences the Lord using him or her as an instrument of their blessings.

2.       Restoration

When we are remembered as in the stories in Job 42, 2 Sam 9:1-13, God restores us from a lower position to a higher position. Mephibosheth was remembered because of the relationship that had been established between Jonathan, the son of King Saul, and David. When David came to power, he remembered his relationship and promise that he had made with Jonathan and therefore after enquiring for a kinsman from King Saul’s heritage, he got a remnant: the poor and disabled Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth couldn’t believe that he could be honored into dining with the king since he had imagined he was worse than a dead dog.

Now that we too have been remembered, it is our season to dine with royalty and excellence since our Lord is not a respecter of persons.  When Job was remembered, he got double portions of what he had accumulated before; even his daughters were more beautiful than those that he lost.

3.       When one is remembered there is a lot of release and freedom

God remembers us even in our guilt and sinfulness. Life under guilt and condemnation is now history since we have totally been liberated and given eternal freedom. When the Lord Jesus ministered to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:7-29) she got liberated and could not allow the sin of her past to hold her back. She left her water-pot and hastened into the city to proclaim the Gospel despite her previous history and record before men. When we are free we receive acceptance, acknowledgement and favor from God, and not from men, and we move in boldness and confidence.

The man at the pool of Bethesda carried his beddings and did not care on public opinion since he had been remembered after being an invalid at the pool for 38 years (John 5:1-14). Be jubilant now and let the enemy know and see that the excitement you have is because the Lord has remembered you.

John 8:36

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

4.       When the Lord remembers us, we are given a new name.

When the woman who had an issue of blood was remembered (Luke 8:43-48), her identity was changed from being a woman to daughter. We may have been given shameful aliases by the society but when the Lord remembers us, those dishonorable brands and names change for the better.

Isaiah 62:4

You shall no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; For the LORD delights in you, And your land shall be married.

Sarai and Abram’s names were changed to Sarah and Abraham. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. Saul’s name was changed to Paul. Whatever names you have been given, God causes changes to your name and identity, and hence, to your destiny.

5.       When the Lord remembers us we glow with glory

Our physical appearance and countenance is changed when one is remembered. A person who has been remembered looks glorious and admirable from the effect of God’s glory upon his or her life. Our strength is renewed and every aspect of our lives becomes refreshed and revitalized that people watch in awe, amazement and disbelief.

What is the responsibility of every believer as the Lord remembers us?

1)      Ask the Lord to remember you - Hannah, asked the Lord in prayer for a son and the Lord remembered her and granted her Samuel, and many more children. She did not shy away from asking the Lord to remember her and we too should emulate her for the Lord if faithful and just.

1 Samuel 1:11). ‘Then she made a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head’

There is nothing wrong to ask the Lord to grant you divine attention (to remember you):

Matthew 7:7 
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Exodus 3:9 (AMP)
Now behold, the cry of the Israelites has come to Me, and I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.

The children of Israel called upon then Name of the Lord and He heard their cry. He rescued them from their state in bondage and slavery.

Mark 10:46-47
Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Blind Bartimaeus cried and called upon the Lord and he was ministered to. Ask of the Lord since He is the one with the bottle and the golden bowl of your tears. Luke 23:42-43 speaks of the dying thief on the cross who asked Jesus Christ to remember him. Don’t shy off from asking.

Jeremiah 33:3
'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

2)      Repentance – turn away from living in sin, unforgiveness, bitterness, wickedness and evil lifestyle and the good Lord will grant you divine attention/remember you.

3)      Continue doing good

Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart

Psalm 126:5-6
Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

We are encouraged to keep on doing good as this is a memorial to the Lord.

Conclusion

Exodus 34:7

"…keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation."

The Lord will remember everything, good or bad. All acts of kindness will be remembered. All the evil acts you have done unto people, God will one day remember unless one repents .We therefore have an obligation to choose to do good unto people and establish a memorial for remembrance before God  and though this is not the ultimate intention, remember that we should “not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Galatians 6:7

We are blessed and remembered. 

-- Pastor Mary Mugo. 

 

(31/08/14 Sunday Service Sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.) 


Pastor Mary is the Senior Pastor at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.