FOUR SPIRITUAL ANCHORS

Jack Davis

In times like these, we need to be anchored on all sides! The apostle Paul wrote, in view of our hope of the resurrection and the victory that God has given us through our Lord Jesus Christ – Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord (I Cor. 15:58). Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong (I Cor. 16:13). God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.  Selah (Psa. 46:1-3).

Hear my cry, DO  God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. For Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of Thy wings. Selah (Psa. 61:4). They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven (Psa. 107:23-30). Each believer is allowed to pass through some stormy trials in order to cause him to put down, try, and prove his spiritual anchors. An anchor that cannot be tried is not worth much for security. “Be very sure your anchor holds and grips that solid Rock. That Rock is Jesus.”

Acts 27:29, Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. Oh, what a day is coming! Are you wishing for that day? By that, I mean longing, waiting, praying, Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in Haven. Are we areally loving His appearing? The things that Paul and those that sailed with him did during this storm, illustrate for us many things about our journey. They cast four anchors out. Four anchors that can secure us from spiritual shipwreck are – grace, love, faith, and hope. We do well to appropriate these and have them applied to our lives.

GRACE: When we think of grace, we usually think of the blessings and favour of God that come to us without merit on our part. So it can be spelled, for definition, in several different ways:

God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense

Or God Revealed And Christ Extended.

The Apostle Paul told Timothy to be strong in grace, and thus be enabled to endure hardship (II Tim. 2:1,3). Being strong in grace is the result of growth, whereby we come to find Him sufficient in every trial (II Peter 3:15-18). Grace expresses the Divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life. We may grow in grace by receiving more grace. Growth in grace will keep us from being led away with the error of the wicked, and falling from our own stedfastness. For us not to grow in grace means to never reach our God-given potential of spiritual maturity, nor enjoy the nobility of Bridehood. This is development into the image and likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ: Him being formed in us. He is solid, dependable, always the same. So we are encouraged to become like Him by His grace. (Heb. 13:8-9). Thank God that Jesus was not moved from God’s purpose for His being here. The Apostle Paul said, By the grace of God I am what I am. Oh, let our hearts become established with grace. Paul was not moved from finishing his course with joy. The same can be true of us, as we are anchored by, and in grace.

Love: I Cor. 13:13, NOW ABIDETH: Oh, it is good to be anchored in the things that abide, that which stands and stays, enduring throughout the ceaseless ages. Faith, hope, love…the greatest of these is love. Though our faith will be made sight and our hope is to be realized in that eternal state, Yet we will still be dependent upon Him for the complete fulfillment of those exceeding great and precious promises and will continue to live in happy expectancy through the eternal ages. Faith is so very powerful, like a mighty dynamo; and under God’s engineering wisdom, love is the fuel on which faith’s engine runs. Love must also be the realm  in which faith operates. (Eph. 3:14-20) We are strengthened by His Spirit…that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith; so that we may experience our roots in Him going deeper and our foundation becoming stronger, being enabled to grasp the full measure of Divine love. This love is ever increasing, and expanding in glorious dimensions.

Faith: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering: for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5-8). Now, as we grow in grace, our hearts are established in grace so that we are not carried about by every wind of doctrine. The love of Christ does also constrain us. Then spiritual instability is greatly caused by unbelief. This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck (I Tim. 1:18-19). We can only fight a good fight when we are armed with faith. Let us never lay aside complete dependence on the Lord. Many of God’s precious people are headed for the rocks, wrecking their lives in regard to faith. We cannot just continue to go on that way and still get God’s best.

And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were some time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel (Col. 1:20-23). It is the Lord’s desire and purpose to present us holy, without blemish, and without charge in His sight. So the encouragement to continue here is not for the attempt to retain salvation; but for our perfection, and to lay hold of our inheritance. Being grounded deals more with the Divine support of our foundation. Being settled speaks more of the inward strength of the building. In Colossians 2:6-7 Paul encourages us to let our progress match our beginning, or our conduct manifest our conversion. Continue in the same way we began, expecting Him to perform that good work.

Hope: And be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel. For it is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the blessed hope of the ages; and being like Him, seeing Him as He is, is the hope that purifies our hearts and lives. Each of these anchors center upon Him. He is the Rock to which we anchor by grace through faith in love. We have access by faith, into this grace; and as we stand there, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. This hope that makes us not ashamed is entered by grace through faith, and enjoyed in love by the heirs of promise. (Heb. 6:17-20) The heirs of promise are those who have fled to Him for refuge. God has made for us the strongest possible demonstration of the unchangeability of His promise and purpose by two solid facts: He cannot lie, and He could swear by no greater. He has done this out of His extreme desire to encourage us to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Also this secures and stabilizes us when laid hold of by faith.