It used to be an accepted prospect that all young women would marry at a relatively young age. There were certain things she would need to embark on her new life, so she began to accumulate them early. This was a time before department stores, and as a teenager, the girl would stitch quilts, weave cloth, embroider towels, and collect useful textile items that were only available if she created them by hand.
The hope chest was more than a marriage chest. It was hours and sometimes years invested in the girl’s future. The most devastating thing that could happen to a bride-to-be was to have her hope chest destroyed in a fire, stolen in a raid, or locked by an irate parent so that her most precious things were inaccessible to her.
The devil continually tries to lock our spiritual hope chests. He takes away access to the prized items we’ve stored inside one by one, leaving us bereft with only the memories of the blessings we once claimed.
The keys to unlock what’s ours are in the Word of God.
Key No. 1 is found in James 4:7.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
The devil’s locks on our hope chest will fall away, broken and useless, the moment the devil is no longer around.
Key No. 2 shows up in Hebrews 13:17.
“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
These are our key makers. They know how to reset the tumblers inside the locks so that the devil can never refasten them to our dreams.
Key No. 3 is revealed in Colossians 3:8.
“But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.”
Our mouth is our weak point, for what we say is what we become. We can’t afford to offer the devil the very locks he places on our hope chest.
Key No. 4 is located in Ephesians 4:32.
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
These three keys will unlock more hope chest promises than any other in the Word.
Key No. 5 is discovered in Romans 2:7.
“To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.”
Paul gives us the master key, patience in well-doing, for it encompasses every aspect of the life Christ wants us to lead.
The devil doesn’t want us to party in the pits every night, to awaken bleary-eyed and hungover when dawn breaks. He’s happy to have us in church three times a week, if he can only keep the promises of God locked out of our reach. It’s up to us to find God’s keys and kick the devil on down the road. We’ve earned the promises of God through the blood of Christ and the life of salvation we lead. Those things are not the devil’s to lock away.
Reading the Word of God is how we gather the keys to unlock God’s promises to us.
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