"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." - Genesis 28:15

In 1789, fourteen-year-old John Marrant became a Christian through the preaching of Methodist evangelist George Whitefield. His family disapproved of his new faith and John left his home in Charleston, South Carolina and headed west. After only a few weeks on his own, he was seized by some Cherokee Indians and was condemned to death. "The executioner showed me a basket of turpentine wood stuck full of small skewers" recorded John in his diary. "He told me I was to be stripped naked and laid down in the basket, and these sharp pegs were to be stuck into me, then set on fire, and when they burnt my body, I was to be thrown into the flame, which was to finish my execution."

John immediately burst into prayer and the bewildered Indians called for their chief. John then began reading Isaiah 53 from his little Bible and then he preached the gospel. Many of the Indians were converted that day including the chief. John stayed with the tribe for the next two years and taught them how to follow the Lord.

No matter where you go, the Lord will be with you to watch over you. Today in prayer, give thanks to Christ that He has promised that He will never leave you.
"Looking back, [my wife] Jan and I have learned that the wilderness is part of the landscape of faith, and every bit as essential as the mountaintop. On the mountaintop we are overwhelmed by God's presence. In the wilderness we are overwhelmed by his absence. Both places should bring us to our knees; the one, in utter awe; the other, in utter dependence." - Dave Dravecky

God's Word: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 28:19-20

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2003, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN GENESIS pkennedy@devotional.com

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