God cares about the abused and the oppressed. He does not look down upon the mistreated, and He abhors their affliction. He gathers their tears in His bottle and records them in His journal (Psalm 56:8). He promises not to hide His face from them when they cry out to Him, and He champions their cause (Psalm 22:24, 140:12).
God promises to lift up the distressed above those who try to hurt them and to deliver them from violent people (Psalm 18:48). He makes things right and provides the afflicted with a refuge from oppression and trouble (Psalm 9:9; 103:6). He brings down the haughty evil person and saves the afflicted (2 Samuel 22:28).
He redeems the soul of the afflicted from deceit and violence. Their blood is precious in His sight (Psalm 72:14). God tells the church to bear one another burdens (Galatians 6:2). God's family encourages and supports each other in our times of distress and anguish (Hebrews 12:12).
It is a beautiful thing to see the church members supporting one another rather than fussing, fighting, demanding our own way, and gossiping about one another. We are not to treat the wicked like an enemy, but to entreat them with kindness and empathy and to care about their needs (2 Thessalonians 3:14-15).
Living a surrendered life to God’s Spirit is our doorway to freedom. It is a state of brokenness, of total dependence upon God, of receiving God’s forgiveness and of having a personal, daily relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This concept of surrender does not mean that we diminish our God given identity, personality, needs, or giftedness.
Surrender simply means allowing God to replace our old, carnal, sinful nature with His holy, compassionate, spiritual nature. We allow God to call the shots and to direct us according to His will instead of living according to our own goals, plans, and ambitions. Biblical Job tells us that if we submit to God and live at peace in Him, He brings prosperity to us in every area of life (Job 22:21).
Prayer:
Father God, you told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Then he decided that from then on that he would boast all the more gladly about his weaknesses, so that Christ’s power would grow stronger in him. That is why, for Christ’s sake, he started to delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, and in difficulties. He discovered one of the secret of the Christian life: When we are weak, then we are strong in Christ (2 Corinthians 12: 9-10). Thank You for being our one true God and Father of all who is over all and through all, and in all.
This enables us to live as a testimony to Your mercy and grace to a lost and dying world that desperately needs Jesus (2 Corinthians 13:11; Psalm 133:1). Teach us that we can serve as a Guardian Ad Litem for a child, or help out in a shelter for the abused, or visit the imprisoned and widows. We plead their cause, care for their needs, and relieve their misery as if we are right there suffering with them (Proverbs 31:9; Hebrews 13:3; Isaiah 1:17; Jeremiah 22:3). You want us to point people to You, Your care, and Your love, because You will come with vengeance to repay the evil done to them and bring deliverance to the abused (Isaiah 35:3-4).
Thoughts for the Day:
In addition to surrender, God calls us to believe that His power truly can overcome any person or circumstance in our life. God wants us to completely surrender our will to His and to be vulnerable before Him. This is called “dying to self” (Romans 6:6). If Jesus is on the throne of our life, and we live in full surrender to Him every moment of every day, we live and walk in true Serenity.
