Our Help in Trouble

There are times in life when we feel devastated, overwhelmed and hopeless. Total surrender to God is the key to making sense of our circumstances. Surrendering our family and future to God, walking away from our worries and leaving them in His hands is the only action that will keep us sane. God will give us grace for today, but tomorrow's grace will not come until tomorrow.

As long as we are still alive, we have hope (Ecclesiastes 9:4). The Lord saves the brokenhearted and those crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). He binds our wounds and carries our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4, Psalm 147:3). Our hope comes from God alone and He gives us rest for our soul (Psalm 43:5; 62:5). As we put our hope in Him, the Lord rescues us from our trials (Psalm 39:7; 2 Peter 2:9). If we keep our faith and hope in God, anything is possible (Mark 9:23).

When trouble surrounds us and life is hard, we know that there is always a way out, because God loved us enough to lay His life down for us (2 Corinthians 4:8). God has good plans for His righteous ones and there is always hope in our future (Jeremiah 29:11). There is no need to fear anything, which life throws at us or that people threaten us with. We relinquish them all to the Lord for Him to deal with.

If we call out to the Lord, and pray to Him for help, He never fails to hear us. Our cries always reach His ears (Psalm 18:8). Our Lord and Redeemer strengthens us and holds us up with His victorious right hand (Isaiah 41:10, 13-14). Full surrender to God’s will in every circumstance is the only way to stay sane. If we continue to strive in our own way, we will continue to feel frustrated and hopeless.

We trust in God, not in our family or friends, job or bank account, talents or human reasoning, church or neighbors. If we do, we put too much pressure on others when we expect them to support us more than they already are. They will feel undue stress and push back or ignore us. We have to get our eyes off our self and onto God. Then He will keep us in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3).

Troubles are round us on every side, but we are not shut in; things are hard for us, but God shows us a way out of them (2 Corinthians 4:8). He leads us one step at a time (Matthew 6:31-34). Do not worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:25-30). Face today braced by God’s Spirit and praising God for who He is. Follow the leading of God’s Spirit throughout each day, even if you do not want to obey. Then, God will pour showers of blessings on you all the days of your life.

Prayer:

Father God, even when we take our focus off You in the midst of our tribulation, we know without a doubt that You are always there for us, loving us unconditionally and giving us the victory through Your death and resurrection. Nothing this world has to offer compares to the hope we have, which comes only from You (Psalm 62:5; Ecclesiastes 9:4). You are always on our side, ever loving us and drawing us daily closer to Your heart (John 6:44; Psalm 136:1).

Thought for the Day:

God’s sheltering arms keep us from falling and He lifts us up when we are discouraged. - Psalm 145:14

A Quiet Place of Holiness

 

Fear and worry tend to infiltrate the soul of every human being at one time or another. We all share the penchant for trying to control our circumstances to keep us safe. We fear the future and cling to the past. What if all the orange trees in Florida feared losing their fruit, so they clung to the oranges? We would miss a whole year of orange juice, and the fruit would just sour and rot in a few weeks. There is no reason to allow fear or worry to dictate our mood; we will only sour and decay our soul if we do.

Instead, we can still and quiet our soul by keeping a journal of the things that bother us (Psalm 131:2). This allows our soul to let off steam and rid itself of any dangerous, pent up negative emotions. The Lord tells the righteous that it will be well with us, for we shall enjoy the fruit of our labor (Isaiah 3:10). As we yield our self to faith, worship and obedience, He works His mighty works in and instead of us. We are the glove, but He is the hand.

An attraction to the world causes us to slip into debauchery of our body and soul and leads to physical sickness and mental illness. On top of this it is sin, which causes spiritual sickness too. Dabbling in the world does us no good in any way. Sin is only enjoyable for a short time. It causes us to miss the joys of serving in God’s Kingdom. It forces us to reap the consequences of our behavior for the rest of our life, as well as in eternity (Hebrews 11:25).

Even the good things in life can become the enemy of the will of God for our life. Many of us are so preoccupied with living life that we forget that we are dead, and that Christ now lives His life instead of us. We are too busy to slow down and abide in Christ, and we frustrate the plan of God for our life (Ephesians 2:8-10). God’s work is delayed by our obstruction of His will. However, in His will, we accomplish much more than we do by living life according to our will and in our own strength.

God calls us to be still and to acknowledge that He is God (Psalm 46:10). We sit in blessed silence and still our racing soul. As we wait upon the Lord, we stand against anything deterring us from seeking God. He brings peace to our soul and fills us with His joy as our strength (Isaiah 40:31; Nehemiah 8:10). We abide in Christ and enter into His rest while we wait on His direction (Hebrews 4:10; Proverbs 3:5-6); then, we walk in obedience to His will moment by moment throughout the day (Deuteronomy 28:2).

Prayer:

Father God, You can work through us only when we cease from our human labors and enter into Your rest (Hebrews 4:10). You give us both the desire and the power to accomplish Your will in our life (Philippians 2:12-13). We relish Your divine presence within us and we desire nothing more than to walk in Your power through each moment of our day at work, at home, in the community and in church services. We want nothing more than to abide in Your presence and to be led by Your Spirit and to watch Jesus work through us during each moment of the day.

Thought for the Day:
May our soul yield its thoughts, choices and emotions to the direction of God's divine Spirit one moment at a time.

 

Rest for Our Soul

 

The presence of God in our life is a wondrous gift that trumps any other blessing we could ever receive. God promises to be with us even until the end of this age. This age is called the Time of the Gentiles, or the Church Age. It began when Christ established the church while He lived on this earth. During this age, God calls us to seek His Kingdom before, as well as more than we seek the distractions of the world, the flesh and the devil (Matthew 6:24). God requires total dedication and surrender (Luke 14:26).

This does not negate the fact that we have a family, job, church and hobbies to participate in; but we do it all through the direction of God’s Spirit and for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). We follow the leading of God’s Spirit through the noise and hectic pace of our life. He brings order from the chaos and peace in the confusion. He replaces our stress with His rest, if we will only surrender every facet of our life to Him. The first step in entering God’s rest is to spend time with Him (Mark 12:30).

Confusion drowns out the voice of God and causes us to feel frustrated, angry and to experience other negative emotions. However, walking in His presence moment by moment through the duties of our day, brings contentment and peace. God helps us to prioritze our time and activities. Every soul needs “down” time for our soul – our mind, will and emotions - to catch up, to chill out and to recover from the trauma of life. We need time for our spirit to center into Christ’s life within us (Psalm 46:10).

We do not have to be afraid of not measuring up, or of not getting all of our required work done or meeting all of the needs of all of the people who depend on us. If we live one moment at a time, Christ within us directs us to do what pleases Him. Like Mary, we can make the best choice for our day, and sit at Jesus feet within us, no matter where we are or what we are doing (Luke 10:42). As we praise Him and follow His Spirit, He will allow us to excell, to finish what is required of us and to meet the needs of all the people He wants us to minister to.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, when You see our agitation rising inside, prompt us to discover the source of the negative emotions and to seek Your wisdom on how to deal with it. Nothing and no one can come against us to overpower us,  because You live within us. Remind us to be still and to acknowledge that You are Lord over our life. Exhort us to rest in You while You work out the issues, which are distracting us from living in Your peace and rest. We trust You with our whole life, because we have faith in Your faithfulness.

Thought for the Day:

We still have hectic activities swirling all around us; however, as we walk in the Spirit, God gives us a quiet refuge, supernatural strength and His constant help in any difficulty we experience.