“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)
If we are going to trust God we must jump in with both feet. We must untie the boat from the pier. We must jump from the airplane without a parachute. Yes, this is a faith walk, “There ain’t no half steppin’.” The word, TRUST rings loud with synonyms: faith, confidence, and reliability. There is little more frustrating than having someone ask you to do something and when you don’t perform it fast enough, and just the way they imagined, they snatch it back from you, “Let me have it, I’ll do it.” That’s a sign of control, the inability to let go and trust. This is similar to what we do with our Lord and Savior. We can be impatient and impertinent. “True trust in Christ is an entire reliance upon him. This day, if you trust Christ, you rest the whole weight and stress of your soul’s affairs upon him. Looking at your sin and your sinfulness, looking at the past, the present, and the future, looking at death and at judgment, you deliberately believe that Christ is equal to every emergency, and you just cast yourself entirely and without reserve upon him to save you, and to keep you saved forever. No other trust is worth a pin except this. It must be an absolute severance from all reliance upon your past merit, or upon your present resolutions, or upon your future expectations of what you shall be or shall do. You must have done with all other trust if Christ is your confidence. Your motto must be, ‘Jesus only.’” Charles Spurgeon I pray that today is the day that we stop living life on the shore, we jump on board and set sail. If we give it to God, we have to trust Him. We cannot snatch it back because He’s not moving fast enough or it does not look the way we want it to. It’s time to let go and TRUST in the Lord. GiGi
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“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness.” (Isaiah 41:10) No matter how saved we think we are, fear will try to creep in and take hold ever so often. But as suggested by Spurgeon, “As grace grows and increases in power, fear declines.” In essence, it has a lesser hold on us, as we realize that where grace and faith reside, fear will not be able to remain long. “If somebody had told you years ago that you would have passed through your last trouble, you would have said, “I will never be able to get through that.” But you have.” Because you have overcome your fear and gotten through your trial you have testimony, a story to tell, and a song to sing. Here is a word, then, if you are fearful in this moment, “I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Remember the victories over past battles. The Lord will get us through our present one as well. Fear not, the battle belongs to God. GiGi❤️ “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” (Isaiah 43:2)
There are times when we will experience trouble on every side. During those experiences we do have a tendency to ask, “Why me, Lord?” At times we might feel, “I can’t take one more thing.” . Spurgeon wrote, “The new believers lack an understanding of the necessity of the trial but I fear that some of us older Christians have forgotten. “If they were always at ease they would fall into living by feeling, instead of walking by faith. Therefore the Lord tries them, leads them by a desert path, clouds their sky, and burdens their backs. Then they enquire, "How is this?" Some of us know that when God shuts us up in the dark, he loves us as dearly as when he pours sunlight on us. ‘We can be a child of God, and yet be so afflicted?’” Today, let us be reminded that Christ is in the storm. He is a God that is with us and will never leave or forsake us. Yet, the trial is necessary. GiGi❤️ “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)
Let us not deny ourselves the opportunity to enter into the presence of God daily by reading His Word, meditating and praying. Let us take time to sit under good teaching and hear the preacher. The very words that we read or hear will surely bring us comfort in our time of need. That is the power of the Word of God, the power to heal, deliver, and comfort. The day will arise when there is no one else around that can comfort us. If we have stored up during our time of plenty then we can be fed during the famine. “Admire, too, the comfort that you often see in the case of David. His was a troubled life, but he stayed himself upon his God. As one remarkable instance of this, think of the time when he came back from the Philistines and found Ziklag burned. All who were left in it were carried away captive and ‘the people’—his own followers—‘spoke of stoning him—but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.’ All through the Psalms you get beautiful pictures of the comfort that David enjoyed even in his times of trouble. ‘Why are you cast down, O my Soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope you in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.’ Thus he talked to himself and admonished himself—and even when he sank in deep waters, he still cried unto the Lord and still hoped in His mercy. What a sweet song of hope he sings in the 23rd Psalm! ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.’” C. Spurgeon Dear Lord, help us to be mindful of the importance of spending precious time with you. Help us to make You a priority for you are the source of our hope, our peace, and our comfort. GiGi❤️ “We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.” (Psalm 33:20-22)
If we place our hope in anyone or anything, other than the Lord, we will find disappointment and pain. Eventually we learn that no one or nothing can replace our relationship with God and we come running back to the throne of grace. Although, there are times when we are so battered by life, so weary and despondent that the Lord has to pull us in as he did the dove after it flew around for days seeking for somewhere to land. Charles Surgeon noted that the dove returned to the ark weary and with muddied feet. He wrote: “When she found there was no contentment elsewhere, what then? She flew back to the ark. Josephus tells us that the dove came back to Noah, with her wings and feet all wet and muddy. Some of you have grown wet and muddy. You have been trying to find rest in the world, Christian, and you have got mired with it.” We know where our help comes from, it comes from the Lord. Today he is pulling us in, beckoning us to come to him and rest. Although we have journeyed away from him looking for something or someone else to fill that void, He never gave up on us. He is pulling us back into the ark. GiGi❤️ “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16)
You must have noticed how continually John blends faith with knowledge and love, as in the sixteenth verse of this chapter: “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us.” All through this Epistle, he constantly repeats the words “we know,” “we know,” “we know,” “we know;” and perhaps even more frequently he uses the word “love.” Knowledge, faith, and love are plaited together so closely that they cannot be separated. They are intertwisted and united like the warp and the woof of a fabric, and so they become really one. To know Christ, is to trust Christ, to love Christ, these are among the elementary principles of piety. If these things are in us, and abound, they make us fruitful. Taken from Charles Haddon Spurgeon August 15, 1880, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 47 GiGi❤️ “What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” (Luke 12:3)
Authenticity is how we show up for ourselves around everyone and everywhere we go. Moving forward, we will respond to what God expects of us, not people. Brene Brown wrote, “Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are. Authenticity demands Wholehearted living and loving—even when it’s hard, even when we’re wrestling with the shame and fear of not being good enough, and especially when the joy is so intense that we’re afraid to let ourselves feel it.” Spurgeon addresses authenticity when we are alone, “Never try to be what you are not. Never do what you are ashamed of; it doesn’t matter if no one sees. Think always that God sees, and with God for a witness you have enough observers. Only do in secret what you would have done if all eyes were fixed on you, and you were observed even by your most cruel critics…What God's Holy Spirit tells you, do.” Finally, trust God to just be yourself. Now exhale! GiGi❤️ “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1)
There is nothing too hard for God. He has authority over everyone and everything, even what we are challenged with in this moment. We can speak to that situation today, “My God has authority over this.” “Remember, Jesus lives in the place of authority. When he was here he had power over demons, but up there he has greater power still; for here on earth he veiled the splendor of his Godhead, but up there his glory beams resplendent, and all hell confesses the majesty of his power.There is no demon, however forceful, who will not tremble if Jesus only speaks, or even so much as looks at him. There cannot be a case which shall be hard for Jesus. We have only to bring it to him. He lives—and he lives in the place of power, and he can achieve the desire of our hearts.” (Charles Spurgeon) GiGi❤️ “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD." (Psalm 31:24)
Often we believe that we are strong in the Lord until our strength is tested. Yet, “God’s people are a people of hope.” It is that hope that gives us courage when we are at our weakest, “I can’t give up!” “Sometimes we have seen those who hope in the Lord very weak in heart under great suffering. Pain follows pain; it seems as if every cut of the knife went deeper than the last…it is not so easy as you think to bear such pain as some of us have to endure. Let a man have an intolerable headache, or it may be a sharp attack of rheumatism; let sciatica come on him, or or a toothache; and you will see whether he who boasted of his strength finds that he has any strength to spare. At such times, the spirits sink, and the heart's action grows feebler and feebler.” If we are weak, let us be encouraged today, “The Lord will strengthen our heart,” because our hope is in Him. It is when we are weak that He is made strong. GiGi❤️ Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.” (Genesis 24:12)
Eleazar of Damascus was sent on a mission by Abraham to go to Mesopotamia among his brother’s family to secure a wife for Isaac. Before he leaves on his journey he checks in with Abraham to make sure he’s got all the instructions right. He’s determined to be fit for his master’s use. After he checks in with Abraham, he then prays for Abraham and for his own success. Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too,’ let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah,who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.” (Genesis 24:12-15) Eleazar demonstrated the importance of prayer, the importance of checking in with the Lord. Even when we think “we got it” we still need to check in with God. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Before we get to work, let us know who we are, and on what footing we stand. Let us hear from our Lord's own mouth what he expects us to do.” Checking in with God! GiGi❤️ |
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