Say It

Psalm 91 says, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”  For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence.

Sometimes it’s necessary for us to say out loud what we want our heart to do, and where we are placing our trust.

Refuge – A place of safety in a storm – that’s what God is!

Fortress – A place of safety in a war – that’s what God is!

Shadow – A place of safety from fear – that’s what God is!

Shelter – A place of safety from floods – that’s what God is!

There will be storms, wars, floods, and traps that spring up to scare us – but we dwell in safety when we trust in Him.

Say it out loud, and tell your heart to put its trust in Him.

Blessed We Are

Psalm 84 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory;

No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!

Do we really believe that God does not withhold any good thing from us?

I don’t think I do, sometimes.  My finite mind doesn’t understand his ways, and I find myself wandering off into believing that God is somehow mad at me, doesn’t want me to prosper, or enjoys inflicting pain on people.  

That is the farthest thought from the truth.

God isn’t shadowy, like we are – good one day and bad the next – dependable today and aloof tomorrow.

He is good.

He is a giver. Of all good things.

He is the Lord.

What he does is good.

And we are blessed when we believe and trust in his goodness.  

In Righteousness

Psalm 65: By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea…

Most of our disappointment with God stems from the prayers we pray not being fulfilled as we anticipate them to be.  

We pray for healing, and God sends endurance.  

We ask for an answer, and God remains silent.  

We want a sign in the sky, and he instead urges us to pursue peace and find it.

God answers all of our prayers “in righteousness,” which is the best answer possible for us to receive.  Our God, our Savior, can be trusted to give us that which makes us that much closer to knowing him and becoming more like him.

You see, when we trust in God but place stipulations on that trust, we are limiting him.  We cannot place stipulations on the God of the universe who fashioned the earth and set forth the waters of the sea.  His wisdom cannot be contained by our boxes labeled “trust.”

Instead, our hearts must open up when we pray to receive the best answer given in time of need by the best one to answer – God.

Put it There

Psalm 56 says, When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?

It seems to me that most of us think “mere” man can do an awful lot to us!  We are afraid of what others think when we act, or when we dress a certain way, or when we speak up.  We are afraid of those who have certainly abused us or hurt us in some way.  Mere man can be quite terrifying!

But yet this passage starts by saying, when we are afraid, we must put our trust in God – his word – and the fear will leave.

Trust doesn’t really come naturally to me, and I have to choose daily to actually PUT my trust in God.  In fact, we all do.

Our flesh wants to trust in the goodness of others, in the kindnesses of those around us, and in the inherent friendship of those we hang around.  However, there’s nothing inherently good in any of us, and we as humans fail each other.  And because we fail, we sometimes hurt others so terribly that they become afraid of relationships.

We don’t have to fear God.  We can place our trust in Him, like placing a document in a safety deposit box, and no fire, no intruders and no disasters can pry it from his hand.

He is worthy of our praise, and when we praise Him, we are declaring our trust in his Word.

Don’t be afraid.  Put your trust in Him.

Trust and...

Psalm 37 says, Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and^]cultivate faithfulness.  Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Here we are told to trust in the Lord.

But after that command, we are told to do a few other things:

Do good. What is “doing good?” In Acts, we are told that Jesus went about doing good – healing people – as an example.  So when we put our trust in God into action, we’re doing good.

Dwell in the land. The word “dwell” here indicates a permanency, a setting up house, perhaps planting a garden…

Cultivate faithfulness.  …and into that garden goes faithfulness.  Faithfulness on our part has to be cultivated.  We have to water and tend our hearts in order to remain faithful.

Delight yourself in the Lord. In other words, it’s up to you to enjoy your Savior because he is most enjoyable!  If we delight in our spouse, it means we don’t look elsewhere for fulfillment, because it’s right at home.

Trust on our part requires some action…and when we do all these things…then what?

The desires in our heart will be for things that please Him, and he will grant them.

Two Questions

Psalm 27 says, The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?

I love this chapter.  I like to see the two statements as bookends, and the questions held in between.

If I know that God is my light and my Savior….and I acknowledge that he is my defense of everything that might come against me in this life….

Then the questions of whom shall I fear and whom shall I dread will be answered with a loud, resounding,

“Nothing, and No One!”

We can choose to fear and live in dread, wondering if God will save us or defend us.

Or we can know that God will save us and defend us, and fear and dread will stay in their place – as just as question and nothing else.  Those questions will be held in check in their place and not in our hearts.

Trust in the Lord.

They Trusted

Psalm 22 says,  “In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them.

To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not disappointed.

It’s imperative, if we want to build trust in the Lord, that we recall His faithfulness to others who are older than we are. 

If you have parents who trusted God, ask them to share their stories with you of his faithfulness.

If you don’t have that heritage, find older friends in your church and listen to them tell you of how God came to their rescue and delivered them.

If you don’t have parents who loved God, or you don’t attend a church, you’re missing a key ingredient in your walk of trust with God.

We must hear, over and over again, of God’s faithfulness to others.  This builds our faith.  When we share our own needs, these people of faith will pray for us.  They will encourage us.  They will hold us up.

God is a trustworthy God.  He delivers.  He does not disappoint.

Perhaps you feel as though he has disappointed you, but that’s because you didn’t receive the outcome you prayed for.

Trust in God’s loving kindness, realize that he is reliable and strong, and then bring to him your needs.  Share your needs with others, and listen to their encouragement. 

Trust in Him, and he will deliver and rescue you.  He loves you.

Loving Kindness

July 25

Psalm 13 says, And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. But I have trusted in Your loving kindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

There are times when we hear and feel as though we’ve been shaken and overcome.  But we have to make the choice to believe and trust in God’s loving kindness.

I know many people who are kind.  And even with the kindest of intentions, people fail and mess up.  They don’t know the outcome of their actions, they can’t see into the future, they don’t know our hearts and what makes us tick; so even when they are the most kind they can be, we can still suffer.  

For example, a parent who loves us with all they know how to love can be kind and give us everything money can buy, but that money won’t sustain us when we hear bad news.

God’s kindness isn’t like the kindness our friends show us.  His kindness is loving kindness.  And his love is the kind of love that sees us for who we were created to be – in his image – for his glory.  And that which he performs on our behalf is all geared toward that end.  

His kindness is perfect, loving, and produces a good outcome – always.

When you feel overcome and shaken, trust in His loving kindness and rejoice.

The outcome will be that you experience his bounty.

Trust

II Chronicles 14: Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” So the Lord routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

TRUST is something we all experience in life.  Either we have been trusted by someone – an employer, our children, our parents – or we place our trust in someone – our employer, our parents, our spouses.  And early on, we realize who it is that is trustworthy…and who is not.

This action, of placing our trust in another, is a crucial part of living life to its fullest.  And placing our trust in God is vital to life, period.  But if those in whom we’ve trusted have failed us, disappointed us, or downright abandoned us, it’s hard to trust anyone at all…including God.

In the verses above, there’s a battle going on between those with power…and those with none. Those without power call upon God for help, verbalizing their trust in Him and his great name.  They declare that He is their God.  And God sends the powerful away, and saves the weak.

That’s the kind of God we serve.  Trust is the firm belief in the reliability of someone, in their ability and strength.  

God is worthy of our trust, even when we are absolutely being pressed on every side by forces more powerful than we are. 

When we are weak…He is strong.

The Prayers of the Saints

And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. (Revelation)

These verses should mean so much to us, now that we’ve had days and days of devotionals on prayer.

Every prayer of the saints (that’s us!) God heard and he saved them.  

And look what happens!  Thunder, flashes of lightning, and earthquakes!

To me, this means that our prayers, when offered out of an obedient, surrendered heart, coupled with thanksgiving and praise, moves and shakes the universe.

This is huge, if we really get it.

Our prayers are not mindless little petitions we throw out to God, hoping he’ll maybe hear us and send a genie to blink her head and “poof!” there’s our answer.  

Our prayers are not just wasted words in the wind that are just blown back in our faces, stinging like the slap of a kid annoying his father.

 

Our prayers are something God takes very seriously.  When we talk to him, he listens, he stores up our faith and our prayers, and he moves his hand.

If Elijah could pray and affect the weather in the skies, prayer must be a pretty powerful tool God has placed in our hands.

And we must use that tool if we want to see His kingdom come, His will be done, on earth…as it is in heaven.

His Ears Attend

I Peter 3 says,

“For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

What assurance we have, that He hears our prayers, all because of Jesus, his son!

When we become a believer in Jesus Christ, and we confess our sins and turn toward him…he turns toward us!

His eyes are toward us…and his ears attend to us…

In other words, God’s face shines upon us!

There is never any doubt that when we pray -  God hears us.

This fact alone should bring peace and comfort.  We can go to God in prayer, knowing full well that he hears and is looking at us in our need.  We may not see the answer fulfilled in the way we think it should be, but we can know that our prayers will not go unheard.

There are times when our kids come and pull on our sleeve, begging to be heard and noticed.  If we’re busy talking or working, we may brush them aside and even nod our head, but never really hear what it is they’re saying.  In fact, I’ve watched movies where kids are trying to tell their parents the house is burning down and the parents don’t hear them because they’re preoccupied with things other than their children.

God isn’t like those parents.  The Bible says he knows our needs even before we ask. Now, that’s an attentive Father!

Today…be keenly aware of his loving eyes and his hearing ears…as you pray to God your Father.

Devoted and Alert

July 20

Here it is again in Colossians 4:

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

Prayer and Thanksgiving.

Prayer without thanksgiving can be rote recitations or endless petitions, both which make a person sleepy and tired.  I’ve drifted off to sleep many nights just crying my eyes out over my needs and the needs of those I love.  And it was not a peaceful sleep.

However, there have been times when I start off my prayer thanking God for as many attributes about Him that I can think of, or for blessings he’s given me and mine, or for his great power.  And often, when I’ve started my prayer out with this “attitude” of thanksgiving, I don’t even feel a need to petition him for anything.

After we direct our hearts to be thankful, somehow we realize what a good Father we have and all is well with our soul.  We trust in his unfailing love.  We recall his faithfulness and it builds our faith.

Devotion and alertness are key when we pray.  We must pray often, and we must keep our prayers alive and effective with thanksgiving.

Prayer is not an option.  

It’s a privilege and it’s worth every word spoken to the God of the universe who cares about every need of his creation.

And the Peace...

Philippians 4 says,

 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This verse tells us to lay aside anxiety of all kind about all things.  If the Word instructs us to do this, I believe there must be a way to do it.  I’m anxious a lot, and I can often get quite aggravated with myself for being anxious. 

We’re told here to pray and give thanks, when we request things from God.

Those two things go hand in hand, if we want peace.

Later in this chapter, we are told to think on certain things.

I’m a big believer that our minds are a great asset, and a great hindrance, to living in peace.

With our minds and with our hearts, we trust in Him.  However, daily our minds are filled with outside influences of lies, worries, things we see that bring us fear, and all sorts of “what-if’s.”  We have to cleanse our minds daily from all that trash.  It’s like when we take a bath, we’re clean and fresh, but after a long day at work we’re dirty and smelly again. Last night’s bath won’t sustain our freshness.  We have to daily cleanse our bodies.

Prayer and thanksgiving take a conscious choice on our part to declare our trust in our Father, his ability to hear and answer our petitions, and to give thanks for every blessing in our lives.  But these two things must be done without ceasing.  They must be a way of life…

…IF we want to experience peace.

I do. Do you?

Your Prayers

Philippians 1

Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

Love these verses!

What an expression of faith, here!

These verses express the sentiment with which we should approach every prayer we make, and every prayer made for us by others.

Yes! We will rejoice!

How can we be sure of that?

God has promised deliverance to those who love Him.  He says when we come to him believing (expecting and hoping) that we will not be put to shame.  In other words, Christ in us is our hope!  And that’s a sure thing!

The final words of this passage sum it up well…because whether we live or die in this earthly body, Christ is exalted. 

This type of faith only comes through walking with God and becoming acquainted with his ways, so that we completely, undeniably trust that he hears every prayer we make and that the answer he gives will bring joy and exaltation of His  name.

That kind of answer is the only answer that satisfies and doesn’t leave us begging or asking for more.

Remembrance

Philippians 1 says,

 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all,  in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.

When’s the last time you offered prayer with joy, as you prayed for others?

Usually, our prayers include tears for someone who is suffering or going through a hard time. 

However, part of our prayer time needs to include remembering, and offering prayer (with thanksgiving) with joy, for those God has placed in our lives to encourage and instruct us.

Remember your friends who have prayed with you during an especially hard time.

Remember your leaders who have instructed you and encouraged you to keep the faith.

Remember your family members that have prayed for you when you weren’t even aware you needed prayer.

And when you remember these people, pray for them and all that concerns their lives.

As you express thanksgiving and start to recall those friends and family whom God has given to strengthen your walk, you can’t help but leap for joy.

So go on…leap after you pray!

For All Saints

Ephesians 6 says,

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints…

We are encouraged in this verse to pray always, in the Spirit, on alert, with perseverance and petition…for who?  Those with whom we serve the Lord, together.

It’s good, and it’s right, to pray for other Christians.  We ourselves need others to pray for us, and with us.

How do we pray at all times?  We stay focused on Him and His purposes on earth, and we agree in our hearts with his kingdom to come, his will to be done, with every thought and every breath.

How do stay on alert? We make sure that what we pray for lines up with his Word, and we keep our ears open to hear what God says back to us when we pray, what he might want us to do, what he might prompt us to say, in order to accomplish the answers to our prayers.

How do we pray with perseverance with petition? We declare our faith in the Almighty God who can move heaven and earth to part the waters for someone being chased into danger by an enemy, when they are too weak to fight for themselves.

Prayer is not an option.  It’s a necessary part of seeing God’s kingdom come to the earth and his will to be done.

Today…pray…for your fellow believers in Christ.

Devoted

Romans 12 says,

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Being devoted to prayer is in this list among lots of other things we are supposed to be doing, if we are to demonstrate love that is not hypocritical.  I think nothing is more disgusting than hypocritical love.

If we say we are lovers of God and others, then there are certain things that must follow in order to verify, or confirm, that we indeed operate in love.

Of course, we are to love and honor one another and serve the Lord.

In addition to that; however, there are some strong adjectives used in these verses: fervent, persevering, and devoted.

The “devoted” word is used in conjunction with “prayer.”

So…hypocritical love in the area of prayer might look like someone who prays for a friend but then forgets about them.  

Devotion implies that our prayers will continue until that need is met, until that person is set free, until that sick person is healed. That’s being devoted to prayer, when we keep up the faith, keep believing, and keep asking our Father to move on behalf of a friend.

Today…think about those you’ve prayed for once…and pray for them again and again…