One dear friend is looking at surgery for a cancerous tumor, another is in the hospital with heart problems, one has just had a double hip replacement and still not over the loss of her husband to cancer. Another dear friend is going through great financial difficulties, another has breast cancer, gone through surgery and now kimo, lost her job, fighting not to lose a business, but lost a home. Another dear friend has a nerve disease, another healing for weeks from foot surgery and another's parents just lost their home. A dear brother in the Lord, recently, loss his wife to cancer and all these dear people are God's children and walking in an intimate relationship with Him. The grief, the heartache, the hardships, yet the one promise we can count on, as His children ~ God promises to be with us.
God's Word doesn't promise that we won't have troubles, but says we are likely to have many ~ yet He promises to go with us through them. As hard as that is to hear, it's in the midst of the troubles that we have the opportunity to see God more clearly, to know Him more intimately as "an ever present help trouble"(Ps. 46:1). The hardships cause us to have to dig down deep and we see our need for Him. Our trials are, actually, blessings in disguise (good friends) because they draw us to Him.
We're more concerned about our comfort, God is more concerned about our growth and relationship with Him. We seek to trust Him, desiring to have faith and not to waver, but our feet are made of clay and our fears can take over. It's hard, we want to believe God will heal, forgive, comfort and act on our behalf and He does. We have to trust in His Sovereignty and trust that He will use whatever we're going through for good and for His glory. We are living in stressful times ~ I can't imagine trying to go through all these things without Him ~ but God promises to be with His children!
We're more concerned about our comfort, God is more concerned about our growth and relationship with Him. We seek to trust Him, desiring to have faith and not to waver, but our feet are made of clay and our fears can take over. It's hard, we want to believe God will heal, forgive, comfort and act on our behalf and He does. We have to trust in His Sovereignty and trust that He will use whatever we're going through for good and for His glory. We are living in stressful times ~ I can't imagine trying to go through all these things without Him ~ but God promises to be with His children!
Psalm 73: 23-26 says,
"Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
John 14:15-17 says,
"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever ~ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be with you."
John 16: 13-14 says,
"But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you."
God does speak to and counsel those that belong to Him. He will never leave us!
Psalm 89:15-17b says,
"Blessed (happy) are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of Your Presence, O Lord. They rejoice in Your name all day long; they exult in Your Righteousness. For You are their glory and their strength."
Isaiah 41: 10 says,
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."
Psalm 91:14-15 says,
John 14:15-17 says,
"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever ~ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be with you."
John 16: 13-14 says,
"But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you."
God does speak to and counsel those that belong to Him. He will never leave us!
Psalm 89:15-17b says,
"Blessed (happy) are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of Your Presence, O Lord. They rejoice in Your name all day long; they exult in Your Righteousness. For You are their glory and their strength."
Isaiah 41: 10 says,
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."
Psalm 91:14-15 says,
"Because he loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."
God is Sovereign!
Romans 9: 15-16 says,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."
Isaiah 40:10-13,17, 23, 26 and 28-31 says,
"See the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for Him. See, His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him. He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; he gently leads those that have young.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, or with the breadth of His hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed Him as His counselor?
Surely, the nations are like a drop in a bucket: they are regarded as dust on the scales; He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
Before Him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing.
He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired and weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
James 4:14-15 says,
"What is your life? You are a mist (a vapor) that appears for a little while and then vanishes."
Life is fragile, we are but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow! (We realize that all the more as we grow older.) We don't have the control over our lives that we think we have or want to have. God is Sovereign, our life is in His hands. How easy it is to forget who He really is and how small and insignificant we really are! If we are looking for significance, for our lives to count, we find that in Him! If we are realizing our weakness and our inadequacy, through our trials, we can turn to Him for all we need. He will not leave us!
If you are going through difficulties today, allow God to draw near and praise Him for them, because they show us our need for Him! If they cause us to seek Him and to know Him, intimately, they are a blessing, our best friends! If you're reading this, I'm praying for you! God is an ever present help in trouble ~ seek Him and He promises to be found by you! Look to Him, He wants to help you! I know we just want our problems to go away, but He is using them for our good and the good of others! He is trustworthy, we can rest in His care!
Praise Him, a thankful heart will cause Satan to flee and us to experience God's strength and grace, bitterness or jealousy will only make us miserable and will cause our fellowship with God to be broken!
If you are going through difficulties today, allow God to draw near and praise Him for them, because they show us our need for Him! If they cause us to seek Him and to know Him, intimately, they are a blessing, our best friends! If you're reading this, I'm praying for you! God is an ever present help in trouble ~ seek Him and He promises to be found by you! Look to Him, He wants to help you! I know we just want our problems to go away, but He is using them for our good and the good of others! He is trustworthy, we can rest in His care!
Praise Him, a thankful heart will cause Satan to flee and us to experience God's strength and grace, bitterness or jealousy will only make us miserable and will cause our fellowship with God to be broken!
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