Friday... Have you found this to be true?...

Friday... Have you found this to be true? You must go through times of trouble to find this to be true.

Psalm 46:1 (NLT) says, "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble." If you know that to be true then you have something to hold on to in these days that we are going through. Just thinking of that fact takes me back to different times that I can remember when I was up against a wall, not knowing what to do, facing situations that I couldn't handle but I knew God was there, I knew he was my strength, that he was my refuge.

The Psamist goes on, verse 2 "So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea." Our world has really been shaken, hasn't it? And here is our confidence, here is our faith, here is where our experiencing other times of trouble comes through, here is where our remembering that God is our refuge, God is our strength brings us through.

He then says in confidence, verse 3, "Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge." We can put our confidence in people, but many times they fail us, we can put our confidence in the government or other institutions, but they don't always come through.

I am a big baseball fan, a Los Angeles Dodgers' fan and they are in the NLCS trying to win 4 games to get to the World Series and they have won only 1 and the Braves have won 3. I want to really believe that they will come back but my confidence is shaken because they have been here before and haven't made it to the WS since in the 80's. I'm not real confident of them because of past failures. They are not my refuge and strength.

But God is. I remember his being always ready to help in other times of trouble and I now believe that he will be ready again. So let the oceans roar, let the mountains tremble, God is on the job. He has been and he will be my refuge and strength. Verse 11 says, "The Lord of Heaven's Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress." Yes, yes #todaysbeginning

Comments

Monday... He did it by Himself

Isaiah 44:24b (AMP), "I am the Lord, Maker of all things. Who alone stretches out the heavens, Who spreads out the earth by Myself." Monday... He did it by Himself. Many have a tendency to think very highly of themselves and what they can do. Oh we do have great ability but we are not the source. Yes it is important to have self-confidence but we are limited. The prophet Isaiah in 44:9-10 (NLT) says, "How foolish are those who manufacture idols. These prized objects are really worthless. The people who worship idols don't know this, so they are all put to shame. Who but a fool would make his own god - an idol that cannot help him one bit?" Now later in verse 24 (AMP) he writes, "For the Lord, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb says, 'I am the Lord, Maker of all things, Who alone stretches out the heavens, Who spreads out the earth by Myself.'" I love that. "By Myself." Now we do need confidence but we are foolish to ma...

Friday... We have this hope of expectancy.

Psalm 5:3 (NLT), "Listen to my voice in the morning Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly." Friday... We have this hope of expectancy. Now David found a great way to start his day. He says in Psalm 5:1-3 (NLT), "O LORD, hear me as I pray." And that is a great place to start. It really is. Morning sunrise He goes on, "Listen to my cry for help, my King, my God, for I pray to no one but you." And that is so important. We don't try to pump ourselves up by ourself. No, we pray to no one but you, God, my LORD, my King. Now this relationship with God is so, so very important. And then David says, "Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you" And that is so great. And then he says, "and wait expectantly." Yes, we have this hope of expectancy. We are experienced. That is what a relationship with God and a moment by moment connection does. It makes a difference in our daily wa...

Friday... Yes, we can know this to be true.

Psalm 12:6 (NLT), "The Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over." Friday... Yes, we can know this to be true. Maybe this is what you want to say in this day in which we live. Psalm 12:1-2 (MSG) says, "Quick, I need your helping hand! The last decent person just went down, all the friends I depend on gone. Everyone talks in lie language; lies slide off their oily lips. They doubletalk with forked tongues." Do you ever feel that way?" Have you found that to be true? Well David the writer of this Psalm continues and says in verse 6 something to encourage us, to lift us up, to give us hope. Psalm 12:6 (NLT) says, "The Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over." The Message Paraphrase says verses 6-8 this way, "God's words are pure words, pure silver words refined seven times in the fires of his word-kiln, pure on earth as well as in heaven, God, keep ...

Todays Beginning

Search This Blog