Sustained

 

 

  "Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me."  Psalm 54:4

 

 

My five year old cracks me up sometimes.  Lately he has starting yelling out, "A little help here!"  His need can be as complicated as he is trapped under something,  or  simple as he cannot get a package open.  Either way, his emphatic demand gets my attention.  There have been times that I have been in dire need of help myself.  It is so frustrating when that happens when there is no one around to offer any assistance.  Thank goodness, the Lord is always present to call upon.

 

This verse says "Surely God is my help." Surely.  Certainly.  Definitely.  Without a doubt.  We must be convinced that He alone is our help.  He may lay it on someone's heart to give you money. He may show the doctor what prescription to write.  But at the end of the day, God  is the One who comes through for us. No matter what our need is, he has the commodity to make it happen in our life. And not just the tangibles.  He also supplies grace, joy and peace in the meantime.

 

"The Lord is the one who sustains me," no truer words were ever spoken.  Other people can, and do, speak words of comfort and encouragement to me.  Other people pray for me and exhort me.  I look within myself sometimes and find the strength to keep going.  But unless God anoints it, their words are just words and my efforts to "pull myself up by my bootstraps" are in vain. He made me.  He made all of creation.  By Him all was made and all continues to be held together.  This includes us humans. He is our Creator and our Sustainer.

 

Lately, I have been struggling in some areas.  My mind begins to tell me, "I can't do this anymore." "I have to get out of this."  "I just can't go on."  But at the end of every day, I can see that I did somehow make it through- and relatively in one piece!  I don't know where you are walking today, but if you are feeling helpless and hopeless, take heart!  He is your help.  He is your hope.  He is your Sustainer.  Call on Him to see you through.

 

Dear Lord, I need you help in the area of _____.  I need you to uphold and sustain me.  Carry me when I cannot walk, and grant me inner strength and fortitude to plunge forward.  In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

Sherri

Heard & Saved

As for me, I will call upon God,

And the Lord  shall save me.

17 Evening and morning and at noon

I will pray, and cry aloud,

  And He shall hear my voice. Ps 55:16-17 (NKJV)

 

 

Sometimes I come up with ideas to fix my situation.  Some days I want to be carnal; abandon waiting on God and make it happen for myself.  At times, I look around and it seems to be working out for others to have it their way.  But like the psalmist in this passage, I always come back to, "As for me, I will call upon God." To be honest, I do not remember how to do it any other way!  I pray without even thinking sometimes.  (Not that that is necessarily a good thing. But I have literally caught myself praying for an FSU ballgame play that is prerecorded!)

 

I may have a long way to go in my Christian walk, but one thing I know to be true- I cannot make it without Him.  I am not smart enough to figure out the best path.  I need the Lord and his  resources.  I need His wisdom and direction.  I need His intervention.

 

I love the way that this reads as a desperate plea, but at the same time, it is a very faith-filled appeal.  The psalmist is calling, praying and crying.  Meanwhile God is saving and hearing.  Each one of us has our part.  When we try to play God's part, it never turns out well.  But when we learn to cry out for His help, expecting to be heard and saved, we loose the supernatural to work in our situation.

 

When we are over our head, it doesn't really matter if we are over our head by 1 foot or 100, if we are having to trust in Him to save us, we might as well believe for the big things!  Pray around the clock.  Ask Him to meet your need.  Call out for deliverance from all that oppresses you.  And once you do, believe that He is hearing and that He has already activated the processes to loose your chains!

 

 

Dear Lord, I am over my head.  I need you to step in and help me.  I cannot handle this on my own.  I need you and I believe that you heard me, answer and save me.   In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

Sherri

Left With a Peace

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  John 14:27

 

Someone’s last words are considered precious to their loved ones. If a person is in a situation to know that they are dying, often they have weeks or months in which to set their house in order, mend their fences and leave final instructions.  These instructions go on to become cherished memories to those who are left behind.

In this passage, Jesus was foretelling his disciples about a time when he would go away.  But he promised them that he would not leave them without help but would send the Counselor, or the Holy Spirit to be with them.

Just as a dying person has a right to specify a will and distribute his possessions to his family, Jesus was leaving them an inheritance of sorts.  He was offering them His peace. 

What is Jesus peace?  It is the quiet assurance of the faithfulness of God.  It is a trust that allows you sleep when your boat is being tossed in a nasty storm.  It is a keeping and sustaining power that allowed him to follow God in obedience all the way to the cross. His peace he gave us.  Not as the world gives.  What is world peace?  Obviously, the world has seldom known peace, or absence of war.  But it means other things as well.  A person using a substance may temporarily have their pain dulled and experience an artificial hopefulness.  Love relationships, even wrong ones, can offer temporary stability, feelings of love and acceptance.  A hefty bank account, seniority on the job and a rich Daddy can offer a person a measure of peace.  But the peace that the world gives is based on something temporal- something bound to perish, decay and fade.

Jesus gives the kind of peace that assures us that although we do not know what tomorrow holds, we know the One who does and trust that he will be with us there.  He will always work things for our good and fight on our behalf.  Peace is all of these things and so much more.  Peace is an intangible, indescribable experience.  It is a quiet calm.  A settledness and soothing of the inner man.  The peace of God leads and guides us and assures us we will get through it.

If you are struggling today with life’s issues, ask the Lord to reveal his peace to you.  He has already bequeathed it to you if you are a born again child of God.  If you have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, he desires to free you from your sin, be Lord of your life and grant you this peace that we are talking about.  Won’t you let him in today?

Dear Lord, bless those who read this.  Multiply peace to their hearts, settle their minds and grant them rest from their worries.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri

Help Wanted

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.”

Psalm 28:7

There are days that I just go bankrupt- I have no strength within myself.  I am so grateful that when I hit a wall He is there to give me what I need.  His strength is not based on the limitations of humanity, but rather, is defined by his supernatural power and strength.

This verse goes on to acknowledge the Lord as my shield.  He takes the bullets for me.  He stands between me and my enemy.  He blocks me from the fiery darts of the enemy and preserves my life, my heart, my mind and my soul. I am so glad that in Him I can find insulation from the storms in this life. 

He is your strength and shield as well.  And as you commit your heart to trust in Him, you will find that you are helped.  Whatever kind of help you need- finances; friendship; healing; love; acceptance; favor; He has unlimited help to offer to any situation in life that you may be facing.

With the knowledge that He is all those things to us- strength, shield and help; we can experience the joy in our hearts that the psalmist is describing.  And ultimately we find ourselves bursting forth with praise to such a loving and intimate God.

Dear Lord, thank you for the words penned in this verse.  Thank you that you are my strength, protector and help.  Lord I need you to come  on the scene in the situations that are heavy on my heart.  Help my heart to trust in you all the more.  In Jesus’ Name I pray.  Amen.

Sherri

Crying Out to God

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry.”  Psalm 34:15

Life is tough.   Just about every day something happens that we have to adjust to.  Something happens that requires us to change our course, change our heart or change our minds. 

Some events happen, though, that so overwhelm us, that we are at a loss of how to handle it.  Many times we are totally knocked off our feet with these things.  They occur, but they do not rectify themselves by day’s end.  The stress, frustration, fear, and pain goes on for months or years. 

What do we do when all we have done before does not work?    What do we do when our back is against the wall and the enemy is about to crush us?

According to the text, the first thing we need to do is “cry out to God.” Babies do not have to attend a special seminar to learn to cry out.  When they want or need something, they cry.  They cry loudly, boisterously and unrelentingly until Mama or Daddy shows up to take care of the need.    Then they grow into adults who may become stoic, or swipe away a tear, but the art of “crying out” is lost to us by adulthood.

Sometimes God puts us in desperate places.    Sometimes God delays his response, sometimes he “hides” in our circumstances.  Sometimes he stretches us to our breaking point.  But from this, and other passages, we see that we MUST cry out to God.  If we want him to hear and deliver, first we must cry.  I’m talking about the newborn three hours after the last feeding. We must cry until we are red-faced.  We must cry until we are wailing, shaking our arms and breaking glass.  We have to let God know that we know He is the only one who can fix it.  We have to get his attention.  We have to show that we mean business. We must fixate on him as the object of our help and deliverance. 

God expects us to cry out to him with our needs, and according to today’s passage he hears us and is attentive to our cry.  Just like a mother can pick out her child’s cry in a room of other children, God can hear us no matter how many of his children are crying for help.  He hears, he attends to what we say and what we need.  The first step of getting God’s help in a situation is to invite him in.  He is a gentleman and does not force himself upon us.  He wants us to ask for His help and allow him to work in our lives.

Dear Lord, I am in need of your help today. If you do not show up in situations in my life, I will not make it.  Lord, I will sink if you do not uphold me.  Help me, God, deliver me.  Thank you for hearing.  And caring.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri