Hey precious readers. I'm busy preparing for the Writer's ADVANCE Boot Camp this weekend, so I decided to pull from my archives. I believe the following devotion is one that someone in particular needs to read today. The Lord keeps drawing me back to it.
Always, always remember this: When the child of God cries out to the Lord, He hears and He responds...
Discouragement tormented me from every angle. Life had taken some serious turns - unemployment, depression. Forever friends became see-you-later chums. I was struggling. My body felt very tired and my spirit drained. I lived on the verge of tears. Have you ever felt that way? I was becoming despondent and I knew it.
I walked to the bedroom and knelt by my bed, "Jesus, I'm thirsty for Your Living Water. I'm overwhelmed. Fill me up with You, Lord. Let me sit at Your feet and be comforted by Your Presence. Pour Your strength and peace into me. Shield me from the storm. My heart knows that the joy of the Lord is my strength, the glory and the lifter of my head. I know it well. Make it so, once again, Lord."
I rested in His Presence, cried a little, then rested some more. God took me to Habakkuk and reminded me of His greatness, "God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran." Habakkuk is remembering the goodness of the Lord: when Israel cried out in the wilderness, God came to them.
When I cried out in my wilderness, God came to me.
"His glory covered the heavens and His praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from His hand, where His power was hidden" (Habakkuk 3:3,4). I stretched out my hand toward heaven and the mighty hand of the Father took hold. I felt His power, I experienced His Glory. With love, He raised me up. He shone His Light in my darkness and extended grace, peace and strength for my journey.
God came to me in my wilderness.
God is no respecter of persons. What He did for me, He will do for you.
Father, Praise You! You are so faithful. Your mercy is great. Thank You for meeting me at my point of need. What would I do without You? Where would I be without My Savior? I love how mighty You are - how glorious! I try to imagine You in all Your splendor, but You are far greater than my imaginings. You are awesome Lord, and yet You know my name. I ask that You encourage my friends today. Give them strength for the journey, hope for the day. Let them know Your Presence in a precious, personal way. Thank You Lord.
*********************************************************
If you received Morning Glory via email, please visit the Morning Glory page. Mercy goodness, do I have a treat for you! I found a worship song by Jason Upton, "In Your Presence". Jason will take you by the hand and lead you straight to the throne of grace. I promise.
Oh Nan, I was the one you were speaking to today with these sweet words of truth. I needed to be reminded of this today. With the week I've had, Satan has tried to get me down and discouraged. He's tried to get my mind focused off of Jesus, but I'm not letting that happen anymore! Love you, sweet friend!
ReplyDeleteI needed this too. The night from the 28th and the 29th was a terrible and almost sleepless one for me. I was consumed with worry over a particular situation, having thoughts I didn't want to have and just begging the Lord to take those away from me and clean my heart from every evil in it. On the 30th I began my trip to Uruguay and I received 2 Chronicles 20, which speaks about a war king Jehoshaphat faced with Moab and Ammon who came to attack him out of nowhere. He prays and admits before God that his enemies are far too many and he can't fight them alone, and consults his prophets and God tells him,
ReplyDeleteThis is my war, not yours. I will fight for you and you will not have to fight this. Tomorrow you will go against the enemy and meet them at such and such place. What King Jehoshaphat does is awesome. He encourages the people to believe in God and trust Him, and gives the people of Judah the order to praise and worship the Lord. And as they praise, the enemies destroy each other. Next day, when Israel goes to meet them they only find dead bodies and a big booty of things, and the goods are so many they need three days to pick them up. They call this place Berachah, which means Blessing.
The lesson is clear: if we trust the Lord, our greatest battles will result in our biggest blessings. The key is to recognize our need, to praise God and trust Him in the midst of the very real danger we're facing, and to wait on Him to defend us.
After all, the greatest war we ever faced and will ever face was the war against sin and condemnation in hell. JESUS fought that war for us and won decisively and forever. The greatest victory has already been achieved by Him.
I believed the Word and sure enough, the next day was much better. The Holy Spirit woke me up at 7:30 and I went to the bathroom to pray a little about the situation. And then little by little, God's peace came to me.
I'm feeling as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I'm still stressed and not feeling 100% ok, but it's much better than at the height of the enemy's attack in my mind. Praise the Lord for deliverance!