Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress. Isaiah 33:2
Hearing the cries from His children, deeply touches the heart of our Father. The brilliant start of a new day is the perfect time to pray. We raise our voices and lift our eyes to the Almighty and ask Him to help us in our time of need.
Be our strength!
Our gaze is fixed. When troubles arise, we know to whom we must turn. When the awareness of blessings comes, we know to whom we must praise.
Today’s verse is so simple. It leads us to pray during times we don’t feel like we can make it through another day.
Be our strength!
When we don’t know what to say or how to handle a situation, we can pray for God’s power to outweigh our weakness, for His wisdom to overcome our foolishness, for His compassion to chase out our apathetic hearts, and that we, too, may find a way to love and serve.
Help us, Lord, not only to simply make it through this day, but to make a difference in your Kingdom.
Strength emerges from Him in many different ways when we pray for it. Sometimes, we receive outward strength like when we feel God’s presence in the quiet or experience the sweet kindness of family and friends. We also receive inner strength in the midst of doubt or temptation, especially when the going gets tough. And through time, these trials may increase our faith or cause us to come to a new level of trust and power.
Be our strength!
When we pray for God to give us strength, we must be willing to step up to the plate. Are we making responsible decisions and plans that line up with the strength we request? Or, are we idle and sluggish, expecting God to do everything? Do we choose wisely instead of from impulse or emotion?
God gives strength by helping us to get up and get busy with our lives and to make good choices.
It’s all well and good to cry out to the Father to help us, but in the end, if we are holding on to a grudge, to anger, fear or anxiety, the very prayer we pray can be blocked by our own doing. We may define our prayers for strength as one thing, but God may answer our deeper needs. He may give us strength to forgive, to release the anger or work through our differences or the strength to trust Him in our fear and anxiety.
When we remove the barriers of sin, our hearts will have a spacious place to receive from God the greatest strength we need for the day.
There is so much power in following the Lord in everything we do. He helps us to be the best of who we are.
Father, we present our day to you in the early morning hours and grab hold of your hand for strength. Remind us throughout the day who you are and what you have provided for us. Help us to let go of wayward ways. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear you even in the hardships we face. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8
To tell you the truth, I didn’t like this verse when it first came to me as the topic I would study for the week.
It is one of those ‘in your face’ verses that make people feel bad about themselves. We immediately feel shame for all the troubled sins of our flesh, and honestly, it tends to make us feel hopeless.
“I’ll never be the person I was meant to be. Why even try!“
“Give me something comforting, something that will soothe my emotions and make me feel better.”
Yet, the more I opened my heart to God’s word, the more I realized the deeper calling wasn’t simply about condemnation.
My choices affect the quality of my life. God has given me the gift of free will. He will never force me to follow His ways. I am the one who has control over what I do.
My flesh is most definitely a problem that comforting verses rarely reach.
God’s voice speaks to me (sometimes boldly and right to the point) in order that I may understand the consequences of staying in the same patterns I’ve developed in my life out of fear and self-protection.
When I sow irritability, discord, anger, laziness, apathy or addiction in all its forms, there is a difference in my life than when I sow love, peace, patience and a shining of God from within to those without.
Galatians 6:7 is not a happy, positive verse. But when I heed, listen and obey, the joy follows. In fact, there is never a doubt that God’s word, if I allow it to seep into my soul and change me, reaps long-lasting happy benefits greater than the sins to which I cling.
Perhaps part of the problem of a first glance at this verse is the picture of a mean God looking over my shoulder ready to strike lightning at any mistakes I make.
However, when I allow myself to remake the image in my head, I see the truth. I see a God who longs for my time and full presence to long for His loving, forgiving, compassionate presence and to trust Him enough to follow His ways.
God wants to bless, not harm me.
Inside the consequences that come from my wayward choices, God waits, not with furrowed brow and condemning hand, but with wide open arms, ready to commune with me, as has always been His desire and hope.
Father, help my image of you to be clear and right. Lead me to convicting words of your Bible that mold me more into the likeness of your son. Aid my journey to daily walk close to you. I want to do the work of sowing what is good and reaping the results. But even more, I simply want to please you and be near my Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.
“I’M ANGRY!” It’s a phrase I hear a lot these days.
Yet, I also hear and see many people who are sensing a bigger picture than the tension and stress they experience. They realize what is urgent in God’s eyes more than what is causing them anger. They don’t allow themselves to be distracted by feelings! School shootings brought one friend to her knees and moved her to form prayer groups instead of giving into defeat in her personal trials. Another friend sends out daily prayers for the President and our country. Several are constantly in their war rooms praying for their marriages instead of fighting their mates. Hearts are convicted to have compassion instead of self-pity. One hero of the faith is starting an online group for daily devotionals.
About 7 years ago, a new endeavor of mine was immediately followed by a heavy spiritual attack. I stood firm. Speaking in gentle compliance to what the situation called for, I marveled at the attempts of the enemy. Within 3 weeks, the situation righted itself without any help from me, other than my continued gentle responses. God took care of it and the new endeavor went forward in power, something that could have easily failed had I responded in my flesh.
Loving others can be painful. People let us down; they can’t always possibly be there when we need them. They may say the wrong things at times. They might move away or find new friends they like more than us. One day, they will leave us in death. Right now, without a doubt, they will at times make us angry.
Yet, I am witnessing Christian men and women refuse to hold back parts of themselves just because the pain of love is too big, too risky, or too invasive. They are refusing to allow themselves only to be the receiver of gifts of love, or to constantly be the one who sabotages other’s loving efforts towards them through nit-picking and arguments over every little thing. They no longer push people away, by saying, “You’re gonna leave me anyway; just get it over with!”
They dive into unconditional love (no matter that they are let down [I’m not talking about abusive situations] or that wrong things are said. They freely show thoughtfulness and connectiveness with no thought of having to be repaid. They grab hold of God’s hand and let Him lead them in how to love well. They spend their time refining their love more than any other skill. They concentrate on their part of loving by doing the hard work it takes. They stay in their marriages and fight the enemy (certainly, not all marriages survive; on the other hand many marriages revive on such a focus).
At times they wait in hopeful silence for loved ones to find their way back. Relationships, obviously, cannot be forced. They wait in prayer and anticipate the reunions and the warmth that once was there. They are committed for life, yet are surrendered to lean on God no matter what happens.
HATE is a horrible emotion that perhaps may be about deep hurt more than anything else. Apathy is the real enemy. Yet, it is being discovered by many that even apathy, along with hurt, are all able to be mended if even one pursues the hand of God more than over-needing or over-seeking the hand of the one who caused them hurt. It can all be mended (in God’s power) if pursuing the good of the other is there greatest joy.
These are examples that typically stir up anger in the deepest places of who we are. Yet, many heroes surround us who are taking the higher ground! They inspire us.
My husband shared the following. I thought it was pretty profound! “I am good at expressing my Hallelujahs; but Psalms helps me express my hurts and my hates. Am I in a safe place? Maybe. I don’t know. But God IS the safe place to express my hates and anger and resentments… and my hurts until I can again say, ‘Hallelujah. Christ saves.’“ By Eugene Peterson
A friend shared this song with me that matches the sentiment of the quote and then I have a few more thoughts to follow:
God is the one to whom we may turn in times of anger and pain. If we ask Him, He will guide us in how to respond.
This has been a nine-week journey studying the topic of anger verses peace! Many tears were shed at the start of this study and even now as it draws to a close. The lessons both stunned and convicted me. God’s arrows went straight into my heart. But I didn’t want this to end with simply tears and conviction; I wanted my life to change forever. I wanted my actions to bubble up from the deepest God-places within me.
For now, let’s turn to the lesson for today. Father, go before this lesson and help it to teach me and help it to bless my readers.
In Genesis 4:2-7, we’ve covered a great deal about Cain’s countenance and what all that means, but what about God’s face? Don’t you think that God must have been amazed at Cain’s angry response? “Why are you angry? …If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; …you must rule over it.” Can you picture the Father’s penetrating eyes and perplexed facial expressions as He spoke to Cain? Do you think God looks at us with the same bewildered look?
In Matthew 15:16, Jesus asked, “Are you still so dull?” (This was after Jesus had spoken a parable and His disciple Peter wanted an explanation.) Sometimes, I bow and shake my head and respond to Jesus, “I don’t want to be, but yes, sometimes, I am still so dull!‘
Yet, if God told me to “rule over my sin,” I would seek to please Him with my whole heart. Perhaps, however, I’m not so willing to take the higher ground in moments of hurt and anger. Those moments convict me; I’m really not as spiritual as I think I am. Am I willing to obey Him even in the hard times? (In the background, as I ask this question, the clock softly ticks, the dog barks in the distance; everything is so quiet. I let the silence convict me. I hear the voice of God deep in my heart of hearts.)
Again, I will share some quotes from the old commentaries:
Cambridge Commentary “The passage illustrates the progress of sin in Cain’s heart. Firstly, disappointment and wounded pride, aggravated by envy of his brother, lead to anger; secondly, anger unrestrained, and brooding sullenly over an imaginary wrong, rouses the spirit of revenge;thirdly, revenge seeks an outlet in passion, and vents itself in violence and murder.” [Imaginary wrongs have the worst affects on me than wrongs I actually see, feel and know. The enemy can have a field-day in my head, if I let him have control.]
Expositor’s Bible Commentary “When Cain went in the joy of harvest and offered his first fruits no thought could be further from his mind than murder…Great sins are not so sudden as they seem. Familiarity with evil thought ripens us for evil action; and a moment of passion, an hour’s loss of self-control, a tempting occasion, may hurry us into irremediable evil. And even though this does not happen, envious, uncharitable, and malicious thoughts make our offerings as distasteful as Cain’s.”
“…to continue in sin you must put aside His [God’s] hand.” (end of quotes)
Voices surround me; they say anger is unavoidable and people who control their tempers are dreary and unexciting. Life is more thrilling if I can tell the person off. Temper is deliciously luring! My flesh begs me to let my counterpart have it! Everything in me screams to let loose or to withhold myself in silent rage.
Before this study began, people shared with me how they dealt with anger. I was struggling with my own issues, and I remember looking up to the Heavens and crying out, “God, are you trying to speak to me through my friends? Is this truly what you want?“
But something in my gut simply didn’t feel right about their advice. No one needs to teach me how to be angry. Getting angry is something I do well without any help. Anger is easy! In fact, I did anger quite well for 27 years. I said and did anything I felt like saying or doing. Those moments never produced fruit; it only corrupted me and my relationships.
At the point of coming to this new study, I honestly didn’t want the poison back in my body. I’m not afraid of standing in godly anger when the few situations call for it. When that happens, I step forward without hesitation.
I have taken nine weeks to passionately have my heart cleansed. Cleaning out anger can be brutally tough and even sometimes impossible after years of letting loose of my emotions. I’m still seeking to give God free reign in the deepest, secret places of who I am.
The soft, inner voice of God says, “Yield to me.” If I continue in sin anyway, I am “putting aside His hand.”Seeking an adrenalin rush in my need for a temper tantrum is absolutely turning my face away from the face of God.
I cannot simply say to the Bible writers, “Ruling over sin may work for you, but not for me,” or “The need to rule over sin is just your opinion.”
The Bible guides and blesses me when I follow God’s ways. Oh, how I want to understand how much I miss when I make my own rules or want to wish something into being right just because it’s my preference. God’s word isn’t simply a suggestion or an opinion. His word gives abundant, enthusiastic, inspirational life beyond all expectations my tiny brain can fathom.
I don’t want to waste energy on frivolous fights! Without that misuse of my time, I have infinite options and opportunities to open my heart to the real thrills and joys of life.
As I sit here in my current, challenging situations and pray, I openly attempt to hear what God has to say. I feel His desire for me to take the higher ground and to love people well (most times but not always producing obvious crops of fruit) and to trust God with the rest. I’ve lived through a life time of temper; anger doesn’t work. I want desperately to discover God’s love more than to incorporate better zingers, perfected hot buttons, and fine-tuned arrows in the hearts of people close to me.
I want to speak the truth but in God’s perfected and fine-tuned love. When God calls for rare anger, I’ll do it. No questions asked.
Getting out of that kiddy pool and into God’s deeper oceans takes time, determination, and moments of intense prayer. The study has led me to explore courageous, profound truths that seem infinite in count. Thank you, Jesus for walking with us all.
Oh Lord, I bow to you and seek your truth as I turn to you and your word to combat the lies the enemy speaks to my mind. I give my imaginary wrongs to you. They are placed on the altar. Help me to face the irritations and resentments in life before they get out of hand and rule over me. May I never put aside your hand, but grab hold of it and not let it go. I can’t do this life without you. Help me to see the bigger picture when angry situations arise and to get busy in your kingdom with the work you have in mind for me. In Jesus name, Amen.
Search me, Oh God, and know my heart Psalm 139:23 (ASV) 