Monday, January 13, 2014

Keep Going for God is Going Before You


When our oldest daughter was little she talked early and said very grown up things. It was really cute. Danny and I were talking to each other one day and she was off playing with toys in her room. She might have been 2, but barely. She came running in the room and announced, “You guys make me nerzis!”  Where she had heard about being nerzis (nervous) I still don’t know, but that was her announcement. We laughed and hugged her up and that was that.

Stress is very much a part of life. It comes out as nervousness, worry, anxiety, panic, and being jumpy. I heard a pastor preach one time that we need to quit figuring out how to de-stress our lives and learn how to deal with the stress. People deal with it in lots of ways. Long vacations, medication, hobbies, and trying to run away from problems. They even go in search of themselves, thinking if they find purpose in self then stress will leave. But the pressures and strains of life are just a part of the human existence. Outward circumstances are bound to give us problems, at least occasionally, so what do we do when we’re face to face with troubles, trials and we need a release?

God spoke to my heart last night before I went to bed: You have a destiny to fulfill.  You have a God who will see that it is done. You have an enemy who wants to kill your destiny. Now do you still wonder why there’s a battle raging?

If life is going to contain stressful times then we must learn our God given responses to the feelings that come so that we can be triumphant over the enemy and go on to fulfill our destinies in Christ. While we don’t want to rejoice in suffering, the very act of rejoicing is one of our biggest weapons against worry, anxiety, fear, and panic.  Everything that God promises us in His Word is true. But His truth doesn’t mean we won’t have trials or stresses or battles. His Truth promises to see us through all these things in triumph over the enemy and in victory to live life as a child of the Most High God.

Oh beloved, God knows what you’re going through. He is with you and He is for you. His guardianship is guaranteed for you are His child and He is your Father. There’s no need to live in a state of constant panic for the God of the Universe is with you! If He can put the planets in orbit and cause the tides to ebb and flow, if He can adjust the seasons and give rain in due time, then can He not take care of you? You mean more to Him than many sparrows, yet His Word says that not one sparrow falls to the ground without His knowledge. He knew your life and the purpose He had for that life before you were even completely formed in your mother’s womb. He knew your destiny from the foundation of the world and He loves you enough to make a way for you to complete that destiny in victory and strength. He knows that much has come against you and that you feel weak and powerless at times. He’s seen you try to escape the trials and keep yourself free of stress, but He also sees that it hasn’t worked for you.  He wants you to know this morning that He can give you the commitment and stamina to stay the course. He wants you to know it is in the hardest moments of life that His light can shine through you. He wants you to know that you need to learn to stand against the enemy and stand with the Lord to complete your call in life. And beloved, He wants you to know that you don’t have to go it alone – He is with you every step of the way. He knows about every rejection, every sorrow, every weakness, every time you ever quit because you were looking for a stress free place. And yet this morning He says to you, rise up and go. Head into that stress with the armor of God and watch as you become more than a conqueror and your strength will rise because you are going with God.

God will never leave you or forsake you, so that you don’t have to forsake your place of purpose in God’s plan for your life. Rejoice in the battle for you are destined to win. Rejoice in the Word for that is your armor. Rejoice in the King for His army is with you. He loves you and He’s for you and that’s all that matters as you overcome it all to live in the light of His Word.

2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

Psalm 112:7 He will not fear evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.


Isaiah 40:28-31  Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God,   the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

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