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.

Looking for Comfort? Go No Further than the Lord

Yesterday evening we delivered our granddaughter and her friend to a huge youth event. After helping serve supper to about 800 of those youth, we went to our motel room in town to settle in for the night. I actually fell asleep pretty quickly.  As I had drifted off to sleep it was quiet and the temperature was just right.  

I woke up about an hour later to a loud noise from outside, along with the realization it had grown quite warm in the room. It was a rude awakening from my restful state. Our chance to get away for a few days of leisure turned into a noisy interruption. 

Thankfully the thermostat was quickly adjusted. And thankfully also we found the noise outside our door to be a charter bus, which was warming up to pull away from the motel. Soon it was quiet again.

I picked up my phone for a moment to check the “news” on facebook. We have quite a few friends who are going through some rough stuff in their life. As I look at their posts, some of them are full of information about their quiet life’s interruption of pain, agony, disease, distress, loss and more.

Maybe your life has been interrupted too. You were enjoying everything just as it was. Good health, good marriage, good job, bright future and endless happiness. For most of us things slip up suddenly and we find ourselves face to face with the very thing that we never wanted to see. The temperature has been turned up and we’re flush with worry for the future. The noise pounding in our ears feels like it will never stop.  We become stressed, distressed and can’t seem to feel blessed anymore.  I know many of you have the noise and heat of life’s turmoil drowning out any other sounds.

Where can you go? What can you do? Escape is no alternative, for the bus is right outside your door and it is threatening to run you completely over. The thermostat of tribulation is stuck on high and you’re wringing wet with agony. Stress is all you feel. And you want to escape it all.  You just want it over so you can get back to your normal, everyday, beloved life.

It’s rough out there. And it’s rough where you are right now. Only God knows the final outcome. Only God knows the future, beyond your present troubles. Only God knows when the noise will quiet and the heat will subside. But He has made us promises for those times when nothing is going right. When the hurts and anguish and pressure and pain are almost unbearable, He has made sure and magnificent promises to get you through.

As the hymn writer penned, “There is a place of quiet rest. Near to the heart of God.” This is our shelter in the storm, our hideaway in the heat, our peace in the midst of it all. We’re promised that God will be with us through it, in it and beyond it. We’re not given the exact time the heat will subside or the noise will become quiet, but we are promised He will be with us, to comfort us, to bless us and to remain faithfully by our side all the days of our life.

Oh beloved, although you cannot run from your present circumstances, you can run to the Lord, who is with you! He has given you all His precious promises contained in His book of love. They are there to encourage you, to equip you, give you rest and get you through it all. Open up the Word of God and seek after your Word for the moment. Memorize it. Write it out. Tape it to your mirrors, post it on your dashboard. Stick it on your refrigerator. Believe it. Rest in it. Open up your heart and let Him soothe it with His balm of comfort. Let Him hold you in His everlasting arms. Let Him show you that He is able to do what only He can do. Even though your situation seems so unreal, His Word is real. Together you will make it. Together you will survive the onslaught. Together you will walk in peace knowing that, because He loves you and He’s for you, there will be quiet right now and peace forever as you rest in the light of His Word.

Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me.

Isiaiah 40:11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His heart…

2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.

Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Psalm 34:17-18 The Lord hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

Psalm 9:9-10 The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.  Those who know Your name trust in You, for You, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for You.

Psalm 27:5 For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock.

How to Pass a Stress Test

Yesterday my husband had a stress test.  As we headed to the hospital we discussed what we hadn’t told one another – we were stressed about it! Danny and I have been incredibly fortunate to have very little illness and no regular medications. But this test was going to let us know, beyond the shadow of a doubt how his heart really was. It was no longer a “wonder what’s going on”. It was now a “finding out the truth”.

Fortunately for both of us, and all glory to God, the test revealed what we all know – he’s healthy as a horse. The nurses told him he did better than most people half his age! Once the doctor checked the heart while it was racing, they found that his heart muscle was very strong and there was no blockage. Just the kind of results everyone wants.

We’ve put that behind us now. We can relax in the knowledge that all is well. We are encouraged that we are still able to go the distance and stay the course. I’m blessed to know that my husband is healthy and we can move on.

Stress tests are performed daily at our hospital and all across the country. The attendants are used to people responding in many ways. Some insist on quitting at the first sign of exertion. Some faint while on the treadmill. Others have serious heart issues that require the physician to stop the test altogether.  Others, like Danny, stay on the entire time, even as the physician asks if they can handle just a little more.  We know, after having been in the room together that the doctor already knows what the patient’s heart is doing through the EKG, so that while stressful indeed, no one has to go beyond the limits of their heart’s strength.

Stress tests come for believers as well. Although not daily, they are a pretty regular part of our existence. We are doing fine but then we find ourselves in a hard spot, stressed out about both the situation and the outcome.  We may feel we can’t go any further. It’s too much, we’re too tired, it’s been going too long, we might not make it. But the Great Physician knows us and He’s watching over us. The test is not for Him, it’s for us – He knows our frame. He’s so acquainted with us that He knows the outcome of the test of our faith before we even enter into the situation.

The truth is we can either go on or pass the test or we can say give up and quit right in the middle. Either way, the Great Physician is with us – either giving us a “well done” or grabbing us in His loving arms to hold us until the stress is relieved. Even if our strength is weak and our hearts are pounding, God will give us His strength and renew us in Himself.

Maybe you are in a stress test right now. You thought you were headed for clear skies but a storm arrived out of nowhere. Your heart is racing and your blood pressure is elevated. You know God’s Word but you see the situation!  You know God takes care of “all who…” and saves “…everyone” and “loves the world…”, but what about you? Does He really care? Will He really come through? Will you make it?

Oh beloved, God sees your pain and hears the cries of your heart. He’s not deaf and He’s not ignorant – Not only is He with you through this, He’s gone ahead of you to clear the way for victory! This test of your faith is a momentary thing. It’s a quick test in light of eternity. God calls it a “momentary, light affliction” and He promises that it’s producing its weight in glory.  God is your Great Physician and He will never allow any test that won’t ultimately make you better, give you greater strength and turn out for your good and His glory!

The Lord loves you passionately, perfectly and eternally. And He’s for you always, completely and in any situation. And that’s worth getting through the tests and finishing well in Him.

 

2 Corinthians 4:7 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! (NLT)

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; test my heart and my mind.  (AMP)

Psalm 119:143 As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in Your commands.

1 Peter 1: 7 So that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) is revealed.  (AMP)

Psalm 61:2 From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. (NAS)