Tag: NKJV

“Abba, Father!”

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Today remember, you are a child of the King and He is for you! Cry out to your heavenly Father and He will hear! Psalms 56:9 tells us, “When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, because God is for me,” NKJV.  

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Confident in God!

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My Project 495-001

 

There is always something about the stories where the underdog comes out on top, where the least of all becomes the greatest that sends chills of inspiration up the spine.

The story of David and Goliath has long evoked a sense awe at the victory won and the hope of possibility in the soul still in the fight facing his/her own giants. The fact of the matter is that many things in this life which we face day to day can at times seem too much to bear.  Our worries don’t necessarily have to be against the biggest guy around.  Just the struggle of making it one more day, another try at giving it your best shot, can make it really hard for some people.

That’s why this article is not going to focus on the beast Goliath was or how David brought him down with just a stone and slingshot.

Nope. I want us to focus on the confidence that David had in God.

To me, it doesn’t matter if what you face is big or small. Sometimes the hardest stuff is the routine, small stuff that gets on your nerves every single day and makes you want to throw in the towel and quit.

Yes, David did the impossible in the name of the Lord. But, what I have found out in my own life is when we evoke that same confidence in God in every area of our lives, big or small, God tends to step in and work it out for us.  And, you know it was Him because that very area in life that used to be a source of hardship and frustration now becomes a place of peace and productivity.

David, before confronting Goliath, declared, “The LORD delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine,” (1 Samuel 17:37, NKJV. emphasis mine).  I want us to focus on “He will” of that statement.  David expressed in those two little words the amount of confidence he had in the God he served.

Confidence in God the key no matter what. Many of times we misplace our confidences in the things and the people we see around us, allowing them to become our focus and control, when God should be at the forefront of the battle with us.  Over and over again we are told in His Word, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man,” (Psalm 118:8, NKJV); yet, man seems to always get more of our attention and we wonder why we falter in the battle and don’t end up standing as victor over the giants and circumstances we face.

We have to rely more on God than anything else in this world. He truly is the only one who can get in there and fight with us and for us and bring us to a victorious end on the other side.

Below are some reminders to trust God and have confidence in Him no matter the size of anything we face. Knowing this will improve our day to day struggles in life and turn them into day to day victories.

  • “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” – Proverbs 3:5
  • “Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.” – Isaiah 26:4
  • “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” – Psalm 37:3
  • “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.” – 2 Chronicles 20:17
  • “Never be afraid to trust in unknown future to a known God.” – Corrie Ten Boom
  • “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.” – Martin Luther
  • “So many of us limit our praying because we are not reckless in our confidence in God. In the eyes of those who do not know God, it is madness to trust Him, but when we pray in the Holy Spirit we begin to realize the resources of God, that He is our perfect heavenly Father, and we are His children.” – Oswald Chambers

Never Let Go of Faith!

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CENTURION: “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.”

JESUS: “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel . . . Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.”

Matthew 8:5-13

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“Receive God’s Help!”

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“I will lift up my eyes to the hills – from whence comes my help?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth,” Psalm 121:1-2

“Me, myself and I,” a phrase commonly known to us all.  It usually comes on the heels of an aggravating event or from dealing with the frustration of a letdown because one depended on someone else to do something for them and they didn’t follow through.  Or, how about this one, “If you want something done right you have to do it yourself!”  Another frustrating sentiment spurned by the letdowns of others.

Here we just see them as phrases, just something we blurt out because of the emotions that stir within us when we feel we can’t get that help we need from someone.  The sad part of it all is the reality that this has become the prevailing attitude in the world today.  It is a mindset that has become detached from the cares of humanity; not in a good way.

Many people are wandering adrift in the world.  Day by day they go through their daily routines really believing that they are in this alone.  Wandering and questioning, “From whence comes my help?”  More often than not, that questioning person does not know that there is One who stands at the ready to appeal and work on behalf of those who call out to Him.  Not realizing this great truth causes them look to their own selves once again, reaffirming that self-sufficient attitude of “Me, myself and I.”

I believe God likes goal-setters.  I believe God loves to see His people be filled with the zeal of being a real go-getter.  I say that because God has never, ever promoted laziness.  God has equipped mankind with a mind to think and gifts to operate in and He wants to see the fulfilling of all of that to come to pass.  But, and here’s where the warning bells go off, when one tries to operate independently of God with an “I don’t need Him” attitude, buddy, that’s when we got a problem!

“Can I get some help around here?”  Oh, if that isn’t a familiar cry to us all.  When life feels at loose ends and everything just seems to be unraveling before us we often wonder where can we get help from?  The writer of this psalm found his help by lifting his eyes up.  The human eye tells one where to focus.  As I sit here on my couch writing this I keep peeping out of the window.  In line of my view are a bunch of beautiful trees that are gently swaying with the occasional breeze. Every time I look out at them I feel a certain little measure of restfulness and peace. Because this is what my eyes see it relaxes me.

How much more for the one who chooses to focus on that Sovereign, Omnipotent Presence and truly realize He’s there?  Not only is He there but He is ready to be our help.  “The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles,” Psalm 34:17.  Deliverance is there.  Help is here.  God loves a “can do” attitude, but not a “can do it without Him” attitude.  Especially, since He loves us so much as to be the offering for our much needed help.  I have to receive of His help daily.  Zeal, and even talent, will only get you so far.  I can’t be so high and mighty to think that I can do even the basic things without His help.  So, today I want to receive God’s help.  What about you?

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“Don’t Be Trapped!”

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My Project 415-001

“Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,

for You are my strength,” Psalm 31:4, NKJV.

 

I would venture to say that no one intentionally falls into a trap.  Or, at least, I hope not.  As our verse indicates traps, by nature, are devices designed to work secretly.  That’s their goal.

A few years ago we started having a critter issue.  You know, the kind that only looked cute on cartoons when outwitting cats, but in your house they are the scum of the earth.  Yeah, that kind!  Once they’re in, it’s hard to get them out.  I mean, really hard!

We tried every conceivable thing from poison to sticky traps to snap traps.  While some snap traps seemed to work it never eliminated the problem while in that residence.

There was even times when the little critters would amaze me.  One little smart guy did everything possible to avoid the traps that were laid for him.  I even watched it climb over a snap trap without it shutting because he used the baseboards.  Genius little guy!

Eventually, we acquired cats.  A lot of good they did, but that’s a whole new story.

Traps are no more fun for us than they are for those critters we try to catch in them.  No matter the cause or the reason, traps are designed to steal, kill and destroy.

Now, where have we heard that before? O yeah, when Jesus warns us that, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy . . .” (John 10:10a, NKJV).  And, a thief is a master at being sly enough to set those unforeseeable traps so that he can obtain what does not belong to him.

It is so easy in the day to day scurrying about to become victim to the many insidious traps that are laid to snare the unaware.  With technology the way it is one would never have to even see the thief or the trap set in order to be robbed.

That’s why, we as a people, go through great lengths of installing anti-virus’ and firewall protection.  We try all sorts of password protected ways to keep what is ours.  We can now even hire a service to watch over and safeguard our valuables because we realize that we don’t have eyes in the back of our heads.  We realize we are not omniscient (all-knowing).  And, we realize we can’t be omnipresent (everywhere at the same time).

Because we are so limited in capacity and strength, we outsource the responsibility to others to help keep us from the snares.  Our spiritual life should be no less protected.

How often do we go through our days completely oblivious to the spiritual dangers that have been laid in our pathway?  And, before we know it, our feet are in a “net” of trouble and we don’t know how to get out.

That’s when the reality sets in that we don’t know everything and our own personal strength is very limited in trying to pull us out and keep us out of those nets.  That’s why the psalmist recognized the only escape from the net was by the strength of God.  He who knows all and who has never floundered in anything can keep our feet on solid ground.

How many traps in life could have been avoided if we had gone in His strength first?  How many times would our eyes have been opened to the devices of the enemy, (2 Cor. 2:11), if our spiritual eyes had looked first to Him who is able to “pluck my feet out of the net,” (Ps. 25:15b, NKJV)?

Spiritually speaking, I don’t want to see those traps rob us of life like it does for those little critters.  Especially, when Jesus, after giving the warning of the thief, admonishes us to believe, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly,” (John 10:10b, NKJV).

I like that thought better.  How about you?

“My eyes are ever toward the Lord . . .” (Ps. 25:15a, NKJV).   That’s how we have abundant life and avoid the traps!