God is (was, will be) With You

Because you are coping well, you sometimes come to believe that your life is easy when compared to that of others. Your life is not easy, Dear One. You have learned to walk through the valley.

Do not repine. If the years were rolled back and you had the opportunity to make your life decisions once more, the outcome would be the same. You would do it again, not only for the sake of those who will follow you, but also for Christ's sake. And in the end, the great blessing that will rest on your shoulders because of Him will be enough. You would do it again. The Lord knew this, even as you walked into your life circumstances with faith but innocent of understanding. The responsibility for the outcomes of your decisions rests with God alone; but He knows you so completely that He knew what you would do if you had been in possession of all the information and understanding that will one day be yours. He directed you, and you listened; He led, and you followed. Great reward will be yours because of the faith and obedience you exhibited as you walked into the circumstances in which you now live; He has seen, He has blessed; He will bless, He is blessing.

God is with you right where you are today.

Scripture: "'Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,' declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, 'Now, I have put my words in your mouth" Jeremiah 1:7-9.

Difficult Times

If you are progressing through difficult times, don’t stop
to stare at the barren scenery; it is important to keep
moving forward, to continue to affirm your faith in God,
and to continue to do the task He places closest
to you.  Keep doing the next thing.  There is no rest in
the Valley of the Shadow of Death but that which is
found in the Lord."

Find your rest in Him.  There are days of peace ahead. 

Not in Part, but the Whole

One of God’s greatest sorrows over your life is the fact that you have learned to stifle your joy as well as your grief. There is a barrier of grief and pain that prevents the expression of the extravagance of love that is in your heart toward the Lord.

You have feared burdening the Son of God with the whole of your sin and grief; you do not want to cause Him additional pain, you do not want to pierce Holy hands with the full weight of your sorrows. But Dear Child, you have found to your distress that you are unfit to bear the burden. You are not able to bear the pain and to also refrain from the sin that is engendered by that pain. Withholding grief from the Son causes Him pain through the grief-fueled anger and bitterness that you then exhibit toward other people. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40).

You must cast your cares upon Him, because He is strong enough to bear them. He is the Holy and blemish free Lamb of God, the only one who is worthy to bear the full weight of your sin. Release it to Him.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

From the hymn "It is Well With My Soul" by Horatio Spafford, 1873 Public domain

Scripture: “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4a, 5b).

The Cure

Fear has to do with punishment, and so disobedience feeds fear. Thus, obedience is a partial antidote for the poison of fear. Trusting in God's love completes the cure.

Scripture: " There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love" ( 1 John 4:18).

Are You Ready to Obey?

Dear One, you treat direct words from the throne of God as options, not as commands. It is not in your best interests now for God to tell you what to do, because you still are not in a mood to obey. He will not instruct you until your heart is obedient, because He does not want to lead you to disobedience. How are you choosing to escape your emotional deficit? The Lord is the lover who has beckoned and has been ignored. You have hurt His heart.

No penance is necessary; Jesus has paid the price. Only turn your face toward Him. He is your Lord and Your Savior. He is to be the overwhelming love song of your life. You do not need to fear laying down the burdens that you carry so diligently for your loved ones; let them go. I am not saying that you are to abdicate your responsibilities; you know that. But let go the weight of responsibility for their obedience or lack of it. And do not make your loved ones feel that if they need your support in prayer that they must then pay homage to you.

Those who believe that they bear the responsibility to work salvation themselves have no need of God. Remember Saul’s sin. Samuel had promised him deliverance and instructed him to wait, but Saul took matters into his own hands (1 Samuel 13). In a stunning lack of faith in God to save, Saul placed himself on an equal footing with a priest of God.

The Lord has heard your cries. He knows where you are and has made provision for you. You do not have to work freedom on your own behalf. Do not be afraid,
no door has closed. “I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut,” (Revelation 3:8).

Scripture: “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me. The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands” (Psalm 138:7).

Give God Time

You are not wrong to enumerate your troubles as you pray, and you are not inaccurate in your analysis; but you have left the Lord out of the equation. You have learned that you must not walk forward in blind faith if it can be avoided, not because your faith will not be rewarded, but because blind faith sometimes plucks a fruit before it is ripened. Allow God time to work in your mind, heart and circumstances, and you will see the fruit of promise ripen. You have gathered green fruit, Dear One, but by God's promise the fruit will ripen and you will be blessed. The harvest cannot always be timed perfectly but God's promises will without fail develop into fruit that you can eat and by which you can be nourished. You will find the future sweet. You are at the threshold of that time of sweetness now; there will be a season of fulfillment.

He is Able to Keep Us From Falling

This morning the Lord has been teaching me from the book of Jude. “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion” (Jude 1:11).

Cain was jealous and committed murder out of that feeling of inadequacy. His fury over the fact that his brother’s offering was accepted and his own was not became murderous.

The warning for me here is not to “get even” when someone makes me feel inadequate, but to take these emotions to the Lord. And a secondary warning is to bring appropriate sacrifices to the Lord in the first place, and not sacrifices of my own choosing.

Balaam was a prophet for hire. This warning has to do with the avoidance of becoming preoccupied with the medium or “the art” of writing about Truth rather than being wholly occupied with The Truth Himself.

Korah rebelled against the authority of Moses and Aaron and was destroyed.

“And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day” (Jude 1:6)

Here is the Lord’s guidance to me regarding Jude 1:6:

In your own home the Lord has granted you authority. This authority is connected to the humility of longsuffering. Should you become prideful and decide to place yourself above those whom God has entrusted to you; should you decide to abandon these heart responsibilities by distancing yourself either physically or emotionally, disaster will result. Pride is a danger as you receive recognition for the ministry with which God has entrusted you. Pray to be kept from pride. Be cleansed of anger as well; do not blame human beings for the circumstances God has allowed. Human beings can’t stand under your accusations but the Lord accepts into the vast calm of the limitless sea of His love the agony of your heart’s cries.

All your fresh springs are in the Lord. He is not your pacifier, He is the Lord; He is your God and your strength. At times you beg Him to heal your wounds, but instead, He strengthens you to stand up and to walk despite your injuries. Either way, He is the Lord of your life. Trust Him. Give Him the honor and praise due His Name.

“To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen” (Jude 1:25).