consoled

Recipe for Relief When Overwhelmed ~ Psalm 77

9:00 AM

Today's Scriptures: Psalm 77 & John 16:33




Have you ever felt so overwhelmed in your circumstances that you've been tempted to give up hope? The distress seemed so intense that you find you cannot sleep. Rather than sleep, you spend your time praying, yet even in your time of prayer, you cannot rest, or be comforted. This is where we find the psalmist just now. 

This psalm is a lament; it’s a cry of desperation to God. There is probably no stronger expression of fear and anxiety anywhere than in these opening lines of Psalm 77,
 "I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and He will hear me. In my day of trouble I sought the Lord. My hands were lifted up all night long; I refused to be comforted. I think of God; I groan; I meditate; my spirit becomes weak." (v.1-2)

Have you ever found yourself wondering,
“Will the Lord reject forever?
    Will he never show his favor again?
8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
    Has his promise failed for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?
    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?” (v.7-9)

I have a time or two, and I'm thankful to know that these very thoughts are also found in God's word, but also in this psalm we find the beginning of a "recipe for relief" from your distress as well. It begins in verse 10 with the word, "then".

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
    the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. (v.10-11)

It all begins by recalling Who you are looking to! 

I know, for me, when I'm distressed what helps most, outside of being delivered from the circumstances, is to discover God's perspective in all of it! I know when I do, even though the circumstances don't change at that moment, my whole perspective does! And I'm able to sit tight and wait on God to act. I thought I'd share the recipe I've discovered to hear from God. 

1.) Fasting always adds an exclamation point to let God know how serious you are, but is optional. 
2.) Humble ourselves  in a posture of humility by recalling Who God is and all He has done in the past. 
Your ways, God, are holy.
    What god is as great as our God?
14 You are the God who performs miracles;
    you display your power among the peoples.
15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, (v.13-15)
3.) Begin with confession. Confessing everything that comes to mind. Pray and ask God
  •  If there is anything you’ve failed to do and should have done, 
  • Or if there is anything you did and shouldn’t have. 
  • Confess any thoughts, attitudes, etc. that are not pleasing to Him.
  • Confess anything you’ve been feeling guilty about lately.
4.) Surrender your desires, your wishes, or whatever you're seeking His help with. Become wholly surrendered to Him.
5.) Then begin to pray; seeking answers, His perspective by asking questions (James 1:5-6)
6.) Sit in silence before Him listening to any promptings.
7.) Read His word if the Holy Spirit prompts you, but give Him time.
8.) Finally, if you've done all the above, and still haven't received any answers, seek godly council from others. 

I can honestly say that God has never failed to answer when I've come to Him in this way. Never failed to answer!  However, the answers have come at different times and in different ways, but I have always known without a doubt it was the answer I was seeking. 

And most importantly, even though the circumstances haven't changed, only my perspective, I gain the peace I need at that moment to wait on Him to deliver me from the circumstances however He chooses. 

I pray you will cut, copy and save this formula in your journal or Bible to use the next time you are seeking wisdom in the midst of your difficulties. 

Let's pray:
Heavenly Father, You are just in Your dealings with us. Holy and righteous in all You do. Father, we are so thankful we can trust You at all times, even when we don't fully understand the reasons and circumstances around us. I pray we will always remember that when those times come where we are feeling overwhelmed as though the waves will take us down, we can run to You. Cry out to You, knowing You will not only hear our cries, but answer us when we call upon You. May You be the first one we turn to always for answers and relief in the midst of our trials. Amen. 

Blessings,

Sue

Ephesians

The Gift {Ephesians 2}

9:00 AM

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2


"But God". Two of the most precious words found in the whole Bible!

Did you know that, "you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh... But God, being rich in mercy, [and]because of His great love with which He loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—  and raised us up with him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2:1-6)?

That really is a LOT to grab onto all at once, isn't it?

We were dead!? Yes, that's what His word says. (I once did a study on God's view of death and I'll add the link here if you're curious to understand His view.) Dead to God, and separated from Him because of our sins. We all were at one time running hard after our own passions and the courses of this world. The truth is, not one of us was running hard after Him!

But God!

And because of HIS great love for us, even while we were running the other way, He offered us the gift of LIFE!


These two verses here tell us almost everything we need to know about salvation.


  • What are we saved from? Death. "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
  • What will not save us? Our own efforts. We'll never be good enough. Titus 3:5 tells us that it was "not by works of righteousness (good works) we have done but according to His mercy He saved us."
  • If our efforts won't save us. If we were separated from God and running away, how then do we become saved? These verses above in Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly tell us that salvation is a gift! A gift offered to everyone.

Every Gift Has To Have Three Things


  1. A Giver - Salvation is "the gift of God" (Eph 2:9)
  2. A Cost - It has to be paid for. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) Jesus paid the price we couldn't pay on the cross. 
  3. A Receiver- receiving His gift is as simple as admitting you need it! That you cannot save yourself and you are trusting Jesus and making Him Lord of your life! (No more running from God, you're running towards Him) And taking Him at His word when He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he that believes [has faith] in Me has eternal life." (John 6:47)


 It's as simple as that! And for everyone who accepted His gift, "He made us alive in Christ Jesus and seated us with Him in heaven. (v.6) Do you know what that means? It's a done deal... according to God. He counts you as one of His own and has already seated you at the table.

It's the greatest transformation ever! Death to Life - eternal life! Seated in heaven with Jesus! Not because of anything we did to deserve it, but because of all He did for each one of us!

To God be the glory, great things He has done!

Blessings,
sue


Faith

No Other Gospel {Galatians 1:1-2:21}

12:00 AM



“Salvation is by God’s grace through faith in Christ Jesus and nothing else.”

After returning to Antioch, Paul learned that controversy was brewing among the newly founded churches in the Roman province of Galatia. Some Jewish Christians accused him of “sweetening the pot”, so to speak, to make the message of the gospel more appealing to Gentiles. They disagreed with Paul’s teaching that Gentile believers didn’t need to follow the Jewish laws and customs to receive salvation, and told the members so. In response, Paul wrote a letter to the churches calling them back to the one true gospel he had first given them. He both warned against, and cursed those who would distort the gospel saying, “Even if we, or an angel of heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you any gospel contrary to what you have received, he is to be accursed!” (vs. 1:8-9)

Now accursed may seem like a strong word, but it shows exactly how serious a matter it is when we change God’s gospel, and twist it into a “different gospel”. For as Paul says in verse 1:11, the gospel he preaches is one that came straight from Jesus Himself. It is perfect and complete both in its meaning and simplicity, and those who change it in any way seek to, “spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.” (vs. 2:2:4) Paul calls them, “false brethren” and tells us to turn away from their teachings. Rejecting the freedom that Jesus offers, they take the gospel and add rules and laws, distorting and demeaning God’s message of justified by grace through faith alone. They teach that Christ’s sacrifice was not enough and that somehow through our own works, we can earn forgiveness.

In Paul’s day the “different gospel” dividing the church was the teaching that all male believers, Jew and Gentile, needed to be circumcised under Jewish law. They couldn’t give up their ideas that no human acts, nor works, nor observance of any rule could earn them favor with God. Yet Paul says he didn’t give into pressure or yield to the ritual demands of these “false brethren”, so that “the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.” (vs. 2:5) Why was this so important to Paul? Because as he states in verse 1:7, any “different gospel” is wrong, causes nothing but trouble, and is a distortion of the true gospel. The true gospel is about faith, not works, and not the Law. God never gave us the Law as a means to earn our salvation. He knew full well how horribly we would fail in our attempt to obey it. Instead He gave it to us to show our desperate need for a Savior. And our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the perfect, and complete fulfillment of God’s Law. And as Paul tells us in verse 2:16, “A man is not justified by the works of the Law, but through faith in Christ Jesus....since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” 

Even the most devout Christian isn’t immune to struggling with the message of the gospel. Because in our fallen minds it seems too easy and good to be true, we can find ourselves creating our own “different gospel”; falling into the wrong thinking that salvation comes both through faith, and..... There is no and. There is only unmerited grace. I love this reminder by blogger Kim Shay who says, “The gospel provides freedom, not slavery.  Before we were in Christ, we were in slavery to sin; now we are free in Christ from being forced to observe what often amounts to incidentals.  Those activities we cherish will not save us, and in the end, it is like being chained to the law. If we base our salvation and standing before God in a list of behaviors, we will grow very weary very fast.”

The message of the gospel is meant for freedom and joy, not bondage and despair. It wipes clean our record of guilt and condemnation and counts us innocent and blameless. It calls us to be like Paul and declare, “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.” (vs. 2:19) Paul knew there is no grace to be found through the works of the Law, for if there were, why did Jesus have to die? Could you ever imagine saying to Jesus, “I appreciate you allowing Yourself to be rejected, tortured, and crucified, but I’ve got this!” Of course you wouldn’t. But that’s what exactly what we’re doing when we try to earn God’s love. Paul loved Jesus, and because of Christ’s sacrifice, and out of appreciate of God’s grace, Paul died to the Law; as should we. God, because of His mercy and great love for us, sent His only begotten Son to pay the sin penalty that we owe. And through Jesus’ work on the Cross, we can be reconciled to God and have eternal life. This is the Good News. This is Grace. This is the Gospel, and there is no other.



Ephesians

Scripture Saturday~Grace

12:00 AM

Saturday, November 17, 2018




Welcome to Scripture Saturday!

This coming week's memory verse is Ephesians 2:8-10...

 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)

 Have a blessed and precious day and week everyone!

Angie Benjamin

Freedom in the Works of Christ {Galatians 3}

12:00 AM



I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?  Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? -Galatians 3:2-4

In Galatians 3:2-4, Paul asked Galatians why they were trying to reach perfection by depending upon the flesh. 

He encouraged them to remember the new lives they had been  given because of faith and not for their effort of works.

I can totally relate with this mindset... the “just in case” mindset. We want to believe the gospel is truly unearned grace, but unbelief creeps in and we do just a little something in attempt to earn our salvation… just in case.

The truth is that the law does not free us. Faith in Christ does.

We cannot succeed in our walks with Christ without stepping out in faith, not in our works. When we believe our acceptance is based on what we do, we will always feel rejected because at the end we we'll always fail to do the right thing..
It is only when we see that our acceptance is based on what Jesus did that we will truly be free.

Only God can change us; when we try to do so ( the works of the flesh- our energy trying to do God's job), we will only become very frustrated and weary.

God has called us to perfection and has given us perfect hearts, but the working out of it is a process that requires faith, patience and time...His Time.

We only have one thing to do and that is to believe in His finished work...it is done!

We will see powerful changes in our lives by faith that God is working in us, but it does require us to turn "the project" of our perfection over to him completely.

We need to let God be the God in our lives and instead of condemning ourselves, thinking "we'll never be able to change"; we must believe in faith that God is working in us, believe we're only getting better and better every day. He's strengthening us in our weaknesses.



If we only believe...

Dear sisters, if Christ’s righteousness covers all our sin,  then it also covers our sin of unbelief. But if righteousness can be earned through the law, then Christ died in vain (Galatians 2:21).

Thanks be to God, our Savior did not die in vain! May we never set aside His grace.