The Battle Is The Lords

“Bend down, O Lord, and her my prayer;
answer me, for I need your help.
Protect me, for I am devoted to you.
Save me, for I serve you and trust you.
You are my God.
Be merciful, O Lord,
For I am calling on you constantly,
Give me happiness, O Lord,
For my life depends on you.
O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive,
So full of unfailing love for all who ask your aid.
Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord;
Hear my urgent cry.
I will call to you whenever trouble strikes,
And you will answer me.

Psalm 86:1-7 (A prayer of David)

Have you ever been in the middle of a battle, maybe a spiritual battle or a conflict with other people ? When in the middle of a situation such as this, it is hard to see clearly through the tears and the pain. It is difficult to know what to do. I have realized two very important things that can make the situation seem a lot less overwhelming. First, you must cry out to God as these verses point out. Telling Him all about it and all the emotions you feel. It is okay to be honest with God and tell Him you are hurting and even angry at Him for allowing this. Talk to Him about it as you would your best friend. Then after you have told Him about the situation and how you feel, give it over to God and let Him carry this burden for you. Ask Him to forgive you for anything you have done to contribute to this and to show you what you need to learn from this situation. Then the most important thing I have realized is to sit and do nothing. Sometimes doing nothing is the best thing you can do. If you are like me and like to fix things and control things, then sitting and doing nothing is very difficult. But it is not nearly as difficult when you remember that “The Battle Is The Lords.” So, sit back and let God fight this battle for you instead of taking it into your own hands. While you are sitting back, you can be constantly praying, but not constantly worrying anymore, because you know that God will fight this battle for you and He has so many more resources to fight with. When God fights your battle you will win. Maybe not how you want it, but how God wants it. And that will certainly be a victory!

Love: A Chilly Revelation

As my website states, I am from Portland, Indiana. In the past month we have had first a big snowstorm, then a big ice storm that left the whole town without power and now flooding. As my house was without electricity for almost 6 days, I had a lot of time to think about life. I heard several people say that they were glad that they weren’t Amish because some Amish do not believe in using electricity. So as I was living in the cold trying to survive, I thought to myself, maybe it wouldn’t be too bad without electricity after all. Now don’t get me wrong, I was very happy when our heat came back on, but there are a few things that we can be reminded of through this. First of all, what is really important? What do we need? I mean really need? Do we really need a big house with a garage and two cars, or is that just what we want and think that we need because everyone else has them? I also thought of all the families who were forced to spend time together without watching TV or movies, playing video games or getting on the internet. Maybe some people even read a book or were forced to talk about issues they had been avoiding. Who knows maybe even a marriage or parent-child relationship was mended. It came to my attention that electricity may even be more of a curse than a blessing because we are misusing it. Now I am not telling everyone to turn off their electricity, I am just saying to think about what consumes your time. What is really important to you? When it all comes down to surviving as we were the past week, our money couldn’t really help us a whole lot. So the pursuit of money does you no good because it only buys you things and alienates you from other people. It does not help your relationships grow stronger and it does not get you to heaven. So, please think about your priorities. Try turning off the television at least one night a week and playing a game as a family or doing some kind of activity together. Don’t work so many hours of overtime in the pursuit of money, but spend the time with your husband or a friend. A lot of valuable time can be wasted by television, internet, shopping, video games, working on the house and even cleaning. By the time all these things are accomplished the children will be grown, you will be older and you’re relationships will have suffered. I heard today that people who have close relationships are healthier and live longer. Not only that, but relationships are the only thing that can be taken with you to heaven. So do whatever drastic measures you have to take to make your relationships a priority today. Don’t wait another minute, because it might be too late.

Faith: Greener On The Other Side

I have been thinking a lot lately about life and certain situations that seem impossible to survive. When you are going through a difficult situation, it doesn’t seem as though you will ever get through it in one piece. But if you have faith in God, anything is possible. It just isn’t possible to imagine what the outcome will be because God’s plan is so much greater than anything we could come up with. So, I’ve been thinking lately about different stories in the Bible where that character may have been thinking, “How in the world am I ever going to survive?” Now that the situation is ended and I can see the outcome, I am amazed at the potential we have in our own situations to see God’s awesome, unimaginable plan carried out. For instance, take Moses and the Israelites. They were trying to escape Egypt. Pharaoh and his army were chasing after them with chariots and the most sophisticated instruments for their time I’m sure, while the Israelites were carrying all their belongings and animals, plus they had all the children who I’m sure were not moving very fast. Then the Israelites come to the Red Sea. If I were Moses, I would be thinking, “This is an impossible situation. How are we going to survive this?” But God had a wonderful plan for the Israelites. Do you think any of them could have ever imagined God parting the Red Sea so they could walk across it and then closing it up on top of the Egyptians? I know I wouldn’t have thought of that. What about David? The odds of a small boy with a sling shot defeating a 9 feet tall giant named Goliath are pretty slim. But once again God had a plan for David that was greater than you could possibly imagine. How about Esther? Her people were about to be destroyed by the man second in command to the King. So she goes to the king without an invitation, which is a crime punishable by death, and talks to him. She later got up the nerve to tell the King about the plot to kill her people. The King saved her people and banished the man who had plotted to kill her. What do all these and many more stories from the Bible demonstrate to us? That as the Bible says in Jeremiah 29:11, God does have a plan for us with a hope and a future. When we are in the valley of a situation in life and can’t see the way out, God has a plan more wonderful than we could ever come up with on our own. We must “trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. In all our ways acknowledge Him and He will make our paths straight.” So, if you are facing this new year with 2004 being less than you had hoped, have no fear. The year 2005 might be the year that you reach the other side of the mountain to see the wonderful plan God has for your life. Then once you reach the other side, you will see how God has been faithful to you. And you will know for sure that “all things really do work to the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” So the next time your at the bottom of the mountain and don’t think there is any way you are ever going to climb this Mount Everest, remember that with God in control, you will make it up the steep incline and soon you will see that the grass is always greener on the other side. It may even be the most spectacular view you have ever seen in your whole life, but you have to keep climbing in order to find out. God doesn’t promise us a pain free life, but He does promise us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. He won’t leave you hanging. He will carry you all the way up if necessary, as long as you put your trust in Him.