Hebrews 13:6 (HCSB) Therefore, we may boldly say:
The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
This is a very powerful
scripture. It means that God, through the Lord Jesus Christ, promises to
help us know matter what or no matter who is working against you. It may
be someone or something on our jobs, someone or something at school, someone or
something in a relationship, finances, etc. We don’t have to worry or be afraid
God has promised to help us. God will see you through if you just trust
Him.
Hebrews 13:5 (NKJV) Let your conduct be without
covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said,
"I will never leave you nor forsake you."
This scripture, according to Matthew
Henry's Concise Commentary, “… contains the sum and substance of
all the promises; I will never, no, never leave thee, no, never forsake thee.
In the original there are no less than five negatives put together, to confirm
the promise: the true believer shall have the gracious presence of God with
him, in life, at death, and forever. Men can do nothing against God, and God
can make all that men do against his people, to turn to their good.”
This All Sounds Great
Doesn't It?
Why is it then that when we have a
situation or circumstance where something or someone is working against us that
we still fret and worry? The answers to this question and ways to
win against worry anxiety and stress may be in a study I did with my church’s
adult bible study group. Some of you may have followed that study, “Overwhelmed: Winning the WarAgainst Worry” on my Faith The Evidence blog. If so this will post
will be a reminder for you. For those of you that don’t follow that blog
this post will bless and encourage you.
Do You Really
Trust God for Everything?
If we are really honest I bet you’ll
admit there are times that you don’t really trust God. What’s strange is
we trust God for salvation and eternal life, we trust Him for things like, us
waking up in the morning, and that the sun will rise and set every day, yet we
don’t trust him in so many things in our lives. God wants us to trust Him in
everything big and small. To do that we
have to surrender completely to Him and his timing. Until we can totally trust
God for absolutely everything we will be trusting ourselves or somebody else
and we will always have anxiety.
Here are is some scripture for you to
read and meditate on at those times when you are overwhelmed with stress and
anxiety.
·
Psalm 9:10 (HCSB) Those who know Your name trust in You because You have not
abandoned those who seek You, Yahweh.
·
Psalm 37:5 (HCSB) Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act,
·
Psalm 56:3-4 (HCSB) When I am afraid, I will trust in You. 4 In God, whose word
I praise, in God I trust; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
·
Psalm 56:10-11 (HCSB)10 In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
·
Psalm 91:2 (HCSB) I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in
whom I trust.”
·
Isaiah 12:2 (HCSB) Indeed, God is my salvation; I will trust ⌊Him⌋ and not be afraid, for Yah, the
LORD, is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation.”
These are just a
few. Psalms is full of scripture on
trusting God.
Why don’t we trust God
for everything?
There are some things that Pastor
Perry Noble, author of “Overwhelmed:
Winning the War Against Worry” calls trust blockers.
Trust Blocker #1
The Pace of Our Lives
The pace of our lives causes us to
have blinders on. We are so fixed on solving this problem, running here
and there, trying to address this situation, that is that it is hard to pay
Jesus was a very busy person
especially during the three years of His ministry. He had crowds
following Him all the time and there were several times when He actually tried
to get away from the crowds to rest. A couple or examples of this are in:
·
Mark 6:30-31 (HCSB)30 The apostles gathered around
Jesus and reported to Him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said
to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For
many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
·
Matthew 14:23 (HCSB)23 After dismissing the crowds,
He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there
alone.
Jesus is the example for us that we
need to take a break and rest and spend some time with God and He will show us
those promises in His word that proves that He loves us and that He can be
trusted because He’s done it before and can do it again.
Trust Blocker #2
Disappointment
When God doesn't answer our prayers
exactly the way we want Him to we’re disappointed. I didn't get the
job that I wanted, my relative didn't get healed or saved. I didn't get I
didn't get, I didn't get. When we think back about those things then we
have a tendency to not trust God.
Here’s the reason we take our
preferences and turn them into His promises - even when those aren’t actually
things He has promised to do. Then when it doesn’t happen the way
we thought it should happen because we misinterpreted the promise or took it
out of context, be honest, we think that God didn’t keep His promise. We
get angry then we don’t trust God.
To keep ourselves from making the
mistake of saying or feeling that God doesn't keep His promises is to really
know what His promises are. The only real way to do that is to get it
from His word the Bible. Not from the television or radio preachers, not
from your pastor, but by studying yourself. You have to study for
yourself in order to really know what God says about you and His promises
through Jesus. When you do that you will find that “God is a promise
maker and a promise keeper - always has been, always will be!”
Here’s the promise that we should
always remember Romans 8:28 (NKJV) And we know that all things work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according
to His purpose.
It is God's love in Christ that
sustains us and empowers us—even in the midst of our experiences of sin and
death—"to be conformed to the likeness of his Son" (Romans 8:29). God
works in all things toward that good purpose. But only "those who love
him" know that, because they are participants "with him" in the
outworking of that purpose.
Trust Blocker #3
Spiritual Blindness
When the pace of our lives and our
disappointment cause us to focus on our situations and circumstances we can’t
see that God may just have something bigger in store for us.
To really know what God wants for us
and to remember what He has done for we have to slow down and spend time with
Him in His word the Bible. The Bible is where we find the promises of God
and taking time to read them and meditate on them and ask God what He is really saying. Listen to Him
not our own emotions or looking back on the times we thought that God
disappointed us. Then and only then can we learn to trust God and to lean
not to our own understanding Proverbs 3:5 (HCSB)5 Trust in the LORD with
all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;
We want control and when we decide
that we are going to take control then comes the stress and anxiety. When
we trust God because He is in control and when we spend time with Him in prayer
and the study of His word, the bible we will know that He loves us. The greatest example of that love is the gift
of Jesus Christ, who gave His life for us.
The Lord is Your
Helper
What do we have to fear if the Lord
is our helper? Nothing. We have the complete assurance that the
Lord is on our side. No spirit or Man can do anymore to us than He
permits and if He permits it then He can limit or end it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (HCSB) No temptation has overtaken
you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow
you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will
also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.
·
Psalm 27:1 (HCSB) The LORD is my light and my
salvation— whom should I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom
should I be afraid?
·
Psalm 27:9 (HCSB) Do not hide Your face from me; do not turn Your servant away in
anger. You have been my helper; do not leave me or abandon me, God of my
salvation.
·
Psalm 54:4 (HCSB) God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my life.
·
Psalm 118:6 (HCSB) The LORD is for me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
God is in control and He is our
protector, helper and friend. He has
helped and delivered you before and He will do it again just trust Him!
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