The Lord will help you

Isaiah 41:8-13

The more I meditate on the Word, the better I understand the structure of God’s operations. I oftentimes mention that everyone God created, He made to serve a unique purpose. From the days of Adam until now, God has chosen many whom He deemed worthy to fulfill special assignments in the earth. The great and mighty God even went so far as to call some, His friends. What greater honor could be given to anyone than God calling them a friend. What does God consider you to be? One fellow whom God considered a friend was Jacob. Jacob’s purpose was predestined, even before birth. Although his character had a shaky and not so humble beginning, he proved to be a great pioneer of the faith, whom God used to do great things. God had recognized Israel as His chosen people, and Jacob as their leader. Their purpose was to serve as a beacon of light in the midst of a wicked and perverse world. God knew that those who didn’t understand His message, would reject it, as well as those who delivered it, so God encouraged His chosen people by mentioning to them, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (vs. 10).

It’s natural to be afraid of the unknown, but when God tells you everything will be alright, you can rest assured He’ll follow through on His promise. All the obstacles and challenges the children of Israel faced, when they fully committed their hearts to God, He always pulled them out to safety. Even in moments when the people turned away from God’s direction and trusted in other gods, He allowed them to suffer a little while; long enough for them to come to their senses and realize they will never be safe and prosperous outside of His leading.

God not only promised to preserve His Word, according to Psalm 12, but He also promised to preserve His people. Believers today are God’s chosen people as well, and the sheep of His pasture. Just as God’s chosen nation of Israel were made strong to stand against principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places, we require that same strength and power to stand firm as well. There’s absolutely no need for us to fear the enemy, nor his wicked devices, because our God promised that all who come against us will be put to shame, and they that strive, or quarrel against us shall perish. We make life harder on ourselves when we step outside of God’s will, and trust in our own understanding. These are the moments satan yearns for, so that he can inflict as much damage as he can to our hearts, minds, and souls, before we finally turn back to God broken and wounded. I advise all believers to stick to the structure God set in place to ensure your safety, protection, and prosperity. Seek first His kingdom and righteousness, walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh, be strong and very courageous, love your neighbor as yourself, seek peace and pursue it, in all your ways acknowledge God, and He will direct your paths. Be obedient to the Word of God, and trust in His power to keep you properly equipped to endure to a more perfect end.

Walk in love,

Ell

God sent me to preserve you

Genesis 45:1-8

One of my favorite Bible stories is that of Joseph. He was a vibrant and lively young lad, who was always misunderstood by his elder brothers. Those brothers of his would eventually become very jealous of the special treatment he received from their father, as well as from the dreams he would share with them, of how God would one day make him great. I won’t delve too deep into the story, as it would take a while to get through, but the lesson I learned from this story was, be careful how you treat those whom you dislike or don’t understand, because God may use them someday to pull you out of trouble.

This was precisely the case with Joseph. After his brothers sold him into slavery, his journey only seemed to get worse as the days went by, but God was with Joseph through the whole process. He went from being cast into a pit, sold as a slave, then sold again to Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh, and captain of the guard. The captain saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper, so he promoted Joseph to overseer of his house. Joseph was then wrongly accused of fooling around with Potiphar’s wife, and thrown in prison. Even in prison, God was with Joseph. He was elevated while in prison, as the overseer of all the prisoners. My my goodness! When the favor of God is on you, there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it. From prison, Joseph found favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, after interpreting an important dream he was having trouble understanding. He was then exalted as second ruler over all the land of Egypt.

This was one of the most beautiful testimonies in all of history, but the story got better, as Joseph was soon hit with a very hard test. He remembered his brothers, and how they had treated him extremely ruthless and merciless, but rather than render to them evil for evil, Joseph extended all the help his brothers needed, and he did so in love. Although his brothers thought evil of him, God blessed Joseph and sent him to preserve his wicked family, even though they weren’t deserving of it. This is how’s the love of Christ works toward unbelievers. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, but Christ died in our stead, while we were yet undeserving of his matchless love. For this reason, all men should walk in humility, because there was nothing we could do on our own to remove the stain of sin from our lives. On the same note, Joseph’s brothers were totally unprepared for the coming famine, but God supplied Joseph with enough resources to take care of himself, and his family for seven years.

Be careful how you treat everybody. Learn to love every person you meet, the same way. Read and study how the love of God was shown throughout the Scriptures, and try to mimic that same love in your lives today. Everyone has issues, but those issues may someday be resolved, and God can use the people you once despised, to make His kingdom great. “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

Walk in love,

Ell

Longing for God’s help

Psalm 42

Trust is something not easily earned these days. Oftentimes, people lose trust in others based on reasons of unreliability, or lack of confidence in their words and actions. When you’re in need, you desire only what will satisfy those needs. In times when your health had failed you, you sought only those who could offer guaranteed methods to bring your body to a more stable condition. Even in times when your money was low, you knew who you could, and couldn’t rely on to give you assistance, based on the level of trust you had in them. When we need help, we make sure to run to sources we can trust, while avoiding those who are unreliable, and could possibly make our situations worse.

King David experienced the love of God on so many levels, until he developed a longing for His help at all times. In all that David experienced in his life, he knew that God was the most trusted source in all the universe. He looked to God for wisdom, direction, courage, strength, and all he needed, as he faced the fear of death, loneliness, and shame from his enemies. Some trusted in chariots, and some in horses, but David always remembered the name of the Lord.

In our text, the writer was seeking help in a time of distress. David was totally transparent in his writings, and shared with God his deepest thoughts and feelings. He wanted God to know exactly what his thoughts were, so that God would, in a sense, feel what he felt, but God already knows everything about His creation, and He in fact is sensitive to our feelings. During this moment of distress, apparently David’s enemies were pouring heavy oppression upon him, and he sought God for deliverance, but God delayed His rescue for reasons known only to Himself. I often express that God, at times, delays His response to our call in order to monitor how we react while we wait. God was, and is always reliable and trustworthy, and David knew this truth, but he couldn’t understand the purpose for God’s delayed response. What I admire about David most is, while he suffered, struggled, and waited for his deliverance, instead of murmuring and complaining, he offered continual prayer and praises to the One who would soon deliver him from his oppressors.

Who do you long for when trouble knocks on your door. Do you reach out to those you know can possibly assist, but would bring it up in every conversation after, or are the people you confide in phony and unreliable? Trust in the Lord in every situation you face in life. Our God is the only One who has an answer to every problem we face. Man can offer temporary solutions to some of the things we encounter, but God’s love has the permanent fix for all we experience in our lives.

Walk in love,

Ell