Video Bible Lesson - A Prayer for When You are Waiting on the Lord By Christina Fox

1/2 Hour of God’s Power with Scott Ralls

7/28/2020

A Prayer for When You are Waiting on the Lord

By Christina Fox

"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope" (Psalm 130:5).
Are you currently in a place of waiting? Perhaps you are waiting for a job, for healing, for restoration in a relationship, or for wisdom to know where you should go next. That place of waiting is a place we are all familiar with. It's a place we find ourselves in often over the course of our lives. Though it's a familiar place and one we know well, we can often grow weary in our waiting. Sometimes our hearts grow heavy with worry and doubt. Sometimes we might wonder if God has forgotten about us or given up on us.
Father in Heaven, I come before you with my heart filled with so many different thoughts and feelings. I am tense and uncertain about what I should be doing and where I should go. I feel weak and helpless. Powerless. I am worried about what happens next and whether I have the strength to handle it. Deep down I wonder, how long will I be here? Will I be stuck in this place of waiting forever? But most of all, I wonder, where are you? Why haven't you responded to my cries for help?
But even as I pray that, I know you are right where you've always said you would be. You've never left me and you will never forsake me. You hear all my cries. In fact, as David wrote in Psalm 139, you know my thoughts before I even think them. You know exactly what is happening in my life and what will happen next. All things are in your control and nothing can happen apart from your will. Not a sparrow falls to earth without your willing it to and you know the number of hairs on my head. You are never surprised. Even about this issue in my life today. You know why this is happening and will use it for your glory and my good.
As the prophet wrote in Lamentations, "It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord" (3:26). Help me to remember that it is good to wait for you. In this place of waiting, help me to remember all that you have done for me through Jesus Christ. Help me to remember that your grace is sufficient to not only save me from sin, but to sustain me each and every day. Your grace is at work in me right now, transforming me and making me more like your Son. Nothing can separate me from you. I am safe in your love.
May I live for you even while I wait. Help me to obey and remain faithful, no matter how long I am in this place of waiting. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

A Prayer for When You are Waiting on the Lord

#Jesus, #Christian, #Bible, #Salvation, #Heaven, #God, #HolySpirit

But the Storm Swept On 

Streams in the Desert

The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and storm (Nahum 1:3).

I recollect, when a lad, and while attending a classical institute in the vicinity of Mount Pleasant, sitting on an elevation of that mountain, and watching a storm as it came up the valley. The heavens were filled with blackness, and the earth was shaken by the voice of thunder. It seemed as though that fair landscape was utterly changed, and its beauty gone never to return.

But the storm swept on, and passed out of the valley; and if I had sat in the same place on the following day, and said, "Where is that terrible storm, with all its terrible blackness?" the grass would have said, "Part of it is in me," and the daisy would have said, "Part of it is in me," and the fruits and flowers and everything that grows out of the ground would have said, "Part of the storm is incandescent in me."

Have you asked to be made like your Lord? Have you longed for the fruit of the Spirit, and have you prayed for sweetness and gentleness and love? Then fear not the stormy tempest that is at this moment sweeping through your life. A blessing is in the storm, and there will be the rich fruitage in the "afterward."
--Henry Ward Beecher

The flowers live by the tears that fall
From the sad face of the skies;
And life would have no joys at all,
Were there no watery eyes.

Love thou thy sorrow: grief shall bring
Its own excuse in after years;
The rainbow!--see how fair a thing
God hath built up from tears.

--Henry S. Sutton

Reconciling Love and War.....Dr. Charles Stanley

Reconciling Love and War

Dr. Charles Stanley

Luke 6:27-31

One area of confusion about war is the apparent discrepancy between Jesus’ words and God’s approval of battle in the Old Testament. Can such dissimilar teachings be reconciled? How can the God who told Israel to destroy the Canaanites be the same one who said, “Love your enemies,do good to those who hate you” (v. 27)?

To clarify this issue, we must distinguish between commands issued to nations and instructions given to individuals. The Lord has bestowed certain responsibilities upon governments. He calls them ministers of
God for good and entrusts them with avenging evil (Rom. 13:4). But to individuals, He says, “Never take your own revenge” (12:19).

People are killed in war, but this isn’t the same as murder. A soldier on the battlefield carries out his duties under the authority of his government (Rom. 13:1-2). Murder, on the other hand, is an individual’s vengeful response to anger or jealousy and is motivated by a desire to destroy another person.

When governments avenge wrong, innocent people are protected, but when individuals seek their own revenge, they destroy themselves and others. In Luke, Jesus was speaking about personal conflicts, not national wars. He knows that loving our enemies is the only way to protect ourselves from bitterness.

Would we prefer to turn the responsibilities around—are we quick to fight personal battles, but slow to affirm the avenging of evil nationally? Sometimes the only way for a country to have peace is to go to war, but we’ll never experience inner peace if we battle with individuals who wrong us.

Are You Ready For Anything?

Are You Ready For Anything?
KATHI LIPP

“The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.” Proverbs 27:12 (NIV)

Nothing in Northern California will cause your heart to beat faster than the word “Fire!” being yelled into your home.

So when I heard pounding on my front door and a voice I didn’t recognize yelling “Fire!” into our townhouse, my brain shut down.

My husband Roger and I were working from home that day in separate rooms. As soon as we heard the call, I grabbed my cell phone. Roger toted our 38-pound puggle, Jake, down the stairs, and we ended up on the grass in front of our house, barefoot and in a panic.

The scene looked like an episode of Chicago Fire — two doors down, our neighbor’s house was engulfed in flames. Next door, the house filled with smoke. We were just one or two walls away from our house going up in flames as well.

As we stood on the grass without our wallets, car keys and shoes, a thought came to me. “Rog, Jeremy didn’t come home from school yet, did he?” I asked. Jeremy was our college son, and it was his first day of classes. I had no idea what his schedule was.

“No, we would have heard him …” Roger replied, and then he ran back into the house and straight up the stairs.

Less than a minute later, Roger came out the door with Jeremy sleepily bringing up the rear.

Roger would like it noted he ran into a burning building to save his child. But it’s pretty hard to get around the fact that, while leaving a burning building, we grabbed the dog but left the kid.

Do you live under the same illusion I did, pre-fire? That when an emergency comes up, you’ll automatically know what to do?

Or maybe you know you’re unprepared for an emergency, so it’s easier just to not think about it now?

I spent most of my life living between these two extremes — putting it out of my mind, hoping there just wouldn’t be an emergency, and vastly overestimating my ability to deal with a crisis if one should come up.

But leaving the house during a fire — without all the humans — quickly dispelled all my excuses for not being prepared.

In Proverbs, one who shows care and thought for the future is someone to be emulated: “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty” (Proverbs 27:12).

After realizing crises don’t happen only to other people — they can and will happen to me — I want to be a prudent person. That’s why I try to do something every day to prepare for emergencies and inconveniences. Bad stuff happens all the time — large-scale tragedies like hurricanes, wildfires or global pandemics, and smaller-scale (yet no less devastating) disasters like a sudden health scare, job loss or a computer crash. But this doesn’t mean we have to live in constant fear.

Whether it’s mapping out next week’s dinners or doing emergency planning, I work every day to become someone who shows thought and care for the future.

I call this “taking care of my future self.” When I’m not constantly running behind, making excuses and overdrawing (not just in my bank account, but in my life), I can better take care of myself and the people I love during an emergency.

Heavenly Father, please grant me wisdom to know how to plan for the future, so I might be prepared for anything. Help me to be ready so I can also help others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Proverbs 21:5, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” (NIV)

Proverbs 30:25, “Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer.” (NIV)

Do You Have Unfair Expectations?

Do You Have Unfair Expectations?
by Debbie Holloway

"Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” (Exodus 4:11)

Last week one of the ladies in my office brought some veggie burgers to give away during lunchtime. She is sometimes sent free products or games through a certain company in exchange for spreading word about them and sending in pictures of her friends & co-workers enjoying the free product. I’d never had a veggie burger, but I thought, Hey, I won’t say no to a free lunch!

Several people showed up to the break-room to sample the burgers, but everyone was a little nervous to actually eat them. I went first, my expectations low and my mind open.

It wasn’t bad! In fact, I found it tasty and would eat it again. Later I chuckled to myself, thinking, there’s no way my husband would enjoy this. You see, my husband is a pretty big fan of a good burger. And, while the veggie burger was tasty in my opinion, it didn’t really taste like a beef burger. It had its own unique flavor. But it would be hard to give my husband something that looks like a burger and then tell him that it won’t taste like a burger. Basically disappointment would inevitably happen.

And that got me thinking even further. Isn’t that an epidemic that the human race has most of the time? We have such specific expectations about things. We hear a movie quoted and praised to death, set our expectations sky-high, and by the time we watch it, we can’t appreciate it because it doesn’t live up to the hype. More harmful than movie expectations, however, are the expectations we subconsciously place on our spiritual life, or our relationship with Christ.

“I’m supposed to feel ____ when I worship…right? But I don’t feel it. There must be something wrong with me.”

“Why don’t I hear God’s voice when I pray? Abraham did. Moses did. Does God hear me?”

“My friend _____ speaks in tongues. I’ve never done that. Does that mean I’m not filled with the spirit?”

But Scripture tells us that every human being was created unique, in God’s image, and you have a different part to play in the body of Christ than your neighbor does.

“Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body… If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be” (1 Corinthians 12:14-18).

Intersecting Faith and Life: The next time you allow your expectations to deflate you, remember that expectations rob us of joy in the here-and-now. Be present! Be thankful! Remember that your experiences and your role in the church are meant to be unique and shouldn’t be compared to anyone else’s.

Further Reading
1 Corinthians 12

You Are With Me

You Are With Me
By: Amanda Idleman

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” - Psalm 23:4

This entire chapter talks about how God is our Shepherd and consequently, we are like his sheep. As our Shepherd, the text lays out the ways that God looks out for us, provides for us, guides us, and in the dark season of life he is right there with us. The chapter ends with the promise of Heaven, stating we will one day live with God in his house forever.

The picture in verse 4 is of a shepherd who is unable to get his flock back before nighttime. In the dark, the shepherd would move from the back of the flock to the middle so the sheep could gather around him for security. This beautiful illustration paints a picture of a caring God that never leaves us alone in the dark!

This verse has been recited as comfort over those facing the end of their lives. The words are rich with meaning and inspire peace for the most dire moments of our lives. Christianity.com explains in their commentary that these words point to the great hope that when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, at a steady pace, to reach our final destination which is revealed in verse 6 of the chapter. Psalm 23:6 says, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” When we pass through the valley of death we have the great hope in the fact that we will one day dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Enduring Word’s commentary explains that we merely face the “shadow of death” because Jesus came and bore the full weight of sin and death on his shoulders. David’s words point us to the great Rescue that would come and die in our place so that our death would merely be a passing from this life to an eternity in Heaven. We can live without fear because God leads us and takes our place on the cross!

One of the most difficult parts of our human existence is that we all will “walk through the valley the shadow of death” and it’s a dark and painful place to be. We may first experience this valley when we walk alongside a loved one as they pass from this world into Heaven. We may mourn the loss of a miscarriage, infertility, the darkness that disease brings into a life, and of course we all have to face our own mortality eventually.

It is so very comforting knowing that God is with us in the midst of the hardest things we will face. This has to be one of the most applicable truths of the Bible: when we face darkness and death, God is by our side! He provides what we need to pass through these moments without fear.

God gave us His Son so that we would be spared us the full weight of our sin through His great sacrifice on the cross. 1 Peter 2:24 says, “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.” When you invite Jesus to be your Shepherd or leader, you no longer have to fear death. We just have to pass through its shadowed valley to reach an eternal home in Heaven.

In your moment of distress, be encouraged that God is closer to you than ever! He is in the middle of the dark with you, holding your hard, and gently leading you towards His goodness and mercy. These moments grow a strong faith in our hearts.

A Prayer for a Great Inheritance

A Prayer for a Great Inheritance
By Sharon Jaynes

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3 NIV).

Paul wrote, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God that we may understand what God has freely given us” (1 Cor. 2:12). So stop and pray with me for just a moment. “Dear Lord, I pray that You will open my mind to comprehend all that you have given me. Help me to let go of preconceived notions and small-minded thinking to take hold of all that You have for me. In Jesus’s name, Amen.”

Did you pray? Did you mean it? Let’s keep going! As you read the following words, take note of the verb tense in each sentence.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory (Eph. 1:3-14 emphases added).

Did you see it? Paul is describing blessings and promises you already have. Every single one of those verbs are in the past tense. You don’t need to earn them. You don’t need to wait for them. You simply need to take hold of what is already yours. You’ve already got what it takes to live bold.

God made the deposit in your safe-deposit box before the creation of the world, fashioned the key in the shape of a cross, and gave you access the moment you believed.

Father, forgive me for living like a spiritual pauper rather than a child of the King. Help me to let go of my scarcity mentality and take hold of the riches of my inheritance. Help me to take hold of the precious promises. And Lord, I know this isn’t about money or the treasures of this world. Oh, your precious promises go so much deeper than anything this temporary world has for us. Open my eyes to see what is important...the blessings You have given me.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.