I Will Strengthen You

Monday, July 07, 2014, 3:17 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Isaiah 41 (NIV).

You Are My Servant

“But you, Israel, my servant,

    Jacob, whom I have chosen,

    you descendants of Abraham my friend,

I took you from the ends of the earth,

    from its farthest corners I called you.

I said, ‘You are my servant’;

    I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

So do not fear, for I am with you;

    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. ~ Is. 41:8-10

Day five of being sick now, yet the Lord Jesus continues to encourage me with the knowledge of his all sufficiency to meet my every need and to supply me with the strength I need to do what he has called me to do.

I listened to a recording of a sermon yesterday from 2010, which was preached by the pastor I had in my teenage and early adult years, and it greatly encouraged my heart. The sermon title was “God is Enough.” Amen! At the beginning of his sermon he relayed a story to us of his early years in ministry in a small church. He had developed a bad case of bronchitis, but if he did not preach there would be no sermon. So, he prayed about it and the Lord encouraged him, so on complete faith and trust in God, even though he was coughing and had no voice, he stood up to preach and the Spirit of God took over, but when he sat back down, the bronchitis returned. This went on for several weeks until God healed him. I have seen God perform miracles like that in my life, as well. We need to realize that, when we do not have the strength, God does!

Will Be As Nothing

“All who rage against you

    will surely be ashamed and disgraced;

those who oppose you

    will be as nothing and perish.

Though you search for your enemies,

    you will not find them.

Those who wage war against you

    will be as nothing at all.

For I am the Lord your God

    who takes hold of your right hand

and says to you, Do not fear;

    I will help you.

Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob,

    little Israel, do not fear,

for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord,

    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

“See, I will make you into a threshing sledge,

    new and sharp, with many teeth.

You will thresh the mountains and crush them,

    and reduce the hills to chaff.

You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up,

    and a gale will blow them away.

But you will rejoice in the Lord

    and glory in the Holy One of Israel. ~ Is. 41:11-16

Sometimes I think we get the idea that our enemies are even more powerful than God, or so you would think by the way we sometimes respond to adversity, trials, temptations, sickness, etc. How soon, too, we can forget from one tribulation to another how God came through for us before, how he worked miracles in our lives, and how he strengthened us and helped us when we had no strength of our own. We must never forget that our enemies, whether real or imagined, whether in the flesh or merely in the spirit world, or whether they are even our own minds fighting against the Spirit within us, cannot prevail against Almighty God. Nothing in this world of ours is too powerful for God! Amen!

It is not as though our enemies truly disappear, though. They are still there. Yet, when we put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we believe him to work miracles in our lives and in our situations, even despite all odds against us, we render them powerless over us, and thus it is as though they have disappeared from sight, because we no longer let them get the best of us. Amen!

One of Satan’s biggest weapons against us is his lies. He tries to convince us that he is more powerful than God and that we are hopeless and helpless against all forces of evil against us, but we are not! If we are in Christ Jesus, and we are putting our faith and trust in him, he is with us, he takes hold of us, he helps us, and he gives us all we need to stand strong against those forces of evil and to conquer them in the power and working of the Spirit of God within us as we daily put on our spiritual armor and we do not give the devil a foothold in our lives, but we stand strong in the Lord and in his mighty power within us.

He Will Answer

“The poor and needy search for water,

    but there is none;

    their tongues are parched with thirst.

But I the Lord will answer them;

    I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

I will make rivers flow on barren heights,

    and springs within the valleys.

I will turn the desert into pools of water,

    and the parched ground into springs.

I will put in the desert

    the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.

I will set junipers in the wasteland,

    the fir and the cypress together,

so that people may see and know,

    may consider and understand,

that the hand of the Lord has done this,

    that the Holy One of Israel has created it. ~ Is. 41:17-20

Who are the poor and needy among us? We can all be poor (deprived) and needy (disadvantaged) at times, searching intently for what will satisfy the deep longings of our hearts, only to come up empty because we are searching in all the wrong places. It is in those times that we need to remember that our Lord God will never leave us or forsake us. He will not leave us comfortless or without resources. We don’t have to be afraid. We don’t have to take matters into our own hands, thinking God needs our help, either. Our God is able to do far above anything we could possibly think or imagine! He is the God of miracles. We just have to believe him to work miracles in our lives instead of us giving way to fear.

When all seems hopeless in the eyes of our human flesh God will fill us with hope and faith if we will let him. He will refresh our spirits and revive our hearts and heal our wounded spirits and comfort us in our sorrows. It is not as though our circumstances may change any, though. They may, but they may not. Yet, God gives us the ability to rise above our circumstances and to see hope where there seems to be none, and to trust in his miracles when all seems destitute. And, that is where the true miracle of his grace in our circumstances comes into play, not necessarily that he removes us from the circumstances, though he may, but that he gives us the strength to rise above them and for them to no longer have dominion over us. Amen! God truly is enough! We just have to believe it!

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah / William Williams / John Hughes

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,

Pilgrim through this barren land.

I am weak, but Thou art mighty;

Hold me with Thy powerful hand.

Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,

Feed me till I want no more;

Feed me till I want no more.

Open now the crystal fountain,

Whence the healing stream doth flow;

Let the fire and cloudy pillar

Lead me all my journey through.

Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,

Be Thou still my Strength and Shield;

Be Thou still my Strength and Shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,

Bid my anxious fears subside;

Death of deaths, and hell’s destruction,

Land me safe on Canaan’s side.

Songs of praises, songs of praises,

I will ever give to Thee;

I will ever give to Thee. Amen.

God is Enough - http://youtu.be/7m8xuRXQLHY