Prayer and trust...

  "When my prayers are small, I limit Him with what I am believing."---Susanna Foth Aughtmon in "Mornings With Jesus"

God has no limits, but when we put limits on our faith we also put limits on him.  Peter could walk on water until he stopped trusting.  God's power didn't change, but Peter's perception of it did.  Peter's trust shrank in the face of the impossible.  God is bigger then the impossible, but we have to see him that way in order for him to act in our lives.  

Jesus did many miracles, but the Pharisees were unable to see them as miracles from God because they could not admit that Jesus was God.  The limits were of their making, not any failure on Jesus' part.  We are often afraid to believe God will do something because we are afraid to be disappointed.  Our fear puts a limit on God.  

It is hard to have perfect trust.  It is unnatural to our human nature.  But the Spirit nature in us should be able to trust God for bigger things.  We need to practice taking leaps of faith and trusting God to do all he is able to do in us. 

 Thank you, LORD for your unlimited nature.  Teach me to trust you more.

The LORD upholds us...

  Psalm 37:23-24  "If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand."  (NIV)

Being a Christian doesn't automatically make life perfect for the believer.  But it does give us a strong tower to run to, a refuge to go to for security, a rock to stand on, someone to defend us and make our path smoother.

 When the LORD knows we are trusting him, he can reach out and hold us up at every turning of the way.  God is always there, but our reaching out to him changes how we perceive the way in front of us.  We learn trust and dependence and assurance and expectation.  We know he is there even though we do not see him.  If we stumble we won't fall because we know he is there to catch us.

This is where the definition of faith fits in---"The assurance of things hoped for, the certainty of things unseen." (Heb. 11:1)  We are trusting in the invisible, but we know our help is there.  We see him though eyes of faith.  The LORD upholds all who trust in him!

Thank you, LORD, for your sturdy, steady, always-safe and secure presence.  We trust in you and you uphold us in all circumstances.  Thank you, loving and faithful God!  amen

You will not fear...

  Psalm 91:5  "You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day."  (NIV)

We are threatened by the fears and unknown dangers around us that we may stumble into in the dark, and we also fear the easily seen "arrows" of sin and temptation that we know are headed right at us. Day and night, the enemy attacks.

 Darkness brings fear, and fear disorients us and make us lose our footing or caused us to fall into traps.  Fear is a great enemy!  We don't even have to do anything wrong, but if we allow fear and anxiety to attack us we come to a halt, we hesitate, we become confused and inactive, we spend our energies and thoughts attacking demons we haven't even encountered yet.  The "what if's..." and maybe's that swirl into our minds and paralyze us.  Jesus healed many who came to him with years of paralysis that had ruled their lives.  But the touch of Jesus Christ can break the hold and set us free.  We have to encounter Jesus and ask in faith to be healed from paralyzing fears.

The arrows of the daytime are usually known to us.  We recognize these weapons of the enemy, but still must guard against them using our "shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." (Eph. 6:16)  Believing in Jesus Christ, trusting in God the Father, having faith in One who is bigger than any enemy, One who is victorious over the Evil One, will shield us from his arrows and extinguish them.  Knowledge of God in our heart and mind protects us.  God's Word---our sword of the Spirit---will block any arrows we see coming.  This goes back to abiding in his presence and being alert and prepared by knowing his Word and recognizing the enemy's strategies.

v.9  "If you make the Most High your dwelling...then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent."

Thank you Father God, Most High, for your protection from the enemy who stalks us night and day.  I know that you can handle my fears and any flaming arrows that are headed my way.  I trust in your unfailing love.  amen

Dwell in the shelter of the Most High...

  Psalm 91:1  "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."  (NIV)

"He who dwells...will rest".  Another word used in scripture for the idea of dwelling, is the word "abide" or as translated in the NIV---"remain".  When we dwell/abide/remain in Jesus Christ and God the Father, we make our home with God.  We move into his presence and stay there with all intention of never leaving.  This is our home, where we want to be, where we plan to put down roots.

Jesus says, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in my love."  (Now abide in my love or dwell in my love)  John 15:9 

How do we do that?  "If you obey my commands you will remain in my love just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love"  (John 15:10

Obeying God's commands, his word puts us in this abiding relationship.  To "dwell in the shelter of the Most High" begins by drawing into God's presence with the intention to remain there and obey his commands as we begin to understand them and hear his voice speak to us.  The Most High is our God, our loving Father.  He provides shelter by his very being.  All of life comes from him.  All of life depends on him for its sustenance.   All of life finds eternal life in his presence alone.  This is where we abide.  This is home.  This is our "rest in the shadow of the Almighty". 

 We are promised peace beyond all understanding in Jesus Christ, our Prince of Peace.  This inner, eternal, sustaining peace is the rest we find with our Father through Jesus, the Son.  This resting abiding relationship is found in our obedience to God's word, spoken in Jesus Christ.  We listen, we obey, we abide.  This is eternal life in God's kingdom.

Thank you Father God, for allowing us to abide and rest in your presence.  Draw us close and show us your ways that we might be obedient to them.  Our dwelling place and our peace are found in you alone.  amen

Ask ...

  Luke 11:9  "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."  (ESV)

The old saying, "you never know till you ask" is true in spiritual things as well as worldly.  God wants a relationship with us and as children we will be asking him many things.  When you read the Lord's prayer, you see that a lot of it is asking of one sort or another.  The petition to "give us this day our daily bread" simplifies the problem of asking for our worldly needs.  It is balanced by asking for forgiveness, protection, guidance, and God's kingdom and his will, now in this world.

 It also assumes that God already knows what we need for this day and every day.  This doesn't mean we shouldn't ask for specifics.  God wants us to show our trust and reliance on him.  Asking for things like healing also shows our compassion for others and our dependence on him.  We know the source of all power for healing and we ask that it be used for our own needs and for others in need as well.

 When we ask for specific things we show our acknowledgment that provisions are part of the faithful care God has shown us in the past and continues to show us.  There are some things we probably should not ask for and will not necessarily receive----asking that our favorite sport team will win every game, or asking to win the lottery, or asking to find a parking space, etc.  These seem trivial and beneath the dignity of an all-powerful God.  They also seem selfish.

 However, even when we "playfully" ask for things like these, we are showing that we know our God is a God of great and unlimited power and that he is in control of everything.  Nothing is beyond his ability.  I think it also lightens our spirits a little when the day seems long and frustrating.  Sometimes that parking space is truly a "need" because we are close to the frustration breaking point.

God understand all our ways of thinking and asking.  We don't understand his, but we learn more each time we do ask.  Communication and relationship are the goal, but humility is a key in our respect for the One of whom we ask everything.  I think God knows when we are really serious in our asking and when we are being merely wishful.  There is much about prayer we never seem to understand fully, but our desire to pray pleases God.  Our willingness to keep asking, seeking, knocking is what he desires from us.  Never turn away or give up. Asking for more of his Spirit will help us put other requests in perspective.  The Holy Spirit is power and truth.  Those are worthy of asking for any time!

Thank you, Lord, for hearing us whenever we ask, seek, knock.  Help us to understand your will for us and for others so we will ask for things that you desire for us.  We know that you know what is best for us at all times.  We don't always understand your answers, but we know you are the place to come to ask....always.  Thank you.  amen

Give us our daily bread...

  "Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done."----C.S. Lewis

I saw this quote in one of my devotionals focusing on the idea of asking God for our "daily bread".  Trust in God has to be an on-going attitude.  We ask for what we need each day and thank him for his provision.  He will determine what it is we need and how much.

Lessons on trust were very important to me when I wrote this in my journal last year, because we were trying to sell our house and choose a new place to live.  We knew that both ends of the transaction were in God's hands.  We hoped he would provide the right buyer for our house, and also that he would show us the wisest choice for our continuing needs.  Sometimes its a bit scary to just sit back and wait, but we knew that we could trust that God had a plan for us.  We were impatient to move on to the next phase of our life, but knew that God held the timing and that we must choose to trust him.  Thank you, Lord, for the daily bread that you always provide for us!  We love and trust you!
Matt. 6:11  "Give us today our daily bread."

Reading another devotional on the good Samaritan gave me an additional thought about "daily bread".  Just as we don't always know what form the "daily bread" you provide for us will consist of, we also have to be available to be the daily bread that you are providing for someone else.  It may be our day to provide for someone else's need in an unexpected way.  This is loving our neighbors like the good Samaritan.  We need constant awareness of how you plan to use us each day.

Thank you, Father, for using us as daily bread for others and help us not to over-look the opportunities when they arise.  All daily bread, whether ours or someone else's is a provision from you. amen

Solitary places...

  Luke 8:29  "...he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places."  (NIV)

Matthew 4:1  "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil."  (NIV)

Mark 1:35, 43  "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place where he prayed."  (NIV) 

 "Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places."  (NIV)

I began this study with the demon-possessed man driven into "solitary places", but that triggered a couple of memories of Jesus in connection with "solitary places."  

The devil or demons seem to prefer lonely solitary places.  That doesn't surprise me when I think  of people who are depressed or fighting mental demons of one kind or another.  Satan "cuts us out of the herd" to get us alone where he can attack and we have fewer resource to fight him---especially away from Christian friends or family who might help us.

But we see the difference with Jesus in that the Spirit went with him into the lonely desert or solitary place.  Jesus used solitary places as a place to speak with his Father.  He was never alone in even the most lonely places---his Father and the Spirit were always with him.  Lonely places were safe for him because he listened to the right spirit there.  We need to guard carefully what spirit we allow to influence us as we walk in solitary places.  The devil will use these opportunities to tempt us, just as he did Jesus.  But if we call on the Holy Spirit, who is always with those who belong to God's family, he will help us fight temptation.

Jesus has taught us to petition God---"lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil."  We can ask for his help and rely on it at all times.  If we learn to do this, then our "solitary places" will be havens of prayer, as they were for Jesus, rather then lonely hells as they were for the demon possessed man.  We must strive to be "led by the Spirit" rather then "driven by the demons".  We have Jesus' life in scripture to give us examples of how to live when we live in him, and as a child of the Father.  These words of scripture give us hope as well as instruction by example.

Jesus, please remind me of your presence when I start to wander into lonely places where Satan might attack me.  Solitary places do not have to frighten me, if I meet you there in prayer.  I trust your Holy Spirit to be with me wherever I go.  Thank you! amen

God is there...

   Isaiah 40:27-28  "Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God?"  Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom."  (NIV)

In the middle of our problems and daily stress we sometimes forget that God is still there.  He never moves, he never goes to sleep, he never ceases to be omnipotent, omnipresent, or omniscient.  When we don't get immediate results or answers we may feel God has forgotten us or turned his back to us.  Not true!  His strength and wisdom and understanding are eternal.  He is Everlasting God!  His presence is always with us.  His ear is always turned toward our cries.  His heart is still full of unfailing love and mercy.  We can always "wait in expectation" (Psalm 43:3) and put our hope and trust in his faithfulness.

Isaiah 40:31  But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

As we present our requests to our Father and wait in expectation our strength will increase, our trust will grow, our hope will sustain us and our peace will return even amidst the turmoil around us.  God's love is always available to us.  God's arms are always ready to hold us up.  God's presence is always there---wherever "there" happens to be. 

Thank you, loving and faithful Father for hearing the cries of your people.  We put all our hope and trust in you!