We never grow closer to God when we just live life. It takes deliberate pursuit and attentiveness.
Category Archives: Strength
Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you.
The more you read the Bible; and the more you meditate on it, the more you will be astonished with it.
All our difficulties are only platforms for the manifestations of His grace, power and love.
Faith upholds a Christian under all trials, by assuring him that every painful dispensation is under the direction of his Lord; that chastisements are a token of His love; that the season, measure, and continuance of his sufferings, are appointed by Infinite Wisdom, and designed to work for his everlasting good; and that grace and strength shall be afforded him, according to his need.
Just Enough
Receiving what we need
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“The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.” 1 Kings 17:16
The passage above is from the story of Elijah and the widow in Zarephath. God sent Elijah to this particular widow for provision during a drought. When he asked for bread, she replied that she only had enough oil and flour to make bread for her and her son one last time and then they expected to die. Elijah asked her to feed him first promising that her provisions would not be exhausted. She obeyed and her meager provisions lasted until the rain returned. (You can read the whole story here. (www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+17%3A7-16&version=NASB)
I think of this story often as it has been associated in my mind with anything that is running out. About the time I’m tempted to throw out the shampoo bottle or tube of tooth paste that has very little left, I think of this story. More times than not when I’ve resisted that urge, the bottle, tube or whatever has lasted much longer than I expected. Case in point, the hair gel that I am currently using has lasted three weeks longer than anticipated. I trust that the Holy Spirit has made this connection in my mind to remind me that I am dependent on God for all things and that He will supply my needs. It is subtle but effective. At times God provides in great way, but most often He provides just enough at just the right time in a subtle fashion.
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We can be certain that God will give us the strength and resources we need to live through any situation in life that he ordains. The will of God will never take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us.
Running the Race
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For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:3
I went out for a run the other day and struggled through most of it. Somewhere in the last half mile, I decided it might be wise to walk the remainder of the way home. Shortly after I started walking, I met a young woman running in the opposite direction. As we met, she cheerfully encouraged me to start running again. As tempting as it was, I declined as my choice was not a matter of giving up but rather a bit of prudence for a few reasons: I have asthma and had forgotten to use my inhaler before running; my body is recovering from injury, and I’ve been pushing myself to meet various demands and have not been getting the rest that my body needs. In better circumstances, the encouragement would have yielded the desired effect of the other runner. However, under these conditions, I had to allow reason to overrule desire. As we endure in our walk of faith, we need be intentional as well.
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To learn strong faith is to endure great trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm amid severe testings.
Love and Grief
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“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7)
This was not the topic that I originally intended for this week’s post, but given a few divinely inspired events, my plan was changed. As is my habit, I started the day with the “verse of the day” emails from Bible Gateway and KLove. The one from Bible Gateway was a portion of Psalm 139. It is a favorite of mine for many reasons; one of those is that it was the last passage my parents read together on the eve of my mother’s death. That circumstance coupled with the quote that I posted this week beckoned me to consider love and grief.
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