Christ Will Rescue You: August 2020

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

God Can and Will Rescue You

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me."

John 14:1(NKJV)

I’ve been on this Christian journey for many years, and I’ve seen and heard numerous stories from women, some that have endured horrific and destructive relationships. A common thread among some of these women is that by looking at them, you’d never know the depth of their pain. Very few people were aware of the kind of suffering and abuse they endured in their own homes. Often meticulously dressed from head to toe with immaculately styled hair and makeup, one would expect their home life to be as lovely as they looked, but anyone that has survived domestic violence and abuse knows oh so well that looks can be very deceiving.

One of these women told me that her father had warned her many times not to marry her high school sweetheart. She thought she was so in love with him that she couldn’t imagine life without being attached in every way to her high-school boyfriend. Thirteen years and two children later, she filed for divorce. Her husband physically attacked her one night, and it left her in the hospital while her children were home alone. She convinced herself it was an isolated incident. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. When she finally decided to leave her abusive husband, she was almost as afraid of being on her own as she was of what might happen if she stayed in the relationship. She feared she couldn’t provide for herself or her children, that they wouldn’t have the lifestyle they were accustomed to living.

No one would argue the reality that life can be very complicated and challenging. We are sometimes blindsided by the situations we face, and so often, those situations arise because we made a choice that wasn’t in our best interest. The reality is that sometimes we don’t have the knowledge from God’s wisdom to make good judgment, and sometimes we are immature. And when we’re emotionally and spiritually immature, we tend to let our emotions make decisions and choices for us. Heavenly Father knows everything there is to know about us, so none of the decisions and choices we make are a surprise to Him. He is both willing and able to rescue us when we make mistakes. Psalm 34:17-19(NLT) tells us, “17 The LORD hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. 18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. 19 The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.”

God’s strength, power, and love is our strong tower. We shouldn’t feel down on ourselves and wallow in self-condemnation, because we all desperately need the Lord to help us. Knowing how fragile our lives are should motivate us to cling to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ even tighter. This is the attitude that God wants us to have. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:30(NLT), “And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?” Heavenly Father desires us to be confident that He is with us, and that He will never leave or forsake those who place their trust in Him.

God lets us know very clearly that He is aware of the condition of our hearts. He knows when our hearts are broken, when we’re emotionally exhausted and concerned about how we’re going to make it. He knows about our needs and the needs of our children, and this is where we must trust His Word. We must trust that He is our Rescuer. He tells us in Romans 8:28(NKJV), “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” As caretakers and loving parents, we want to make sure our loved ones are cared for. We are used to being in control of certain things. We’re used to life being a certain way, but life teaches us so often that change is the constant. Through all of life’s ebbs and flows, our constant and steady rock must be our trust in God, because no one loves us or our children more than Him.

There is power in letting go, in taking our hands off the situation and giving it over to God through Jesus Christ. He tells us in Isaiah 55:8(NLT), “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” God can work in ways that you and I can’t imagine. He knows how to get you from this point to the next one. So, the greatest thing any of us can do is to trust Him and know that His desire is that we claim and walk in the liberty that His Son, Jesus Christ, has won for us all.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Everything You Lost Returned

Zechariah 9:11-12(MSG)
“And you, because of my blood covenant with you, I’ll release your prisoners from their hopeless cells. Come home, hope-filled prisoners! This very day I’m declaring a double bonus—everything you lost returned twice-over!”

The passage in Zechariah 9:11-13 is truly a source of hope for God’s people. It is a tremendous indication of His mercy and grace. During Old Testament times, God chose the Israelites as His special people. It wasn’t because they were so special, it was to demonstrate for all of us what His favor looks like. He had given them His law, but repeatedly, they chose to follow their own way instead of God’s way. Zechariah 9:11-13 shows us His unconditional love and mercy. Because of God’s covenant with Abraham, He promised to protect and provide for the Israelites. Even though their sin deserved horrible punishment, God tells us in this passage that He would defeat their enemies. He invites those Israelites who still had hope in their hearts to come back to Him, to return to His arms of safety.

If you’ve never lost anything or anyone that was extremely precious to you, if you’ve never had something valuable stolen or destroyed by someone, then this invitation from God might not be as meaningful. But if you have suffered loss in your life, then you cannot help but be encouraged by this passage. Our God is all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere present, and loving beyond anything we can imagine. When we experience times of great loss and lows, He wants us to know we can come to Him. He wants to comfort our hearts, restore our losses, and heal us in ways we can’t imagine.

Jesus Christ told us in John 10:10 that the devil is a thief and his purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy. We’ve all been through tough times in life. Some of us work very hard to make it to where we are today. When the enemy plots against us, it can feel like we’re being knocked two steps backwards; it’s discouraging to say the least. You overcome an obstacle only to realize there’s another one you didn’t see coming. At our lowest point, the devil tries to tell us we’re not going to make it, that we’re too weak, and we won’t get back to the place we once were. God’s Word is the truth, and we must never put the lies of the devil over what God says in His Word. Heavenly Father tells us in Romans 8:37 (NLT), “No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” 1John 4:4(NLT) says, “But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”

In Christ, our goal shouldn’t be to just get back to where we were. God wants our vision to expand. He wants us to exceed where we were. I learned many years ago to speak life into my conditions and situations. This is what God’s Word tells us to do. We must speak His promises over our lives and be filled with hope in His goodness, because He will never let us down, and He cannot fail.

It is important to understand that we were not created to be defeated. We were created to walk in the victory of Jesus Christ! Yes, life can be difficult, and we sometimes lose things and people that are very precious to us, but our God has released us from the prison of hopelessness through His Son, Jesus Christ. Whatever you’ve lost in the past, our God can restore it and He can restore you. Through His Holy Spirit that indwells you, He can do a work in your heart. It’s time for you to regain what was taken. Trust God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and watch as everything you lost is returned twice-over!■

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

You Don’t Have to be Afraid to Love

“Persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”
2 Corinthians 4:9(NLT)

A sister-friend called me this week about her brother’s marriage. The conversation didn’t start off talking about him, but after a while, it ended up there. It seems her brother and his wife have major arguments every few months, and at the end of each argument they both tend to bring up the thought of ending their marriage. My friend said, “If they truly loved each other, they wouldn’t say those things every time. It can’t be real love.”

I’ve heard many folks say that you don’t have real love if you’re not willing to be vulnerable, and this vulnerability means that sometimes your heart will get hurt. We need look no further than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ as an example of what love endures. 1Corinithans 13:4-7(NLT) tells us, “4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” This is exactly how Christ loved everyone, despite the reality that he was hated and treated horribly by the very folks he came to save.

The love that is expressed in this passage isn’t what we commonly label in modern life as ‘falling in love’, because logic tells us that if you can fall IN love with someone, you can fall OUT of with them. So this falling in love business feels really nice, but it doesn’t have enough glue to build longevity in a relationship. 1Corinithans 13:4-7 is speaking about the love of God lived out through the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

This love is way more than a feeling. It is the very foundation that we build our lives on. All of us are what we are, and we are where we are in life, because God has poured His love on each of us. We would be nothing without His love. Human beings have done some terrible things. We are not as thoughtful and compassionate to one another as we should be, and we are no where near as thankful to God as we should be for all He has done for us. But even though we fall short, He never stops loving us.

God never punishes us or wants us to feel bad about ourselves. His love never ends and in Romans 8:36-37, He tells us that overwhelming victory is ours, and that nothing can separate us from His love. I’m no expert but I believe in what the Word of God says about love – that real love is loving without fear that someone won’t love you back or that they might leave you. We can love like this when we make Jesus Christ the head of our lives and continually chose to let him steer us.

Relationships requires quite a bit of sacrifice. If you’re telling someone that you love them but every time you’re faced with a dilemma or problem, you go for the jugular and start talking about leaving, that’s a red flag. It doesn’t mean your feelings aren’t real for the other person, but it does mean that an injection of the love of Christ is needed. We need to invite Christ into our hearts so that he can work within us. This can be a process that takes time, and some of us are not patient enough to work through it. We allow the anger in us to continue to boil over in arguments, and if the other partner is doing the same thing, that’s a no-win situation.

Understand that a person can never be on the losing side when they are committed to let the love of Jesus Christ grow and swell in their hearts. 1John 4:18 reminds us that there is absolutely no fear in a Christ-kind of love. In truth, his love will cast out fear. Even when you might be stressing over what’s happening, if you will sacrifice your need to be right or have the last word, and invite Jesus Christ to take the lead, you can actually aid God’s healing process.

If we’re in a relationship with someone that has our best interest at heart and isn’t causing us harm, we don’t have to be afraid to love them or that we will damage the relationship somehow. But we absolutely must study God’s Word and learn to love through Christ. This will always be the greatest step to help our relationships. It will deepen our faith in God as we witness the power of His love. It will help us grow spiritually. Most importantly, it will help our partners have confidence that we can be trusted, even when they are the most vulnerable with their hearts. ■

“You Don’t Have to Be Afraid to Love”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.