Christ Will Rescue You: August 2021

Monday, August 30, 2021

Come Quickly, Lord

Psalm 143:7-10(NLT)

“7 Come quickly, LORD, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die. 8 Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. 9 Rescue me from my enemies, LORD; I run to you to hide me. 10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.”

“Lord, I need a rescue, it’s a now or never kind of urgency.”

Right now, it’s a now-or-never kind of urgency with many of God’s children. This is how desperate they believe things are, and they want to see Him move quickly in their lives. Just the other day I was talking to a good friend, and she felt overwhelmed with the condition of her life and the state of the world around us. “I feel like I can’t handle hearing any more bad news.” It’s tempting to let ourselves sink in an emotional pit in the middle of all this chaos and confusion, but we must do all we can to resist the urge. God has equipped His people with His Word so that we’re prepared for uncertainties in life. The opportunity to choose to believe God is continually before us, and as His children, we must demonstrate that our faith in Him is stronger than the conditions we face.

Throughout Biblical history, the records of men and women of faith paint a portray for us. It shows us that our level of faith today may not be enough to meet the requirements of tomorrow. God commands us to continually grow in Christ so that we are well equipped in the spiritual weapons He has provided. He tells us in Ephesians 6:11(NLT), “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.” This is a choice. Either we can put on all the armor that God has provided, or we won’t. He will not pressure us, but we can clearly see for ourselves that times are becoming increasingly more perilous. To seek refuge in God, we need to put His Word in our minds and hearts, so that our faith in Him is strong and continues to grow.

2Timothy 3:15-17 The Message(MSG) states, “There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.” Jesus Christ told us there would be many troubles and tribulation in the world, but he said in John 16:33(NLT), “But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” We must ask ourselves how he did it. How did Jesus Christ overcome the world? The answer, he did it by putting the Word of God in his mind and heart.

If there is anyone that would have been exempt from studying the Word of God, it was Jesus Christ, but the truth is that he was not exempt and studied it every opportunity he received. Even as a child, Luke 2:46 tells us that he was in the temple, dialoguing with religious teachers. He was listening to them as they taught, and he asked them questions. He wanted to know as much as he possibly could about our Heavenly Father. At a time when there were no computers, cell phones, or hand-held Bibles available, he applied himself to take full advantage of whatever means necessary to learn the Word. Jesus Christ is our example, and you and I should have this same persistence and dedication when it comes to God’s Word.

Our Heavenly Father doesn’t cause tribulation and troubles, but life is packed with them. Romans 5:3 tells us that tribulation teaches us endurance, and endurance leads to patience. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, and it is a requirement for every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must patiently wait on God’s rescue, trusting and believing that He will do what He says and keep His promises. We get upset because He is not on our timetable. All of us want God to come quickly with the answer to our prayers, but often we haven’t quickly responded to the things He’s told us in His Word. He doesn’t hold this against us. We must trust that He knows exactly what we need when we need it. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:8 that God knows what we need before we even ask. None of us deserve the tremendous blessings that He has bestowed upon our lives. He doesn’t bless us because we’re so good. He blesses us because He is so good!

God teaches us very necessary spiritual lessons of faith through our tribulation and troubles. Rather than running to the quickest route to pleasure, we need to be patient in prayer, with faith that God hears us and will answer our prayers. Doubt is one of our biggest enemies. It causes us to move out of the love of God and into thoughts, feelings, and actions that work against us rather than for us. This is all because we have not taken the time to read and study God’s Word.

God’s Word is power! It is alive, and it is our bread of life. Understand that our lives quickly fall apart when we are not rooted in God’s truth. Heavenly Father tells us in Colossians 2:6-7 that we must walk in the example of Christ, and we are to be rooted and grounded in him. To be rooted and grounded in Christ, God’s Word must be deeply imbedded in us, and we must wear it like a second skin. God doesn’t ever want us to be unhappy, distressed, or depressed. He wants us to come to Him with all our troubles. We will witness the power of His Word in our lives as we increase our faith in Him and walk more confidently in the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.■

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.

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Let God Take Over

Ephesians 1:23(NLT)

“And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.”

It’s not uncommon these days to hear people speaking very openly about their emotional exhaustion. Many of us can relate because at some point in our lives, we’ve felt the weight of the world on our shoulders. When you’re experiencing emotional and mental pressure, you might forget that God is your strength, and whenever any of us forget this, our faith isn’t where it needs to be. Jesus Christ didn’t keep it a secret that life comes with its share of challenges, but Romans 8:37(NKJV) reminds us, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

Believers in Christ are not exempt from trials and tribulations, but we are not supposed to be the devil’s punching bag either. Through the Apostle John, Heavenly Father said in 3John 1:2(NKJV), “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” This is God’s desire for His children. He wants us to prosper, to be in good health, and to have joy in our souls. In order to achieve this level of contentment of faith and joy, it must not be lost on us that we will need to make some changes.

There is no question that it is challenging to feel happy when you are in pain, but God’s Word teaches us that faith requires that we look to Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. We are to take our eyes off our emotions and place them on him. The reason that many of us don’t do this is because we haven’t trained ourselves to focus on the Word in our times of trouble. Psalm 34:18(NLT) tells us, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” But many of us don’t really believe this. We believe in our pain more than we believe in God’s willingness and ability to heal it. We can and should change this.

Isaiah 40:31(NLT) states, “But those who trust in the lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” God declares that in Him we will find new strength! Our problem is that we’re always chasing the strength of the past. We’re looking back to what worked in the past, when God is telling us to look to the new. He requires that we fully surrender to Him through trusting His power. We can’t cling to what made us cozy and comfortable with spiritual infancy. We must look up to Jesus Christ in greater faith.

It’s easier to give in to emotional exhaustion, because life is sometimes very confusing and chaotic, and we don’t see how things can be worked out, but God tells us in 2Corinthians 12:9(NLT), “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” It may take a while, but the pain goes away when we let the love of God rule our hearts. You must surrender your way and let God direct your steps.

Resist the temptation to let yourself slip deeper into despair. Feed your mind and heart the truth of God’s Word so you can deepen your relationship with Him. Let Him help you be a champion of faith and then fight the good fight through faith. You are what God says you are, and He says you are more than a conqueror in EVERY situation. He has declared this in His Word, and He always backs His Word! So, if you place your faith in Him and let Him take over your life, He will make sure the days ahead of you are better than the ones you left behind. ■

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Don't Look Back

Genesis 19 tells the story of Lott and his wife and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God knew that the city of Sodom was exceedingly wicked from the great outcry he’d heard, so he sent two angles go to the city of Sodom to destroy it. The angels arrived in the evening and found Lott at the gate and Lott urged them to stay at his house for the night. The men of Sodom found out the two angels were at Lott’s home and tried to forcibly enter Lott’s home to sleep with the angels, but Lott tried to offer up his daughters instead but the men of Sodom were so wicked and defiled, the refused. The dawn of the next day, the angels of the Lord insisted Lott take his wife and two daughters to get out of the city immediately, to avoid being swept away in the destruction of the city!

“Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley…Escape to the mountains or you’ll be swept away! Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah, and it was utterly destroyed. But Lott’s wife did not heed the warning, and she looked back on the city as it was being destroyed and instantly turned into a pillar of salt!

What do you think happens to you when you decide to look back and focus on your past instead of leaving it behind? You may not turn into a pillar of salt as Lott’s wife did, but you will certainly lose momentum, stamina and most importantly, time.

I’m sure there are many of us that have had some pillar of salt moments where we have lived our lives in reverse where everything we think, do and say, has to do with someone from our past, or you seem to always bring up what you use to do when you were young, how you use to look ten years ago, or if only you could have known what you know today you would have done things so much different back then. We have to stop thinking about who we could’ve been and start being the person you want to be today. Today is all we have, there is no crystal ball for tomorrow. The only thing we have is right now and at this very moment!

The enemy wants you to believe that your best days were behind you, but our Heavenly Father is the complete opposite, He tells us in Jeremiah 29:11; For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

There are folks that have gone through some painful times and experiences in life that have left us hurting in places we haven’t been able to heal from. Sometimes these kinds of scars can debilitate us from seeing the promises of God for our lives. His promises are not behind us, they are in the days, weeks, months and years to come.

Romans 8:28; God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

You may not understand why you have been going through such difficult times, but it’s ok, because God knew that you’d make certain mistakes that would cause you to have to endure some turbulence in your life. Even today, your circumstances could look as if you will never have anything good happen to you, but remember this, there are even more Christians that are going through tougher times than you, and God has not forsaken them either.

God has a way of making our mess look like a heavenly blessing. Plain and simple, He’s got it all under control if we would only keep our focus on Him and not on what is going wrong in your life today. Think about things that you want to see happen that are good and speak those things constantly – don’t let another day go by where you only speak of things that have occurred in the past. Let today be the first day of your tomorrows.

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

You Are Who God Says You Are

Romans 8:31; What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 39; No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

If you’re in an abusive relationship, you should know above all else, that this is NOT the kind of love that your loving Heavenly Father would want for you. Love is kind, tender and forgiving. And if your life does not reflect those kind of words, then you’re in the wrong place and with the wrong person – You owe it to yourself to get as far away as possible from it!

We are living in a time where domestic violence is on the rise and most of the victims are women. Women tend to stay longer in relationships that are unhealthy because they may feel a sense of obligation to the person they’ve become a prisoner too, or even worse, they fear if they leave that person, their lives would be at stake. The number one piece of information that we have to know is that God would never have His children become the victim or remain a victim to hurtful situations.

Any form of violence whether it’s physical or emotional is harmful and can have lasting effects on a person in every aspect of their lives, this is why is so very crucial to have access to as much truth of God’s word as possible. Because if ever you recognize from the beginning that the person you’re with may have abusive tendencies, you’ll have the strength and courage to not commit yourself to anything or anyone that means you harm.

God’s word teaches us in 1 John 4:18; that perfect love cast out fear.

Fear is nothing more than bondage – and bondage is the same as being enslaved. Slavery is defined as the subjection of a person to another person or a civil relationship where another person has absolute power over another and controls their life, liberty and fortune.

I can tell you right now that there is no way God would want the children of His Royal Kingdom to be controlled by for another individual or to have complete control over their lives. This is not the way Christian men and women are to live their lives. We owe no one nothing but to be loving, kind and to treat people the way we’d want to be treated.

God says you are more than a conqueror in every situation. You are complete in Christ - you are love, light and beautiful because you are His and you were born with a purpose. You were never meant to be the victim – not when you’re a child of the Kingdom of God. And you can never see yourself in this way either. God did not design men to treat women as less than but to treat them as their partner and mate, not less than in any capacity. You have to see yourself as more than conquerors, fearless and powerful. You have to see yourself the way God sees you so that you never accept less than what God says you are.

When you have a desire to stop living beneath your privilege, and you begin speaking God’s kind of language, meaning, you only speak positives and affirmations that match what God’s Word says about you, you then will notice that your situations and circumstances take on a new level as well.

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

When Tribulation Paints the Opposite Picture

Psalm 144: 7-10(NLT)

“7 Reach down from heaven and rescue me; rescue me from deep waters, from the power of my enemies. 8 Their mouths are full of lies; they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead. 9 I will sing a new song to you, O God! I will sing your praises with a ten-stringed harp. 10 For you grant victory to kings! You rescued your servant David from the fatal sword.”

When tribulation paints the opposite picture of what you thought your life would be, very often this is when you need a rescue. There’s hardly anything more disappointing than dreaming about the happiness you’re going to have, getting close to achieving it, and having it turn out to be a devastating set of circumstances. Jesus Christ has not kept the troubles and tribulations of the world a secret. In John 16:33(NLT), Jesus taught the disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” This is still true today. It might be said that people can be more manipulative and corrupt, and the world is more confusing and chaotic than it was when our powerful Savior walked the earth. We must remember that he overcame the world and all its problems, and he made it possible for you and me to do the same.

The disciples were no different than most of us. They wanted a good life for themselves and for their families. They had responsibilities and jobs, and some of them had lots of people to support. When Jesus Christ entered their lives, something within each of them clicked, because it was always their destiny to become his followers. Even before they entered their mother’s wombs, God had anointed them to carry forth the work that Christ began. Their lives were not easy before they met Christ, and their lives were not easy once our Lord and Savior returned to the throne of God. We might ask, “what kept them from throwing in the towel?” The answer to this question is the same for every believer. The love of God that was in Christ, this is what kept them pressing forward.

God’s love is the greatest power in the all of time and eternity. God’s love for you is what paints a picture of brilliance for your life, but sometimes we are in too big of a rush, and we don’t wait to see the Master’s vision. We look for the fantasy in a relationship, a person, a job, a thing, a place or endeavor. We invest our emotions and energy in things that require the least amount of faith and discipline. This is what leads to disappointment. God’s love is the glue that holds our lives together, and this love requires commitment to Him. The reality is that we are our Heavenly Father’s dream. He has dreamed the highest possible dream for each of us, and it is contained within the person of Jesus Christ. Roman 8:29(NLT) declares, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

Our identity is in Christ. Becoming like him and following his example is God’s goal for every person. Sometimes, we forget the victory Christ has won for us and instead of seeking God through his example, we try to paint a portrait of ourselves that doesn’t resemble the life of our Big Brother. We allow relationships, people, and other things to become the center of our existence, and this is the perfect setup for trouble and tribulation. We forget that we should be like clay in the Father’s hands so we can allow Him to mold us according to His Will.

We can’t make it without the guidance and direction our Heavenly Father provides. Jesus Christ said in John 15:5(NLT), “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” Trying to make things work on our own and putting other people and things before our relationship with God will always land us in hot water. But God doesn’t abandon us. Experiencing trouble and tribulation should press us to draw closer to God because He is our rescue. Psalm 144:7-10 affirms that just as He rescued His servant, King David, He will also rescue us in our times of need.

God gives us His amazing grace. We can’t earn it, and we don’t deserve it. He gives His grace because that is who He is. He told the Apostle Paul in 2Corinthians 12:9(NLT), “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” Heavenly Father wants us to know that the power of Christ can work through us and help us to do and be infinitely more than we ever imagined, but it’s our choice. Through Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father has given us an open door, and all we need to do is walk through it by learning about Christ and following the example he set for us.

When tribulation paints the opposite picture of what we thought life was about, it isn’t life that needs to change. We need to change. Romans 12:2 tells us to let God transform us into a new person by making a commitment to Him to change the way we think. We must read and study His Word so that we know His Will for our lives and have confidence in it. Life does have pressures that are sometimes very challenging, but Philippians 4:13 declares that we can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives us strength. God is our rescue! We must surrender ourselves to the Lord and have faith that He will help us paint the portrait of the victorious and confident person He created us to be. ■

“When Tribulation Paints the Opposite Picture”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2021. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior