Christ Will Rescue You: December 2023

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Your Renewed Strength

Psalm 51:10(KJV)
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

For some, this past year was full of wonderful surprises and the accomplishment of many goals. For others, it might have been difficult and painful, full of unexpected challenges. Whatever the case, the new year presents an opportunity for renewal. It can be a time of learning to lean on God more, so that our strength is renewed and our faith in Him is increased. We may not want to admit it, but there are things in all our lives that hold us back and keep us from fully embracing all that God has in store. Praying like the psalmist did in Psalm 51:10 conveys the kind of humility that pleases our Heavenly Father, and it’s a good start to re-prioritizing and renewing our commitment to greater spiritual growth and blessings.

Jesus Christ told his disciples in John 16:33(NLT), “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Our powerful Lord was very clear that the earth experience can be very challenging. Christians are not exempt from trials and tribulations, as most of us can attest. The times in which we live are increasingly perilous. So, it’s not just pressure in our own lives, but it’s all around us. You may be feeling exhausted from it all, but Jesus tells us in John 16:33 to take heart. This means that we are to be courageous.

If we focus on our own ability or look to someone’s strength, we might find it very difficult to summon courage, but this isn’t what our Lord and Savior is telling us to do in this verse. The victory he achieved through his life, sacrifice, and resurrection overshadows any other. His victory is our victory, and it will overcome any and all troubles. This is where our focus must be. 1John 5:4(NLT) tells us, “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.” We must have faith in the victory that Jesus Christ won for us, but many of us are allowing the world to zap our strength and steal our joy. We can prevent this, and we should.

Isaiah 40:31 (NLT) “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.” This overwhelmingly comforting verse tells us about the empowerment of God when we trust in Him. On our own, our resources are extremely limited, but Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew 19:26 that with God, all things are possible! He can show us reservoirs and resources within ourselves that we’ve never tapped. He can strengthen what seems weak to us and stretch what appears to human eyes to be exhausted.

1John 1:5(NLT) boldly tells us, “This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.” The dark forces in the world want to keep us in a dreary place and snuff out our hope. We can’t allow that to happen, and the way to prevent it is to trust in God. Things make look bleak, and we may feel like our strength is gone, but we can be renewed with vitality when our faith is firmly planted in Him. He wants our lives to be full of His light, and to walk in His light, we can’t allow our emotions or the world to dictate our reality. God’s Word is the truth, and we must believe what He says above all else. As you pray and seek His forgiveness and love, He will give you renewed strength. So, open your heart wider to the Lord Jesus Christ. You will witness his amazing grace when you give all your cares to him. ■

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.

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

God Is With You Every Step You Take

During Old Testament times, our Heavenly Father made a promise to His people to give them a lush and bountiful land, so much so that it was referred to the land of ‘milk and honey’. In Joshua 1:9(The Message), He told them, “From the wilderness and this Lebanon east to the Great River, the Euphrates River—all the Hittite country—and then west to the Great Sea. It’s all yours. All your life, no one will be able to hold out against you. In the same way I was with Moses, I’ll be with you. I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you. Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don’t get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you’re going. And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed. Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.”

God is as faithful to us as He was to His people living during Old Testament times. Hebrews 10:23(NLT) says, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.” Our Heavenly Father always keeps His promises but even after we’ve been on this Christian journey for numerous years, many of us still struggle to believe this.

A friend of mine has been a Christian for almost as long as I have. She’s been struggling in a relationship with a man that is verbally abusive and often calls her horrible names. When I tell her that she is stronger than she thinks and encourage her that God will back her every step to live free of abuse, she immediately dismisses my encouragement. Her response is always, “What works for you, won’t work for me! If I have to suffer then that’s what God wants me to do.”

Many believers have this attitude, that God wants them to suffer. Jesus Christ said in John 10:10(NKJV), “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” In this verse, our powerful Lord and Savior tells us why the devil is in the earth, and it is to steal, kill, and destroy. This is what the enemy does, but Jesus Christ came to give us victory. He came to make a more than abundant life available to all that will believe and accept it.

In John 3:16-17(NLT), Jesus also tells us, “16 "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” God loves us so much that He sent His precious Son to save us. He doesn’t want us to suffer, He wants us to live a blessed existence with good health, great relationships, fulfilling work, spiritual power, and most importantly, fellowship with Him.

This is the life God made available through Christ, but we have an enemy, the devil, and God warns us about this in 1Peter 5:8. In the verse, God tells us to stay alert about the devil’s schemes, tricks, and plots against us because he roams the earth, on the hunt for an opening into a person’s life. If he finds one, he will attempt to attack us in the most deceitful and merciless way. The way that we outsmart the devil is to open our eyes by learning and knowing God’s truth.

We can be tricked into believing the wrong things about God and what He will do for us, but we must refuse to continue to allow the enemy to blind us. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t want us to suffer. He wants us lean on Him with every step we take, because He will be with us! He is our Source of strength and all good things. God doesn’t want us to be shy or discouraged about pursuing the blessed life He’s given us, and we must be resolves that no relationship with another human being is worth the cost of our peace. Our Heavenly Father wants us to learn the truth about Him and His love through His Word so that we can live confidently in the victory He has won for us through Christ! ■

“God Is With You Every Step You Take”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Your Way Out Through the Love of Christ

Psalms 34:8 (NLT)
“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!”

Jesus Christ said in John 14:27(NLT), “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” Peace is very important to every individual because it means that we are living in the present with faith in God and faith in the hedge of protection that He’s placed around our lives. The Father gives us peace through Jesus Christ, and it is an inner reality. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us and brings the fullness of Christ with him, but sometimes we forget this. We need to remind ourselves continually that peace is an inside job. It isn’t dependent on what is happening on the outside. There can be chaos and confusion all around us, but inside is a different story if we trust and honor God and have faith in what He is given us through Christ.

As we mature and gain experience in life, we learn that there can be situations that cause us to worry and have anxiety. We might think to ourselves, “I thought life would be easy since I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but that has not been the case at all.” Jesus never promised that life would be a bed of roses all the time. He taught the disciples in John 16:33 (NLT), “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Trying to live a life outside of Christ, without his help, is treacherous, but living life in Christ brings us peace no matter what we face. He is our Refuge and our Savior, and we can trust him with all that we are.

Significant relationships have been a source of pain in the lives of many. They can disrupt our peace more than any other situation. In an abusive relationship, it’s unbelievable that the man that used to be so kind and patient is now mean and very hurtful. He may even be demeaning and call you horrible names, and you’re always shocked when you’re treated this way. It’s not surprising that the heartbreak of being treated this way by the person that is supposed to love and support you changes your outlook on life. We might be tempted to let our faith plummet and think that the Lord isn’t going to help us, but this isn’t true.

When we’re in the valley of despair, God is with us. In Joshua 1:9(NLT), He told His people living in Old Testament times, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” When we place our faith in Him, God will always give us a way out. He has delivered us through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and because of this, we have unlimited access to God’s peace, mercy, grace, and love.

Every answer to any and every problem will always be found in the truth of the life and love of Jesus Christ, and any problem that we will ever face has already been nailed to the cross. Galatians 2:20(NLT) tells us, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” When trials and tribulation weigh heavily on us, we may feel as though we have nowhere to turn, but this is when we must turn to the face of God. His love, grace, and mercy are what we need to make it through.

Psalm 34:8 invites us to taste and see that the Lord is good. Indeed, He is good beyond our greatest imagination, and He invites us to put Him to the test because He never disappoints. God uses our senses of taste and sight in this verse because they are how we interact with the world around us. In this same way, He tells us to interact with His spiritual realm through our faith. He wants us to experience the truth that He cannot fail, and His mercy endures forever.

Lamentations 3:22-23(NLT) declares, “The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. 23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” As we face difficulties in our relationships and in other parts of our lives, we would give ourselves the greatest gift of turning to God so that we can encounter His love, mercy, and comfort. The weighty problems of life can easily slow us down, but our way out is through the love that Christ has for us. In the middle of our heartbreak and pain, we can have peace if we have faith that Jesus is our Helper, and as we draw closer to him, he will be our refuge and source of strength. ■

"Your Way Out Through the Love of Christ”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.