Christ Will Rescue You

Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Give Faith Room to Move

Matthew 6:26(NLT)

“Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?”

There are some of us that have been in circumstances where we’ve worried so much about a situation that faith had no room to move at all. When we worry or have fear about an issue or situation, it’s a red flag that we’re not trusting God enough. No matter how big or small our problems are, Heavenly Father expects us to look to Him, because there is no problem that is too big for Him to handle. Jesus Christ tells us in Mark 11:24 that when we pray, we must believe that God will answer our prayers, and He will come to our rescue. We must also remember that we can’t have faith and fear at the same time. Both of them are huge and take up an enormous amount of space in our hearts and minds.

In his teaching in Matthew 6:26, Jesus Christ points our attention towards the birds. They live very simply, not worrying about where their next meal is coming from. They don’t worry about other birds or anything else that might hinder them from getting food. Heavenly Father has provided for them in nature. If He does this for birds, imagine what He will do for us. We are His children, and He loves us very much. This is very plainly taught by our Lord and Master, but we humans have a way of complicating even the simplest thing.

We become so wrapped up in our problems and issues that we forget who we are and whose we are. 1Corinthians 6:19-20(NLT) tells us, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” Our bodies are God’s sacred shine because they house His Holy Spirit. His Spirit is continually communicating God’s thoughts to our human-spirit. The Holy Spirit and our human-spirit are in perpetual communion, reminding us of our union with God through Jesus Christ. So, our bodies have never belonged to us. Every aspect of who we are belongs to our all-powerful and all-knowing, One True God. God’s commandment to us is to live every day as if we understand that we belong to Him and He belongs to us!

Can life be challenging? Indeed, it can be, but we must not let panicking in fear put the practice of trusting God in faith in second place. Trusting God should be our first go-to in every circumstance. Our tribulations might look very big to us, but they are infinitesimal compared to the love and power of our Heavenly Father. He can handle them in less time than a blink of an eye, but the resolutions to our issues and problems take time because God wants us to exercise our faith. We can’t bring Him down to our level, through faith, we must step up to His level. We must change our focus from seeing the problem as big to seeing our God’s love for us and His power as the greatest force in all eternity.

You have to ask yourself if you believe you are worthy and lovable? God says you are, and this should always be enough. Philippians 4:19(ESV) tells us, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” There is no end to God’s riches, just as there is no end to His love. In this same Chapter, verse 6, Heavenly Father tells us not to worry about anything, but to pray about everything. And after we pray, we are to give Him thanks for all that He’s done for us and will do in the future. Anxiety and worry move us to distraction. Through our devotion and trust in God, we can turn those moments of anxiety and worry into moments of worship and praise. We can allow our faith to cover our problems and issues with gratitude. When we do this, we please our Heavenly Father and give our faith in Him room to move.■

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.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Keep God First in Your Life

Matthew 6:30-33 The Message(MSG)

30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

We can learn a tremendous from the record of Adam and Eve in God’s Word. One of the most important lessons is about the kind of relationship that God desires with people. It is a relationship based on mutual respect. He is our Creator, and it is crucial that we understand that the creation cannot be greater than the Creator. God is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He has all power in His hands, and He is sovereign. He’s the Ruler of everything, and everything in the entire universe belongs to Him. He is the One that created the earth and then furnished it with all good things so that all our needs would be met. He did this even before He created human beings. So, the order He has established is that He provides and we enjoy His provision.

He set everything up this way because He is love and He loves us. He has also shown us through Adam and Eve that He will not force us to love Him back. They decided that they no longer wanted to be under God’s sovereignty, but wanted to be independent of it. They disobeyed Him, turned their backs on His love, and chose to do their own thing. Most human beings are still doing this. They turn their backs on God’s Word, will not follow it, and refuse to have faith in our Creator.

When people make this decision, they are not walking in love. 1John 4:16(NLT) tells us, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” God is love. It is not only who He is, it is what He does. It is impossible to love truly if we refuse to love through Him. 1John 4:8(NLT) says, “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Knowing God, understanding what pleases Him and understanding who He is, this is how we learn to love. He commands us to love through Him by following the example of Jesus Christ, because through his life, ministry, and sacrifice, Jesus Christ demonstrated the love of God.

In Mark 12:30. Jesus Christ commanded us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We are to love God with all that we are, and loving others is birthed out of our love for Heavenly Father. As women, we must be very cautious and guard our hearts, because many of us put our love for the men in our lives above our love for God through Jesus Christ. Many of us are not concerned with doing God’s Will, but instead, we become slaves to our affection for the other person. This isn’t God’s love. It is obsession, and obsession is based on fear.

Any time that we depend on a person or thing more than God, we are walking away from love’s path. And many of us think that when we are doing this, we are doing the right thing. It’s not what pleases God, and if it doesn’t please Him, it’s not right. Our faith in Him pleases God, and obedience to His Word is the action that backs up our faith. Our Heavenly Father told His people in Deuteronomy 30:20(NLT), “You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Many of us are selfless caretakers of all those we love and care for. Whether it’s our children, parents, siblings or spouse, we desire to nurture them, but this doesn’t mean that we make them our world. I’ve heard some of the strongest and fiercest women of God declare they’d never depend on a man for their happiness. Then something happens and they discover they’ve done exactly that. They’ve made the man the center of their universe and the object of all their happiness.

Only God is worthy to be our ‘everything’. He alone is worthy to be our world. Everything we have comes from Him, and we should never make the mistake of putting His gifts before our appreciation for all that He is. Our relationships can go horribly wrong when our focus veers away from loving God the way He requires. Loving Him through Jesus Christ is what gives us strength, confidence, and endurance. This is fuel for all our relationships. So when and if we’ve discovered that we let our love and devotion to God slip to second place, we need to seek His forgiveness and renew our commitment to keep Him first in all we do. ■

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Make a Change for the Better

1 Corinthians 13:4-7(NLT)

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.

Many years ago, my mother asked me a pivotal question that changed the trajectory of how I viewed myself and relationships. I had been dating a man for a couple of years and my mom said she noticed a difference in me. She asked me, “Kim, do you like him?” I thought it was an odd question since my mom knew I had been in a long-term relationship with this man for a while. I said, “I love him, Mom.” She replied, “That’s not what I asked you. There’s a difference between loving someone and liking them.” It was such a simple question she had posed, but her clarification of what it meant was very deep, and I had never thought about the answer. I had never confronted the reality that there is a difference between the two, like and love; I thought they went hand in hand.

1Corinthians 13 is known to many as the love chapter, because in this chapter, God tells us what love is. He defines how love behaves and what it should look like. God’s definition of love is different from that ooey gooey, sappy stuff we sometimes associate with romance. Don’t get me wrong, it’s exciting to experience those feelings, but real love is more than feelings. Real love is the love of God that is expressed through a person who knows, honors, and practices God’s Word. Real love is God’s love, and it must always be our barometer for judging if someone can love us the way God wants us to be loved.

How can you say you love someone if you’re physically attacking them and belittling them in the most heinous way? I asked myself this question while I was in an abusive relationship, but I ignored the answer. Sure, we had a lot of good times, but the bad times began to far out-weigh the good.

As I continued in my relationship, the answer to the question my mom asked me began to make so much sense. I realized that I didn’t like this man at all. He was mean. He was sometimes disrespectful to his mother, and he was disrespectful to me. He didn’t even like himself, so I never stood a chance. If he was in a bad mood, everything and everyone around him experienced the wrath of it. I’m thankful that Heavenly Father gave me a revelation of what real love is, and if you ask Him, He’ll give you one too.

Love is patient, kind, gentle, not irritable or resentful and doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing…huh – I didn’t have any of these. I wanted a relationship that embodies God’s love, so I made a change.

If you’re dating someone or currently in a relationship, take the time to evaluate how he treats others; people in his family and even strangers. This can be a yardstick for how he will treat you. Is he quick to get upset? Does he treat his parents well? Has he demonstrated that he places your well-being above his own? Because if he does, he will never put his hands on you in a violent way.

2Timothy 1:7(NKJV) says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” A sound mind is a mind that is capable of making good judgments and right decisions. If you’re reading this, you have one. You must know that a person with a sound mind can’t like someone that hurts them, but it may take a revelation from God to realize this. Heavenly Father loves us, and He will show us that love doesn’t hurt. It protects, is patient and kind, and it is not irritable. This is the kind of love you deserve.

"Make a Change for the Better"

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Overcoming the Hurt of Betrayal

Hebrews 4:15 (NLT) tells us, "This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin."

Difficulties and painful circumstances are facts of life for everyone, but as a wife coping with the pain of your husband’s infidelity, it can seem unbearable. The effects of betrayal can leave you so traumatized that you can barely get out of bed or make it through the day. I’ve had both the privilege and the responsibility to be a compassionate ear, confidant, and prayer partner for many women that are dealing with this kind of pain. No one can deny that this is a situation that cuts to the core of who we are, but there are other very important discoveries that God would like to reveal through this level of pain, and we cannot afford to dismiss any of them.

Pain is not a natural state. It was introduced into the earth’s realm through disobedience to God’s Word. The enemy is the architect of pain, and he will try to use the things that are most precious to us as darts; he aims to pierce us in our most venerable places. We are sometimes so afflicted from the sting that it paralyzes us in ways we couldn’t have imagined. It can be a very nauseating and gnawing burden, and it is not uncommon for us to question why God allows us to be wounded to this magnitude. The answer to this question is that there is no pain that we experience that God’s love cannot heal.

Pain is not the best teacher, because its lessons are harsh. However, as difficult and hurtful as life can be at times, it is nothing like the pain and hurt that our Lord and Savior endured on the cross for our sakes. This is a very important truth that our pain reveals. It allows us to have confidence that Jesus Christ understands our broken-hearts, because not only do we have a Savior and Lord who understands our pain, he tells us to bring it to him, and he will bear the load of it.

God doesn’t cause the problems that tear relationships apart. 1Corinthians 14:33 tells us that He is not the author of confusion, but of peace. He wants us to be happy in our relationships, and this is why He has set His very own standard for the way we should care for and support one another in a marriage. In His Word, Heavenly Father tells us that the husband should love his wife as Christ loves the church, and the woman should honor her husband out of her love for Christ. This is God’s standard. It guarantees to preserve a marriage through any challenges. So, neither God or His Word has failed us in any respect, but all of us must admit that do not always put on His standard of love in our marriages, and we need to seek God’s forgiveness.

God’s heart is not for us to wallow in self-condemnation. We ask for forgiveness because it demonstrates our humility and desire to put God first; and to recognize that His Word cannot fail. Forgiveness puts us in right standing, and it opens us to receive more of God’s instruction in righteousness.

The standard of love that God has set is personified in Christ. We are the bride of Christ, and he is our bridegroom. He loves us so much, and his passion is to care for us and support us in every way. We make mistakes and we get hurt, but even in the middle of our disappointment we have to remember that we are the light of Christ. The pain we may experience feels very dark and heavy, but we outshine it through the power of the Holy Spirit that indwells us.

A woman said to me that when she first dating her husband, something on the inside of her felt wrong every time they met, but he treated her so well. She fell in love with him a few years ago, and they were married. He has betrayed the marriage through infidelity, and she feels that she is now experiencing such loss because she ignored her instincts. The truth is that most of us are willing to take such risks on love because deep down we know that when love is right it’s totally worth it. We shouldn’t condemn ourselves for taking the leap. We should, however, put ourselves in the arms of the Father and ask Him to teach us how to better guard our hearts, so that we’re in a prime position to both give and receive love His way.

If you have been betrayed by your husband or the person you love, know that you are more than a conqueror through Christ. You will overcome through his strength. We know that we will experience tribulations in life, but God has told us to persist and endure through them. We might get knocked down, but we get back up. God is developing in each of us such a posture that we will run this race with endurance, always looking ahead to victory in Christ and never looking back; no matter how bad or hurtful things may appear. Our hope, our confidence, must always be in Christ.

The bottom line is that in whatever form it is that we are broken, and no matter how it is that we have come to be that way, God will heal us. We will breakthrough our storms, tribulations, and wilderness experiences through Christ, our Lord. And one day, we will come to see that God’s deliverance has given us greater authority in Christ, and through it we will help someone else come into healing as we have.

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, June 29, 2021

Pray Honestly, Openly, and Frequently to the Lord

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”
Philippians 4:6(NLT)

“How can you tell me not to worry – that’s all I know how to do!”

Worrying is what many of God’s people do best these days. Not because we want to, but because it’s so much happening all around us that worrying is the first response many of us run to. None of us could have predicted that we'd face times like these. They are dangerous times, and things have been this way for a long time. People are struggling to keep their lives together. Many women are facing evictions and abandonment right now and they don’t know where to turn. As with any challenge, this season is a reminder of how delicate and fragile life is. Circumstances and situations reveal that we are definitely not in control, and if there’s anyone that thought they could live without God’s grace and mercy, they are experiencing a wake-up call like no other.

Whenever and whatever the crisis, God tells us in His Word how to approach it. He tells us to go instantly into prayer about it. 1John 5:14(ESV) tells us, "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us." Nothing slips by our Heavenly Father. He is fully aware of everything we're going through. As a matter of truth, He knew we'd face it long before we ever thought about it. He knows every detail of every-and-any-thing that has ever happened, in your life and in the lives of everyone else. Regardless of the situation, or how conditions appear, He tells us to pray.

The Apostle Paul, tells us in 1Timothy 2:1-2(NLT), “1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.” As God’s children, we are to take on His nature and begin to move in what He has called us to do. We are to pray for others as well as ourselves. We're to pray for those in governmental authority, whether we agree with them or not. God's Will is that believers have a life of peace, and in order to live in peace, we are to align our thoughts, words, and deeds with the example of Jesus Christ. This means that we don’t just sit on our hands and complain about our situations; we get busy trusting God and praying in faith.

2Timothy 1:9(NLT) says, “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.” Even in the midst of our pain and turmoil, we must have confidence that God saved us and called us. We couldn't do anything to earn the blessings He's given us through Christ. It's because of God's grace that we have received His tremendous provision, protection, and care. We must pray to invite the power of God into our situations and to demonstrate that we honor the reality and magnitude of who our God is. He's truly awesome and amazing. He's loving towards us, and He delights in helping us. We should go to Him with everything, from the least to the greatest details of our lives. James 5:16 tells us that the prayers of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. We have been given the authority of Jesus Christ in the earth, and this authority allows us to partner with God to set a path of change in our lives.

If you want to see results, pray. Even though you don't know what tomorrow may bring or how your circumstances will change, pray honestly, openly, and frequently. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, knows exactly what to do, and he knows exactly how to help. He wants you to trust his love enough to pray and believe that he will not and cannot fail you. No matter what we're going through, we must pray in faith. God helped those before us, and they faced greater peril and desperation than we can imagine. Just like them, He didn't bring us this far to leave us. Remain diligent in prayer and believing. Do not doubt God's power, and be confident that He will never leave or forsake you when your trust is firmly planted in Him. ■

“Pray Honestly, Openly, and Frequently to the Lord”, 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

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

God Wants Our Eyes Open

Galatians 5:1(MSG)

“Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.”

“Why am I constantly being hit with one problem after another? Why can’t I catch a break?”

I heard a counselor for Domestic Violence and Abuse victims say that many individuals continue to suffer under their abusers because they haven’t reached a point of not wanting the person in their lives anymore. I must admit that I was surprised and a little shocked when I heard that, but it expanded my thoughts about the mindsets of both the abuser and the person being abused. There is no question that a person being abused must come to a place where they realize God doesn’t want anyone being treated that way. They must also recognize they deserve better and that God will help them.

Many of us will endure mistreatment and abuse a long time before we begin to trust God and free ourselves from darkness. Galatians 5:1 tells us that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has set us free. He did this when he came to live on the earth, became human like us, sacrificed his life and was resurrected from the dead by the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 2:14(NLT) says, “Because God's children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.”

Darkness belongs to the devil, and darkness has many cousins like fear, doubt, insecurity, bondage, destruction, depression, and death. These are many of the things that the devil uses to overpower people and keep them enslaved. The weapon that he uses to do it with is ignorance. People can’t rise above what they don’t know, so when we are not knowledgeable regarding what God has done for us through Jesus Christ, the devil can keep us oppressed.

2Corinthians 4:4(NLT) says, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” Have you ever wondered why when one crazy thing happens, no sooner than you get it handled, another pops up right after it? Sometimes, it’s just one thing after another. Many people become so used to this bombardment of issues and problems, that they think this is the way God wants life to go. This isn’t true. 1Corinthians 14:33 tells us that God is not the author of confusion. He is a God of peace, and He desires us to live a peaceful existence, so that we can have peaceful fellowship in our relationship with Him.

It is important we understand that confusion and chaos are caused by the devil, and he tries to bombard us with this. It’s done to keep us off-guard and constantly responding to struggle, upsets, and problems, so that we won’t have time to focus our faith in God. Heavenly Father wants His kids to know that we have an enemy and this enemy is the devil. God wants our eyes to be open to the tricks of the enemy, because if we’re blinded, then we can’t see the truth.

If we submit to God, repent from our sins, and trust Him in faith, God will help us. When our trust is in Him, we can be courageous and refuse to walk in darkness any longer. God has given us victory through Jesus Christ, but we must walk in this victory.

Our Heavenly Father wants us to see the glorious light of the Good News of Jesus Christ. God wants us to know that Jesus Christ gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins so that we will saved from a life of bondage and darkness. Ephesians 5:8(NLT) tells us, “For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!” Heavenly Father created us to be children of His glorious light. If we allow it, His light will shine in our hearts and begin to produce good things in our lives.

It’s time out for not seeing the truth of who God has made us. Whether it is a spouse or significant other who doesn’t treat us well, when you and I don’t know the truth of God’s Word, the enemy can use people that are close to us to keep us blinded from the light of Christ. We must wake up and see it for what it is. Know that every decision you make to walk in your truest, highest self in Christ is a move towards the light. We were created by God to be free, and when we repent of our sins, seek God’s forgiveness, and read His Word more, our lives will be transformed. ■

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, June 15, 2021

Correction Is Good Medicine

“I’ve buried my face in the sand and let my fears run my life!"

This is what a single mother, told me the other day as she struggled to figure out how she was going to pay her mortgage. Her husband abandoned her and the kids a few years ago, after admitting that he had never gotten over his first wife. Admittedly, she knew even before they said “I do”, that her husband wasn’t completely over his ex-wife, but she loved him very much and she had never been married before, so she took a chance on the love she felt in her heart over the constant red flags, her now husband had shown to her.

As women, we do this all the time – we over-look what is so apparent to us for the sake of being loved. We forget that God has an anchoring of love so deep for His daughters’ that he wants our hearts to be overwhelmingly fulfilled, much more than we could ever imagine.

If we take the time to reflect, we’ll remember those instances when God sent someone in our paths to slow us down. It could have been a word that we heard at Sunday service or a word of wisdom spoken to you when you asked questions about whether you should continue dating the man you love, or more distinctly, it was the indwelling Holy Spirit nudging you at the quietest times when you were alone. The point is, we can never over-look when the answer we seek is right in front of us.

The single mother is not alone, so many women allow their fears of being alone or without love, to be their measuring stick for making decisions. The easy way out is to suppress what you fear the most in hopes that if you don’t pay it any attention, it will simply go away. But the real truth is, un-resolved fear will only show up in another area of our lives until we are face it and ask God to heal you.

Proverbs 3:11-12 also gives us instruction on how God corrects us out of the abundance of love that He has for His children…11; My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. 12; For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.

When we veer off the path of Godliness, pain, disappointment and hurt will be the result and for many women, it shows up in what we pay attention to the most – our personal relationships. Our Heavenly Father corrects us so that we can get our lives back on track, just as any loving father would do for His children that are struggling or hurting.

Praise God for his correction. He wants us to have a good life, He wants us to have the very best of everything, but just like a loving parent disciplines their child out of love, God does the same thing for us. In those moments when you feel lost, abandoned or that life is out of control, cry out to our Lord and Savior and allow the peace of his love hold on to you.