Christ Will Rescue You

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

God Knows the Hopes of the Helpless

Psalm 10:17-18 (NLT)
“17 LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. 18 You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.”

Abuse of any kind is never okay, and it never will be, but the reality is that it happens in many relationships and homes across this country and beyond. It has also happened to some of us and did so at a time in our lives when we were defenseless against it. Inexperienced and vulnerable, young people can be preyed upon. I grew up in a small town where domestic violence and abuse was often hushed and swept under the rug. There were students in my classes that were dealing with horrible situations at home, and lots of us knew about it but were powerless to help in any meaningful way.

While teaching the disciples, Mark 9:42(NKJV) tells us that Jesus Christ said, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.” The millstone that Jesus is referring to in this verse is very heavy, and if it is tied around an individual's neck, death by drowning was most likely imminent. This would be a horrible death for sure, and our blessed Lord tells us that this horror would be less than the one that awaits the person who injures the vulnerable and causes their trust in him to be diminished.

Over two thousand years ago, when our Lord and Savior walked the face of the earth, abuse in its many evil forms existed. It was on the scene even before he came, and it is indeed one of the reasons why he came. There were predators, manipulators, and perpetrators who abused others as a matter of sport, and sadly, this is happening in our world today. We need to know and trust that Jesus Christ did not come in vain. He said in John 10:10(NLT), “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.” He came to earth to make a more than abundant life available to everyone that will have faith in him and accept the salvation that he offers.

Childhood does not hold fond memories for everyone, especially when domestic violence and abuse has a place in our younger years. We lacked the maturity to process what we were witnessing and experiencing, and many of us still carry the scars. Woe to the person that has caused us this level of pain, but our minds can’t be focused on the abuser. They must be focused on Jesus Christ. He understands what we’ve gone through better than any other human being. Hebrews 4:14-16(The Message) tells us, “Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.”

Love never hurts. It’s the complete opposite of hurt; love is kind and generous. This is the love God gives to us, and it is the kind of love that we should give and receive from others. When we’ve witnessed or experienced abuse at a young age, sometimes our thoughts and feelings around how to give and receive love become entangled with things like fear, insecurity, and confusion. In this state, we can make the wrong people, feelings, behaviors, and relationships the focus of our lives. If this happens, we will not give our relationship with God the focus and attention it deserves, and therefore, our faith in His power, love, and strength isn’t what it could and should be.

God’s Word teaches us in Hebrews 11:6(NLT), “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Our Heavenly Father wants our faith in Him to be strong because faith is the path to all His blessings, and a lack of faith will hinder us in life. Our relationship with God can never be based on what we can do for Him. It is always based on what He can do for us, and our faith is what pleases Him most.

The pain of what we’ve gone through renders us helpless in ways that we can’t always identify, but we are not without refuge or help. Psalm 10:17 tells us that God knows the hopes of the helpless, and He will not disappoint us. So, as God’s beloved children that have been hurting a very long time because of abuse, He’s asking us to make a shift in the way we believe and think about Him. We must have total confidence that our Heavenly Father doesn’t want anyone to be abused. When we are committed to praying and talking to God often and to studying His Word, He will heal our hearts, and we will both give and receive His love with the joy and faith of the Lord 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.

“God Knows the Hopes of the Helpless”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2024. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

God Is the Glue that Holds Everything Together

Romans 8:28 (NLT)
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

2Corinthians 5:21(NKJV) tells us, “For He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” This is an extraordinary truth, one we mut be grateful for every moment of each day. Through Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father has made us righteous, and given us right standing in Him eternally! We are righteous in Christ this very moment, and God wants us to enjoy all the rights and privileges that come with being His children. He has placed His Holy Spirit in us, and Romans 8:15 makes it clear that we haven’t received a spirit that makes us fearful and afraid like slaves. No, no, no! We’ve have received God’s Spirit, and now we can cry out to Him as our beloved all-powerful Father!

Someone might think, “Well that sounds good, but I don’t feel righteous. I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders and my life is falling apart.” It’s a fact that life can sometimes feel this way. It can be heavy, with problems that seem insurmountable, but the reality is that the gifts and calling that God has placed on us isn’t dependent on how we feel. It’s dependent on our faith in Him. God has given us His righteousness because it was His good pleasure to do so. He’s clothed us with it, and every morning that we get up and every night that we go to sleep, our standing with God will always be right. We should be celebrating this every moment of each day.

God’s Word says in Colossians 2:10(NKJV), “and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” The word “complete” in this verse means that we are completely, completely, complete in Christ, and in him, we lack nothing. God hasn’t held anything back. We’re packed to the full and running over with spiritual blessings. So, this word ‘complete’ describes who and what God has made us through Jesus Christ! This is a powerful truth, but many of us just don’t connect with it. We don’t think of ourselves as being empowered by God in this way, but we are, and it is our responsibility to change the way that we think so that our confessions, thoughts, conversations, behaviors, and attitudes mirror our completeness in Christ.

When we hear Good News like this, we might feel like we’re at the bottom of the ocean, and we can’t swim to the surface to breathe it in. Our problems and issues are blocking and preventing us from wading through. We want God to move everything out of our way so that we can see our way to the top. Our Heavenly Father is committed to helping us in every way possible. He will help us get to the top, but He requires us to open our eyes to see the way He’s made for us. In John 14:6(NLT), Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is that way! He is the way to the Father. He is the way to every victory we can enjoy in life, and these victories must be won through our faith in him.

Our faith should overpower our tribulations and problems, but in order for this to happen, we must surrender to God. In 2Corinthians 12:9(NLT), when the Apostle Paul asked for God’s help three times because someone was causing him serious grief, God told him, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” Paul then said, “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” We are nothing without God, so when we try to be the glue that holds our lives together, they fall apart. The truth is that we were never meant to be the glue. Our Heavenly Father is, and we must open our eyes to the greatness of this truth and have total faith in Him.

Colossians 1:15-17(NLT) tells us, “15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see--such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.”

Everything that exists belongs to God, including us. We were created by Him for Him, and if we refuse to acknowledge this, our lives will feel as if they are moving in reverse. This is not what he wants for us. From the very first hint of a difficulty or obstacle in life, God and the victory we have in Christ must be our first thought. The instinct of conquering adversity is one that is inside the heart of every born-again believer. We just have to release it by opening our eyes to faith in God and remain focused on Him because He is the glue that hold our lives together, and the greatest thing that any of us can do in life is to trust this with all our hearts.■

“God Is the Glue that Holds Everything Together”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2024. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Breathing Room for My Soul

Psalm 62:5-6 (MSG)
“God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I hope for comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, an impregnable castle: I’m set for life.”

Significant relationships is an area where most of us have the greatest challenges. We yearn in our hearts to find someone that is compatible; someone that loves God and is committed to love us in the same way that we will love them. Our desire for security and validation pushes us to put our best foot forward when we're dating someone new. We try hard not to allow them to see our baggage and they do the same, but the truth is that we all have it; some more than others. Eventually, the walls will come down and a person's real self is revealed. If it's uglier than we could have imagined, the reality that we've committed ourselves to this person can make us feel trapped.

If we've made an ample emotional investment in a dating relationship, most of us will overlook certain things and try to make it work, but sometimes this isn't the answer. If we've left God out of the equation from the very beginning, and we're not following His Word in our relationships, the reservoir for real and lasting love is depleted before the relationship begins. 1John 4:8(AMP) tells us, “The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.]” The love of God has to be in a person's heart and on that person's mind in order for them to be a conduit of His love. Sometimes we date individuals that are simply not interested in pursuing and giving God’s love in a way that pleases Him and fulfills us.

God's love working in us will cause us to govern our lives by things like patience, generosity, kindness, honesty, peace, and joy. If there isn't gratitude for God and His love, and if this isn’t the motivation for all that we do, there will be no breathing room for our souls. We can't expand and increase in a way that brings light into all the situations and relationships of our lives.

1Peter 1:13-16(MSG) says, “So roll up your sleeves, get your head in the game, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.””

Our heads are in the game when our hearts are ever expanding with love and honor for our Creator. We are required and equipped to demonstrate our gratitude for what He has accomplished for us through Jesus Christ. The way that we do this is to be obedient to His Word. We can't slip back to those old ways of trying to leave God out of our relationships. Everything we hope for comes from Him, as Psalm 62:5-6 tells us.

Significant relationships can add to our lives and increase them in wonderful ways, but every person we date doesn't have the capacity to partner in this. Rather than giving us room to grow, they can stifle us, and God doesn't want this. He's the One with the plan for our existences, and He knows the person that is a gift to our journey forward and upward through Christ. So, let's not takes risks with something as important as joining our lives to another. God knows our flaws and strengths, and if we place our faith in Him, He will connect us with the person that will help us grow stronger in His love and grace. Surrender this area of your life to Him, because only He can give comfort to our aching hearts and breathing room for our souls.■

“Breathing Room for My Soul”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2024. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.