Tag Archives: discouraged

Fill my cup, Lord

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

By Adam Graham

“And herein is that saying true, `One soweth and another reapeth.’ I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; other men labored, and ye have entered into their labors.” John 6:37-38

The context of the scripture is that the disciples were baptizing even more than John. The disciple’s success was the result of the ministry of faithful people who we don’t know. Probably these people didn’t even know they were sowing, maybe they even felt like they weren’t accomplishing anything or were failures. I really relate to them.

However, they ultimately prepared things for the Lord and his apostles. This gives me the feeling that we may be sowing and earlier Jesus promises:

“And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.-John 4:36.”

Lord, we thank you for your word. Lord, we are weary today and have been so restless. We feel more like those who sows, perhaps without realizing it, and someone else reaps. Strengthen us and encourage our hearts today. We thank you for your peace. We thank you for being with us. Please give us direction and purpose today. Show us your vision. Prepare us to receive from you whatever we need to fulfill your plan for our lives. Protect us from the enemy’s interference today. Empower us to resist the devil and overcome his wiles. Please bring forth a good harvest of bountiful spiritual fruits in our lives today. In Jesus’ name we pray, Lord, amen.

Posted in Bible and Theology, Gospel, Prayer and Devotions

Tagged , , ,

Feeling Defeated? Rest in the Conquering King

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Troubled? Christ tells us we can turn to his speech in John 14-16 any time and receive comfort and peace from knowing the Father himself loves us and that someday he will bring us out of our present sorrow and deliver us to joy. He promises us hardship and trouble and travail in this life and that the unbelieving world will hate us if we are truly walking with Him, and has indeed often killed the saints, and many do so thinking they do God service as Jesus said.

But we are to take heart: he has overcome the world. Victory is secured for us. Keep holding the line, keep walking the walk. Stay the course. The battle rages on, but no matter what its outcome, the war is already won.  Let us abide in Christ and rest in Him. Let him fight the battle. Trust and obey him. He’s the conquering king and his enemies are defeated and routed, including the sin or the fallen condition you are struggling with, and even the great enemy, death itself, has been mortally wounded and will be only a distant memory sooner than it seems as we struggle in this life.

Turn your eyes to Christ’s cross and His empty grave and be encouraged, brothers and sisters. It is finished. God has prevailed and He will prevail in your life if you do not lose heart and desert him for his already defeated foe. So put away doubting, put away your own understanding, and trust in Him today.  Give to him any weight that hinders you from trusting him, be it sorrow, be it hurt, be it anger, be it the trust others have broken, and any nay-saying voice, be it real or imagined.  Confess it, express it, but release it into His victorious hands.

 

Posted in Bible and Theology, Faith, Lament, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Don’t Think So Lowly Of Yourself!

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. (1 Peter 5:5b-6)

I know what some of you are thinking: the title and this verse don’t match. Points to you for paying attention. Others I’m sure got only as far as the title before they stopped there, thinking, “Wait, that’s backwards, the bible tells us not to think too highly of ourselves.”

Yes, it does, but if you’re mentally correcting me,  you’re likely not afflicted with arrogance in reality and likely in no need of a lesson on humility. Our focus today is the part about the humble being exalted by God at the proper time.

Thing is, too many of us haven’t been taught humility right. We’ve been told to get our faces down on the floor and keep them there by abusers who misuse the bible to keep us “in our place,” which is in their control and serving them rather than God. Abusers trained us to equate being humble with thinking lowly of ourselves. So the proper time comes, and  God sends someone to come to us and lift us up as he promised, we rebel against His will and reject him.

Maybe we don’t out right rebuke the vessel of his grace, but we usually do politely ignore the person “tempting me to sinful pride” or we subtly reject God with an audaciously hypocritical, “thank the Lord.” We may claim we’re only instructing a misguided person to give credit where credit is due. In reality, we’re not the Lord and can’t know for sure that they haven’t offered him thanks, too. So we have no business saying something so rude and judgmental. That answer springs from spiritual arrogance, not humility.

The true humble answer to gratitude and/or praise is a sincere “You’re welcome” or “Thank you.” After the simple courtesy, if the person isn’t a believer, by all means, take the opportunity to tell them about the hope within you, if God leads.

On the flip side, while pride leads to a fall, thinking lowly of ourselves follows being already fallen and keeps us unable to get up because we think we can’t.

We tell ourselves we’re losers. We tell ourselves we can’t win. We can’t lose weight. We can’t stop getting drunk all of the time. We can’t resist the temptation to sin sexually. We can’t control our tempers. We can’t, we can’t, we can’t.

Brothers and sisters, whatever weakness we are struggling with today, telling ourselves we can’t overcome it, God is holding out his hand to us, and saying  to stop thinking so lowly of ourselves. Confess your weakness to God, accept the affirmation and encouragement he offers, and let him exalt you from the low position of guilty sinner to the saint on high that you are in Christ by grace.

Lord, forgive us for thinking too lowly of ourselves. Help us to stop seeing ourselves through the darkness of the failures, flaws, and mistakes of the past and present. Help us to focus on the good work you are doing in us and to believe that is who we truly are and who we can become with your spirit of power, love, and self control/sound mind in us. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

 

Posted in Abuse, Addictions, God's promises, Grace, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

Tagged , , ,

God, My Problem is Too Hard For You.

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17)

Did that headline get your attention? O:-) Okay, so most of us would not say out loud, “God, my problem is too hard for you” with a straight face. If we’ve been a Christian any length of time, we know in our heads that, like Jeremiah praised God, “Nothing is too hard for you.”

Our hearts, on the other hand, often are praying that to God behind our backs. We can find out if they are. One clue is: what are we NOT praying about? What do we take into our own hands? What do we whine and complain or feel down about and don’t brother to confess it to God? The likely reason is we either think he can’t do it or can’t be bothered to do it.

God does prefer to work through his people. If we pray for help, we are likely going to be handed instructions, and they may well be strange or even impossible-sounding. Like I’ve said here before, if you’ve tested the spirit and know it is the voice of God, don’t despair when you feel like your legs are broken and he’s telling you to get up and walk. In the Bible, that type of command from God always is followed by a miracle–one that only comes if we take a deep breath and obey in faith.

Test him on this one. Take to God in prayer the problem you’ve been sitting on, ignoring, or making even bigger thinking it’s all up to you. Remember that his love is steadfast, that you’re his treasured child, and that he desires only what it best for you. Dare to trust God. If you keep at it and refuse to quit and walk away, you won’t regret in eternity having told your heart who’s boss.

Lord, forgive us for thinking in our hearts that our problem was too big for you to handle and that nothing would ever change. We reject the thoughts of our heart and will no longer let them lead us on this. Strengthen us in this, oh lord. Fill our hearts with a child-like trust in you, our heavenly father, to be big enough to fix all that is broken in our lives and bring good and glory for your kingdom. We are asking you to move in our situations. We may feel as hopeless as things looked for the Israelites when they were carried away into Babylon and the land left barren–what other nation had ever returned from the dead and become sovereign again? Yet you promised life would return and houses and fields and vineyards would be bought in Israel again. So it has come to pass, not once, but at least twice. You who restored your people then can restore your people in our individual lives now.  Write this upon our hearts as well as our minds, and keep us in remembrance always. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

 

Posted in Bible and Theology, Faith, God's Character, God's promises, Prayer and Devotions

Tagged , , ,

Be Securely Assured in God’s faithfulness

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.” (2 Thessalonians 3:3)

This world will eat you up and spit you out. It comes at us with a thousand things all demanding our attention at once and we’re expected to figure out in a nanosecond which of the thousand items is where our attention needs to be. We live in a high stress, instant, now-now-now world that leave us feeling exhausted, frustrated, and emotionally spent.

In the middle of this steps the Apostle Paul, quietly asking (in verses 1-2) for us to pray that the  word of God would go forth and be honored, that is, that he would achieve the ministry goals God had given him, and he asks for prayer for deliverance from evil men. Because not all have faith, but God is constant in his affection and unswerving in keeping his promises, which are given to us with strong assurance, and he is true to the facts and his own standards.

God, we are told will “establish” us, which means he will make us firm and give us stability, and can mean to settle us, to make us grow and multiply, to put us in a favorable position (in him), give us full recognition and acceptance (in him), and put us beyond doubt.

In tandem, he promises to protect us from danger with his watchful attention and make us secure, to preserve us and provide a barrier between us and the enemy of our souls.

Lord, we thank you for your promise and we put our trust in you today. Guard our hearts and minds from evil in Christ Jesus this day. We thank you for your faithfulness, your dependability, your love and your care for us. Lead us and guide us, give us rest and peace. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Posted in Bible and Theology, God's Character, God's promises, Prayer and Devotions

Tagged , ,

When waiting means continuing to serve

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles;they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

In verses 29 and 30, God says even youths, who usually have tons of energy, get tired, become weak, faint, and exhausted, probably meaning both literally and spiritually, and promises to empower us.  If we wait for the Lord, he will refresh and revive us with new energy and vigor, to soar, to run, and walk with him.

But what does it mean to wait? This is an instant now culture, so we don’t much like that part too much. But m-w.com tells us waiting is more than patience, it is staying where God has planted us, continuing to serve him as he has previously instructed us, and looking to him expectantly to keep his promise and give us the strength we need to carry on. That requires trust, that requires faithfulness, and pressing on when we feel like giving up.

Strange to think that waiting can actually mean we keep moving, but the key is not running ahead of him, but continuing in our previous marching orders until we hear from him again. But waiting also means listening for his voice and obeying when the call comes to rest in him.

Lord, we grow tired and weary and we feel like quitting and giving up. Give us rest for our souls and spirits in you when we need it. Open our ears to hear you, transform our hearts to desire to obey and wait upon you. We choose to trust you today. Grant us the self-control we need to resist the fallen flesh and rise up in the spirit and behave like you today. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

 

Posted in Bible and Theology, Prayer and Devotions

Tagged , , ,

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Today we are handed a fragment of a prayer that begins in verse fourteen and we learn the purpose of it from verse thirteen:

So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:13-19)

The gist  then appears to be:

  • Since Paul is  concerned his suffering for the faith may cause the church he serves to be discouraged, he is bowing his knee and summarizing  a prayer, which is included in cannon of the word of God to encourage us when we are disheartened due to suffering (our own or others.)
  • He reminds us we are all descended from Adam (whose Jewish surname credits his maker as his father, which is how Christ is the Second Adam) while implying the poor folks in Hell are disowned by mentioning both everyone still living on this earth and the saints already in Heaven.
  • He asks God to pour out of his abundance the power of his holy spirit to strengthen us in who we really are on the inside
  • The goal of this requested out pouring is to prepare our hearts for Christ to live there more fully by increasing our faith.
  • Love is compared to a good, firm soil to hold the roots of our faith.
  • He prays God would enable us to grasp the multiple dimensions (complexity?) of Christ’s love that goes beyond our awareness.
  • Being filled with the fullness of God, probably another reference to abiding in Christ and our hearts as living temples. More of Jesus in us.

In the presence of suffering, then Paul’s answer is to remind us God is our Father, pray for more of the Holy Spirit’s power in us, increasing our faith, and strengthening our connection to Jesus so our hearts reflect him more fully, and to these ends to grasp how much he loves us.

Thank you, God, for being our loving Father, thank you for the power of the holy spirit at work in us. Grant us the grace to, like Paul and like Christ Himself, be the sort of people who, in the midst of our own suffering, concern ourselves with how it would effect others and pray for them. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Posted in Bible and Theology, God's love, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

Tagged ,