Ever-Present Help In Trouble

Psalm 46:1“[Psalm 46] For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved.

Being a musician, writer, and artist myself, I love this, “a song”. The great thing about music back then, is that it was used as a catalyst, a way to keep up with the times, to hear the latest news and chatter, it was truthful. I love music and I appreciate many artists and genres, but to be honest, much of today’s “most popular” “artists” are really quite shameful and uninspired in comparison to song writers and music creators of old. I love hymns, and I’m not really talking about the sometimes monotone and repetitive melodies, no (although there are some nice melodies), I’m talking about the words. Hymns are so rich with theology, many based directly off of scripture. I love taking the words from old hymns and re-vamping the melody to make it something new and relevant while still holding to the absolute and unwavering truth of God. In many of those hymns it talks about God being our “Refuge and ever-present help in danger” or a “stronghold”, one comes to mind specifically, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”. Okay, enough of the spiel, but take some time to think about how God has blessed you today and been your ever-present help not only in danger, but in joy, sorrow, pain, grief, monotonous days, etc. Coram Deo.

Accountable

 

James 5:16“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved.

Something we miss so often in the Christian community, well in any community, is accountability. Since when did it become wrong or a hurtful thing to hold someone to their word or claimed convictions? Yes, it needs to be done in a loving and respectful way, let’s not miss that. However, we just brush over it all and say “oh everyone does it” and then don’t evoke action or change, we don’t encourage one another. If done in a loving and respectful manner, this can be one of the biggest catalysts for change in our personal lives, communities, and eventually, world.

What We Ask of Him

1 John 5:14-15“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved.

This passage so often is taken out of context and twisted to say that whatever we ask of God in confidence we will be given. Missing one large part though, “according to HIS WILL”. Here’s a cool thought, the more we seek God and dig into Him, the more our hearts will be aligned with His and want what He wants, and therefore what we ask WILL (for the most part) be according to His will and will come to pass. Mind you it may look different than expected, but one of the coolest things about God, is that He’s God…His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.

Faith=Belief that something is True

Hebrews 11:6“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved.

Interesting that people say they have “faith” but don’t believe God is who He says He is, at all times, in all ways. We don’t truly have faith if we don’t truly believe God, now let me make it clear, it’s not wrong to question, God can handle all the questions you got, take Lee Strobel for example, devout atheist who searched and studied and wrestled with questions and with God, and finally came to a point where he personally thought himself foolish if he did not believe in God, and to believe in God, it takes faith. There will be an element of everything that will take faith to completely believe and for us to believe they are true. There is not a thing in the world that without at least an element of faith can be completely trusted by our human minds and hearts because we don’t know everything and even the most brilliant of minds are limited in wisdom and knowledge. Sometimes we need to stop complicating everything and have faith like a child.

Speak the TRUTH in LOVE

 

Ephesians 4:15“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved.

This verse is SO important to us as believers today. So many times if one of us is stumbling, others around us either don’t address it at all, brushing it off, or when they do address it they sugar coat it and say, “oh everyone struggles with that”. Yes it’s good to relate, but when we leave it at ‘relating’ and don’t push or spur each other on towards Christ and towards change, then those stumbling will just be caught in the ugly cycle again and again and again. When we speak the truth in LOVE and NOT condemnation, there is respect in that, respect for the other person saying, “I love you so much that I can’t let you stay in this cycle” and I don’t know about you, but I would hope someone would do the same for me. It might sting at the moment, but I would rather someone put stinging, healing medicine on my wound rather than let it sit and leave a scar later.

Ever Interceding

Hebrews 7:25“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved.

I LOVE that part….read it again, “because he ALWAYS lives to intercede for THEM”. Whoever goes to God through Christ has Christ interceding on THEIR behalf…not just their family’s or their church’s or their friend’s…theirs. How awesome is that?! We have a personal Savior who passionately loves us. Yes.

Redeemed

1 Corinthians 15:20-22

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”

Isn't it so cool that though man brought death upon himself, God loves us so passionately and unabashedly that He sent Christ as a man to redeem man. He could have just redeemed us, but He showed us that anything can be redeemed, so He sent Christ as man. So cool!