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So how can we handle these storms we see around us? How can we, in practical ways, succeed like those people around Jesus did? How can we see God's Activity in our personal lives too? From all of the evidence of the two events given in God's Word, the answer is clear: - By trusting and loving the Lord Jesus Christ with all of our heart, mind, and spirit. (Remember, Jesus is alive. He is not dead, so He
still interacts with people. (Psalm
110:1,Luke
24, Hebrews
7:25, Ephesians
1:19-21, Revelation
1:1-2, John
10:27-30) Those who were with Jesus did come through the storms well. They 1) saw Jesus 2) heard Jesus 3) trusted that what Jesus said was Truth 4) responded in submission to what Jesus told them 4) did what Jesus told them to do. Because of that, they were 1) comforted in their souls 2) protected within their heart and will from being shaken, and in these cases their bodies were protected 3) empowered, enabled, inspired, and rejoicing to being close with the Lord Jesus Christ 4) able to watch the circumstances of their lives change to the impossible 5) chose to glorify Jesus for Who He was, God. (I've got to read those again - Event 1 + Event 2) How can I handle these storms when I can't see Jesus in the flesh? INTERLUDE: (Thomas said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (Read more John 20:24-31)) Even though you can't see Jesus, all the rest is given to you just as it was to the disciples in Jesus' boat. You can know what Jesus says, trust that what Jesus says is Truth, respond in submission to what Jesus tells you, do what Jesus tells you to do. God tells us how to do this. God commands us to trust Him, to Trust His Word, to Trust Jesus. "As
for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to
all who trust in Him." Psalm 18:30 NKJV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
God gives us personal instruction because He understands we need His Wisdom to do come through storms well, and sunny days, too. God says in Proverbs 3:5-7, Trust in the LORD with all your heart and In the Hebrew, the heart is your will, your innermost being, your central core. The Lord God commands you and me to trust Him with our heart, our entire entity. God is to be our motivation for our life. (~Commandment I ~Commandment II, Deuteronomy 6:5) God says to trust Him with your heart, not just your thinking head. "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." James 2:19 Yet the demons will be tortured forever. We each are commanded to trust God with our heart and love Him with His Love for us personally. "We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19 (Revelation 2:4) lean not on your own understanding; God commands us to not trust our self nor other people for how we are to be. God says to not rely on what we know just from our physical senses and our mental capacity. God wants our best, His Glory, and our delight. God's ways and thoughts are far beyond our own (Isaiah 55:9). God says,"Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?" Isaiah 2:22 And "He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe." Proverbs 28:26 So how are we to make decisions daily? in all your ways acknowledge him, To acknowledge God means to understand, know, admit, recognize, and affirm what the Lord God communicates to you. Acknowledging God in all your ways means asking for God's thoughts, ideas, patterns, wisdom regarding every aspect of your life; your thoughts, actions, attitudes, emotions, mindset, patterns of behavior, words, etc. We are to make decisions daily - By asking the Lord God for information (James 1:5), and responding to Him Who is attentive to our asking for help (Psalm 34:15). (If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, Who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5) By being humble under God. (2 Chronicles 7:14) What does humble mean? Humble means knowing that God knows more than you do in every way and detail, knowing that God's Word is Truth and that God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19,Hebrews 6:18,Titus 1:2), and doing what God says because you trust and know that He is always right. God commands us to acknowledge Him, which means to Not ignore Him, to Not shut Him out, and to Not disregard His deity. God commands us to seek His Face, His guidance, His wisdom, His heart on every matter, His desires for our life, and His attitude for us to internalize and to make our own. God enables us to do this when our heart is His and we are His personal children. (New Creation) What does God promise to us if we do these things? and he will direct you path (NKJV) and God personally will direct your personal path. God, the All-mighty, will tell you, show you, communicate with you, and guide you through His Word, His Holy Spirit, His Law, circumstances, people, nature, etc. God will tell you which way to walk and to go in it. Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in His ways and revering Him. Deut 8:6 What does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, Deuteronomy 10:12-22
This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears
will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."
Isaiah 30:15, 21 God will never ask you to do something that He knows both you and Him together can not accomplish. God knows that anyone plus Him is a majority. A group of people without the Lord God is powerless against the Holy One. (Matthew 27-28, Joshua 6, Judges 6-7, Daniel 3+6, site Revelation 20:7-12, Rev 21, Rev 22:1-6) Working under God's Command, you may not see the results you thought would be coming right away, or even in your lifetime, but you will see the results in God's heaven. God's ways, patterns for living by His Word and Spirit, are true life, and always bear good, eternal fruit. "Walking" with God is talking and listening to Him and doing what He says to do, which is called living by Faith and in unceasing prayer. What if you took on a project under God's command and then it goes "wrong". Projects going "wrong" can be caused by our willful or inadvertent disobedience to God, our own self-reliance instead of God-reliance, or the enemy of our soul's attack on us. Jesus tells us "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." What can we do about those times? Learn from them with the Lord God Almighty. Include God's Word in your thought process and discuss the facts with Him openly. Allow His better thoughts to teach you, and hold to His communication with you. Invite God to remind you of His lessons to you when He sees you need them. Love God for them, appreciate His trusting that you can and will learn from Him. Be encouraged that you are His eternal child and that He is growing you up in Himself. Rejoice in His hope for you! That should give you great hope in Him!! make your paths straight. As you do Proverbs 3:5-6, as you listen and speak with the Lord God and do as He says, your paths will seem to grow straight. The crooked, deprived, deceptive ways of your life you will not want anymore and will disappear. Your life will grow simple, clear, and strong. Following God's wisdom makes your paths straight. Thus, you will be living with eternal logic, a mindset based on the eternal, and that LONG view, as a plumb line for a carpenter, makes for a straight shot to heaven. The proverbs continues with three commands - Do not be wise in your own eyes; Only God is wise. Do not consider your earthly, short sighted view wise. Do not be proud, arrogant, or haughty (Proverbs 16:5)2 Corinthians 10:5). Then you will be sure to come to the Source, the Lord Jesus Christ, for all of your needs (Philippians 4:19). fear the LORD To fear the Lord means to have a healthy respect of the Lord God Almighty. Know, trust, and rely on the fact that God can squash you and toss you into Hell in a second (Psalm 135:6). Know, trust, and rely on the fact that He wants you to come to His Son Jesus for salvation from and shun evil. (See Ecclesiastes 1-12) God commands us to avoid, turn away from, reject, spurn, and shun evil. God has good reason for this, because evil will own you, master you, and destroy you now and eternally if you don't reject it. (Proverbs 5:20-23, Genesis 4:6-8, Sinful Life ,Hell bound) (See Ecclesiastes 1-12, Big Picture, World Violence) This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him." Jeremiah 17:5,7
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With this knowledge of Who Jesus is, Who God is, What God does, and How we are to trust God. How is our attitude to be? One way is this- "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10
O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still. Psalm 83:1 So while we are still, God is Not still. "Still" does NOT mean silent, passive, complacent, lethargic, apathetic, or disinterested. "Still" means active and aggressive in prayer and obedience to the Lord God for God's work to be done while deeply trusting that God has the final judgment and decision on the outcome for His Glory alone!! Thus - "I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10
This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength." Isaiah 30:15 |
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