Category: Safe Place

A Life that Does Not Worry

Worry is rampant these days as people do not just worry but they are paranoid about many things. What a thief that worry is and how it robs us of much joy and peace. Worry can paralyze us, control us and it can eventually kill us. What does worry tell us about ourselves?

Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he was deeply moved with compassion for them, because they were troubled and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

When we are anxious and troubled then it is more of a symptom than a problem. The problem that we have that is being manifested in worry is that either we do not have a Shepherd or we are living as if we do not have a Shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He cares for His sheep. When you become a Christian then Jesus becomes your Shepherd and the Shepherd is responsible for the sheep.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

He laid down His life for you. Does He not care for you? Will He not take care of you? Yes and yes and yes…a million times yes! When the Lord is your Shepherd you shall not lack anything that you need, or in other words, you shall never be in want.

Psalm 23:1-6

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Can it get any better than this? He will make you lie down in green pastures and not in the weeds. He will lead you beside still waters and not by the dangerous torrents that could endanger you. He is the One who restores your soul and He will guide you in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even if you were to walk through the valley of death, He will be with you. You need never fear evil for it can not touch you without coming through Him first. He comforts you and prepares a table for you in the presence of those who might be your enemies. He anoints you with the oil of gladness and your cup will overflow with joy. Not only all of these things but goodness and lovingkindness will follow you all the days of your life and then you will dwell with Him forever. Again, can it get any better than this? Do you believe this?

Hebrews 4:2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

If you don’t believe this then there is no profit for you. If you do believe it then these precious and magnificent promises are yours and they will transform your life, take away your anxiety and bring you the peace and joy that you long for.

II Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

The Lord wants to multiply His grace and peace to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. His diving power has granted to you the privilege and power to live above circumstances and resist the devil and his lies. You must choose, either to live by faith in the promises of God or to live by worry on the fears of the world and the lies of the devil.

Hebrews 13:5b-6a …for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.”

Yes, life in Jesus Christ is much better than the slow death of anxiety and worry. Are you anxious and worried? Cast your cares upon Him now and ask Him to be your Shepherd.

I Peter 5:7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

A Life in Secret

There are three things that the Lord says that we need to do in secret. Again, He loves to reward His children when they do what pleases Him so He offers great rewards for these three matters of obedience. The Lord says that He sees in secret and He knows what we do in secret. He says that He will reward us openly. If you read the lives of the great men and women that God has used you will learn that they had their secret life with the Lord. Those who are not faithful in their secret life with the Lord eventually fall just as a tree whose roots are shallow or whose inside is rotten will fall. Your roots must go deep into his Word and into the soil of His love. If they do then your spiritual life will be nourished and you will prosper.

Jeremiah 17:7,8 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
And whose trust is the Lord.
For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.

First, when you give, you are to give in secret. You are to give to those who can not pay you back. You are to give to the poor.

Matthew 6:3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Second, when you pray, you are to pray in secret.

Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Third, when you fast, you are to fast in secret.

Matthew 6:17,18 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Just as roots are not seen but produce the fruit on the tree for all to see, so you too, when your roots go deep with the Lord, the Lord will be glorified by the fruit of your life as you bear His fruit.

John 15:8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

May your trust in the Lord grow through maintaining your secret life with the Lord through prayer and meditation, fasting and giving.

Psalm 1:2,3 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

 

 

A Life of Prayer

Prayer can be outlawed but it can never be stopped because the Lord made us to pray. It is a human instinct to pray. Sometimes people may get confused as to the One and only True God and so they will pray to a god that they have made, either in their minds or with their hands. However, there is only One God who hears and answers. There is only one group of people that He attends to their prayers.

I Peter 3:12 “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Don’t get discouraged in your prayers. He hears them and answers them but He is not limited by time. It may just be a matter of time before you see the answer.

Luke 18:1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,

We are to ask the Father in Jesus name and He will hear us.

John 16:23 In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.

The Lord wants us to devote ourselves to prayer.

Acts 1:14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer,  along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

Our prayers for the nonChristian should always be for their salvation.

Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

We should pray for our spiritual leaders in our churches and missionaries.

Romans 15:30 Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,

Pray for other Christians.

Ephesians 6:18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

Pray for yourself. He cares for you.

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Always remember to give thanks in your prayers. He has done so much for us.

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

Pray for everyone and especially for your leaders.

I Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

Pray that the Lord will save you from death, not just spiritual death, but death to your soul.

Hebrews 5:7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

If you are struggling in your Christian life then go to one who can pray for you. The Lord has called us to pray for each other.

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Finally, the end is near and you want to be found faithful in prayer. Prayer is talking to the Lord. Just talk to Him from your heart. He would rather you pour out your heart to Him then not pray at all or struggle with saying the right words. He knows your heart and He loves you. He wants to hear from you and He will hear you.

I Peter 4:7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

 

 

 

 

A Life with Times of Refreshing

Just as our bodies can become weary so our souls can become weary also. Sometimes our bodies can be in a dry and weary place where there is not much water or rest. Just as cold water and rest can refresh the body so also God’s presence can bring times of refreshing to the spirit and soul.

Acts 3:19 Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;

We may need to repent if we have never come to Jesus Christ to forgive us our sin and to give us eternal life. Repentance is turning away from sin and turning to the Lord. We are either going toward God or we are going toward sin. God desires that all come to repentance and that none perish.

II Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

We need to repent if we have gotten away from having Jesus Christ be our “first love” and the lover of our soul and the giver of life. It is easy to become busy with life and fill our lives with “good things” and forget that the Christian life is a love relationship with Jesus Christ. Or, we may just have gotten our eyes off of Jesus Christ and have been trying to live the Christian life on our own and allowed it to become a life of “do this and don’t do that”.

Revelation 2:4,5 But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

We may need to repent if we are a Christian and have become ensnared with a particular sin and are experiencing death to our soul, which is the defeat and guilt that we feel when we know that we are not living in a way pleasing to Him. Sin can cause weariness. Whatever it is that is causing our weariness, it is not design.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Come to the Lord Jesus if you are weary and heavy laden. He will give you rest. Repent, if you have gotten away from Him and have left your first love. Do the things you did at first when you first became a Christian. Remember how you marveled at how great a love that He has for you. Remember how His grace was poured out on your life and you experienced His forgiveness and cleansing? Repent and return to Him in order that times of refreshing may come from His presence. In His presence there is fullness of joy and in His right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

It is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance in order that He might bless us.

Romans 2:4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

 

A Life Whose Debt is Canceled

We owe a debt we can not pay and there is One who paid a debt He did not owe. We were helpless and at the right time, our debt was paid and our certificate of death was canceled.

Romans 5:6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

When Jesus Christ came and became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, He became our substitute and took the punishment that we deserved and paid the debt that we owed. Death was what we had earned by going our own way and doing our own thing. We wanted to rule our own lives rather than have the One who made us and created us to be in relationship with Him, to rule us. Sin is wanting to be your own god and the outcome is death spiritually, death to our soul and the death of our body.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Wages is what we deserve but a gift is what we do not deserve and have not done anything to work for it. We earned and deserved death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. When He becomes our Lord then we receive the gift of eternal life and with the gift of life comes the cancellation of the certificate of death.

Isaiah 28:16-18a Therefore thus says the Lord God,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes will not be disturbed.
“I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
And the waters will overflow the secret place.
 “Your covenant with death will be canceled,

When we become a Christian then our eyes are opened to the lies that we took comfort in and the secret places of our heart where our sins dwell. Jesus is the foundation and that Cornerstone God sent on which He will build His church. Those who believe in Him will not be disappointed but those who do not believe and are disobedient to His Word will stumble over the rock of Christ and experience doom.

I Peter 2:6-8 For this is contained in Scripture:

“Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone,
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,

“The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the very cornerstone,”and,

“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”;

for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

Those who believe in Him, not only do they receive life and their certificate of death is canceled but the accusations and certificate consisting of decrees against them is canceled. He nailed it to the cross. The certificate of decrees against you are all of the sins that you have ever committed or will ever commit. Everything that you have ever done wrong is recorded and that record was nailed to the cross. (Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, the record of all of their sins will be read on Judgment Day and they will have to pay their own debt for their sins.)

Colossians 2:13,14 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

When you were dead in your sins, Christ died for you, and made you alive together with Him. He has forgiven you of all of your wrongdoings. Because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and lives, you also became alive and will be raised from the dead and will live forever with Him IF you have received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and the gift of eternal life in Him. The gift is offered to all but only given to those who will receive it. For God so loved everyone in the world that He gave His Son.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

You must call on the Lord Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior to receive Christ into your life and be saved. When He saves you then He also forgives you and gives you the gift of eternal life.

Romans 10:11-13 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

He who has Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has the life. He who does not have Christ does not have the life. These things have been written for you who believe in Jesus Christ in order that you may know that you have eternal life. Your debt of sin and certificate of death is canceled forever.

I John 5:12,13 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

 

 

 

A Life of Freedom from the Fear of Man

The Bible says that the fear of man brings a snare. It is an oppressive feeling to live in the fear of someone else. Only the Lord can set us free from the fear of man.

Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.

As you learn to trust Him then you will see that you do not have to be afraid of man.

Psalm 56:10,11 In God, whose word I praise,
In the Lord, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

Only the fear of the Lord can set you free from the fear of man. If you fear Him then you need not have to fear anyone else.

Psalm 112:1 Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who greatly delights in His commandments.

The Lord wants to teach you to fear Him through His Word.

Psalm 119:38 Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.

You are blessed if people revile you because you are a Christian. Do not be intimidated. Remember who you are, a child of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

I Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled,

The Lord does not want you to fear anyone but if you live according to His ways then people will fear the Lord by not wanting you around when they do evil.

Deuteronomy 11:25 No man will be able to stand before you; the Lord your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.

However, you must look to the Lord and not to others. He will protect you and be your defense. He will never forsake you but will help you when you need Him.

Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?

If you do not fear the Lord then often times you will be tempted to have irrational fears.

Psalm 53:4,5 Have the workers of wickedness no knowledge,
Who eat up My people as though they ate bread
And have not called upon God?
There they were in great fear where no fear had been;

Finally, the Lord Himself is for you.

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

You are the apple of His eye.

Zechariah 2:8 …for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.

 

 

A Life that is Forgiven

The Bible says that the one who is forgiven is blessed. How sweet it is to know that you are forgiven for everything that you have done. There is no sin that is too great for God’s forgiveness. How easy it is to ask the Lord to forgive you over and over again. However, His forgiveness is complete and we only need to ask once.

Psalm 32:1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!

Not only will He forgive you but He removes the guilt of your sin.

Psalm 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin.

However, you must confess your sin to Him and ask Him to forgive you. Don’t minimize your sins or hide them.

Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

Your sins have offended Him because He can not look upon evil. He is a holy God.

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

The Lord is compassionate and wants to forgive you. He wants you to return to Him. Remember when you were a child and you used to love to hear about the Lord and you wanted to come to Him. Return to Him and He will come to you.

II Chronicles 30:9 For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

He is waiting for you and wants to forgive you and cleanse you.

I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Jesus Christ died for your sins. He died once for all of your sins. He died for you so that He might bring you to God.

I Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

If you are still struggling with your sins then either you have never surrendered to Him or you are living in defeat. He took the punishment for your sins so that you could become spiritually alive. If there are doubts about your salvation then tell Him and ask Him to come into your life if He is not already there. He will make Himself known to you. When you become a Christian you become born again spiritually and then you become alive to God. What it means is that you can not continue on the same path of sin that you were on before. He forgives you, cleanses you, gives you a new life and changes your path.

II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

As you learn to walk with Him then you will learn to have fellowship with other Christians.

I John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses  us from all sin.

Don’t let the devil weigh you down with guilt. People who do experience God’s forgiveness will often make poor decisions due to the effects of their sins.

II Timothy 3:6 …weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

He offers everyone forgiveness. God so loved the world that he sent His Son to die for all of our sins. It is a gift but we must receive it. If you are not a Christian yet then come to Him and get it settled. If you are a Christian who is still struggling with sins then come to Him also for cleansing and forgiveness. Confess your sins and experience His forgiveness. The Bible says that in the same way that you received Christ, which was by faith, then learn to walk with Him by faith and that requires a continual confessing and cleansing. We all mess up and sin but He forgives. How blessed is the one who sin is forgiven and whose guilt is removed.

 

 

 

A Life that Understands Suffering

There is no question that with suffering there is pain but if we can understand more of God’s perspective on suffering then it helps us endure it and remain faithful. It is in our suffering that not only are we made more like Jesus Christ but the devil will tempt us. There are two kinds of suffering. First, is the suffering we bring on ourselves by either not knowing or not doing the will of God. Ignorance does not exclude us from the consequences therefore the more knowledge we have of God’s ways then the less of this kind of suffering we will have in our life.

I Peter 2:21 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

If you sin and the consequences seem harsh then it is your due recompense.

Colossians 3:25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.

The second kind of suffering is the suffering that God has allowed for His glory. You may not understand the reason here on earth but if you learn to respond to this kind of suffering then you will experience some of His glory here on earth. If you do not sin but do what is right and suffer for it then this suffering allows you to find favor with God. Favor with God is that He has turned His face toward you and will bless you. He says that the Spirit of God and glory will rest on you. You will know His presence and it is the sweetest feeling in the world. Words can not explain the comfort and peace you will feel and it will greatly minimize your suffering.

I Peter 4:12-14 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

One of the purposes of testing is to test your faith and to strengthen your faith. You might feel very weak during the testing but what the testing is showing you is where your weakness is so that you can strengthen yourself even more in the Lord. Also, so that you might be able to strengthen others when they experience similar testing of their faith.

I Peter 4:1,2 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

Another reason for your suffering is it sets you free from sin so that you will no longer live for the desires of the flesh but for the will of God. Suffering is part of the Christian life but if you know His promises then it is much easier to endure. The Lord Himself has promised to come to you.

I Peter 5:10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Finally, what do you do when you are going through a time of trials and suffering? You are to thank Him for the trial and then the Lord says to ask Him for wisdom. This wonderful promise is for anyone who is suffering, whether you have caused it yourself or it is a part of His will for you and you did not do anything wrong. He says that He will give you wisdom and without reproach. Without reproach means that the Lord does not say to us, “I told you so!”. Rather, what it means, is that He is saying is that He promises to give wisdom to anyone who will ask Him and He will give it generously.

James 1:2-5 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Thanking the Lord is an expression of faith and keeps the devil from getting a foothold in your thought life by bringing the Lord into your thoughts. As mentioned earlier it is when we go through trials that we struggle the most in our thought life because we can not see clearly because of the suffering. The Lord wants to get your focus off of the pain and hurt and onto Him. He will bring you through this suffering and afterwards you will from the heart give thanks, either in this life or in the life to come. Faith comes before feeling.

James 1:6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

However, the ultimate purpose of suffering is to make us like Jesus. We become like Jesus when we learn to obey Him. The pathway of obedience is suffering.

Hebrews 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

The pathway of Christlikeness is obedience.

I Peter 2:21-24 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

 

A Life that Has a Refuge

A refuge is a safe place. We all need a refuge. The Lord has a refuge for the Christian lady where she will always be safe. It is very important for a young lady to understand this truth. The Bible says that the Lord keeps us and the devil can not touch us.

I John 5:18 He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

If a young Christian lady is any danger it is very important that she runs to the Lord. She must speak the name of Jesus Christ in her situation. People have to block out God in order to do evil.

Proverbs 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.

Pour out your heart to the Lord. He will come to you. Seek refuge in Him.

Psalm 62:8 Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.

He will be a shield to all who take refuge in Him. Don’t go where you should not go but if you find yourself being attacked in your thought life or by the accusations of others then go to the Lord and call on His name. He will help you and be a shield for you to extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one. If you are in physical danger He will be a shield for you. Nothing can touch you unless it first comes through Him.

Psalm 37:40 The Lord helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, Because they take refuge in Him.

He is a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

There are many verses in the Bible about the Lord being a refuge for the Christian. However, unless we believe them they do not help us.

Hebrews 4:2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

If we take His Word and believe what He says then we will possess His promises. They will become ours and we will have faith, hope and courage.

Hebrews 6:18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

The book of Hebrews was written to the Christians whose homes had been taken from them and they had to flee Rome during the times of the early church. They were able to persevere under very trying circumstances only because they put their hope in Him.

James 1:12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

We are not to shrink back in the day of trial but we are to take refuge in Him and persevere so that we shall not be ashamed. It is the little trials that prepare us for the bigger trials. The Lord is a present help in time of trouble but you must call on Him.

Hebrews 10:37-39 For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
But My righteous one shall live by faith;
And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.

But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

Faith is taking refuge in Him and believing what He says is true. When our faith is strong then our courage is strong and we are able to persevere. Discouragement means that we have lost our courage. The Lord says to be strong and courageous. He is coming again and His reward is with Him and for all who were faithful.

 

A Life that is Moral

Morality and immorality are opposites. Immorality is exchanging eternal values for  temporal values. Esau was immoral by trading his birthright for a meal. His birthright was his so why was his action immoral? His birthright was what had eternal value and the meal had temporal value.

Hebrews 12:16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.

If we do not wait for God’s timing then we are also godless. Esau would have gotten some food but he could not wait.

Isaiah 64:4 For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear,
Nor has the eye seen a God besides You,
Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.

The Lord has far more for you than what you can see or have heard of if you will only wait for Him.

Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

He can even do more than what you can think of if you will only trust Him and wait for Him.

James 1:16,17 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

Do not be deceived and listen to the lies of the devil that come out of the world or that even come into your thoughts. The Lord wants to give you good things and perfect gifts.

Isaiah 55:8,9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Learn to think His thoughts and learn His ways. His thoughts are revealed to us in His Word and that is also how we learn His ways. He has given His Word to us. It is His revelation of who He is. It is the only way that we know the only true God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us through Jesus Christ.

Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

He wants to teach us His ways and He wants us to observe His Words, by observing He means to study, know and obey them.

Psalm 25:4 Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.

Are you thinking His thoughts and learning His ways. It is a lifelong process and the more we know His ways then the more we will know Him and experience His good gifts. That is why the Lord says over and over again in His Word that the ones who keep His commandments and follow His ways are blessed. Morality is keeping His ways and being obedient to His Words, which are eternal values. Immorality is doing what you want to do and satisfying your flesh, which are temporal values.