Help in Troubled Times Psalm 46:1

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear."



God does not want us to be afraid in this life. He wants us to know that He has everything under control. It may not seem like He does from our perspective. God keeps His promises and He will be true to His Word and to His nature. We have to remember that God's time and our time are not the same. We have to remember that God's plan and our plan are not the same. We have to remember that we look at things for the moment and God looks at things for eternity.

God is never early with His promises and He is never late. He is always right on time. "He is a very present help in trouble." God is our refuge and our strength when we avail ourselves to Him. We need to learn to praise Him anyway. We need to be obedient to Him anyway. We have to remember that we do not get ourselves into the messes that we can find ourselves in, in a day or so. Sometimes, God's help comes after we have walked with Him in obedience for a certain time period.

Remember one other thing. The moment that we decide that we are going to give up the commitment to obedience just might be the very day that God's deliverance was ready to be given to us. Disobedience to God's Word is never a reasonable option. Disobedience is always costly. Obedience always pays the dividends that God wants for our lives. The payday may not be as soon as we would like but if we will remain faithful to Him, He is always faithful to keep His promises to those who are faithful to His Word! God is a very present help in times of trouble!

Tough Decisions Acts 7:59

59And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.


Life is the result of the decisions that we make. Stephen made the decision to stand for God; it cost him his life. Stephen knew that standing for the Lord was worth dying for. The old saying, "He who stands for nothing will fall for anything" certainly rings true. Stephen lived his life with the conviction that Jesus was the Messiah and that he died and was gloriously resurrected and Jesus Christ was Lord and Master of his life! Stephen did not give his life for some hoax that the disciples had thought up to start some Christian movement. He died because of a personal conviction, "He Lives"!

As we live our lives and make decisions on a daily basis, we will encounter a number of situations and circumstances that will affect our lives as it did Stephen's. Many of those circumstances will be beyond our control. However, our response to those circumstances will still be our responsibility! One of the toughest aspects of life involves the decisions that we make. Each decision that we make determines the circumstances that we are most likely to face tomorrow and the day after that. Stephen knew what was about to happen. He calculated the cost and he determined to stand for God no matter what.

The question for the hour is this, "What happens when we fail to count the cost and we make bad decisions which affect the situations and circumstances that come tomorrow anyway?" The real test of life involves our decisions. The Source of life is God. He is our Strength. He is our Sustainer. He is the Answer to the questions of life. When we do things His way, He is able to affect the circumstances and situations that come before us. If we decide to do things our way, we run the risk of facing situations that will make our lives miserable. We run the risk of facing circumstances that will no doubt be costly to us.

Prayer helps us make the right decisions. People try to make good decisions. However, a good decision can be a bad decision if it robs us of what God has in store for us. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. We need to pray without ceasing because we are always making decisions. Tough decisions are easier to make when we look to the Lord before we make those decisions. When God guides our decisions, He becomes responsible for the outcome of our circumstances. God will give us victory on His terms.

Victory does not always come in the ways we might expect it to come. Stephen prayed, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Even in death, Stephen surrendered himself to the Lord and trusted God completely. ." Even in death, the choices we make are important; the responses we give today determine the quality of life we experience in the next moment as well as the rest of our lives! Let us determine to live for Him, making decisions that will give Him the opportunity determine our immediate future as well as our eternal destiny!

Holy Ghost Power Acts 1:8

8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.



What a promise! Jesus told His disciples that they would receive power after the Holy Spirit came upon them. Jesus has been resurrected and He has appeared to a number of people, including His disciples. He has given them instruction to return to Jerusalem and to wait for the promise of God to send the Holy Spirit to them. We have to remember that these men knew that Jesus was the Messiah. They thought that Jesus was going to be King of Israel and that He would deliver Israel from the bondage and oppression of Roman rule. The triumphant entry into Jerusalem set the stage for Jesus' rise to power. His death on the cross dashed the disciple's hopes and dreams and sent them running back to their homes.

The resurrection breathed new life into them all! Imagine the power of the Messiah now! Listen to Jesus' words and He tells them to go to Jerusalem to wait until the Holy Spirit comes upon them. What is still in their minds? Listen to their question to the Lord, "6When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

They still thought that Jesus was going to claim the throne as king! They had no idea what it was that Jesus had really come to this earth to accomplish and to achieve. Today, we still struggle with His purpose and His desire for our lives. His power is given to us to accomplish His purpose in our lives. That purpose is to be witnesses at home, in our communities, in our country and to the world. How are we to do that?

Our witness is not just holy boldness to stand on the street corner and proclaim the unspeakable riches of His glory. He gives us this power to be witnesses in our decisions and in our actions and in the way we live our lives before the rest of the world. You see, Jesus wants to be Lord and Master in our lives so that He can fight our battles and lead and guide us and mold and shape our lives. He wants the rest of the world to look at our lives and know that God is in our heart! He wants the rest of the world to see Jesus in us so that they will look to Him to be Lord and Master in their hearts as well.

God Lives In Us John 14:23

If a man loves Me, he will keep My Words and My Father will love him and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.



Here is another conditional statement from our Lord Himself. Jesus says, "If a man loves Me, he will keep My Words." This is a self-test for you and me. There are a lot of people who claim to love the Lord. Jesus knows who loves Him better than you and I ever will. He wants you and me to know where we stand with Him and so He gives us this self-test so that we will be able to know for ourselves how much we love Him.

The test of our love for the Lord is our obedience to His Word. This is as simple a test as He could give to us. Paul tells us, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Faith is the test of our relationship with the Lord. It is a test that we can gauge for ourselves. As you and I determine that we will keep God's Word and make it a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path and hide His Word in our heart that we might not sin against Him, Jesus promises us that His Father will see that and He will love us and come to us and make His abode with us.

The first thing that we have to remember is, God loves us anyway. My faithfulness to His Word does not have anything to do with His love for me. However, my love for Him and my determination to keep His Word in my decisions on a daily basis has everything to do with His coming to live in my heart and in my life.

Jesus promises us that as we live for Him, He and His Heavenly Father will come to live in us and be there with us and they will be there for us. As we surrender our hearts to the Lord, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts and in our lives and He will lead and guide us through this life and bring us to the life that is to come in heaven.

God's Promises Deuteronomy 11:25

25"No man shall be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.



Here is a promise that we find God giving the children of Israel. They have been delivered from the bondage of 400 years in Egypt. They are in the wilderness and on their way to the Promised Land. God tells the children of Israel, 25"No man shall be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.

This is a great promise! On occasions I hear this promise repeated today. I believe there is some justification for repeating this promise to believers today. However, if we are going to repeat the promise, we have to back up and repeat the condition to the promise. Look at verse 22, "For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do-to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him- 23"then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves."

God promises that He will assume responsibility for people who keep His commandments and love the Lord and walk in His ways and hold fast to Him in prayer. This was true for the children of Israel and it is true for you and me today. God has not changed. He wants to be our God and He wants us to be His people.

Listen to the word that God gives to the children of Israel following the promise He gave to them. 26"Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27"the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; 28"and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

You and I have this great promise from God as well. There are conditions that we must adhere to if we want to benefit from God's promises of victory for us. There are also words of warning that we must heed as well. God wants to bless us and He wants to meet our need and fight our battles. His word is for our benefit. There are blessings to following His Word but there are curses to refusing to follow His instruction.

We need to pray for strength to heed God's Word for His glory and our benefit.

What If and I AM Exodus 4:13

13Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' what if they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" 14And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'



God has spoken to Moses in the burning bush. He has told Moses that He wanted him to go to Pharaoh and to tell him to "Let God's people go." God has identified Himself to Moses as the "God of your father-the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Moses begins to try to back out of God's request. Listen to what he says, "What if they say to me, 'who sent you; what is His name?' What will I tell them?" "God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you."

Today's devotional is really very simple but very profound and very powerful. When we are tempted to say "what if" God always answers it with "I Am."

God what if I fail? Hear God as He says, "I AM WHO I AM." My failure does not take anything away from who God is or what God wants to do. My failure does not stop God's plans and His purpose for my life or the lives of those around me. God is still God and He is still in control and He can still bring victory in and through my life!

Failure is not final until we refuse to take God at His Word! That is what God wanted Moses to understand and that is what He wants you and me to understand. Moses went on to offer another objection. When you are tempted to say, "What if" to God just be still and hear Him say to you, "I AM WHO I AM." Know that the Great I AM of the universe is still at work and He is still in control and He will keep His promises and deliver you according to His purpose and His marvelous grace in His due time.

God's Purpose Statement Jeremiah 11:4

4"which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, 'Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God.



Let's look at the first 5 verses of Jeremiah 11, "1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2"Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3"and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel: "Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant 4"which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, 'Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,' 5"that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them 'a land flowing with milk and honey,' as it is this day."

'Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God.' There is nothing that God wants any more than for you and me to "be His people." God wants to be our God. God wants to be God in our lives. This is what I call God's purpose statement in the Bible. God wants to be our God and He wants us to be His people and everything that He has done and everything that He continues to do is to accomplish that purpose in your life and in mine.

Faith is believing that God is everything that He says He is and that He will do everything that He says He will do. Our faith in God is supposed to help us obey His Word. This is why God says, without faith it is impossible to please Him. Our obedience is the measuring stick of our faith. As we obey God's voice and do according to all that He has commanded us to do, we become God's children and we allow God to be God in our lives.

When you and I are obedient to God's Word, God is able to assume responsibility for the lives that we live. He is able to fight our battles and provide for our needs and He is even able to give us the desires of our heart and most certainly He is able to give us the desires of His heart! God wants our lives to be filled to overflowing. He wants us to live in a land flowing with milk and honey, filled with all of His goodness and His grace.

Let go and let God have His way in your life. Be obedient to His Word in every decision that you make and let God be God in your life and be His chosen, special people. Ask God today to give you the strength to be the person that He would have you be!