Tag: trustworthy

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Don’t Lose Hope!

Have you ever been in the middle of an adverse situation? Do you begin to think, “how long can this go on”; “I don’t think I can take much more”, “I just can’t do this any longer”? “How do I make a change in my situation”? Well, I have good news for you today!

In II Kings 6 & 7 the king of Aram had brought his army against the Israelites and they had surrounded Samaria and cut off all the food supply to the city. The situation became so bad that the people in the city were eating animal dung and even reports of cannibalism were recorded. They were in a desparate place – hope was all but gone.

There were 4 lepers who were outside the city wall and they asked a question, “Why are we sitting here waiting to die? 4 There is no food in Samaria. If we go into the city, we will die there. If we stay here, we will also die. So let’s go to the Aramean camp. If they let us live, we will live. If they kill us, we will just die.” II Kings 6:3-4

How long will we sit here, until we die?

It was time to do something even if it meant that they might die. They couldn’t go into the city because there was famine in the city, if they stayed where they were they would starve to death and if they went to the enemy camp they also faced the possibly of death but they had to do something. So they went. I’ve faced some difficult situations but none have been this serious, how about you?

When they got to the enemy camp they found that the Arameans had fled and left all of their food, clothing, horses, tents and gold.

“So that evening the four lepers went to the Aramean camp. When they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there! 6 The Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a large army. So the soldiers said to each other, “The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to come against us.”

7 The Arameans ran away early that evening. They left everything behind. They left their tents, horses, and donkeys and ran for their lives. 8 When these lepers came to where the camp began, they went into one tent. They ate and drank. Then they carried silver, gold, and clothes out of the camp and hid them…9 Then they said to each other, “We are doing wrong! Today we have good news, but we are silent… Now let’s go and tell the people who live in the king’s palace.” II Kings 7:5-9

Through these 4 lepers, the outcasts of society, God provided not only for them but for the whole city.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Your desperate situation isn’t desperate to God. He knows how to provide.

“Abraham named that place “The Lord Will Provide.” And even now people say, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” Genesis 22:14

Trust God today and follow what He calls you to do. Don’t lose hope – He will provide!

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Powerful Agreement

Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to get things done when you have someone agree with you? It just seems to get done faster and more efficiently when there’s agreement of at least a couple of people. Agreement is built on trust.

When I can trust that you will do what you say you will and you can trust me, we have agreement. Each of us are commitment to seeing things through and contributing all we can to the success of the project. Never enter into a contract with someone you don’t trust. Work relationships, friendships, marriages and our relationship with the Lord are all built on trust.

“I promise you that God in heaven will allow whatever you allow on earth, but he will not allow anything you don’t allow. 19 I promise that when any two of you on earth agree about something you are praying for, my Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 Whenever two or three of you come together in my name, I am there with you.” Matthew 18:18-20 CEV

The ability to work in agreement can be world changing. Being in agreement with the Lord and what He says in His word is powerful.

Many times throughout the Old Testament multiple kings would join together to attack and defeat the nation of Israel. They would make an alliance. Power in agreement. However, there was a stronger alliance that had formed.

“The kings and their armies went to Merom Pond, where they set up camp, and got ready to fight Israel. It seemed as though there were more soldiers and horses and chariots than there are grains of sand on a beach. 6 The Lord told Joshua: Don’t let them frighten you! I’ll help you defeat them, and by this time tomorrow they will be dead.” Joshua 11:5-6 CEV

Joshua also had an alliance, his was with the Lord of hosts. Now Joshua wasn’t limited to mere human strength and ability, he was in agreement with God which gave him and his army a supernatural superiority. He trusted God.

“Joshua captured all the towns where the enemy kings had ruled. That’s what the Lord had told his servant Moses to do, that’s what Moses had told Joshua to do, and that’s exactly what Joshua did…23 That’s how Joshua captured the land, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and Joshua divided it up among the tribes. Finally, there was peace in the land.” Joshua 11:12, 15, 23 CEV

Joshua put himself in agreement with what God had said and because of it he was victorious! He knew God would never lie.

I’m here to tell you God’s word always means what it says. Joshua didn’t stop to see if all the army were in agreement with the way he set the battle plan; he just made sure he was in agreement with God. Many times Jesus went off by himself to pray and after those pray sessions he would work great miracles; he and the Father were in agreement. The early Christians joined themselves in prayer multiple times and saw Peter released from prison, Paul rescued from harm, the sick were healed and lives were changed.

It’s time we realize that the enemy may appear to be greater than the sands on the seashore but when we are in agreement with God and His word, we become an unstoppable force! Miracles will happen, prayers will be answered!

“We can come to God with no doubts. This means that when we ask God for things (and those things agree with what God wants for us), God cares about what we say. 15 He listens to us every time we ask him. So we know that he gives us whatever we ask from him.” I John 5:14-15 ERV

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Always Faithful

I don’t consider myself old however, I am more aged than some. I would rather say that I have experienced life, it’s joys and it’s sorrows. The thing I appreciate most about where I am on the numeric scale of years is my memory; the ability to recall situations, circumstances and events.

My earliest recollections are from a house we lived in on Avenue C in Yuma. It had a large date palm tree in the front yard. We had a small seven inch TV with foil on the rabbit ears to improve the reception. I remember the house always being filled with friends. Somewhere in there I became aware of nuclear threat. Must have been something on the news that invaded the conversation of the adults.

Anyway, I remember going outside and looking up at the sky and saying something like this “Dear Jesus, if the bomb comes I will come to heaven with you. Ok?”

I had such a sense of peace and security because I knew God was big enough to take care of things. All the Bible stories I had heard in Sunday School taught me that God loved me and He would take care of me. I know I didn’t understand the magnitude of God’s faithfulness but it was real to me all the same.

I don’t know why that memory came back to me this morning. I was thinking about God’s faithfulness; remembering times when He provided and protected in the past. I was praying for friends and family who need to see that God is faithfully involved in working out their tough situations.

I was also reading in Exodus where the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians and they cried out to God for deliverance. And then the words of the old hymn, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, began to flood my heart and my mind.

“When your people worshiped, you know I told them, “Our Lord always helps!” 10 When all your people met, I did not keep silent. I said, “Our Lord is kind. He is faithful and caring, and he saves us.” 11 You, Lord, never fail to have pity on me; your love and faithfulness always keep me secure.” Psalm 40:9-11 CEV

Your love and faithfulness always keep me secure!

I have no idea what you or I will face today but I do know that God’s faithfulness will keep us secure!

“It is because of the Lord’s loving-kindness that we are not destroyed for His loving-pity never ends. 23 It is new every morning. He is so very faithful. 24 “The Lord is my share.” says my soul, “so I have hope in Him.” Lamentations 3:22-24 NLV

New every morning – we can’t exhaust the faithfulness of God. His loving-kindness never ends. He is always faithful.

“I will sing forever about the Lord’s love.  I will sing about his faithfulness forever and ever! 2 I will say, “Your faithful love will last forever. Your loyalty is like the sky—there is no end to it!” Psalm 89:1-2 ERV

So, join with me in singing this morning; on your way to the breakfast table, in the shower, on your way to work. Let’s sing because our God is always faithful!

“Great Is Thy Faithfulness”

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside

Thank you Father for your faithfulness!

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Giving All

Has God ever asked you to give Him something you love – truly, deeply love? Did you think He was being mean or unreasonable? Did you question God or even argue with Him about it?


I hate to admit this but I have done that very thing – questioned God. I think I know better than to argue, at least out loud, but I haven’t always been quick to obey either.

Remember a week or so back when we were talking about Abraham. I told you he and God had established a covenant where everything Abraham had he willing gave to the Lord and in turn God promised all He is – God All-Powerful and Almighty, to be there for Abraham. They were blood brothers.

Abraham faced this same dilemma we are talking about. He had waited for a son for over 25 years and now that his son was a young man, God asked for him back. He asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.

Was God really going to be that cruel? In the book of Hebrews it tells us  we are told that Abraham had received his son back as from the dead. Abraham knew Isaac was God’s promise, God had given him a son and if he asked for Isaac’s life then certainly God would raise him from the dead.

This is not a story of a mean and vengeful God. It’s the complete opposite! It’s the story of God’s faithfulness, His provision, His protection.

“God tested Abraham’s faith. God told him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham obeyed because he had faith. He already had the promises from God. And God had already said to him, “It is through Isaac that your descendants will come.”[a] But Abraham was ready to offer his only son. He did this because he had faith. 19 He believed that God could raise people from death. And really, when God stopped Abraham from killing Isaac, it was as if he got him back from death” Hebrews 11:17-19 ERV

This story is filled with so much trust. Abraham’s trust in God, the servants trust in Abraham, Isaac’s trust in his father – if anyone of these would have failed to trust, the story would be very different.

“The Lord said, “Go get Isaac, your only son, the one you dearly love! Take him to the land of Moriah, and I will show you a mountain where you must sacrifice him to me on the fires of an altar.” 3 So Abraham got up early the next morning and chopped wood for the fire. He put a saddle on his donkey and left with Isaac and two servants for the place where God had told him to go. 4 Three days later Abraham looked off in the distance and saw the place. 5 He told his servants, “Stay here with the donkey, while my son and I go over there to worship. We will come back.”
6 Abraham put the wood on Isaac’s shoulder, but he carried the hot coals and the knife. As the two of them walked along, 7-8 Isaac said, “Father, we have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”
“My son,” Abraham answered, “God will provide the lamb.” The two of them walked on, and 9 when they reached the place that God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and placed the wood on it. Next, he tied up his son and put him on the wood. 10 He then took the knife and got ready to kill his son. 11 But the Lord’s angel shouted from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered.
12 “Don’t hurt the boy or harm him in any way!” the angel said. “Now I know that you truly obey God, because you were willing to offer him your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the bushes. So he took the ram and sacrificed it in place of his son.
14 Abraham named that place “The Lord Will Provide.” And even now people say, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” Genesis 22:2-14

What has God asked you for today? Do you trust Him? If you do things your way, how will you change God’s wonderful plan for your life? Do you see what Abraham said when they first started out – The boy and I will return? Abraham was convinced of God’s provision before he started to climb the mountain. He knew that God would keep His promise and that promise was Isaac.

After Abraham freely offered up his son to God, God then freely offered up his Son for us. God knows what it’s like to give what He loved most for a people who at times would be less than grateful, less than loving and yet He did it anyway. He did it because of His great love for us and not because of our great commitment to Him.

When God asks us to give Him something we hold dear He has something much better in store for us.

So what is it today that God is asking you to give? Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to Trust and Obey!

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