Trust God's Hand, He Has The Final Say - Blessed Morning Prayer To Start Your Day.

Have you ever noticed how life sometimes surprises us? We're expecting everything to go right when suddenly everything goes wrong. Not just wrong, but all the way horribly wrong. Instead of being surrounded by friends, instead of having an easy path and having all of our prayers answered, we turn a corner and it's lonely. There's no one, no one but your troubles. It's cold and very difficult. And have you ever noticed that it's in those moments where it feels like God doesn't just not answer our prayers, but it seems like he's not even there listening. And you can be forgiven for asking, what went wrong? What did I do so wrong even? You might ask. But may I remind you that the streets of heaven might be lined with gold, but we on this earth are living in a fallen world and the enemy, the prince of darkness, prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion wanting to crush and discourage believers. So the first thing I would like to tell you is that regardless of everything seemingly going wrong, I want you to know that Jesus is still King. He still rose from the dead. He still loves you. And when life goes wrong and we wanna give up, remember that Jesus Christ remains King. He remains seated on the right hand of the father. And yes, he still loves you. Having this knowledge, my friends, is the key to finding your way back to strength, joy and victory. God is good all the time. Not sometimes, not some days, but all the time. I want you to be encouraged knowing that the Lord invites us to go with him with our pain. Go to him with the heavy loads that we sometimes carry. He said, come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, I will give you rest. So if before the problem, you used to sit and meditate on God's word, keep doing this even in the middle of your situation. If you used to pray first thing in the morning because the problem started, keep doing this even when life is hard, continue to persevere. The devil wants us not to just be disconnected to God, but to give up in our faith. And if you stop reading the word, if you stop worshiping God or praying when the problems come, then you are effectively saying, God, I give up. I'm not going to pray anymore. I won't read your word anymore because things aren't going my way. But that's not the attitude we should have. The Lord said, come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens. And we need to, we need to go to him because that's the only place you'll find rest. And let me tell you, he fully understands how you feel because Jesus himself went through hard times. You see just a few days before Jesus was arrested and crucified, he told his disciples something very surprising, something very private. And I'm sure it's a feeling we can all relate to. He said to them in John 12, verse 27, now my soul is troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose, I came to this hour. Now I want to highlight the fact that Jesus said his soul was troubled. The very deepest part of him was troubled. The soul of the master, the miracle worker who had fed a multitude with five loaves and two fish, Jesus, who had walked on water and spoken to a storm, he said his soul was troubled. Then he asked his disciples, shall I pray? Father, save me from this hour. For just a second, the human tendency to give up crossed his mind. Should I pray? Save me from this labor. Should he ask God to let him escape the cross? But he quickly said, no. It was for this very reason I came. He quickly remembered his mission, his identity. And I find it remarkable. We often talk of Jesus walking the earth, but we forget that he didn't just walk on the earth. He felt emotions like we do today. He battled the thoughts and feelings just as we do today. In that final week, in the very depths of his person, the Lord Jesus was in turmoil. So he truly understands us when we hit rock bottom. And there's something else we can learn from the Lord's final week. In those last days when he was going through so many different things, Peter was watching. Years later, Peter described what he'd seen. He wrote, Jesus is your example. Follow in his steps. He never sinned nor ever deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted nor threatened revenge when he suffered. Instead, he left his case in the hands of God who always judges fairly. When the Lord Jesus was arrested, flogged, and completely unable to help himself, he turned to God. He left his case in the hands of God. He committed his cause to the Father. That's the simple example we should be following. Instead of giving up, try giving up your problem to the Father. Try handing it over to the Lord. And if I cast your mind back to remember all of the troubles the children of Israel had as they left Egypt and wandered 40 years in the desert, many years later, the prophet Isaiah wrote, in all their suffering, God also suffered, and he personally rescued him. In his love and mercy, he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years. God carried his people in the desert years, and then he redeemed them. In his last week, Jesus placed his case in the hands of God, and God raised him from death and glorified him. I would like to encourage you today that God will carry you through your desert season. Don't give up. If God is disciplining, be assured that there will be good to come from it. Somehow, someway, there will be good. Many believers have found that the worst things that happened to them were actually the best things to have happened in hindsight. It doesn't feel like it at the time, but hold on in faith a little longer. Job certainly knows this. Do you remember the depths of his sufferings? When tragedy struck Job and his family, he managed to keep holding on to his faith. That's all he literally had left, his faith. Job's wife couldn't, and who could blame her? Job's friend couldn't advise him. Job himself couldn't find a reasonable explanation for what had happened, but somehow he managed to say, God knows where I am going, and when he has tested me, I will come out as pure as gold. That's very hard to say when you're right in the middle of a great hardship. We don't just begin to think I'm somehow being refined. I believe I'll come out of this a better person. It's not our default thought pattern as humans, but I believe it should be our stance as believers. Job held on, and through that suffering, he came out as pure gold. You can too. The writer of the Hebrews tells us, don't throw away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded. This is what David found. He tells us there was a time when he was struggling. In Psalm 55, he writes, fear and trembling overwhelm me, and I can't stop shaking. Morning, noon, and night, I cry out in my distress, and the Lord hears my voice. Then David says, this can be our experience too. At the end of the Psalm, he writes, give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. And we need to hold on to this. God will never let you slip. So I urge you, brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus is King, and he invites you to come to him for rest. The Bible says, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. You see, faith is a fight. Living for God is a fight, a daily fight, as a matter of fact. And when we're told to fight the good fight of faith, this means there is opposition. There is conflict. There's a resistance that needs to be overcome. There are two opposing sides. And what are these sides at war with each other? Well, Galatians 5, verse 17 says, for the sinful nature has its desire, which is opposed to the spirit, and the desire of the spirit opposes the sinful nature. For these two, the sinful nature and the spirit, are in direct opposition to each other, continually in conflict, so that you, as believers, do not always do whatever good things you want to do. There is a fight between our sinful nature and the spirit of God within us. There is a fight between your will and God's will. There is a fight between your pride and selfishness versus obedience to God's word. When Jesus Christ was on this earth, he only did his father's will. Christ did not live his life as a man according to his own wishes as many of us do. He lived for God. And Jesus Christ is our ultimate example of how to live and die in faith. The question is, what exactly is his example and how do we follow it? First and foremost, Jesus did not live this life according to his own desires. In fact, if you read John 5, it indicates that Jesus did not do anything purely on his own. Rather, he was given all judgment by the father for the express purposes of doing what the father does. The Bible says, then Jesus answered and said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the father do. For whatever he does, the son also does in like manner. Jesus did not follow his own agenda, but his father's agenda. Another aspect of fighting the good fight pertains to the two most important commandments we received from our savior. Love our Lord God with all of our heart, mind and soul, and then love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We exemplify this faith through following these two simple yet difficult commands. I'm sure we can all agree that it's a fight to love your neighbor all the time. There will be times when your neighbor will betray your trust, but you still have to love them. There'll be times when your neighbor will turn their back on you, but you still have to love them. You see, it's a fight to love your neighbor. And even in your own personal relationship with God, it's a fight to spend time in his word. It's a fight to pray consistently. It's a fight to chase holiness because we have to contend with our own sinful nature. But you see, this is the good fight of faith. This is what the fight is all about. Fight the good fight. That's what the Bible tells us, 1 Timothy 6, verse 12. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Dear friend, let me encourage you today to keep on fighting. Keep fighting the good fight of faith. Dear Father, Lord, I pray for the person who's listening and feels as though they have no fight left within them. God, show yourself to be a God who gives strength to the weak. Show yourself to be a God who renews and gives power to the weary. Show yourself to be the God who fights our battles and certainly a God who has never lost a battle. Fill us with boldness and courage. Give us a fighting spirit. Give us a desire to fight in our daily schedules so that we can find time to be with you, to seek you, and to get to know you. Help us, Lord Jesus, and strengthen us. Help us to fight against discouragement. Help us to fight against unbelief. Help us to fight against the lies of the enemy. Good Lord, I pray that you would give us the spiritual endurance required in this battle. Renew our strength so that we can mount up with wings as eagles, so that we can run and not be weary, so that we can walk and not faint. The Bible in Ephesians 6, verse 12 to 13 says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand. Father, in this fight, we trust in you. Come what may from the kingdom of darkness, we put our trust in you. Some may put their trust in horses. Some may put their trust in chariots, but we put our trust in the great name of Jesus Christ. You never forsake your children, Lord. You never abandon those who call on you. And for that, we are grateful. Father, at this time, I pray that each of us would fight to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ in this world, regardless of who's against us, regardless of who's persecuting us. Father, give us the zeal, the strength, the power to declare your gospel with boldness. The Bible tells us to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Help us to spread the good news in a world filled with fear. Birth a fire in our hearts so that we can do all that we can to advance the agenda of the kingdom of heaven. King Jesus, may you increase in our lives as we decrease. May you be exalted and glorified. You are the God who preserves, the God who protects, and he who is always watching over us. Father, when I feel as though I am lacking or when I feel as though I don't have enough, may I be reminded that your word says in Psalm 34 verse 10, the lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. I lack nothing because you are a good shepherd. Your rod and staff, they keep me close and they guide me. Your word says God is not human that he should lie, not a human being that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? It's you, Lord Jesus, that leads me through the valley of the shadow of death. You lead me through it and still offer me peace. You lead me through the valley and even when I am weak and tired, even when I am afraid, you still make it known that you are there. You're a friend that sticks closer than a brother. You are with me as a defender and a strong tower. I bless your name and thank you for your love and kindness. Protect me today and always. I pray that you cover me, Lord Jesus. I thank you for hearing my prayer. I bless your name for being a loving God, a God who looks upon me favorably. Bless me your holy name, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified. And it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. Cast your burden on the Lord and he shall sustain you. He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell and great was the fall of it. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.