The Holy One calls to me this morning. Man's ingenuity is amazing and enables us to communicate with each other in real time. Word travels around the globe at amazing speed and we know what is going on within seconds of a major event.
Not only do we get to share the best of what is going on in each other's lives, we also can share the struggles we face and trials that come along with the journey here on planet earth. It seems that trials bigger than our personal ability to control them are being shared and in that I find countless opportunities to pray without ceasing. I cherish these opportunities provided not to feel the pain they represent but to come to know the Great I AM as I cry out for Him to intervene in our sorrows.
The Holy One speaks to one such prayer need: "Remember My precedents".
Not too long ago, the Lord started weaving me into His word, after He had spent most of my life weaving His word into me. I began to see myself and my family's struggles on each and every page. It is as if His word was written just for me.
I learned that our God is the God of "precedents". By that I realize all the amazing stories in the Old testament of His power and Presence in the lives of the ancients speak of what we can ask for and expect Him to do today. These are the things He has already done and are written for us as a model of what He will do again.
In the Old Testament, God:
Healed the sick: 2 Kings 20
Raised the dead: I Kings 17
Provided children from a barren womb: I Samuel 1
Ended slavery: Exodus 14
Brought His people to a land flowing with milk and honey (good provisions) Deut 6
Arranged for the rescue of kidnapped children: I Samuel 30
Traveled as a Presence with His people: Exodus 33
Protected His people from vicious curses and witchcrafted oppression: Numbers 23
The list goes on and on. Then we see in the New Testament as recorded in the Gospels, where Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, built upon those precedents and even more, set up the model of resurrection life after death. As He departed for His rightful place of honor, He gave us permission and privilege to ask, seek and knock for what our world needs so that in the answers provided, God the Father will be glorified.
Trials are designed to bring us to the end of ourselves. Trials are designed to draw us to the One who Sovereignly controls all things and even our next breath. Trials are designed to test our faith in God and His word. Trials are designed to stretch our patience, strengthen our endurance and challenge our relationship of love, loyalty and trust in the One who died in our place. In all our trials we can be sure that He is preparing us for an eternity in His Presence, and that the trials are a necessary part of that preparation.
So the question is: What are we facing today that is so different than the situations we can read about that the Lord has already provided with His answers to human suffering?
Habakkuk was a prophet of old who saw the problems vexing his world and in his day. Conditions were not unlike the ones we are facing in ours. As I look around, see the needs and remember the precedents of His past actions, The Holy One takes me to his prayer and I make it my own:
"Lord, I have heard of Your fame.
I stand in awe of your deeds, Oh Lord.
Renew them in our day
In our time, make them known" Habakkuk 3
I find that remembering God's precedents provides hope for the trials that come in each new day.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
Not only do we get to share the best of what is going on in each other's lives, we also can share the struggles we face and trials that come along with the journey here on planet earth. It seems that trials bigger than our personal ability to control them are being shared and in that I find countless opportunities to pray without ceasing. I cherish these opportunities provided not to feel the pain they represent but to come to know the Great I AM as I cry out for Him to intervene in our sorrows.
The Holy One speaks to one such prayer need: "Remember My precedents".
Not too long ago, the Lord started weaving me into His word, after He had spent most of my life weaving His word into me. I began to see myself and my family's struggles on each and every page. It is as if His word was written just for me.
I learned that our God is the God of "precedents". By that I realize all the amazing stories in the Old testament of His power and Presence in the lives of the ancients speak of what we can ask for and expect Him to do today. These are the things He has already done and are written for us as a model of what He will do again.
In the Old Testament, God:
Healed the sick: 2 Kings 20
Raised the dead: I Kings 17
Provided children from a barren womb: I Samuel 1
Ended slavery: Exodus 14
Brought His people to a land flowing with milk and honey (good provisions) Deut 6
Arranged for the rescue of kidnapped children: I Samuel 30
Traveled as a Presence with His people: Exodus 33
Protected His people from vicious curses and witchcrafted oppression: Numbers 23
The list goes on and on. Then we see in the New Testament as recorded in the Gospels, where Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, built upon those precedents and even more, set up the model of resurrection life after death. As He departed for His rightful place of honor, He gave us permission and privilege to ask, seek and knock for what our world needs so that in the answers provided, God the Father will be glorified.
Trials are designed to bring us to the end of ourselves. Trials are designed to draw us to the One who Sovereignly controls all things and even our next breath. Trials are designed to test our faith in God and His word. Trials are designed to stretch our patience, strengthen our endurance and challenge our relationship of love, loyalty and trust in the One who died in our place. In all our trials we can be sure that He is preparing us for an eternity in His Presence, and that the trials are a necessary part of that preparation.
So the question is: What are we facing today that is so different than the situations we can read about that the Lord has already provided with His answers to human suffering?
Habakkuk was a prophet of old who saw the problems vexing his world and in his day. Conditions were not unlike the ones we are facing in ours. As I look around, see the needs and remember the precedents of His past actions, The Holy One takes me to his prayer and I make it my own:
"Lord, I have heard of Your fame.
I stand in awe of your deeds, Oh Lord.
Renew them in our day
In our time, make them known" Habakkuk 3
I find that remembering God's precedents provides hope for the trials that come in each new day.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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