Adonai Shalom, we are thankful for all Your blessings, goodness, and kindness towards us. We are thankful for all the people in our lives who make our life meaningful, accountable, and beautiful. Thank You for watching over us every single day. Let Your blessings be upon everyone today and the days ahead. Father God, continue to lead/guide us with Your limitless grace and sustain us with Your immeasurable mercy. And for our every precious loved one who is celebrating this day in Your presence–though our hearts yearn for their presence to be with us, I humbly asked that You keep our hearts, minds, spirits, and souls at peace, strengthened, and comforted. As it stand there is coming a time when we all will be reunited back to one another very soon! Holy Spirit have Your way today. In Jesus’, the only reason we can be forever grateful name, Amen and Amen!
No matter how difficult and consuming life becomes, God’s prayer house is always open. I truly believe in the power of prayer because I am a product of prayer. In fact, we are ALL a product of prayer. So, please join me as I pray for myself and every person that reads this prayer petition today and in the upcoming days to come!
Isaiah 43:16, “Thus says the LORD, Who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters…”
From the verse above we see that God introduces Himself as the God who makes a way. This is a very special verse and message for me because God is presently showing me that He will make a way as I continue to process the absence and second birth of my embryonic twin brother!
The Lord is emphasizing to me that despite the difficulty of my present sufferings and despite the options that looks limited in the natural, God is a God who makes a way; even when there seems to be no way. What a blessed truth!
At the point of our text in 586 BC, the Israelites found themselves exiled in Babylonia; their temple and homes destroyed. As the years in exile became many decades, the great question that burned in the hearts of the Israelites was ‘is the situation hopeless?’ ‘Is there a way out of this impossible and difficult time?’ ‘Is there a way home?’ The Israelites’ faith was reaching a breaking point until God stepped in and spoke. He starts in Isaiah 43 verse 15 by saying ‘I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.’ He begins by reminding them that He is YAHWEH – the great I AM! The self existent, active, ever present God.
In short, while in their captive state, God reminds Israel of their past. Here are three things He brings to their remembrance:
God led them away from trouble (Exodus 13:17-18).
God led them to a dead-end (Exodus 14:1-3).
God made a way where there was no way (Exodus 14:13-14).
So, if you are presently in a captive state and you are wandering where is God; look no further. God is with you and with no way back and no way forward, God does what God does best – The impossible! Charles Spurgeon said, “The Lord will make a way for you where no foot has gone before. That which, like a sea, threatens to drown you it will be a highway for your escape.”
Philippians 4:19, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Brothers and Sisters, matter how bad it gets out here in this cruel and wicked world continue to lean on God. God will work it out. The scripture above reminds that God will supply every need! You may not know how He will supply it, but please, trust that He will work it out. If no one got your back, I can unequivocally assure you God’s got your back! In fact, He is actively working it out! So, rely on Him and do your best to leave the rest in God’s able hands. God is able! God will work it out!
For starters, I still can’t believe God called you home on 4/17/22 and not to mention today makes 7 months since your spiritual departure.
That being said my beloved embryo Twin, I fanatically miss you like crazy. Not a day has passed by that I haven’t spoken to you in my prayers! Not a day has passed by where a tear drop didn’t fall! Not a day has passed by where I haven’t called out to God for healing, comfort, peace, and strength for ALL of your family and friends temporarily left behind!
I am not going to lie, it still hurts like hell, but one thing that brings me peace is knowing that you are with our Triune God and that Jesus is coming back sooner than we expect. I also find comfort in 2 Peter 3:8 because Peter tells us that, “a day is like thousand years and thousands years is like one day.” Which simply means that 7 months for us is still one day for you my baby!
NoNo, death may have taken your body, but our Abba Father reclaimed your soul. My mind holds every memory, my heart preserves our perennial love, and my preserving/enduring faith reminds daily that we will meet again (2 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
PS. I still have to tell my self that you are out town going about God’s business!! I love you baby!
We live in a world that is full speed ahead all the time. It is so easy to get caught up in our daily lives doing what we do: going to work, shuttling kids, running errands, and all the other responsibilities that we have. We live in a society that promotes self-reliance and the idea that we should be “Wonder Woman” or “Superman” and not need anyone. On a side bar, if I was to be a “superhero”, I’d prefer to be Hancock…just sayin!
That being said, the constant pressures of life and society make it so easy to forget that we NEED GOD EVERY MINUTE of our lives. We get so caught up trying to juggle everything ourselves and unfortunately, we forget to rely on Him. It’s no wonder we often feel exhausted and at our wits’ end when life keeps piling it on. We need God and inarguably everyone of us needs Jesus every day.
So, if you have been carrying life’s burdens on your own and haven’t been mindful of how much you need God lately, don’t despair. It happens sometimes, and thankfully we serve an awesome, loving God who gives us a fresh slate every day. Lamentations 3:22-23 confirms, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness”.
Leaning on God is simply put, the act of relying on God. It’s not running ahead without seeking His wisdom, guidance, favor, grace, strength, comfort, and peace. It’s bringing every need, every joy, every pain, every little thing, and laying them at His feet and the foot of the cross. It’s inviting Him into every single aspect of our lives. To lean on God requires us to trust God and let Him redeem our past, present, and future.
So how do you lean and cleave to God? That’s a great question and I am glad you asked.
Here are a few tools to keep in your spiritual toolbox:
Remind yourself of God’s promises and remind God of His promises (Hebrews 13:5-6 and Isaiah 43:26)
Take control of your thoughts. Your mind is where some of the biggest battles you’ll ever fight are waged (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Another bit of good news to lean and cleave to is found in Deuteronomy 31:8 and the scripture declares, “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed”
Leaning on God is something that we as Christians must practice every day, but especially when life is overwhelming. We need Him to be our strength, to go before us, and yes to carry us when life is just too hard and we want to tap out. We can’t make it on our own! Why would anyone desire to walk this journey alone when we can have the One who spoke everything into existence by our side ready and willing to provide for every need known and unknown!
Beloved, if this message speaks to the core of your spirit and you’re on the verge of tapping out, I want to encourage you to lean and cleave to Almighty God!
Do you remember the parable of the talents written in Matthew 25:14-30?
Jesus tells the story of a rich master who has three servants. He gives three of servants a specific amount of money referred to as talents and possibly talents of gold, based upon that man’s ability to steward and care for the money. The first servant is given five talents, the second is given two talents and the third is given one. The master told them to care for his money while he journeyed abroad and the first two servants used the talents to trade and gain profit. They returned to their master with double the talents! The third servant was fearful (faithless) and hid the one talent he was entrusted with, returning just one talent to his master. The master scolded him saying that he should have invested the money and received interest in lieu of doing nothing!
Whether you read Matthew’s account or Luke’s version, each servant is giving a substantial chunk of cash ( approx 3 month’s wages) to invest as they will. This would be similar to one of those reality TV shows where people compete for money to invest in a project, only with a different agenda. In this show, one boss brings several employees into a room, gives them each cash, and tells them to invest to grow his corporation. The one who gets the biggest return on investment gets the big promotion.
Essentially, this is what happened in Matthew 25:28. Jesus said the master took the one talent the servant buried and he gave it to the servant that who had the ten talents…the big promotion!!
Beloved, when we are faithful in the little things we become strong in spite of fear, adversity, turmoil, ambiguity, pain, disease, and/or any unpleasant circumstances. As it stands, we all want to here these words written in Matthew 25:23, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master!”
When everyone turns their back on you, God is there. When you are down to your last 2 dollars, God is there. When you feel like I do broken because of the absence of a loved one, God is there. When you feel like you’re losing your mind, God is there.
If you can relate, I got good news for you. Philippians 4:19 promises us that, “God [our provider] will supply all of our needs according to the glorious riches in Christ Jesus!”
What a wonderful reminder to have when our lives are unstable and literally turned upside down.
God is known as Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides. And one of the earliest stories of God’s limitless provisions unfolds when God asks Abraham to offer his promised son Isaac as a sacrifice (Genesis 22:1-19). Abraham’s willingness to do as God asked not only deepened his trust in God, but it also furthered his character development.
As they made the ascent, Issac asked his daddy a question after the wood for the burnt offering was placed on his shoulders while Abraham carried the fire and the knife. Issac turned to his daddy and asked him where is the sheep? To which, Abraham replied God will provide the sheep (Genesis 22:6-8).
How did he know that??? God must have sent him a private DM or something…
However, once they made it to the location, Abraham placed Isaac on the altar, and as he drew the knife back to slay him, God called out and told him not to harm his son but instead to offer a ram (sheep) caught in a brush pile as the sacrifice (Genesis 22:9). Two went up and two came back down!
You see, Abraham’s story began when God called him out of his country, away from his family, to settle in a land he didn’t know (Genesis 12). He literally took a step forward on a journey not knowing where he was going. He simply went in the direction God told him. Over his life, Abraham learned many hard lessons about obeying God. This instance was one of the greatest acts of obedience in which he responded promptly and followed through completely. He learned to trust that God always provides.
Philippians 4:19, our verse today, serves as a personal promise we can hold onto when life’s journey brings painful challenges, heart breaking struggles, and unwanted disappointments.
When we find ourselves in a place we don’t understand, without provision, Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord, our provider, will give us what we need. It may not arrive when we think we need it, but whatever we have need of, God always gives in His perfect time.
4GIVEN 