I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
My God is worthy of praise. When I call on Him, he will save me because of his love and grace. This gives me great hope and courage.
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I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
My God is worthy of praise. When I call on Him, he will save me because of his love and grace. This gives me great hope and courage.
From yesterday’s entry in the Daily in Christ devotional from Neil Anderson:
The early church didn’t pray for “divine appointments;” they prayed for boldness. God’s kingdom can only be established by faithful and courageous people. (Full text)
I, for one, want God’s Kingdom to advance on Earth and not only that: I want to be a part of it. But I also, very often, feel weak and unable to be strong.
I think it is probably human nature to be cowardly. It’s easy and it’s natural to avoid confrontation and be silent when something needs to be said. It’s hard to take risks, it’s hard to put yourself out there and be exposed to the possibility of rejection.
How then can we be “faithful, courageous people”? How can we be bold to speak the truth?
Paul, in his letter to Timothy, wrote these words, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord.” (1 Timothy 1:7-8a, NLT)
In Acts 1:8, Jesus told his early followers, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere[...]”
The answer is that we become bold, courageous people not when we develop more will-power, but when we yield to and have greater faith in God’s Holy Spirit within us.
This process seems somewhat esoterical, but it really isn’t. In my experience, walking in the Holy Spirit by faith simply means we say, “God, you have given me boldness so I will live boldly. You have given me courage, so I will have courage.” Then, when we in faith take that first step of boldness or that first step of courage God comes through and empowers us to follow through.
2 Corinthians 12:9 is encouraging to me as I work through these things myself. God told Paul as he wrestled with his weakness that, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” As I am weak, it gives God opportunity to show His power in me. And that is a really beautiful thing.
I read this today and wanted to share. I love how David really knew and constantly recognized God as the only true source of joy and satisfaction. I need the reminder so often.
Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me
Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live.
4 There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy.
I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!
5 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!
Every once in a while you have those times where it seems like the things you depend on are crumbling. There’s this fear and anticipation that can become pretty heavy. In some ways I’m facing one of those times.
This passage was really comforting for me this morning.
1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
from this time forth and forevermore.
Not much to comment on here, other than it blows my mind still that the Almighty God would care for me, yet He has and He does. Simultaneously the most humbling and confidence-building truth I know.