The Lord is My Strength
By David J. Stewart | January
2018
Psalms 138:3, “In the day when I cried thou answeredst me,
and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.”
What a beautiful Scripture!
One thing that every born-again believer learns quickly as a child of God,
is that the Lord is our strength. That is, the indwelling Holy Spirit is our
permanent companion, comforter, teacher and guide. The Holy Spirit is
literally God in us. John 16:13, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth,
is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of
himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew
you things to come.” John 14:16, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.” The
unsaved person turns to booze, sex, drugs, possessions, entertainment and
other vices to find temporary escape from their miseries and problems in
life; but as Christians we have “the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, [that] shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”
(Philippians 4:7).
Psalms 27:1, “The LORD is my light and my
salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom
shall I be afraid?” What a savior. God is more than amazing!!! Psalms
145:3b, “AND HIS GREATNESS IS UNSEARCHABLE!”
I never forgot a wonderful truth
that I learned many years ago, when I read the following passage of
Scripture. Jesus “IS” our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and
redemption!!! Therefore, we ought always glory in the Lord, for apart from
Him we have none of these blessings. ...
1st Corinthians
1:26-31, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God
chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
These are the believer's happy thoughts! “We have the mind of Christ”
(1st Corinthians 2:16). God has imputed (credited) Christ's perfect
righteousness to us, by faith (Romans 10:3-4; Philippians 3:9; Romans
4:5-6). We have been sanctified, declared holy and set apart unto God as
priests, because our sins have been forever washed away by the blood of
Christ. Hebrews 10:10, “By the which will we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” We have been
redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God (1st Peter
1:18-19). Thank you Lord!
In the Old Testament, Israel had many enemies,
amongst whom were the Amalekites. The Bible says the Amalekites invaded
southern Israel and kidnapped the women and children. Women the Jews
found out that their loved one's had been taken captivity, wondering
what was going to happen to them, the people wept until they had no more
power to weep the Bible says, and they thought of killing David (1st
Samuel 30:1-5). But the Bible says David encouraged himself in the Lord.
1st Samuel 30:6, “And David was greatly distressed; for the people
spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved,
every man for his sons and for his daughters: but
David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” What a
beautiful truth!!!
Life is what happens to us when we're making
big plans! Proverbs 27:1, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou
knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Anything and everything
will happen to us in life. The difference between yesterday and tomorrow
is today. Ecclesiastes 9:11 says that “time and chance
happeneth to them all.” I easily remember that Scriptures because of
the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. Many people
died that day, who normally weren't at the World Trade Center. And
likewise, many people's lives were spared, who didn't go to work for one
reason or another, and they lived to see another day. It was all time
and chance! I do not believe that God makes everything happen for a
reason, as some people claim, because then that would mean we do not
have a freewill. I do believe that nothing can happen outside of God's
permissive will. That is, nothing can happen unless God allows it, but
that doesn't necessarily means that He wanted it to happen.
I do believe that everything happens for a
reason. It may be that someone was careless. It may be that a deadly
mishap was truly an accident (but something caused it). It may be that
someone did something evil, or something horrible happened as a result
of our morally crumbling American civilization. We live in a world of
laws—laws of gravity, laws of physics, the reciprocating law of life
(reaping and sowing), mother-in-laws (just kidding), manmade laws and
God's laws. When laws are not respected, bad things oftentimes happen.
If you jump off a building, the law of gravity means you will get hurt
or die. Truthfully, we live in a fallen world, since the fall of man in
the Garden of Eden (Romans 5:12). Mankind is vulnerable and susceptible
to all forms of harm, pain and evil. No matter how much we may trust God
and live right, we cannot escape this evil and troublesome world.
The Lord Gives Us Strength to Cope With
Tragedy and Painful Memories
I
have read horrible accounts of foreign Baptist missionaries being
savagely attacked. The wife is gang raped. The husband is held down and
beaten. Sometimes they are murdered for taking a stand for the Lord,
against crime being committed in the local community. Evildoers often
take revenge. It is unjust and a crime, but they don't care. I have read
of such awful accounts happening in India, Mexico, Africa, and other
parts of this wicked world (1st John 5:19). You're never completely
“safe” anywhere on this planet. A woman is always of risk of being raped
when she is alone anywhere. Ladies especially need to always stay in a
group for her own safety. You never know what someone is thinking, and
the Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Never forget that
although you may enjoy a sweet fellowship with the Lord in your soul,
most people in this world do not even know Jesus, and some people are
consumed with evil in their heart. Anybody is capable of anything under
the right circumstances! Matthew 10:16, “Behold, I send you forth as
sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and
harmless as doves.”
If anything like this has ever happened to
you, I am sorry that you had to suffer such things. Granted, we've all
suffered painful experiences and horrible memories that we wish we could
erase from our mind, but all we can do is place them into God's hands.
That is the only sensible and biblical way to deal with life's
heartaches. That is why I wrote this article, to encourage you to look
to God for strength. The Holy Bible contains literally
THOUSANDS of promises from God to man. My joy as a Christian comes
from dwelling upon the promises of God in His eternal Word. This earthly
life is temporal, but God promises to give “eternal life” to anyone and
everyone who believes on Jesus Christ. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” The
only type of life which God gives is “everlasting life.” There is no
separate doctrine in the Bible of assurance of salvation. They are one
in the same. The person who has eternal life is eternally secure in the
Father's arms and hands. There is no such thing as someone who “used” to
be saved.
No matter what bad things may have happened to
you in life, or may happen to you down the road, you have the blessed
hope of a better life in eternity with the Lord. Romans 8:32-34, “He
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”
That is one of my favorite passages of Scripture, and promises, from
God's Word. If God was willing to sacrifice His only begotten Son to pay
for our sins, and He did on the cross, then how much more shall God the
Father give us ALL THINGS as His redeemed children! Amen, sounds great
to me!!!
And also, notice the blessed promise in Romans
8:33-34, letting us know that NO ONE can accuse us of anything, because
our sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus. Yes, we will be
held accountable at the Judgment Seat of Christ for the sins that we
commit as Christians, and chastised if need be as His children (2nd
Corinthians 5:10-11); but we will never be punished for our sins,
because Christ took the weight of our sins upon Himself on Calvary's
cross (John 3:18; John 3:36). I choose not to focus on the horrible
things that mean people have done to me throughout my life. I choose not
to dwell upon the awful things that selfish and self-centered people
have done to hurt me in my lifetime (and there are many).
Have Faith in God
I choose instead to dwell upon the PROMISES of
God. Philippians 3:21 promises me a new body, fashioned like unto the
Lord's glorified body. John 16:22 promises me that when Jesus returns,
He will make everything right and “your joy no man taketh from you”
ever again. People often rob us of our joy, and we have to mentally
counsel our self, thinking about some Bible truths, to get our soul back
on track. I have to do that often. That is what God wants us to do, that
is, turn to the Scriptures for comfort, answers and hope to deal with
our troubles and pain. To realize the worth of the anchor we need to
feel the storm. We cannot swim upstream until we've first been
downstream! We cannot climb the mountain until we've been in the valley.
True sweetness can only be experienced by those who have endured great
pain and suffering.
If you have been through more than your share
of heartaches and suffering in life, then rejoice that you can know a
special closeness to God that others simply cannot fathom. No one
appreciates the depth of God's riches and grace, as much as those who
have the greatest sins, failures and sorrows of soul. If you have
suffered horribly my friend, know that you are not alone, for Christ
Jesus Himself (the sinless Lamb of God) was spit upon, stripped naked in
shame, beaten beyond human recognition, and nailed unclothed to a cross
as a spectacle for the world to behold. Jesus knows what it feels like
to be betrayed by one of His own, and to be forsaken by all His
disciples, and to be ridiculed by the very people He gave His life to
help. The Jews mocked Him, doubted Him and rejoiced as He hung dying
upon the cross. Oh my friend, Jesus suffered the shame and horror of the
cross to pay for the world's sins, for your sins and mine! What a
precious Savior!!!
God is our strength in times of peace and
trouble. Most people only run to God when things go bad in life, and our
gracious God will always be there for the humble in spirit. But for
those who walk with God during the good times, it makes it much more
sweeter knowing God during the rough times. Let go, let God! There are
going to be times in life, when it seems like there is no simple answer.
I have been there time and time again, feeling like nothing would ever
get better, and that God was ignoring me when I prayed. I am convinced
that this is normal, a part of the testing of our faith. I have a
Scriptural basis for this conclusion, as we learn in Luke 18:1-8 in the
parable of the unjust judge, that God seems to ignore us when we pray to
test our faith. Ah, but my friend, God is not ignoring us to be mean or
because He doesn't care; but rather, because importunity pleases God. It
pleases God when we hang in there, consistent in our faith, trusting Him
as did Job, who exclaimed in Job 13:15, “Though he slay me, yet will
I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.”
Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
We must trust God's promise in His Word that
He hears the prayers of the righteous. 1st Peter 3:12, “For the eyes
of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their
prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” If
you are saved and living for the Lord, He promises to hear your prayers.
Granted, everyone sins, even the best Christians (Romans 7:14-25). So
please don't think that God is not answering your prayers because you
are still a sinner. To the same degree that we allow deliberate sin to
reign in our lives, our prayers will be hindered. Pride hinders prayer
(James 4:6). I decided years ago that I am simply going to pray about
everything as the Bible commands (Philippians 4:6-7), and trust God to
do whatever He knows is best. It doesn't matter if I see visible answers
to my prayers or not, because trust means walking by faith and not by
sight. I trust my wonderful God!!!
END OF ARTICLE
Some Great Quotes...
“Anyone who thinks that
he can find the errors in the AV (as Origen found them in the Hebrew Old
Testament) and then, after correcting 64,000 of them (that is the number
of changes found in the NIV and NASV), still cannot produce an inerrant
'Bible,' is not in anyone’s 'humility' bracket. They BOAST ABOUT THEIR
ABILITY TO CORRECT GOD ALMIGHTY.”
—Dr. Peter S. Ruckman, “The
Mythological Septuagint,” page 60.
"[You] little bunch of
pantywaist, mama-called, papa-fed, seminary-bred, preachers running
around the country, can't preach their way out of a wet papersack, that
haven't got any courage at all. ... You sorry rascal you!"
—Dr. Jack Hyles
"Most of the time in
the Christian life, you're going to have to decide what the will of God
is" —Pastor Jack
Hyles, a great quote from the MP3 sermon, "The Way The Apostle Paul
Found The Will Of God"
"The way to find the will of God is to walk closely with your God."
—Pastor Jack Hyles, a great quote from the MP3 sermon, "How The Apostle
Paul Found The Will Of God."
"There are a lot of
people that just need somebody to care. That's all! A warm
hand—listen—You'll never know. You'll never know in your life, how hard
it is for somebody that's gone into deep sin, to come back to church and
get right! You'll never know!"
—Pastor Jack Hyles, a
quote from the great MP3 sermon, "A Smoking Flax Shall He Not Quench"
(preached in 1986).
"Don't give up on
anybody, there's a flicker in them!"
—Pastor Jack Hyles, a
quote from the great MP3 sermon, "A Smoking Flax Shall He Not
Quench" (preached in 1986).
“A man can slip into
hell with his hand on the door-knob of heaven”
—Evangelist Billy Sunday
“Lord God if this
school out here [Bob Jones University] ever compromises, send an
earthquake and shake these buildings into powder and dust. Don’t ever
let it stand here and encumber the earth and curse it by robbing people
of faith in the Word of God. Hear us in this prayer and keep us doing
all the things we pray in the precious Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. (How Shall Ye Believe? – Bob Jones, Sr.)
"Great opportunities to
help others seldom come, but small ones surround us everyday."
- Sally Koch
“Courage doesn’t mean
you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.”
—Bethany Hamilton
"When students studying
for the Ministry of the Christian religion can have the TRUTH withheld
from them, and ordained ministers, who learn the TRUTH can be forced by
their superiors to keep silence, the Devil has made tremendous strides
in developing the Luciferian conspiracy towards its final goal."
—Satan: Prince Of This
World, by Commander William Guy Carr, p. 43.
This website has been
created in Jesus' name—the name above every other name (Philippians
2:9-10).
“...Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,
saith the LORD of hosts.”
—Zechariah 4:6
Using the
internet to bring truth and Christ to a lost world!
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