God Is On Your Side

 

The Lord sustains all who fall

And raises up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to You.

And You give them their food in due time.

You open Your hand

And satisfy the desires of every living thing.

The Lord is righteous in all His ways

And kind in all His deeds.

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,

To all who call upon Him in truth.

He will fulfill the desires of those who fear Him;

He will also hear their cry and will save them.

Psalm 145:14-19

God completely cares for us.  When we are down He lifts us up.  He meets our needs.  And, He is kind to us.

When we call on God, He hears and answers.

We are never left alone, because God is always with us.  

Trust God, He is on your side. 

Speak Up

 

Open your mouth for the mute,

For the rights of the unfortunate.

Open your mouth, judge righteously,

And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.

Proverbs 31:8-9

Did you ever see something happen that you thought was unfair and did not say anything?  I have.  Afterwards I got a double whammy of discomfort caused by witnessing an injustice and doing nothing to stop it. 

Why don’t we speak up?  Are afraid of being told to “mind your own business” or being ridiculed?  If we think about what Jesus would do, there is no doubt that He would intervene.   

Speak up.  It is the right thing to do.

Comfort Those Who Are Suffering

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

God’s comfort brings us peace in the worst of times. Because we have this great gift from God, we are able to comfort those who are suffering.

Comfort, like all the gifts we receive from God, is ours to give away.

A Place of Forgiveness and Grace

 

And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 

Romans 11:23

How far from the grace of God can someone fall? 

Atheists say there is no God and agnostics are unsure if there is a God.  Yet, for atheists and agnostics even in their state of unbelief and uncertainty, God is waiting to restore them to the place He has for them – a place of forgiveness and grace. God never stops loving anyone.

We are His and He is waiting.

Be Kind To Seekers

 

So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. 

 

Luke 11:9-10

 

Seekers are everywhere. 

Jesus knows that people take all sorts of routes to find Him.  Some come to God after exploring other religions and some have a lifetime of struggling with different ideas and beliefs before they reach out to Jesus.  Some come because they want more out of life, but they are not sure what that more is. 

Our call is not to trample these people because of their ideas, but to lead them with kindness to knock on the door where Jesus waits.

 

Be kind to seekers.

Now Is The Time

 

And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain—for He says, “At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.”  

 

Behold now is “the acceptable time,” behold now is “the day of salvation." 

 

2 Corinthians 6:1-2

We are spiritual beings.  God made us this way.  To be all that we can be we need a relationship with God.  God made it easy for us.  He sent His Son, Jesus, to cleanse us of our sin and make us into new people in Him.  All we need to do is acknowledge Jesus as our Lord, Master and Savior, and we are redeemed and we rest in God’s favor.

Now is the time.

The Apostles Did It, We Can, Too

 

For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.

We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ, we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.

To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

1 Corinthians 4:9-13

So, you think you are having a bad day? The Apostle Paul gives us a glimpse of what every day was like for the apostles. Yes, they had their church friends, but they also had a world full of enemies who killed all of them except John the Beloved.

What does this teach us? It teaches us that it is not always easy to be a Christian and to act in a Christ like manner. It teaches us that even when we do what is right, there will be people who will criticize and torment us for doing the right thing.

And, should we do something wrong, there will be people who know nothing of the forgiveness of God, who will yell at us and gossip about our shortcomings.

All this stuff happens, but we know our faith rests in God and that we are called by God to do His work. Therefore, we keep on working for God and sharing the Gospel.

If Paul and the apostles did it, we can, too.