KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Sunday, May 20, 2018
Chapters: Psalms 5, 38, 41 & 42
Message: Challenges Awaiting Answers To Prayer
Hello My Friend,
Years ago I prayed for God to send me the man that would be my husband, I was specific in that he be saved and had some characteristics I possessed in my mate. I prayed and prayed and when no answer came I decided that it was just not in God’s will for me so I stopped praying for him all together. Then a few years ago it happened, I met a guy, exactly as I had been praying for, but not exactly, he came with some challenges and while we are crawling at a snails pace in our relationship I have hope because God heard my prayer, and He never forgot it, even when I stopped praying for it. And if He heard that prayer than He hears them all. Well, the heartfelt, sincere prayers anyway. “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” – Mark 11:24.
We all wonder when God delays in giving us things if it is meant to be or why the delay. Yes, while all things are in God’s time, we can delay Him if one, our heart is not right, or two, we are doing something to get in His way. David had a great relationship with God, but after he got caught up in the mess he did with Bathsheba he kind of distanced himself from Him, he was full of guilt over sinning against Him that he could not face Him. It took for him to be in the position where he was once in danger of his life again that he realized it was time to renew his relationship with Him.
“To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.” – Psalm 5:1-3,6-8.
“in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” I use to say this prayer every morning before I began to pray, in fact, I use to recite many of the Psalms as I prayed because they showed God that I believed and had hope that if He saw David through that He will see me through. Of course, I still pray in the morning, but sometimes my prayers are not as heartfelt as they use to be when I first started living my life through Christ. Life itself has a way of lessening our passion for not only serving God, but walking with Him as we use to, and even praying like we use to. When we get this way it can feel like God has walked away and forgotten about us, and then we find ourselves at His mercies, pleading with Him to help us.
“I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee. My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me. For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me. For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.” – Psalm 38:8-10,15-17,21-22.
“O my God, be not far from me.” I does feel like God is far away when we are being afflicted and or not hearing answers from Him, but we must not forget that He never leaves nor forsakes us. We are the ones who distance ourselves from Him, we are the ones who give up on Him answering our prayers, and it is these things that do hinder Him from giving us what we desire. However, He is our hope, and just like He never forsakes us, He never forgets our prayers, when we get our heart right and start trusting Him the answered prayers will start pouring down like rain. Trust me, it happens, and when it does you get so overwhelmed that you just know something bad is going to happen. “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:24-28.
“to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Remember, sometimes God will place affliction in our lives so that He can fulfill a purpose for our lives. Hindered prayer can often be a result of our not letting Him help us through our affliction. Let me tell you, we are going to mess up, more times than we care to count, it is because life itself is too heavy for us to bare on our own. Jesus is the only one who can turn our mess into something that has meaning to it, the only who can give us rest through the mess, the only one who can enlighten us as we face the challenges of the mess, and the only one who can give us the strength to endure the mess and eventually seeing the message. Once you belong to Christ He will uphold us in all we encounter.
“To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.” – Psalm 41:1-4,9-13.
“thou upholdest me in mine integrity,” Uphold; To support; to sustain; to keep from falling or slipping. We may be sinners, and still do some sinful things, but God will only let us go so far because we are one with Christ. The second we receive Christ as our Saviour we are a new creature, that means our actions and lives change for the better, even through the obstacles, the challenges, the chastening, and the trials. Of course, obstacles weaken our spirit and our soul cries out to Jesus when it feels sick inside, remember, salvation saves the soul, it does not erase the hurt, only Jesus can do that as we walk with Him, talk with Him.
“To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” – Psalm 42:1-4,11.
“O God. My soul thirsteth for God,” When we feel like God is not hearing us and that our circumstances will never change we lose that peace within our soul, and even though we may be saved that does not help our soul feel better when we fell He is not with us. You know, our hope truly is with God, and if we talk to Him He will help us through our obstacles. God loves us, but if we are not asking Him for the help He will let us fend for ourselves until we come to Him. We often hinder God because we simply do not ask, but as soon as we go to Him that is when He will do a great work. Nothing is impossible with God, we just have to keep believing that. I might be challenged as God guides my relationship, with my guy, but I know exactly why, we both need some work, He is preparing us to be husband and wife so that it will not only last, he will be the center of the relationship. It is just the waiting that is hard, but even that can bring joy when we trust Him. “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” – II Peter 1:4-7.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.” – Psalm 5:2.
Today’s Prayer: God, When we are constantly praying and seeking answers from You when facing the challenges You bring to us, it can be trying on our mind, spirit, and body, so much so that it disquiets our soul, we feel hopeless, powerless, and weak, and all it takes for us to fall into sin is to have a sick soul. O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, He is health to my soul, my spirit, and mind, and my bones. Lord, I will praise You through every challenge, when I feel weak and feeble lead, me to the Rock that is higher than me, let me stand upon Him as You uphold my integrity. I know You will not let me fall off the edge, give me Your power, strength, wisdom, guidance, mercy, and grace to break through, for You are my rest. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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