Resting In The Shadow Of The Almighty
Are We Taking On More Responsibly And Cares Than God Ever Intended For Us To Take On?
When I saw this photo, I immediately thought of all those times when I ran ahead of the Lord, and had taken on far more responsibility than He ever intended that I should take on.
Then, I thought of all those other times when I "Thought" I had given my troubles, concerns and worries over to the Lord, only to soon discover that I had actually taken those heavy burdens back again, burdens that I was never meant to carry in the first place.
Read here in Matthew 11:28-30, what Jesus has to say to those who are His spiritual children about carrying heavy burdens.
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
So, let's us immediately come to Jesus with our burdens, lay them at the foot of His cross, leave them there and find rest for our weary souls.
When we see our children struggling to carry heavy and unnecessary burdens, we pray that they would turn to us for help, how much more then, does our Lord Jesus desire to help us?
God Alone Is My Refuge, Strength And Fortress. I Will Give My Burdens Over To Him, Where I Will Find His Strength, Rest And Peace.
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm, 91:1).
Chaplain Mike
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PRAYER: Father, I am so tired. I'm reaching out to you, now, for the strength that I need to continue down this road. God, you are almighty. There is nothing that you cannot do. I am weak. I cannot do much without you. Take my life, Lord, and do your will with it. I want nothing more. I thank you for the blessings in my life, no matter how small they might seem to some. You have done the greatest works, Lord, with people and things in which this world ordinarily holds little value. Oh God, I am trusting you by cherishing even the most simple things, as evidence that I am not alone on this journey. I see you in my life, through eyes of faith. Even though I am very weary, I am not blind to your presence. Carry me through these trials, Lord. I will not pretend that I can do it without you. I am speaking up, declaring you openly as my Lord and Savior. You ARE my strength! Only you can make me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me your great Salvation. Though I am poor, i am rich. Though I am captive, I am free. I am yours, always. Amen!
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The bad news is that the sky might very well come crashing down on my head. On the other hand, though, if that means I would be a little closer to Heaven; THEN may the clouds take on the density of concrete and hail down a nuclear-like destruction upon me. Such a painful event would be only temporary. Salvation is forever AND more than worth any amount of suffering and perseverance.
Lord, may we all have the strength through you to turn our trials into triumph to glorify you.
"Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you." - Deuteronomy 31:6
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I used to say that "I once was lost, but now I'm found." However, I later understood that I was never LOST. God knew where I was at the entire time. I just wasn't where He wanted me to be, and thankfully He was merciful when I decided to go His way. Up to that point, I was actually LOSING my life by clinging to it. God's way was for me to LOSE my life, so that I would preserve it (Luke 17:33). Of course I'm not talking about physically losing my life. This is a matter of my heart and what it desires. Once I changed my desire to His will, MY life ended. This allowed Christ to start living in me. My faith in Him now helps me to live my life in this body. He loves me. He gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20). My life isn't perfect from a worldly perspective, but Jesus is all that I need.
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The Battle Is Not Ours But The Lord's
As we meet each new day, there will be new battles to fight along the way. I pray we will all keep in mind what the Apostle, Paul, said;
"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Corinthians, 10:4).
When we discover ourselves in the heat of the battle, we are not to stand idly by paralyzed with fear. We are also not to attempt going around our battles, but in the mighty strength of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, we are to go through them knowing He is right there with us (Philippians, 4:13).
The Lord God Says To Those Who Are His
"This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua, 1:9).
"The Battle Is The Lord's" (1 Samuel, 17:47).
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If your heart is full of compassion and desire to help those who are helpless, while you are effectively helpless yourself; THEN be encouraged that your passion expressed through prayer is particularly heard and cherished by God. It is such an unselfish and blessed act, worthy of every treasure that God has in store for you in Heaven. When God performs a miracle as an answer to prayer; I know thata true prayer warrior's voice was heard most throughout His Kingdom. I am thankful, today, to those of you who suffer the most and still spend your days and nights agonizing in prayer on the behalf of others. Your model of joy in selflessness is an inspiration. May the rest of us strive to be as mature and worthy in our prayer lives, should the time ever come for any one of us to be tested as much.----------------------
I have spared little expense in doing what I could for the health, safety, and well being of family, friends, and strangers. Consequently, I COULD easily add that I will NOT likely be able to afford a retirement. Nowadays, I know that I'm not the only one with little chance of retiring. However, I choose NOT to even approach making such a definite forecast about my future. While, indeed, retirement might not come to pass; I would rather not imply bitterness OR regret over such choices that I made along the way. So many of them were made for the right and selfless reasons. Instead, I will continue to do what I have always tried to do in the spirit of what feels right in the sight of God, AND I will only conclude by saying that I REST in knowing that I am vested in an eternal retirement that waits for me in God's Kingdom. I say, "Lord, I will always be in your hands, just as you will always be in my heart. Amen!"Luke 21:1-4 ... "As Jesus looked up, he saw rich people putting their gifts into the temple offering boxes. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 'What I’m about to tell you is true,' Jesus said. 'That poor widow has put in more than all the others. All of those other people gave a lot because they are rich. But even though she is poor, she put in everything. She had nothing left to live on.'
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"... don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - From Matthew 6:34
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