Trust Him

 

1. Only Trust Him
3. Words: John H. Stock­ton, Sal­va­tion Me­lo­dies No. 1 (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Per­kin­pine & Hig­gins, 1874).
4. Music: Trust (Stock­ton) John H. Stock­ton, 1869. Re­frain by Ira D. San­key, 1873
 
5. Come, every soul by sin oppressed,
   There’s mercy with the Lord,
   And He will surely give you rest
   By trusting in His Word.
   • Refrain:
     Only trust Him, only trust Him,
     Only trust Him now;
     He will save you, He will save you,
     He will save you now.
6. For Jesus shed His precious blood
   Rich blessings to bestow;
   Plunge now into the crimson flood
   That washes white as snow.
7. Yes, Jesus is the truth, the way,
   That leads you into rest;
   Believe in Him without delay
   And you are fully blest.
8. Come, then, and join this holy band,
   And on to glory go,
   To dwell in that celestial land
   Where joys immortal flow.

***

Can't beat Alan Jackson's down-home recording of "Only Trust Him:"  

Focus on God's Love

 

A change of perspective occurs when we pray: "Lord, help me to remember the ways You have shown Your love to me today."  This effectively shifts our thoughts from the wrongs we've been dealt by other human beings to the blessings we've been given by the Lord."  

Day 80, 100 Days to Freedom

Loved and Not Alone

 

 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Matthew 28:20 NIV

Yes and Amen!

 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

 2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV 

Rx for Fear of the Future

 

God is at work in the future.  

Instead of giving way to despair when an industrial park is scheduled to build a multimillion dollar facility less than a mile from my son's property and about 5 miles from his childhood home, we can pray. 

The Lord is at work in the future, and, as Matthew Henry says, "The Lord shall prevent the evil thou fearest, and sanctify, remove, or lighten the evil thou feelest."

Father, we trust that You are at work in the future to sculpt events, people, and decisions for our good and Your glory.  We trust Your provision. We trust Your love.  Guide us to needed action, keep us from fruitless fretting, help us to be diligent in prayer, and always Lord, we place our trust in You.  

Thy Will Be Done...

 

When we pray "Thy will be done," we place our trust in God's love. We acknowledge that we trust His wisdom above our own, and that we are willing to leave everything in His hands.  

The phrase "...thy will be done" comes from the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, commonly known as The Lord's Prayer.  

There is great peace in resting in God's vision and knowledge where our own can't reach.  

Prayer:  Father, we are weary of striving and exhausted from clinging to the right to make our own decisions about how our lives will unfold.  We surrender our rights to the certainty of Your perfect love, power, mercy, and grace. We trust You.  Thy will be done.  

How to Direct Our Efforts

 

Ahead of organizing our closets, making healthier meal plans, or any other resolution for positive change: focus on God's love. 

Dear Lord, we take our eyes from the material things that distract us, and we turn our eyes to You.  Thank You for loving us right where we are. May we follow You in obedience to Your will and not our own. In Jesus' Name we pray, amen. 

Those the Lord Chooses

Pray First

 

Go in the Strength You Have

Set a Guard Over My Mouth!

 

The Ones God Gives

 

My grandparents were married on this date 100 years ago today. I took some time this morning to honor them with a tribute posted on Facebook. I texted my cousin and we shared memories of our childhood. I indulged feelings of homesickness.  

God provides us companions for our earth journey and He intends us to live in community. However, if we consider our earthly roots to be evidence of where we truly belong, we have forgotten that we are only sojourners here and Heaven is our home.  Over-sentimentality toward lineages poses a risk to finding all our fresh springs in the Lord.  We are not empowered by any earthly heritage and no blood of human relationship speaks so loudly as the Blood of the Lamb.  It is in Him that we live and move and have our being. 

He knew us before we were born (Psalm 139:16, Jeremiah 1:5) and at the end of our earthly lives He will draw us to Himself, with blessed relationship for all eternity to our Heavenly Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, and our brethren who were, with us, bought by His Blood.  Blessed be His Name and how blessed we are to be called by His Name.  

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Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:16

 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

John 1:12-13

‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

Hebrews 11:28

Be Angry and Sin Not

 

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling, and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 

Ephesians 4:29-32 NIV 

Surrendering All

 

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.

Job 13:15

And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!

Esther 4:16

Forgive

 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Luke 5:35-37 NIV

Set a Guard Over My Mouth!

 

Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;

    keep watch over the door of my lips.

Psalm 141:3

Love as You Have Been Loved

 

 When we take our eyes off the Lord and look at our circumstances and the people around us, we'll become insecure, afraid, and discouraged.  The only way we can be free of fear for the future is to look at Jesus, and looking at Him, place our trust in Him, and trusting Him, accept as our reality the fact of God's love.  

We repeat by rote the truth that God loved us so much that He gave His son for us...(John 3:16). 

We commit Scripture to memory so that we can say, "All things work together for the good of them that love the Lord..." (Romans 8:28)...but do we believe it?

Lord, we trust You; help us trust You more. In Jesus' Name we pray, amen.  

Thy Will Be Done

 

Worth the Effort

 We are sometimes overwhelmed by overwhelm.  There is too much to do; our most diligent effort scarcely makes a dent in the vast mountain of detritus of our own lives.  Sometimes I feel I need a bulldozer and I've been given a spade.  

The idea that we can't do very much in our own strength is accurate. What is inaccurate is that since we can't make the needed changes, there is no use trying. 

The instant we set our hearts on obedience, our Father God is at work in ways we can't see to accomplish what we could never have managed in our own strength. The Lord, full of  love, compassion, and mercy, knows how we are made, and He loves us. So when we put even a bit of effort in the direction He wants us to go, we are backed by all the power of Heaven.  

This makes trying worth the effort. Never give up.  

We Have Gained Christ

 

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ. 

Philippians 3:8 NIV  

Our Rough Edges

 

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. 

Psalm 138:7-8 KJV

The Expectations of Our Faith

 

"We are sometimes ready to fear that God’s designs are all against us; but as to his own people, even that which seems evil, is for good. He will give them, not the expectations of their fears, or the expectations of their fancies, but the expectations of their faith; the end he has promised, which will be the best for them."

From Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jeremiah 29, Public Domain.  

He Works in Ways We Can't See

 

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. 

 1 John 4:16a NLT

Nurture the Relationship

 

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 

Colossians 3:2 NIV

You Are Not Enough, You Are Saved!

 

Cautionary Tale

 

My husband and I were once excluded from a small group formed in our church with the explanation that “This is a personal needs group.”  The organizer went on to explain that she did not feel an affinity for me and that her husband did not like my husband and so we were not included.  

To make matters worse, ours is a small church with, at that time, fewer than a half dozen couples in their early 30's. My husband and I were in the correct age group for the newly formed group, and so when I was not contacted I assumed it was an oversight. I can feel the sting of the rejection to this day.

Under the banner of outreach ministry, we must not make  satisfaction of our own needs our priority. In Christ, we are called to find our heart's satisfaction in Him, and then to turn and extend God's love and acceptance to others.  It is not for us to judge one another based on visible measures of their need or, worse, on their potential to fill our own emotional or spiritual needs. 

 We are to find all our fresh springs in Christ and to consider the needs of others ahead of our own. In Christ all are invited.  

Small group ministry can be a powerful tool to express Christ's love on a personal level, but we must proceed with prayerful caution. We are to extend the warmth of God’s love and acceptance to others regardless of whether our own needs seem likely to be met in the relationship.  

 The impetus for every ministry of the church needs to be the all-inclusive invitation Christ issues when He says, "Come unto Me."  

 

Alzheimer Caregiver Survivor

 

I am an Alzheimer Caregiver Survivor.  

Today a praise song began playing on my phone and caught me by surprise. My playlist had somehow been activated.  

 

I like to be prepared for praise.  It’s as though I carefully tuck grief into a drawer and close it firmly ahead of praising God, because otherwise, in praise of our Lord, I break down into sobs so virulent that I feel in danger of losing myself, of falling to my knees, of falling apart.   

 

I know it is not healthy to suppress grief.  But how is one to function otherwise?  

 

Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the spring of 2004 and died in 2020.  I was her primary caregiver. She was helpless, sweet, angry, vindictive, faithful, inspiring, devastating, and hurtful. I did my prayerful best by her.  Of course, I was not perfect, but an Alzheimer patient who has lost every filter and has a demented perception of reality can, without compunction, inflict injuries that a Godly person who is in their right mind will not parry. I rarely went on the offensive or even defended myself from Mom’s bouts of virulent anger. 

 

As the grief came bubbling up in my heart today, I brought my heartache to the Lord. Maybe only now, over two years since Mom’s death, am I able to begin to bring the injuries I received in caregiving to Him.  I don’t want to hold onto the pain, I want to be healed of it. 

 

Dear Father, lift me from these torrents of grief, heal me of the injuries dealt me by Mom’s rejection and anger, and restore to me the blessings those years of intensive caregiving took from me.  I can’t heal myself but I can acknowledge my need for healing; Father heal my heart.  In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.   

Trust Him Now for Everything

 

 Trust Him now for everything, and see if He does not do for you exceeding abundantly above all that you could ever have asked or thought, not according to your power or capacity, but according to His own mighty power, that will work in you all the good pleasure of His most blessed will.

Hannah Whitall Smith
The Christian's Secret to a Happy Life
Public domain