God my Father shields me from the storm

Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him (Proverbs 30:5).
 
When the harshness of life settles in like long monsoon rain, it gives hope to know that God your Father is taking good care of you. Some tests are of long duration. These are the times you must be rooted in the fact that God your Father always has His eye on you, and He has made promises to shield you and deliver you from the day of test.

Tests and storms may come to your life, but the Father has promised that you’ll come through them every one. We must never forget that underneath us are the everlasting arms.

Years ago, during a particularly grueling trial, it seemed as though I would never see the end of the difficulty I was in. The Lord urged me time and again to go to His Word, and there He met me. What He shared has become very close to me now, and I often reflect on the verses He gave me. I’ll share them with you today the way the Lord gave them to me.

If you’re in a tough place, and the test is hard, take my word for it, you will come though this thing on the other side as a better version of you than you are now. As you read the following, know that God keeps His promises!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
 
For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock (Psalm 27:5 NIV).

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles (Psalm 34:17 NIV).

A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all (Psalm 34:19 NIV).

The Lord redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him (Psalm 34:22 NIV).

The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him (Psalm 37:39-40 NIV)

And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me (Psalm50:15 NIV).

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah (Psalm 46:1-3 NIV).

Because he loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.  With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation (Psalm 91:14-16 NIV).

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

And the King will answer and say to them, assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me (Matthew 25:40).

We are the body of Christ and are interconnected. The way we treat fellow members of the body of Christ is the way we treat Jesus Himself! John said that if I can’t love my brother who I can see, then how can I love God whom I can’t see?

Do we reach out to the sick, the poor, the hungry, or the imprisoned? Are we kind, compassionate, and understanding throughout the day as we interact with fellow workers and family members?

Our spiritual activities have little impact if they are not translated into our actions and reactions towards others. Prayer meetings, church services, fellowships, bible studies, bible reading, are wonderful activities. But do we go from these legitimate activities and show the love of God to regular folk that we meet in our daily contacts?

This is where the rubber meets the road. Let’s choose today to be the hands, arms, eyes, and ears of Jesus. Be aware of what you say and how you say it to every person you encounter.

Remember that you are an extension of Jesus and His ministry. The world understands Him by seeing how we act! What are our actions telling others about Him?

Jesus appeared to Paul when his name was Saul and he was persecuting Christians. He said to Saul, Why are you persecuting me? Saul had never seen Jesus, but Jesus took personally everything Saul did as he harmed believers.

Jesus never changes. He still takes personally our actions towards our fellow man. Let’s face today with a new sensitivity to how we treat others. And let’s be aware that we represent the Son of God with every look, reaction, word, and deed!

Death or Life

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21)

The most powerful force in our life today are our words. They literally have the power of life and death!

Words are the creative ability of God. He created the worlds with words. He upholds all things by the power of His Word. Created in His image, we have an ability to create in us life with words.

Jesus said that we will give account for every word that comes out of our mouth. Let me ask a question. What would happen if what we said today suddenly came into being in an instant? Would we want what we’ve been speaking to happen?

We’re either speaking life or death. Speaking death means that we’re allowing our mouth to agree with the circumstances around us or the doubts that come into our mind today. And words are creative. When we speak doubt and unbelief, we allow the enemy the opportunity to dominate.

On the other hand speaking life means that we’re allowing our mouth to agree with the Word of God. We’re choosing to call those things that be not as though they were. Speaking life means we speak the end result before we see it. We confess that we believe we’re healed while the pain is still in our body. We acknowledge that our needs are met while lack surrounds us. We say that we’re overcoming by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony while the circumstances appear to be crushing us.
 
God spoke to the Israelites and told them to choose this day whom they would serve, life or death, blessing or cursing. The Father is likewise challenging us today to choose life by choosing to speak the Word of God right in the face of opposing circumstances. If we will do this, we’ll find the strength of God rising up within us. We will be able to persevere and overcome because God watches over His Word to perform it.

The Love Way

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love (Galatians 5:6).

Satan knows that faith will move mountains, and that nothing is impossible to him who believes. He also knows that faith must operate through love to be effective. And so He works to “pull the rug out from under” our faith life by attacking our relationships.

The love command is the central component in the believer’s life. We’re to love one another as He loves us. We are to follow after God and walk in love. We’re encouraged to have “white heated” love for the brethren.

1 Corinthians 13 gives us the elements that describe love. Patience, kindness, generosity, courtesy, unselfishness, righteousness, good temper, sincerity, are some of the fundamentals that form the love of God.

Over the years, I’ve used the Amplified translation of 1 Corinthians 13:5 as a gauge to measure my love life. The last part of the verse reads: it takes no account of the evil done to it; it pays no attention to a suffered wrong.

The moment I get upset because of the way someone treats me shows that I just left the love realm. Back in my bible school days I was heavily tested in the area of walking in love.

I worked in management in a grocery store that had an employee’s union. One winter before Christmas the union decided to go on a strike. I chose to go to work during the strike and was called all kinds of names as I crossed the picket line each day.

One man who worked as a butcher took particular offence at my actions and refused to talk to me or even acknowledge my presence in the room! I managed the night shift and would unlock the door as the day employees came to work.

This butcher would knock on the door, and as I unlocked it and said good morning, he would ignore me and act as though I was the invisible man! He would enter without saying one thing to me or looking at me. In group conversations, he would act as though I was not there and ignore my direct comments to him. He did this every day for weeks!

I decided that I would walk in love towards him, and act as though he did no wrong. Every day, I greeted him, and would speak to him as I passed him as we worked. He refused eye contact, and just simply ignored me and my kind comments day after day. After many weeks, I opened the door one morning, and he greeted me with a smile and a hearty “good morning!” I almost fell on the floor in surprise!

That taught me a great love lesson. Love never fails. Love is the best way.

Refuse to take offense when people mistreat you. Make a decision to be a person of love. That decision will cause your faith to work, and will keep you living above the insults and injuries of others.

Adoption Benefits

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Galatians 4:4-7).For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26).
 
You are a son or daughter of Almighty God. You have been adopted into His family through the new birth. Now, everything He has is at your disposal. You have a rich inheritance.
 
Your relationship with your former family is completely severed by this adoption into the family of God. Your former spiritual parent, Satan, no longer has any legal jurisdiction over you. He has no relationship or property rights over you. You are now under the care of the One who upholds all things by the power of His Word!

All former debts and obligations from your former family relationship have been canceled. Any personal penalties you have incurred because of laws you have broken have been forgiven. This adoption has given Father God full custody rights over you, and has severed you from all past debts, obligations, and penalties.

You are now an heir of God, and an equal heir with Jesus Christ. All that the Father has belongs to you. You have the full rights of family relationship with the Father. In fact, you have the same status with the Father as His child that a child actually born into his household has! His all belongs to you. But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!
 
Take your place as a child of God and hold your head high today. You have a new genealogy. You are of God! He has assumed the obligations of your care. He has told you not to worry about where or how provision for the day will come. Just seek Him and His kingdom, and all will be provided!
 
Your adoption in Christ gives you victory in every circumstance, authority over Satan and his minions, the peace of God, the love of God, the rest of God, healing for your body, prosperity, the promise of answered prayer, everything that pertains to life and godliness, every benefit provided by Jesus on the cross (called every spiritual blessing in heavenly places by Christ Jesus in Ephesians 1:3), and the faith to believe God for everything he has given you!
 
Expect the Father to provide His best for you His child today. Talk to Him about everything. Take every difficulty the day brings and lay it before Him in faith. You are His child. He is your Father. He will take care of you!

Equal Pay

In Matthew 20, Jesus gave the parable of the vineyard workers. This parable illustrates the importance of faithfulness and of God’s fairness. There are no greater or lesser persons in God’s family. There are simply those that are faithful to do what the Father called them to do.

In the parable a vineyard owner needed workers for the day. He hired people at the beginning of the day, maybe around 6 AM, agreeing to pay them, let’s say $150.00 a day. Seeing he needed more workers and noticing people standing around looking for work, he hired more workers at 9 AM and they agreed to work for a $150.00 a day.
 
The vineyard owner found workers again at noon and at 3 PM, and they too agreed to work for $150.00 for the day. Once more, the owner hired workers at 5 PM, one hour before the end of the workday. And they too were hired for $150.00 for the day’s work.
 
At the end of the day, the vineyard owner paid each of the workers the $150.00 that he agreed to pay them when he hired them. The workers that were hired at 6 am became indignant with the owner, because he seemed so unfair. The workers who were hired in the morning hours did the most work, enduring the grueling heat of the day, and were paid the same wage as the person who was hired at 5 PM. That seems so unfair!

Jesus’ point was that every person in the family of God is valuable. We don’t get rewarded for the amount of kingdom work we do, we get rewarded for our faithfulness to do what the Father has called us to do. That way, each person is just as valuable in the kingdom of God as any other.

Internationally known and acclaimed Billy Graham will get the same reward as the unknown lady who faithfully prays at home for his ministry every day. The janitor, the secretary, the volunteer in the children’s ministry, the piano player, the intercessor, will get the same reward as the pastor in the church as longs as each one does his job and is faithful to do what the Lord has called him to do.

For that reason, there is no “jockeying for position” in the family of God. Our faithfulness is rewarded, not our amount of work or our position. Each person is a valuable as the next.
 
Decide today to be a person that is faithful. Don’t envy another person’s position or call. You may not be seen or heard by men, but the Father sees your faithful heart and will reward you for doing what he called you to do!

He Knows You

O Lord, You have searched me and known me (Psalm 139:1). The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you (Jeremiah 31:3).

The Father loves you with an everlasting love. He knows everything about you. He is aware of every cell of your body. Not only does he know the number of hairs on your head, but he understands the complex DNA structure that lives in each cell of your body. He is aware of every aspect of your health and knows what is necessary for you to thrive. He wants that information to be yours.

The Father knows every thought in your mind. He is aware of what occupies every memory cell in your brain. He has watched you since you were in your mother’s womb, and knows every single event in your life in minute detail.

The Father is aware of your emotional life. He knows every up and down, and understands the factors that contribute to your personality and motivations. He knows why you do everything you do. He feels the grief and pain that burdens you.

The Father hears every word that falls from your lips. He is aware of the un-verbalized comments that remain buried. He understands the tremendous power your words hold over you. He wants you to watch them carefully.

He sees every unfulfilled desire. He knows your hopes and dreams. He sees the unfulfilled expectations of life that bring you anguish. He knows ahead of time the decisions you make and why you make them.

With this all knowledge the Father wants to come and make a home with you. He wants to help you figure out the every day choices ahead of you. He desires to impart peace to your entire being, and longs to calm every fear and bring you to a state of rest.

This all starts with Jesus’ Lordship confessed with your own lips. Then the Word must be meditated upon until it becomes a part of your inward life. Slowly your perceptions of Him will become stronger and stronger until you will gain an inward knowing of his purpose in the even the minor details of your life.

One day you will meet Jesus personally. He will be the sum total of your every desire. He will be the satisfaction of every thought. He will be the fulfillment of every emotion. He will be the embodiment of your entire future. He will be the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen, the fulfillment of each of your five senses, the sum total of everything that is pleasant. All fullness dwells in Him.
 
When you meet Him, it will be as though you have always known Him. He will know everything about you that there is to be known, yet you will feel complete and at rest with Him. With Him you will experience the fullness of joy, complete acceptance, and the total fulfillment of every thought, emotion, desire, and sense. You will be totally free to be yourself. Let’s start the journey today!