I like Snoopy's way of handling the problems in life. I see this picture as a doggy who spent time the week before wondering how in the world was she ever going to get through this? The problem was overpowering., HUGE and impossible. The Dr.s ordered an ultra sound for a lump., and then a bills came out of no where. A fee of $12,000 in back taxes., and threat of health and loss of all home and hearth. What to do? How to do it?
Let it go and go to Jesus. The morning before my appointment and while waiting in the office I thought about how His love and grace has taken me this far and it says in the Bible to not look to the right or to the left. But straight a head to Jesus.
Isaiah 54:2 Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. Ok Lord., thank you for my home while in this world. I will praise you for your love and provision for me. It shall not end or be taken away from me.
Prepare for the blessings to come because in Jesus I am safe and secure. The world, the flesh and the devil take advantage of me at such times and want to turn my eyes off of my Provider. So I will keep my eyes on You Lord Jesus all the more as the days are evil especially during these impossible times. A lesson in steadfastness. Let not your heart be troubled.... Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you... let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Many times before learning this., I allowed the worry and trouble to double and sealed my own situation with a faithless outcome. But as I've grown., He is teaching me to dare to believe He will bring the best things to pass. So I placed my mind and body in His hands as I waited in the office to meet with the people who seemed to have my life in their hands.
The outcome? A solution not only to the tax problem but another solution to a problem that had nothing to do with this appointment but the financial advice given solved a bigger problem that I had before that was draining me emotionally., physically and spiritually.
I was like Snoopy here in that picture yet again as I often am JOYFUL whenever I think on the love of God in Christ for me. God is working in the lives of His people. He cares about us individually and especially when we are without support or able on our own without strength.
He takes up our cause and as Psalm 91 says., He is my Refuge and my Fortress if I look to the right or to the left and think of others who have lost their homes and jobs and all their finances I would not be looking at Jesus. I would not be dwelling in the secret place of the Most High and remaining stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty Whose power NO foe can withstand. I had to say and rest in the truth His love for me and be confident that because of Jesus I have a refuge from all this trouble.
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1 [/SUP]He who [SUP][
a][/SUP]dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable
and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].
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2 [/SUP]I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean
and rely,
and in Him I [confidently] trust!
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3 [/SUP]For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
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4 [/SUP][Then] He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust
and find refuge; His truth
and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler.
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5 [/SUP]You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day,
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6 [/SUP]Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction
and sudden death that surprise
and lay waste at noonday.
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7 [/SUP]A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.
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8 [/SUP]Only a spectator shall you be [yourself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High] as you witness the reward of the wicked.
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9 [/SUP]Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place,
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10 [/SUP]There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague
or calamity come near your tent.
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11 [/SUP]For He will give His angels [especial] charge over you to accompany
and defend
and preserve you in all your ways [of
obedience and service].
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12 [/SUP]They shall bear you up on their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
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13 [/SUP]You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot.
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14 [/SUP]Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows
and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].
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15 [/SUP]He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
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16 [/SUP]With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.
So now while I'm waiting for the ultra sound I'm doing so in the light of how Jesus took care of me all this time before and up till now so He will take care of me in these other matters too. He has proven His willingness to provide for me in all these times of trials as I look to Him and not to the right or to the left.
Knowing that in myself ., I don't deserve any of these blessings., but because of Jesus., I have been given all these blessings in and through the Holy Spirit IN Christ. I can't allow my unbelief to shut off the showers of blessings in Christ. Eph.1:3
[SUP]3 [/SUP]May blessing (praise, laudation, and eulogy) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) Who has blessed us
in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm!
If it's any help to anyone who reads this., I'm an ordinary loner who is still healing from what caused me to be this way. There is nothing special about me and I have many faults. But in Christ I'm seen as His child and because of Jesus I'm blessed and cared for as a cherished daughter learning each day to see the impossible be part of life by faith. I've seen old thinking habits and strongholds demolished over the last 5 yrs. Hebrews 11:1
11 Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, [SUP][
a][/SUP]the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see
and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
So yes., the joy of the Lord is our strength and it's not about being joyful we are not taken care of but that we are. We can and must have a good and strong expectation that He will see us and move in our lives as we look to Him and not to the right or to the left. Expect good and not evil from Him. And ask Him how to do this because it is a process of right thinking.