God took me to Psalm 66 this morning which is a song of praise. As I was reading it, I thought about so many people who are going through 'tough' days and may not feel like praising God. Their joy has been taken from them through their health issues or the health issues of family members, deaths of friends and family, financial issues, marital issues, job issues, etc. My prayer list seems to grow daily of people in 'tough' situations. The enemy loves to steal our joy but when we are grounded firmly in our relationship with Christ he can't steal our joy because our joy lives in and through us. God brought the people out of Egypt and He will bring us through the trials of life we experience on this earth. Our trials may seem to go on and on. Sometimes our trials are a test to see just how deep our faith is. No matter what, God never leaves us. He is always with us, ready to empower us to not just get through 'tough' days but to thrive in them. We need to praise Him no matter what is happening in our life. We need to press into His strength when the 'tough' days come upon us. II Timothy 1:7 tells us that He empowers us to stand in His love. That is exactly what I desire to do. I want to bring glory to Him through my words, actions, and attitude. I want God to be proud of me and the way I love with His love. Times of watching the effects of chemo on Doc are hard. It is difficult to watch him spend more time in bed than not. I just want to have a 'normal' life back where we do things together. I want to not have to wonder if we will be able to do this or that due to how he is feeling. I want what we use to have back. But until God heals him I can't wallow around in a pity party. Instead I must be thankful for every day we have together. I know God hears my prayers. I feel His encouragement daily. I know He loves me. I feel His loving arms wrapped around me, especially when I become emotional and fall apart. I know He strengthens me because my MS is behaving for the most part. The fatigue gets nasty from time to time but He encourages me through it. I know I must continue living a life in His presence to be empowered to the fullest of Him. I know that but sometimes I just want to crawl back into bed and not face the day. On those days I chastise myself because that is not what God desires of me. Instead I will remember verse twenty of Psalm 66...Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw His unfailing love from me. (NLT) He hears my prayers and answers them. I will continue praying for Doc's miraculous healing while on this earth. I refuse to give up praying for this. I also refuse to give up living in His presence where I feel His love greatly. I refuse to allow the enemy any open door into my life. I refuse to give up. If I do, the enemy wins and that is not an option in my life. Matthew Henry wrote about the last few verses of this Psalm:
And when we pray in simplicity and godly sincerity, our prayers will be answered. This will excite gratitude to Him who hath not turned away our prayer nor his mercy from us. It was not prayer that fetched the deliverance, but his mercy that sent it. That is the foundation of our hopes, the fountain of our comforts; and ought to be the matter of our praises.
I know the foundation of Christ in my life is what sees me through the 'tough' days. I also know He needs me to show His strength through the way I live so others will desire Him. I have a task before me and I need to complete it to the best of my ability through Him.
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for this Scripture this morning that encourages me to not stop praying! Thank You for the way You empower me to keep going! Thank You for the love You pour into me to share with others! Father, cleanse me so You can fill me to overflowing with more of You. May You be my words, actions, and attitude in a new, different way today. I'm so tired but I know You will be my physical strength. I'm so worn but I know You will be my emotional strength. Lord, there are so many hurting people on my prayer list. I don't need to mention them by name because You already know but I do ask for a continued strength for June and her family with their loss. I also ask for Your strength for Robo's friends and family during this time of loss. Father, put people in their path who will be You to them. Oh how I wish I could be there to love on them. I pray for Your strength to continue to be Steve's. I pray for Doc as he puts his sermon together today to have Your wisdom and direction. I pray against the side effects of the chemo and ask that You use it to shrink the tumor. Lord, I continue to pray for a miraculous healing in his body where all disease would be eradicated. I pray Lord that You will empower me to Praise You In This Storm we are in right now. May praises flow from my lips today in a mighty way. Thank You Jesus for being The One I Praise! Amen.
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