Greater than I

Feeling overwhelmed and heavy-hearted, I cried out to You for help in my desperation, Oh Lord and You spoke Psalm 61:2 to me: 'From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.'

I find when I am the most desperate, is when the Lord feels the closest. He's not drawn to me by my begging, complaining, yelling, having a pity party, etc. He's drawn to me because I have a heart after God, and I know that I know that I know ... that if He isn't with me, I can't do ANYTHING. My desperation for Him, my knowing that He's my everything out of all the things/people in the world, that it's Him who is mighty to save, is what keeps me in that place called 'there' and keeps me humble before Him.

Father God, You ARE greater than I Oh Lord, be not far from me. Help me. Heal me. Comfort me. Provide for me. Make sense of all this chaos. I pray for godly wisdom. To be led by Your blessed Holy Spirit. Quieten the raging waves within. I pray this for all those in need as well. I bless You Lord, in the name of Jesus.

In Times of Weakness

Let us then fearlessly, confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]. Hebrews 4:16






In times of weakness do you depend on God, obey Him and seek strength to overcome? Or do you make excuses and turn from His leading? Vulnerabilities can drive you closer to God or blind you to His love.

Are your circumstances weighing you down? Do you feel trapped in your present situation? If so, you may be searching for a way out of your suffering. You may be vainly trying to find relief and solace in the flawed solutions of this world. Yet as we learn from the apostle Paul, God is the only solution to our struggles.

For years, Paul struggled with what he called "a thorn in my flesh" (2 Corinthians 12:7). Many have theorized about what it might have been, but no one knows for sure what Paul faced. We do, however, know that it was mentally and physically exhausting for Paul. Perhaps because we aren't certain what it was, we can relate more to Paul's struggle as we compare it to our own.

In the midst of his pain and suffering, Jesus spoke directly to Paul, reassuring him of His watchcare.

"Three times," says Paul, "I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness'" (2 Corinthians 12:8-9).

Few of us like to think of ourselves as being weak. We like to think of ourselves as self-sufficient, even in our spirituality. We think we need to be strong in our Christian walk, so when sorrow comes, we strike out against it. When faced with discouragement, we draw back in fear. In the face of disappointments, we become angry, wondering if God has forgotten us. But HE HASN'T, and HE WON'T.

God didn't forget nor dismiss Paul's thorn, and He won't overlook ours. He uses life's stresses - physical and emotional - to draw us closer to Him. He can speak to us and show us how and where His grace is most efficient.

God could've eliminated Paul's struggle in a moment. But He knew that Paul would receive the greater blessing and the greater lesson by learning to rely on God's perfect strength through his difficulties. God knew that His grace wouldn't manifest or shine in a strong and self-sufficient person like it would in a person who suffered in weakness.

Do you find yourself stretched to the breaking point today? Even if you believe "I can't take another day of this. I just need to leave, to escape, to begin again," - you CAN'T outrun God. When you're faced with hardship, you need to run toward Him, not away from His love.

Some people, even Christians, have been running from God their whole lives. When the storms of life come, instead of leaning on the everlasting arms of Christ, they choose to run to false shelters, attempting to escape His reach. In the Psalms, King David had a realization about the wonder of God's grace and forgiveness, rather than running.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:7-10

Without a doubt, you can know that no matter what life menaces you with, God will pull you to safety if you call on Him. He is the One that can save you from certain defeat and give you the hope you need.

Panic and anxiety are no match for God's grace. He goes before us into life's battles. The victory is ours, though it does not come through our efforts or strength. It comes from His hands and His grace. No one is more committed to our success than Christ.

No matter what you face, God's grace IS sufficient. His power is revealed and made perfect through your weakness. Never be ashamed to cry out to the Lord. He listens for you and will come to you, fulfilling the promise of His matchless, perfect grace.

Don't be ashamed, embarrassed, or too prideful to come to Christ ... He's waiting for you.

God is the ONLY solution to our struggles.

Father, help us to come to You in time of need, without fear of rejection or judgment. We need Your grace to carry us through. Help us to come boldly to You, Abba Father ... and there I know You'll wrap Your loving, heavenly arms around us and give us strength and grace to go on. Comsume us with Your presence and Your peace. In Jesus' name, amen.




see also: Turn to God

How's That Waiting Thing Working Out for You?

Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 / Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Psalm 37:7 / Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5




Don't you just enjoy a nice, long WAIT? Oh, if we could have simple faith in our heavenly Father, that He's going to take care of our needs and rescue us when we need it. So often, we either don't believe He's going to come through for us (and why, because deep down we know He ALWAYS does), or we don't think He's going to do it for us like He would someone else.

What God does IN US while we wait, is as important as WHAT WE ARE WAITING FOR. There's important growth that can only happen to us in these times when we suffer through long periods of waiting. God knows waiting is good for us. AS WE WAIT, He's at work in us ... molding us and shaping us ... maturing us.

The people of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years. It helped them to grow up. He took away their pride and proved that He would provide for them. God wanted them to reach the Promised Land, but He was more concerned that they arrive PREPARED than that they arrive SOON.

Remember how the Lord your God has led you in the desert for these forty years, taking away your pride and testing you, because He wanted to show what was in your heart. He took away your pride when He let you get hungry and then He fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had ever seen. This was to teach you that a person does not live by only eating bread, but by everything the Lord says. During these forty years, your clothes did not wear out, and your feet did not swell. Know in your heart that the Lord your God corrects you as a parent corrects a child. Deuteronomy 8:2-4

We need to learn to be PATIENT. Often we want God's resources, but we don't want His timing. We want His hand, but we don't want His calendar. We forget His work in us while we wait, which is as important as what we're waiting for. We must learn to trust that God knows what He's doing.

Maybe you're single and you feel a legitimate longing for intimacy. You're tired of being alone. Waiting is so hard and maybe there's a relationship at your fingertips that promises to take that loneliness away but you know that it's not honoring to God. You know in your heart this isn't the right person for you ... but you are tempted to think, I've been waiting long enough. I'm going to reach out for whatever satisfaction I can get in this life and worry about the consequences later. But when we're faced with times like this we must find the courage to WAIT on God and to be patient and trust His timing to say, Ok God, I will take You at Your Word. I will not get mixed up with a relationship that I know would dishonor You and bring damage to the souls of those involved. Even though I don't know what tomorrow holds and even though I sometimes feel like nobody in this world understands how painful it is to be alone, I will trust You. I will wait. (FYI - I'm not looking for anyone, this is an example.)

Maybe you've been ill for a long time, and you've almost exhausted yourself at the feet of Jesus, waiting for the illness, pain and suffering to lift. Know that God works all things together for good and He's not only going to manifest the healing that He's already provided for you, He's going to bring some other good things from that trial as well ... like the fact that people are encouraged when you go through instead of giving up, and giving you compassion to pray for others in similiar situations. (FYI - I am awaiting healing in several areas of my health.)

We may be tempted to take things into our own hands, but we must learn to trust our God, to say with the Psalmist, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, 'You are my God.' My times are in Your hands (Psalm 31:14,15). We must cling to Jesus' promise in Luke 18:7 where He said, God will always give what is right to His people who cry to Him night and day, and He will not be slow [according to His perfect timing] to answer them. When we experience seemingly endless times of waiting we need the patience of the man who prayed, God, I cannot grasp Your mind, but with my whole heart I trust Your love.

We need to be HUMBLE. To wait for someone is to realize that I'm not in control. I'm not calling the shots; the timing is not up to me. To grow in times of waiting on God we must remember that we are not in charge. We're the creature. He is the Creator. He is the Potter. We are the clay. This is the principle that Proverbs 3:34 refers to when it says that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. It's right that we should wait on Him for when we trust God with this kind of quiet humility we are saying that we understand that He is able to take care of us in the waiting times. God's God and we're not. He sees the big picture and we can't.

We need to have an inextinguishable HOPE. Hope believes that things will get better eventually. It gives us the strength to endure until tomorrow again and again. Romans 5:3-5 says, Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. Hope is the fuel that keeps a person going in tough times. While waiting, we need to act on what we know, obeying God as though we can see the outcome. When we do this we become more confident in His instruction, more hope filled people.

Thomas Merton wrote, 'The more we seek God in daily prayer; the more we study His Word; the more we trust Him enough to follow His commands ... the more we see that He is worthy of our trust and then the more hopeful we can be - even in times of waiting.

We don't get to know God and then do His will. We get to know Him more deeply BY DOING His will. We enter into an active relationship with Him. And in this relationship we develop a faith that is ... sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1), a faith that is confident that He who began a good work [in our lives] will carry it on to completion no matter how long it takes (Philippians 1:6).

Wait ... patiently. For it's in the waiting that we gain our strength (Isaiah 40:31).

Prayer: Father, I pray that even though I may be having a tough time waiting on You, You will help me to find peace in Your timing and Your ways. Give me the hope and the strength that I need to continue, and to make right choices. Help me not to grow weary in well doing. In Jesus' name, amen.