Saturday, January 15, 2011

Trusting God for the Spiritual and the Physical

2011 was heralded in with a canon of loneliness shooting holes into my armor of faith. The darkness felt dense. I'm learning two important lessons as I begin the year. The first is to trust God for the strength for each day and the second is to make my requests known to God.

With respect to the first point, I'm learning not to allow worry to creep in and plague my soul but rather to trust God. As children of God we live in the light and walk in the blessings of God. As we walk in the day and in the light of God's blessings, He will give us the strength to face each day. We can't worry about the next day or the next month. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. My mother always told me to stop fretting over "the what ifs" because they might never happen. I've found myself worrying about what it will be like to live in this house forever, to never get married or have children. Those are all worse case scenarios and likely won't happen. Why? They won't happen because Jesus promises to give us what we ask when we're in His will. This goes into the second point; to make my requests made known to God.

I recognize that there's a fine line here. I avoid the faith message and the notion that God is here to bless us and because of that always hesitate to ask God to bless me but the truth is; as I step into 2011, I really need His blessings. I need His strength to face the loneliness that's engulfing me and the courage to say no to the temptation to do sinful activities just to fill the loneliness. I need His mercy to find me new spiritually strong friends and a husband that fears God. I can't get any of these things without Him.  When I seek Jesus first, meaning (1) pray to get His guidance and (2) desire His will in our lives, why wouldn't He grant me the consolation of a godly man and children in my future?

Here's my back-up reading on this...
Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.

(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.) For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

And this is the confidence that we have in Him: that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

Trust in the LORD and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

Fret not about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,


The question remains, how do we know we're asking in the will of God? We do this by asking God to examine our hearts, test us for any presumptuous sins and give us the wisdom. God will reveal to us, while we're seeking Him if what we're asking for is out of line. If we're asking for something spiritual, then more than likely it will be granted. Nevertheless, this quote from Charles Spurgeon's sermon titled "As They Days, So Shall They Strength Be" is telling. He says:

"Once more, it does not say, our strength shall be as our fears. God often leaves us to shift alone with our fears,—never with our troubles...I have known an old lady sit and fret because she believed she should die in a workhouse and she wanted God to give her grace accordingly; but what would have been the good of that? because the Lord meant that she should die in her own quiet bedroom?...your day shall never be more troublesome, or more full of temptation, than your strength shall be full of deliverance." See: http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0210.htm

So dear Saint, I quiver a bit in saying that this year I'm going to trust God not merely for the spiritual strength but also for the physical comfort I long for. I long for a place to call home but recognize I'm just a pilgrim and therefore don't desire a mansion but will be satisfied with a cottage. I long for a husband to love and children to tend. Perhaps it's not in His will for me to ask but I'm learning that sometimes in order to receive, we must ask. Forgive me dear Jesus if I'm wrong and correct me speadily.

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