Friday, March 20, 2009

Hope in God's Word

I rise before the dawning of the morning,
And I cry for help;
I hope in Your word.
Psalm 119:147

Mornings can be tough for many of us. I know they can be tough for me sometimes.

A sleepless night.

Anticipation of a stressful day at work.

Do you often wake up, pause for a moment, and then just turn over and pull the covers over your head? Well, maybe not literally, but certainly figuratively?

What do you do when you wake up with fear, with worry, with concerns?

The Bible tells us. We can hope in God's word. But here's the catch: You need to know His word.

When you know what God says about protecting you and providing for you, you can have hope. When you know verses that say that Jesus has overcome the world, you can have hope. When you know that the Bible says that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble, you can have hope.

The more you know of God and His word, the more you can have confidence that, when you wake in need of help, you can have hope in God's word.

From Hope: Devotions for Finding Hope in Every Situation (c) 2007 Sauni Rinehart.



Thursday, March 05, 2009

I Love the Lord!!

What a day this has been. I mentioned a blog or two ago that I'm going through Beth Moore's Esther study, and it's been pretty wonderful.

This morning's study was an eye-opener: She compared us with Haman.

Yes! Haman!!

If you know the story, it's not a compliment!!

As I continued meditating on her God-inspired words, I realized that a weakness of mine--pride--could make me into a Haman. Gasp!! Some of those words cut straight to my heart.

Over the last year or so, the Holy Spirit has really been working on my heart regarding pride, and this morning, I prayed fervently that the Lord would continue to refine me in this area. As I was praying about a particular struggle, the Spirit revealed something to me that was a total breakthrough. It was so amazing, it made me cry.

I know I'll sometimes fail, the flesh will sometimes prevail.

But what an amazing answer to something I've struggled with and prayer for . . . for so long! God is good, and I just love Him!!