Psalm 115:9-11 “O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.” This episode reminds us to trust that the Lord hears our prayers and also that He is our help and our shield. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
God Doesn’t Need Anything From Us
Psalm 115:9-11 “O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.”
These seem to be two themes that come up over and over again in the Bible. The first one is trust in the Lord. I have recently been reminded of this lately. I was listening to a podcast about manifesting your destiny. I know there is come controversy over this idea and over the idea of the law of attraction. However, when I think of it, I don’t think of manifesting my destiny as if I am creating my destiny, or as if somehow the universe is coincidentally sending good things my way. I know that God is in charge of everything. He is the sole reason that the sun rises and sets, He is the reason that everything exists. I give God all of the credit and the glory.
What this podcast reminded me of is to trust that when we ask for things, God will answer. I have been praying some really big prayers lately. I am sure we all have as there are a lot of people who are pretty sick these days. I am praying for two people who have conditions that are not curable with modern medicine. However, Jesus is the great physician and he can cure anything. I keep wondering what I need to do to ensure these prayers are answered. I keep wondering if I need to fast, or print out pictures and lay hands on the photos, as I don’t live close to either of them. I wonder what it is I need to do so that these two ladies can be healed.
Many of you may be listening to this and you are shaking your heads because you already know that their healing doesn’t depend on what I do. Nothing I do will heal these ladies. Only God can do that. He doesn’t ask us to do anything except pray and believe that He will do it. I know this, I really do. And yet, I keep reverting back to thinking if my prayer aren’t working it is because I am doing something wrong, or that I am not doing enough. Why do I do this? Are you doing this too? I doubt I am the only one that thinks I am not doing enough for God.
There was a word given at my prayer group that I have written on a note on my wall so that I would be reminded of it every time I looked up. I switched around my desk and now I don’t see it very often and I am now realizing that I should move it because it is such a great reminder for me, and maybe for you if you struggle with feeling like you are not doing enough. Here is what was said at the meeting, “My children, I love you to be with me. I do not need your effort, I do not need your talents, for I alone will make you fruitful. Just relax, be empty, and be with me.” This was given on March 14, 2019. It has been almost two years and I still have trouble remember this.
I am not sure exactly what was said on the podcast that struck me. All I remember is the thoughts that came into my mind. I remembered what I have read in numerous books which is that you should ask for what you want/need and then thank God for it as if you already received it. If you ask He will answer. Trust that if you asked, He will answer and begin to thank Him and praise Him right away. This is something that I had forgotten about. I don’t know how, but I had. This podcast also reminded me to have the faith that nothing is impossible with God. I decided I was going to stop obsessing about what I needed to do to make this happen and just trust that God heard me and that He is already making it happen. I am going to picture them healthy. I am going to praise the Lord for His good works and for His answers to my prayers. Remember yesterday when I talked about how the enemy always wants to get our focus off of God? This is exactly what I have been letting him do. I have been focused inward on what I needed to do instead of trusting that God can make it happen without me actually doing anything. God doesn’t need our help. He welcomes our prayers and loves when we say yes, but He is not reliant on us for anything. I wish I could say this was going to be the last time I need this reminder, but I am sure it won’t be.
The second thing this verse talks about is how God is our help and our shield. This is great because it describes two ways that God shows up in our lives. Sometimes God will help you when you are in trouble. Well He will always help you when you are in trouble, but what I meant was sometimes He will allow you to go through that difficult circumstance, or time in your life and He will help you through it. He will be right there next to you providing you with whatever it is you need to get through it. He can give you strength, perseverance, boldness, resources, support, whatever you need in your specific circumstance.
The other way God shows up sometimes is that He shields us from the hard time. This can many times go unnoticed as we don’t always know what danger he has shielded us from. For instance if you are in the woods and there is a bear around the corner. You wanted to go that way but you got a funny feeling and so you went another way. You never saw the bear, so you don’t know that the Holy Spirit just saved you from a chance encounter with a bear. I heard a story from a friend about 911 that illustrates how God can save us from the trouble. My friend’s husband worked at the Pentagon at the time of 911. He was headed to the area where the plane hit just seconds before the plane hit. He had his hand on the door and he heard someone call his name. He did not see anyone so he turned around and went down to the end of the hallway to see if there was someone there. There wasn’t anyone there, but it distracted him just long enough so that he wasn’t in the part of the building that got hit by the plane.
We don’t know why things happen the way that they do. For all the people who did lose loved ones that day, the Lord was there to help them through it. He was there to give them the strength to get out of bed and keep on going. He was there to give them the strength to take care of their children, to go to work to do all the things that they needed to keep doing. He was there to love them through it all, even if they didn’t feel that love. Then there are those like my friend who God shielded from that circumstance. However, he has had other circumstances that he was not shielded from. I don’t believe that anyone escapes this life without having to go through any hard times. I think that we are shielded more often than we think we are but we just don’t know each time that it happens. I thank God for all the times he has helped me through the hard times and each time he has shielded me from them.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to turn our focus away from ourselves and turn it back to you. Lord, help us to trust that you hear our prayers and that you don’t need anything from us. You love us just as we are and you answer our prayers not because of anything that we do but because you are loving and merciful. Help us to be grateful Lord, help us to remember to trust you and to thank you for all that you do. You are so amazing and we know this, please help us to remember it. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I hope you are doing well with your challenge to be more committed this week. I know I have been really trying to keep my promises to myself and others as well as really thinking about things before I commit to them. I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Have a blessed day!