Help in time of need

"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, 

that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

(Hebrews 4:16)

Come boldly... That sticks out to me.. What really sticks out is the source from which I am boldly going, "the throne of grace" wow.. Think about that.. God almighty is sitting on His throne & He has grace to help in ANY need. I'm so thankful I serve a God that is not limited to my imagination or limitations. 

"But my God can supply ALL my needs according to HIS riches in Christ Jesus"

I feel alone, yet not alone right now. 

This has got to be the hottest and most deadly spiritual, emotional, and mental storm our family has faced yet. I don't understand it but I know this is critical... I must do what I know to do or my eternal soul is at stake. Words from a very dear friend and spiritual mother in the faith told me over the phone the other night. "Don't punish JESUS for what man does wrong" 

Don't punish Jesus.... That convicted me and has challenged me to really think about what I am saying or doing or not saying or doing, both are critical right now. 

Wether I like it or not my life is being watched.. But it's not the earthly spectators to be most concerned with.. It's the Heavanly ONE.. He is sitting HIGH and lifted up on His Throne!!! 

 

Jesus please pray to the Father for us today. Please guide us Holy Spirit in each critical step we take. We don't want to grieve You nor cause shame to come upon You because of us failing You in this fire. 

I'm not responsible for anyone but myself as I stand before You, and I do want to finish well.. 

I don't want to be a stumbling block to anyone and I don't want to cause anyone else to be one to me. 

Help me keep my eyes fixed on You at all times Lord as we step out into the unknown once again. I know this much, You will NEVER fail me and You are more than aware of where I am right this very moment. I'm holding onto you with every breath I have JESUS, and it's still not enough. Hold me Lord through this fire, carry us through this trial. Lord, without you holding us we will not make it through. 

Protect our children's hearts and use this tragedy for our good, may it build our faith in You. And carry us as You say in Your word. "From strength to strength". 

My reputation is none of my concern of man.. What matters most is, what do YOU think of me? 

(II Corinthians 12:5-10 NKJV)

Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. 

For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. 

But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.

 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, 

a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, 

lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times

 that it might depart from me. And He said to me, 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 

Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities,

 in reproaches,

 in needs, 

in persecutions, 

in distresses, for Christ’s sake. 

For when I am weak, 

then I am strong. 

Who is Leading?

O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. – Jer 10:23 KJV

“Lead me in a plain path” (Ps. 27:14).

Many people want to direct God, instead of resigning themselves to be directed by Him; to show Him a way, instead of passively following where He leads. —Madame Guyon

I said: “Let me walk in the field”;
God said: ’Nay, walk in the town“; 
I said: ”There are no flowers there“;
He said: ”No flowers, but a crown.”

I said: “But the sky is black,
There is nothing but noise and din”; 
But He wept as He sent me back,
“There is more,” He said, "there is sin

I said: “But the air is thick,
And fogs are veiling the sun”; 
He answered: “Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark undone.”

I said: “I shall miss the light,
And friends will miss me, they say”; 
He answered me, “Choose tonight,
If I am to miss you, or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given;
He said: “Is it hard to decide? 
It will not seem hard in Heaven
To have, followed the steps of your Guide.”

I cast one look at the fields,
Then set my face to the town; 
He said: “My child, do you yield?
Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”

Then into His hand went mine,
And into my heart came He; 
And I walk in a light Divine,
The path I had feared to see.

—George MacDonald

Strong in Suffering

Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. – 2 Kgs 4:26 KJV

“Be strong, my soul! 
Thy loved ones go 
Within the veil. God’s thine, e’en so; 
Be strong.

“Be strong, my soul!
Death looms in view.
Lo, here thy God! He’ll bear thee through;
Be strong.”

For sixty-two years and five months I had a beloved wife, and now, in my ninety-second year I am left alone. But I turn to the ever present Jesus, as I walk up and down in my room, and say, “Lord Jesus, I am alone, and yet not alone—Thou art with me, Thou art my Friend. Now, Lord, comfort me, strengthen me, give to Thy poor servant everything Thou seest he needs.” And we should not be satisfied till we are brought to this, that we know the Lord Jesus Christ experimentally, habitually to be our Friend: at all times, and under all circumstances, ready to prove Himself to be our Friend. —George Mueller

Afflictions cannot injure when blended with submission.

Ice breaks many a branch, and so I see a great many persons bowed down and crushed by their afflictions. But now and then I meet one that sings in affliction, and then I thank God for my own sake as well as his. There is no such sweet singing as a song in the night. You recollect the story of the woman who, when her only child died, in rapture looking up, as with the face of an angel, said, “I give you joy, my darling.” That single sentence has gone with me years and years down through my life, quickening and comforting me. —Henry Ward Beecher

“E’en for the dead I will not bind my soul to grief; 
Death cannot long divide. 
For is it not as though the rose that climbed my garden wall 
Has blossomed on the other, side? 
Death doth hide, 
But not divide;
Thou art but on Christ’s other side!
Thou art with Christ, and Christ with me;
In Christ united still are we.”

Very encouraging devotional I wanted to share with y'all!!!

In God, Not Out of Trouble

And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest. – Jer 45:5 KJV

A promise given for hard places, and a promise of safety and life in the midst of tremendous pressure, a life “for a prey.” It may well adjust itself to our own times, which are growing harder as we near the end of the age, and the Tribulation times.

What is the meaning of “a life for a prey”? 

It means a life snatched out of the jaws of the destroyer, as David snatched the lamb from the lion. 

It means not removal from the noise of the battle and the presence of our foes;

 but it means a table in the midst of our enemies, a shelter from the storm, a fortress amid the foe,

 a life preserved in the face of continual pressure:

 Paul’s healing when pressed out of measure so that he despaired of life; 

Paul’s Divine help when the thorn remained, but the power of Christ rested upon him and the grace of Christ was sufficient. 

Lord, give me my life for a prey, and in the hardest places help me today to be victorious. 

—Days of Heaven upon Earth

We often pray to be delivered from calamities; 

we even trust that we shall be; 

but we do not pray to be made what we should be, in the very presence of the calamities;

 to live amid them, as long as they last, in the consciousness that we are, 

held and sheltered by the Lord, and can therefore remain in the midst of them, 

so long as they continue, without any hurt. 

For forty days and nights, the Saviour was kept in the presence of Satan in the wilderness, 

and that, under circumstances of special trial, 

His human nature being weakened by want of food and rest.

 The furnace was heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated, 

but the three Hebrew children were kept a season amid its flames as calm and composed in the presence of the tyrant’s last appliances of torture, 

as they were in the presence of himself before their time of deliverance came. 

And the livelong night did Daniel sit among the lions, and when he was taken up out of the den,

 “no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.” 

They dwelt in the presence of the enemy, because they dwelt in the presence of God.