He’s Got Your Back

 

                                         He’s Got Your Back

  Every issue that we face, every situation that comes up, all boils back to the question whether or, not we trust that God has our back. Of course, our quick answer might be, “Of course, I believe God has my back.” But, think through choices that you have made in the last few weeks. Has that belief been reflected? When EVERY situation popped up, did you really believe that God had His best in mind for you personally? When He allowed you to have that car wreck? When He allowed that gossip to be spread about you? When He allowed yet another illness in your family? Did you really know that He held you and your family in the palm of His hand, not to crush you, but to nurture, love, protect and guide you? Did you really know that He had your back?

  When we know that God without a doubt “has” a situation, things look very differently than when we think we have to have all the answers. Psalm 28:7-9 says, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I praise Him with my song. The LORD is the strength of His people; He is a stronghold of salvation for His anointed. Save Your people, bless Your possession, shepherd them and carry them forever.”

  In verse seven of this passage, we see that our strength is the Lord. If we are relying on our own strength, we will never be in a place of believing that He has our back. Most of us know this mentally so, why can’t we live it out on a daily basis?

  Verse seven gives us some insight into this as well. It says, “…my heart trusts in Him and I am helped.” I have found that when I am trusting God with everything, every situation, when I am living out the truth that He has my back, I SEE His help. It’s always been there, but when I am trying to figure things out on my own, my perspective is off. But, when I am in a place of trust, I am anticipating His help. I am in a constant state of looking for His guidance because I KNOW it’s there.

  How many times with a child or, a grandchild are we willing to help, but they just won’t ask us for it? We try to give them advice or, lend a helping hand, but they throw their little arms up and say, “I got this. I got this.” Your heart breaks because you know a fifty pound kid cannot lift a sixty pound weight, but you have to wait until they realize they don’t have the strength to do it. They must learn to trust you with the weight.

  Isn’t that just like us? God places a situation, a ministry, a weight in front of us NEVER expecting us to lift it on our own, but that’s what we try to do. We are trying to carry this enormous responsibility and God is saying, “That is NOT what I meant for you to do when I gave you this load. I was going to carry that for you. Give it to Me. Let Me be your strength.”

  What are we doing? We are throwing our arms up and saying, “I got this. I got this.” He then chooses to wait until we realize that we DO NOT have it. He waits to see when we will trust Him with the weight.

  Do you realize that Jesus Himself had help to carry the cross? The only perfect human to ever walk the face of the planet was born for one purpose, the cross. Yet, when the physical action had to take place, He needed help. What makes us think that we do not?

  Matthew 11:30 says that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. If our burden is killing us, we need to evaluate whose burden we are carrying because it is not the right one. It is not God’s weight for us.

  If we really believe that God has our back, we also believe He carries our load. After all, that’s where we pack it, right? We are all hunkered over from the load that we think God has called us to carry when He is saying, “I’ve got this.”  When we know in our heart of hearts that He has our back, we know that He has our load.

  I want to encourage you to give God your load today and to come to the place where you know without a doubt that He has your back.

  A good place to start is by asking The Holy Spirit to teach us how to do this. Isaiah 30:20-21 says, “…He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. And your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left.’”

  We have to ask God to teach us how to give our loads to Him. Ask Him to teach us that He has every situation. Ask Him to teach us how to live with the assurance that He has our back no matter what. We have to ask Him to teach us to live in a way that is in tune with His ways and not our natural, independent selves.

  If we feel that we are all stooped over with a burden that we feel called to carry, a great verse to pray is one we mentioned earlier in Matthew 11:30. We could pray, “Lord, Your Word says that Your yoke is easy and Your burden is light. I’m not feeling very light right now. Help me to let go of what is not mine to carry and trust You alone with the full weight designed for me.”

  When we are asking, He will show us. He will teach us. He will train us. That is our God. That is our sweet Savior. And, by the way, He’s got your back. Never doubt it.

 

 

  

Some Wells Are Too Deep – (A Repeat)

A Seeking Heart

Wells Too Deep

Hope for the Spiritually Dehydrated

  Water… we all need it. Some of us hate that fact and some of us are okay with it, but all of us know that we must have water to quench our thirst.

Over the course of my life my feelings have changed regarding water. When I was little, I would drink it, but I really preferred other things. When I was a little older, water was seldom on the menu. After a few years, water became a necessary evil. I knew I had to drink it, but, “yuck”. I would feel extremely bloated after drinking a few glasses throughout the day. I simply thought that I was a person who didn’t care for water. In present days…I GUZZLE water. I love it. I can’t imagine not having water! I have days after a run when I drink so much water…

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A Stressed Out Seeker

                                                 

                                    A Stressed Out Seeker

Well, to be honest the last week or so I have been highly stressed about a situation (read freaking out). I have been praying and seeking God, but still the mind games have been horrific. You know, the whole “what am I going to do” scenarios. So, in case some of you out there are suffering from the same, I want to share with you the word that God spoke over my heart Wednesday.

In the song “Not Guilty” by Mandisa, the chorus says, “I know you. I love you. I gave my life to save you…” As I was singing along, God clearly said in my spirit, ‘I gave My life for you. Do you really think I don’t have this situation? I’ve got this.’

I can’t explain to you the release I felt. Of course He has this! Of course He still wants me to rest in Him! Of course he does not want me to live a stressed out, freaked out existence! He’s got this! No matter what my feelings are saying, His burden is still easy and His yoke is still light, (Matthew 11:30). God is a God of rest, not stress. I think I need to repeat that… God is a God of rest, not stress. I am so thankful.

My natural instinct is try to figure things out on my own. I think that if I can just figure out this puzzle in front of me (and the reasons behind it) all will be well. I feel like I have to fix things when in reality God does not need my help. In fact, He just needs me to bow my knees to Him and get out of His way so that He can do His perfect work in my situation. When my knees are not bowed to Him, it is almost as if I am holding His Hands hostage due to the fact that He will only do what is best for me and my future (Jeremiah 29:11). If I will get hurt because I am standing up in His way (so to speak) He must wait until I have bowed low to Him. Then, He has His perfect shot (metaphorically speaking, of course) on the circumstances that are wreaking havoc in my life. The quicker I bow, the faster He can work.

Sometimes though, even when I am bowed low to Him, I still fret. My knees are bent in submission, but my mind is still occupied. That’s when I have to remember what His Word says in Psalm 28:8, “The LORD is [the strength of His people] and He is a saving defense to His anointed.” God is a SAVING DEFENSE for me. Why in the world should I be disquieted about anything when God is my defense? The God of the universe has GOT THIS!

Earlier, in verse seven of Psalm 28, it says, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore, my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him.” This verse reminds me that I am helped by the one, true, all-powerful God when my heart is in a place of trust. It also reminds me that He is my strength. I don’t know about you, but worrying wears me out. This verse assures me that when my trust is placed in Him, my strength is restored. Isaiah 40:31 assures us of this as well. It says, “Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” Yet again, I see here that when I am in a place of rest with God, I am at peace and I am strengthened. When I am waiting for His work and not my own, I am renewed.

Watchman Nee describes this so well in his book “Sit, Walk, Stand”. He says, “Most Christians make the mistake of trying to walk in order to be able to sit, but that is a reversal of the true order. Our natural reason says, ‘If we do not walk, how can we ever reach the goal? What can we attain without effort? How can we get anywhere if we do not move?’ But Christianity is a queer business! If at the outset we try to do anything, we get nothing; if we seek to attain something, we miss everything.” He goes on to say that God has already completed His work in our life, so we are to sit in Him. What does that mean exactly? Pastor Nee says, “Sitting is an attitude of rest. Something has been finished, work stops and we sit…When we walk or stand, we bear on our legs all the weight of our own body; but when we sit down our entire weight rests upon the chair or couch on which we sit. We grow weary when we walk or stand, but we feel rested when we have sat down for awhile. In walking or standing we expend a great deal of energy, but when we are seated we relax at once, because the strain no longer falls upon our muscles and nerves, but upon something outside of ourselves. So, also in the spiritual realm, to sit down is simply to rest our whole weight – our load, ourselves, our future, our everything – upon the Lord.”

How beautiful is that? He invites us to sit with Him in His finished work because He has everything handled already. It’s completed. It’s finished and it’s perfect. He’s GOT THIS! Let Him have it.