About 11:30 p.m., last night, I was preparing to go to bed, and I heard the Holy Spirit say to me two words, "Distress and detox, with three days of fasting couple with prayer. He also said that He was delivering me from distress and distressful situations and that a three day fast was necessary." "Was necessary" instead of "is necessary," because God is catching me up to His timing of "it's already done."
The meaning of distress is extreme pain; anguish of body or mind; great unhappiness or dissatisfaction; anything that distresses; affliction; a condition of affliction or wretchedness; danger; calamity; oppression; compulsion; to afflict greatly; distract; to pull asunder; to harass; to make miserable; unhappy; anxious; to trouble.
synonyms- suffering, pain, agony, misery, misfortune, adversity, pain, grieve, afflict. harass, trouble, perplex
....Sleep....
March 9, 2017
The Lord Our Rock
This morning I woke up and went to the Bible Gateway App on my phone and do you know what todays Scripture was? It was Psalm 26:4, "The LORD is my ROCK." When you are in distress, is JESUS your ROCK or have you made fallible people, places and things your support and source? I encourage you, as I do myself, to continue to run to the ROCK higher than anything or anyone else.
The Scriptures make a promise to those who are in deep anguish of soul and distress of heart. It says, "You {God} will keep in perfect {complete, mature} and constant {around the clock} peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed focused on You-- in both inclination and character, because he {or she} trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation] (Psalm 26:3--emphasis mine). What or who is out to break your focus? Watch out for assignments from the devil to break your focus and your reliance upon He, Him, Holy Spirit. Flesh encounters (I call them), distractions sent to get you worked up and in your flesh and out the will of God for your days assignment and your life's purpose for Christ.
When we depend on God, the ROCK of Ages, in our distress and our ways both morally and spiritually please Him, He makes our way smooth and level (Psalm 26:7). The establishment of peace is mentioned twice in Psalm 26:3 and 12. So, I grasp from reading this Scripture, that God really does want us to have peace in the midst of distress. God will vindicate us as we cry out and up to Him. Did you catch that? I said out and up, because many of us are crying out (horizontally to people, places and things) but our cries are not reaching God, because we are not crying up (vertically) while crying aloud.
So, life lesson: Cry out (aloud) and up (pray to God).
The Lord Our Peace
As we cry aloud and pray to God, He will release peace, His own peace that travels beyond human capacity to articulate, reason or comprehend. Don't you want that kind of peace? God releases eternal peace that is not made by human hands but made and nurtured within himself, out of His own heart. Isn't that good? My God!!!
You know what? The closer I walk with God while in distress, I noticed my heart towards circumstances and people who wrong me is changing. I am moving from a heart that cries out for vindication to a heart posture of bestowing mercy and grace, remembering I, too, am in need of mercy and grace daily. I can think of two great people who extended mercy and grace in Scripture toward their enemies in the midst of unjust distress: Jesus (the Lord of glory) and Stephen (who was filled with the glory of God). They both asked that their enemies wrongs be not accounted to them, and they did this while in distress; Jesus being crucified and Stephen stoned to death (Luke 23:33-34; Acts 7:59-60).
Jesus teaches us to love our enemies and do good to them, being those who are perfect (mature, complete, whole) in God as God is perfect (mature, complete, whole). (Matthew 5:43-48.) That is easier said then done. Right? However, it can be done, as we learn to fully lean and rely on the Holy Spirit, our advocate and helper.
Guess what? Those who possess the peace of God move in a perfected peace to love those who make their life hard, their skin crawl, their heart and mind race with emotional anguish, and their lips call on the name of "JESUS!" Come on. Say His name with me. JESUS! His name should roll off our tongues more often than not, because it's at His name that whatever or whoever is perplexing us will answer to. Amen!
In John 14:27, Jesus, our ROCK, promises to give us His peace. Jehovah-Shalom (God my Peace). We have an eternal peace that is beyond this worlds comprehension of peace. In God's eternal peace we find eternal rest. We are called to rest in Him while we wait for Him to act, to speak, to create, or bring resolve to our past, our present and our future.
Yahweh (the Lord) promises shalom (eternal peace) to the weary, to the faint-hearted, the broken hearted and those in distress. He is nearer to us now then when our salvation first began! Yahweh-Elohim (the Lord our God) shows His divine power and authority to establish and maintain our shalom. Tell me, who is like Yahweh-Elohim? No one.
God's Sovereignty in Our Distress
King David reveals the sovereignty of our God in Psalm 34:17-22, saying, "When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their distress and troubles. The Lord is close to those who are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent. Many evils confront the [consistently] righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He who keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil shall cause the death of the wicked; and they who hate the just and righteous shall be held guilty and shall be condemned. The Lord redeems the lives of His servant, and none of those who take refuge and trust in Him shall be condemned or held guilty.
I don't know about you, but that is some good news to me! You need to take a minute and shout because God is fighting for you. I encourage you to give all your cares [and burdens] to the Lord [Yahweh]. He will care for you and sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken or permit the godly to slip, stumble, fall or be moved (Psalm 55:22--Emphasis mine).
I really stressed or pushed home this point of reference of Scripture, because we need to really consider and grasp God's love and concern for us. He really does love us. Moreover, as David and so many believers in the Bible and throughout history have experienced the sovereignty and protection of Yahweh-Elohim, we, too, will experience continuous victory in our distresses and over those who oppress us without cause.
I graciously encourage you to trust God. Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean [all of] yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of Him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not yourself--it tends only to evildoing. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait and hope {confidently} and look {intently and intentionally} for the Lord [in the end] shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the evildoers will be no more; though you look with care {love and concern} where they used to be, they will not be found. But the meek [in the end] shall inherit the earth and shall (delight) themselves in the abundance of peace (Psalm 37:7-11).
You see? There's that peace again. God's peace is truly a sustainer. It preserves our days. We out live our afflictions [in this life and in the life to come]. It is God's good pleasure to give us long life (Psalm 91:16). ...Those who wait (persevere with patience; don't give up; rest) upon the Lord [who expects, look for and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not get weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired (Isaiah 40:31--emphasis mine).
Well, you might be asking God, "Why now? Why me? What did I do to deserve this?" Well, let's see the Bible's response to our inquiries.
- James 1:2-4 --Perfecting of one's whole character.
- 1Peter 4:12-14 --You are not alone in this fight.
- Psalm 119:71 --Pain intensifies one's need for God's precepts.
Jesus, our greatest example, showed us how to wholly depend of God when in trying circumstances and situations. He was so...perplexed in prayer before His trial and crucifixion that the Bible describes His sweat like thick and massive drops of blood pouring down His face. Now that's distress, y'all. He loved His friends and asked them to intercede for Him while He went to pray. Returning from prayer , He found His friends, Peter, James and John, fast asleep. In that moment, He realized, "The spirit is willing but the flesh (humanity outside of God's strength and power) is frail (Matthew 26:41). "
His friends were too tired to pray and watch with Him, but the Bible says God never slumbers or sleeps (Psalm 121:4). In Luke 22:43, we discover that God the Father sent an angel to strengthen Jesus in his moment of distress. God did not remove the assignment, but strengthened Him to over come His distress and finish well. God may not remove the tasks, but He will give you the ability to bear it and carry it. Amen.
The Release of Deliverance
Let's take a quick look at Acts 16:16-34. Paul and Silas were in distress, but in their distress they cried out and up to the Lord with prayer, supplication and song. And the foundations began to shake and the bars made of iron were broken asunder. What is God breaking up on your behalf?
God will come through bars of iron and break up systemic structures and foundations to get to you, His beloved. Not only was Paul and Silas set free but so was the one (the jailer) who was legally authorized to keep them imprisoned to a legal, oppressing system forbidding the proclamation of the gospel and the name of Jesus. I tell you, there are people assigned to your life that will witness and personally encounter the power of God and His grace as you cry out and up to Him with:
- Prayer
- Supplication
- Song and praise.
Isn't that Good News? Great deliverance is in the Good News!
KINGDOM BUILDING UNITED
(Promoting the Good News of Jesus Christ around the globe)
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