Protection

God is Watching Out the Window

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments 
May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
 May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary,
 and give you support from Zion!
Psalm 20:1-2 ESV

One day when our seven-year-old son was walking home from school, a group of three older boys began pushing him, throwing his books in the snow and giving him a hard time. Unfortunately for them, my wife, Nancy, happened to be watching out our apartment window, and immediately went into action. In seconds she flew down the stairs and out the door. You never saw three kids runs so fast once they had caught sight of their victim’s angry mom bearing down on them. Fortunately for everyone involved she never quite caught them, but it was the last time that they picked on Chris that year! In the same way God is looking out the window and watching for us as we are on the way home to Him. But you might think that asking God for help when we have problems is a spiritual no-no or even a bit selfish. But nothing could be further from the truth. God loves to answer our cry. Just as Nancy was not annoyed to immediately come Chris’ defense, the Lord eagerly runs to our aid. Today’s verse also tells us that the name of the Lord is our protection. When we call for help in Jesus’ name, our enemies are terrified and scurry for cover, not because of us but because they see Him angrily chasing them down! Finally, the Psalm tells us that God sends help from His sanctuary. Now this sanctuary is not some place that God goes to hide, instead it is the holiest place in Heaven. It is where the Father sits on His throne, surrounded by millions of angels and saints falling down in worship. Its floor is pure gold, and its support columns shake at the sound of His voice. Yet surrounded by all this eternal splendor, God is not irritated when He hears our cry. He does not mind putting down what He is doing to get involved in our life. No! God rushes to our rescue because we are His. He cares about us and we are precious and loved. So, if you are facing trouble, grief or even life-threatening circumstances today, remember that your Heavenly Father is watching over you. He is listening for your cry and will eagerly answer our prayers when we cry to Him in the day of our trouble!

The God of Every Day Prayers

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:9‭-‬10‭, ‬12‭-‬13 ESV

Forgive us our debts, give us our food and lead us not into temptation are things Jesus taught us to pray every day. I don’t know about you but for me having to constantly ask for God’s help in these areas makes me feel frustrated and weak. But God is not at all frustrated or angry when we sincerely pray. Instead He taught us to pray these things because He is a God who is ready to forgive us every morning, delights in providing for us every day and who knows we need His protection on our journey!

God’s Critical Updates

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Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.           Psalm 25:4-5 NKJV

Have you ever turned on your computer and discovered that you need to download the most recent critical updates? I confess that sometimes I hurry on, and out of impatience begin work  hoping that nothing will go wrong. In the same way God offers each of us daily the guidance and protection we need to walk with Him. He is trying to protect me from my spiritual enemy in the same way as my software is alerting me to the dangers of malware, viruses or other electronic ne’er do wells.

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The Bible tells us to download God’s latest spiritual updates to help us navigate today’s pathway. Sometimes it is the malware of our own ways that pops up in the operating system of our minds. Sometimes it is the temptation to fit in with the world around that is shouting  for our attention. But no matter the source of the malware we have the opportunity to ask God to overwrite it with a download of His truth.

Our daily spiritual battles will no more disappear from our  lives than will spam from our e-mail accounts. But every day we can make a new determination that since God alone is our salvation then we will wait take the time to download His updates and call Him up on His customer support line called prayer. He is eager to hear from us and He wants to walk with us through every valley no matter how dark! imported from phone 157