"God is our Refuge, So Why Do We Seek Out Human Help First?"

Good Evening to All!

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my honor depend on God;
He is my mighty rock, my refuge,
Trust in Him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.

Psalm 62:5-8 NIV

Here is the KJV of that same passage:

My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.
(6) His only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defence; I shall not be moved. (7) In god is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
(8) Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Dear Father in Heaven,

What is it going to take, to shake me and make me realize that the ONE I can depend on is You? How many more times will I call upon friends, my husband or my family for help or advice, when in reality, they are not truly equipped to give me what I need?

Help me to remember to come to YOU FIRST, and not as a last resort. Help me God to strengthen my faith in You so that I will be able to discern in my spirit that it is You speaking to me and not me interjecting my own thoughts and feelings. Lord I know that you have given each one of us a "measure of faith" and it is up to us to increase that faith. The only way to do that is to step out in faith and watch You at work.
Father, You are my rock and my fortress, my strong tower. You are my port in the storm, and my refuge in times of trouble. I know this, yet I still run to others before I come to You. I know that You are bigger than any problem which I may encounter. That it is "I" who limit You by my lack of faith. I do have faith, but it is limited because I let my "brain" get in the way of my spirit.

Lord, I am praying this prayer on my blog post, because I know there are others out there just like me and I know that if asked You will help each and every one of us who come to you with this request. You have made many promises to us in Your Word and one of my favorite is "If ye abide in Me and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7).

Therefore, I am here asking that You touch my heart, and the heart and of all of those who read this post and increase our faith.

Father, I love You so much and I have no doubts about anything in your Word, at least in my heart. The problem is when my brain and my heart play tug o war. Help my heart to win out over my brain Lord. I have seen what you can do. I have seen healings which You have done, I've seen miracles such as money come from the most "unexpected places" when I've needed it and other things. I thank you so much.

I guess if I were to be limited to just two things to ask you for, it would be increased faith, and the wisdom I need to be a good witness for You to others.

I asked these things in the powerful name of Jesus Christ,
AMEN

"COME TO ME"

Good Evening to All!

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]
(Matthew 11:28 AMP.Version)

One of the greatest hindrances to hearing form God is trying to get to Him through works instead of a personal relationship with Him by being born again and fellowshipping with Him regularly. This has been one of my main themes throughout my close to 2 year stint of blogging. I have constantly stood my ground and stood on the "Word" saying that in order to please God, in order to be saved by God, we absolutely have an intimate relationship with Him. A long distance relationship will not work with Him anymore than it does for human to human relationships. I say this and yet there is much more.

Yes, if we intend on spending an eternity in Heaven with our Lord, something more than "lip service" is required. We must show our love for Him. Not only by doing good works, although that is Part of it, because Jesus talked about when we do for the "least of them" (poor) we do for Him. BUT there is more to a relationship than works. We must sincerely strive to get to know Him.

God Want to ease our burdens, but we must come to Him first. Knock on His door, He will answer. He will listen when you call out to Him. Yet, He also wants you to get to know Him by studying His Word and Praying. If we don't do these things, we will never get to know Him. We will never get to understand His ways, or what He expects from us.

We will never get to the next level of love for Him. I have gone through many stages or levels in my relationship with Him. At first, I was "aware" there is a God. Then I got to where I would pray once in a while. Friends would ask me to go to church with them, and every once in a while I would go.

After many problems as well as 2 failed marriages, I started looking for more. I started going to this church and that church, trying to find answers. Trying to get my soul fed, but to no avail. After several years of this, I was working in a Truck Stop as a waitress and a couple came in which I waited on. Something told me that there was something different about these two people, so I started asking them questions. That was the end of my search. I started going to their church and of course since moved, but stayed in that same Faith.

My relationship with God has gotten stronger and stronger as I have realized there is more to getting to heaven than just saying "I love Jesus and accept Him as my Savior like I believed before. I realize that it's a two-way relationship. That He expects me to live for Him, abide by His Word, which means I actually must Read it to abide by it. I have to study it and write it on my heart to be able to know what He expects, otherwise I would be constantly looking up scriptures all day long in every circumstance. He wants these things, He wants a sacrifice of praise from us and most of all obedience.

You must be wondering what all this has to do with being given spiritual rest. In the above verse Jesus is saying "I am good. My system is good. He is telling us that He will not give us more than we can bear. Without Him, we can become overwhelmed, depressed, anxious, and even have a nervous breakdown, but if we will lean on Him, He will be there to help us through it all no matter what it is. Anything from financial problems to problems at school or work, even on the home front.

He will always give us the ability, strength, peace, and joy to handle any situation if we ask. When we are doing the will of God, He refreshes us while we work.

If we feel overburdened, then perhaps we are doing things which God has not asked us to do, or even more, maybe we are trying to do them under our own strength rather than asking God for His help. We always need to ask Him what He wants us to do and not do, and be bold enough to eliminate anything He is not blessing.

It might even be that we have asked for His help, but never quieted down enough to hear what He had to say. I have been guilty of this. I pray for guidance and help every day. I pray every time I need His help with something, my problem is either I'm so busy naming off my grocery list of needs that I don't hear Him when He speaks, or I have hindrances in my way such as sin, unforgiveness, bitterness, things that get in the way of our prayers if we don't make them right first. We need to take care of these problems first, then come to God in prayer.

Why make the path of our prayers to God like an obstacle course when if we make things right with God and others first it will be like a smooth sailing freeway from our mouths to God's ears?

A Word of Wisdom: Eliminate from our schedule and life anything that is not bearing good fruit. We should ask ourselves this question. What do I have in my life that does not benefit my relationship with God?

Good Night to All and May God Bless!