God's Word on That

Tag: god-during-crisis

  • God Comes Down To Us

    You must become settled on this spiritual fact: God’s thoughts are not like man’s thoughts.  Nor are His ways like our ways.  He alone, who knows the end of things from their beginning, is able to determine what the result of any course of action may be.  Let no hint of doubt turn you from a steadfast faith in God’s willingness and ability to guide you.

    God’s thoughts are way above our thinking, but He keeps working with us to get us to understand Him.

    Be still and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations.  I will be exalted in the earth (Psalm 46:10)

    Is He not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you? (Deuteronomy 32:6)

    For your Maker is your Husband; your [kinsman] Redeemer…  (Isaiah 54:5)

    But You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us.  You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer (Isaiah 63:16).

    I, even I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins (Isaiah 43:25).

    I am the God who heals you (Exodus 15:26)

    “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

    Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise – for He is God, our God, forever and ever.  He will be our Guide even to death (Psalm 48:14).

    But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners [unable to know Him personally] Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

    Consider Him [Christ Jesus, the very Son of God] who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:3).

    Jesus properly interpreted the law.  Therefore, His power was greater than the evil spirits’.

    All we like sheep have gone astray.  We have turned, everyone to his own way.  [Yet] the Lord has laid on [Christ Jesus] the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).

    The stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  This was the Lord’s doing… (Psalm 118:22-23)

    On His robe and on His thigh He has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16)

    Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows.  Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions.  He was bruised for our iniquities.  The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are [now] healed (Isaiah 53:4-5)

    The love of Jesus compels us to do what we never thought we could do and go to heights we never thought we could reach.  Precious is the Name of Jesus!

    Yet for us there is but one God – the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we live.   And there is but one Lord – Jesus Christ, through whom all things come and through whom we live (1 Corinthians 8:6).

    If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31-32).

  • Our Gracious God

    That God can be known by the soul in tender, personal experience while remaining infinitely aloof from the curious eyes of reason constitutes a paradox best described by F. W. Faber: darkness to the intellect but sunshine to the heart. (A. W. Tozer)

    God is a loving Father, ready to hear our prayers and supply our needs

    What is man that You are mindful of him?  The son of man that You care for him?  You have made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor (Psalm 8:4-5).

    For as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is His love for those who fear Him.  As far as the east is from the west so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:11-12)

    Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits (Psalm 68:19).

    He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.  He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.  Great is the Lord Almighty in power.  His understanding has no limit (Psalm 147:3-5).

    But God is a God who not merely restores but takes up our mistakes and follies into His plans for us and brings good out of them.  This is part of the wonders of His gracious sovereignty.  This is God’s promise.  This is how good God is!

    You are the God who performs miracles.  You display Your power among the peoples (Psalm 77:14)

    He causes [clouds/rain] to come whether for correction [discipline], or for His land [sustenance], or for mercy [forgiveness]. (Job 37:13)

    God’s love is such that He accepts us just the way we are but refuses to leave us there.  We can be so difficult, but God can be so patient!

    He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

    “He has set eternity in their hearts.”  To be made for eternity and forced to dwell in time is for mankind a tragedy of huge proportions.  All within us cries for life and permanence, and everything around us reminds us of only mortality and change.  Yet that God has made us from the stuff of eternity is both a glory yet to be realized, and a prophecy yet to be fulfilled. (A W Tozer)

    The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.  The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time.  You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing (Psalm 145:14-16).

    O the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out! (Romans 11:33)

    Throughout the expanse of creation God has hidden things for us to discover, to enjoy, and with which to perceive the nature of our Creator.

    He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.  The Lord sets prisoners free.  The Lord gives sight to the blind.  The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.  The Lord loves the righteous.  The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow… (Psalm 146:7-8)

    Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father forever and ever (1 Chronicles 29:10).

  • Our God, Our Maker

    The Lord said to Samuel: “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him.  For the Lord does not see as man sees; for a man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”   (1 Samuel 16:6-7)

    In all His vastness, God cares for us individually.

    What is man that You care for him?  The son of man that You think of him?  Man is like a breath, his days are like a fleeting shadow (Psalm 144:3-4).

    The rich and poor have this in common: the Lord is maker of them all (Proverbs 22:2).

    For there is no partiality with God (Romans 2:11).

    It is not enough to believe God once showed mercy to Abraham, David, or Noah.  It is an attribute of God to be merciful, not a temporary mood.  We must believe God’s mercy is boundless, free and available to us (through Christ Jesus) in our present situation, or we might as well not even pray.

    I know that You can do everything, and no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You (Job 42:2-3).

    How awesome are Your works!  Come and see what God has done, how awesome His works on man’s behalf (Psalm 66:3, 5).

    The enemy emphasizes the past with its mistakes and heartaches.  The Comforter exalts the present.  God is a “now” God.

    Who is a God like You?  Who pardons sin and forgives transgressions of the remnant of His inheritance?  You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.  You will again have compassion on us; You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:18-19).

    You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness, and did not forsake them (Nehemiah 9:17).

    I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for Me?   (Jeremiah 32:27)

    God owes no one anything.  No reasons, no explanations, nothing.  And if He gave them, we couldn’t understand them anyway.  Just trust He is fashioning your life for the better!

    I lift up my eyes to the hills – from whence comes my help?  My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth (Psalm 121:1-2).

    His ways are eternal (Habakkuk 3:6).

    I, even I am He who comforts you.  Who are you that you fear mortal man?  The sons of men who are but grass?  That you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth?  That you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor/devil, who is bent only on destruction? ( Isaiah 51:12-13)

    You feel unsafe; you are frightened and fear limits the joy you experience in your life.  What are you afraid of?  Pain?  Rejection?  Dying?  Did you know that I am at peace always?  Did you know My Spirit – the same Spirit that is in Me – is in you?  I have built a wall of protection around you so the invisible dragon of the night will not harm you.  I save you from the dangers of the daytime.  I am for you!  Who can be against you and win?  But you worry because of past experiences.  I care for you!  I’ve even numbered every hair on your head.

  • Our Awesome God

    The planets move in split-second precision.  There is no guesswork in the galaxies.  We see in nature that everything is part of a plan: harmonious, orderly, obedient…   Could a God who make the physical universe be any less exacting in the higher spiritual and moral order?

    Everywhere we look, we can see God’s marvelous works.

    That all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God, there is no other (1 Kings 8:60).

    Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the mighty man glory in his might; nor let the rich man glory in his riches.  But let anyone who glories glory in this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.  For in these I delight,” says the Lord (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

    And He passed in front of Moses proclaiming: The Lord, the Lord God.  The compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin; yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished… (Exodus 34:6-7)

    The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.  Holy and awesome is His name!    (Psalm 111:4, 9)

    “I owe no one anything,” God declares.  “Everything is Mine.”  God owes no explanations, excuses, help, favor, or debt.  But He still gives.

    Does He who implanted the ear not hear?  Does He who formed the eye not see?  Does He who disciplines nations not punish?  Does He who teaches man lack knowledge?    (Psalm 94:9-10)

    The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.  The Lord is good to all, He has compassion on all He has made (Psalm 145:8-9).

    Grace = God’s work.  His idea.  His expense.  His discretion.

    Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.  For He spoke and it was done!  He commanded and it stood fast!    (Psalm 33:8-9)

    … You alone are God (Psalm 86:10).

    If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine and all that is in it.  Do I eat the flesh of bulls?  Or drink the blood of goats?  Sacrifice thank offerings to your God (Psalm 50:12-14).

    For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men (Lamentations 3:33).

    “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die,” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23)

    God is God.  God knows what He is doing.  When you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.     (Max Lucado)

  • Dealing With Ourselves

    We are not invulnerable to the devil – he is wise, he is crafty.  Guard your heart!  Do not flirt with trials.  Have confidence that God gives us a spirit of self-discipline to handle the temptation that we struggle with most in our life.  Father, please use Your power to block the paths of evil this day and every day.  Amen.

    Let us reflect on our ways to understand our sufferings.

    And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2).

    Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think.  Then you will learn from your own experience how His ways will really satisfy you.  (Romans 12:2 the Living Bible Translation)

    We would like to be consumed all at once by the flames of pure love, but such an end would scarcely cost us anything.  It is only an excessive self-love that desires to become perfect in a moment and at so cheap a rate.  (Fenelon)

    These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom – in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body.  But [actually] are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh (Colossians 2:23).

    The Ten Commandments were given for us to enjoy life better, not to make it worse.

    But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life…  (Roman 5:20-21)

    The Ten Commandments were given so that all could see the extent of their failure to obey God’s laws.  But the more we see our sinfulness, the more we see God’s abounding grace forgiving us.  Before, sin ruled over all men and brought them to death, but now God’s kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (Romans 5:20-21 the Living Bible Translation)

    Abounding sin is the terror of the world, but abounding grace is the hope of mankind.  However sin may abound, it still has its limits, for it is the product of finite minds.  But God’s “much more” introduces us to infinitude!  Against our deep creature-sickness stands God’s infinite ability to care!

    Who can discern his errors?  Forgive my hidden faults.  Keep Your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.  Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression (Psalm 19:12-13).

    Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties, and see if there is any wicked way in me.  Lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24).

    Through the grace that I have been given I say this to every one of you: never pride yourself on being better than you really are, but think of yourself dispassionately, recognizing that God has given to each one His measure of faith (Romans 12:3).

    Self-pity is of the devil and if I wallow in it, I cannot be used by God for His purposes.  When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrances.  Have faith in Him and His goodness!

    Tears shed for self are tears of weakness.  Tears of love shed for others are signs of strength.

    Discouragement is not the fruit of humility but of pride.  All our falls are useful if they strip us of a disastrous confidence in ourselves, while they do not take away a humble and saving trust in God.

    I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. (Romans 7:18).

    Don’t be ashamed of yourself; Jesus paid a high price for you.

    Do you know where to find rest?  Where you find a clean conscience?  Where you find the ability to sleep at night and live with yourself?  By living in the pleasure of the Father who made you.

    Words of encouragement: God forgives first, then forgets.

  • Suffering’s Dealing With Us

    In this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith – which is of greater worth than gold, which itself perishes even though it be refined by fire – may be proven genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:6-7).

    With God as our Rock of refuge and strength, our enemies cannot harm us.

    If we can see an enemy as someone who is an unwilling instrument of our blessings, it is easier to be forgiving and loving…  We must discover that our enemies can never really harm us.

    Don’t give up when you think God has abandoned you.                                      Pray He gives you patience to see the situation through.                     Then thank Him in advance for what He is about to do.

    He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit; and I will live to enjoy the light.  God does all these things to a man – twice, even three times – to turn back his soul from the pit, that the light of life may shine on him (Job 33:28-30).

    Isn’t it strange that beggars and kings

    and clowns that caper in sawdust rings

    And common folk like you and me

    are builders of eternity?

    To each is given a bag of tools,

    a shapeless mass and a book of rules,

    And each must fashion ‘ere life has flown

    a stumbling block or a stepping stone.

    Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are renewed every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

    Struggling with life’s difficulties makes us a little wiser, a little more capable, enabling us to comfort others who experience pain.  Difficulties are short lived; rewards are eternal.

    The grass is not usually greener on the other side.  There are just things on the other side you don’t see from your side.  If you were where that other person is, you probably wouldn’t be happy on that side either.

    Who is causing our troubles (if not our own sin) is not easy to determine.  We don’t want to rebuke the devil for something God is behind, but don’t want to bear it if there is something we can do to end it either.  Still, the response to adversity is far more important than the source of it.  No matter where it comes from, God uses it to deepen faith.  Our response to adversity determines if God can use it to accomplish His purposes.

    Give ear and come to Me; hear Me, that your soul may live (Isaiah 55:3).

    Look to my right and see, no one is concerned for me.  I have no refuge, no one who cares for my life. [Only You]  (Psalm 142:4)

    When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant.  I was a brute beast before You (Psalm 73:21-22).

    Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey Your Word… It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn Your decrees (Psalm 119:67, 71).

    When God comforts you, you have cause to fear that you might care more for His gifts than for Himself.  But when He deals roughly with you and you hold on fast, it is to Him alone that you cling!          

  • Sufferings Dealing With Man

    How often we provoke Him in our wildernesses and grieve Him in our desert wanderings!

    Be careful in dealing with other people. Predators are abundant.

    It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man (Psalm 118:8)

    Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless (Psalm 60:11).

    Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless (Psalm 108:12).

    Resentment = when you allow your heart to turn into hate.  Hate, simmering in your heart, only causes bitterness and you alone suffer it.  Forget the hurt!  There is no other emotion that imprisons the soul like the unwillingness to forgive.

    For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives [only] himself (Galatians 6:3).

    Profoundly take note: the humble seem to always be at peace.  The proud are most often envious and angry.

    Anger is the cancer of the spirit.  Anger doesn’t do any good.  It only feeds a primitive lust for revenge, which feeds our anger… [see how the cycle begins!]

    A man of great wrath will suffer punishment; for if you rescue him, you will have to do it again [and again].    (Proverbs 19:19)

    Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.  A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15).

    For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have… pierced themselves with many sorrows  (1 Timothy 6:10).

    Blind ambition is one giant step away from God and closer to catastrophe.

    Turn my eyes away from worthless things…   (Psalm 119:37)

    Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil (Psalm 141:4).

    There is no gift that, after having been a help, will not become a snare and a hindrance to the soul that rests in it.  So God often takes away what He has given.  (Fenelon)

    People are a source of joy, not a source of stress.  God sees each one of us as having value, so do not judge!

    A pearl lost in the mud is not less valuable.  A pearl coated with balm is not more valuable.  We have our value from our Father, and how and where we live cannot change that.   (Sayings of Yeshua)

    For the real riches, try switching kingdoms.

    Consider carefully how you listen.  Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he [thinks he] has will be taken from him!  (Luke 8:18)

  • For Man’s Part…

    God’s commandments were given to protect and promote man’s happiness, not to restrict it.  God wants the best for us.  He has laid down spiritual laws which, if obeyed, bring harmony and fulfillment.  But if disobeyed, bring discord and disorder.

    There is not a righteous man on earth who [always] does what is right and never sins (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

    For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

    For they loved praise from men more than praise from God (John 12:43).

    The world is evil, the times are waxing late, and the glory of God has departed from the church as the fiery cloud once lifted from the Temple in the sight of Ezekiel… This God of our fathers wants to be the God of those fathers’ succeeding race.  We have only to prepare Him a habitation in love and faith and humility.  We have but to want Him badly enough, and He will come and manifest Himself to us.

    Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord (Lamentations 3:40).

    These six things does the Lord hate; no, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies, and he who sows discord among brothers (Proverbs 6:16-19).

    We live in an age which everything is working against the things we hold dear…  In this evil day we need constant reminders of the truth.  If we are not careful with our time, we will allow others to fill it up for us, and there will be none left for God.

    For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 John 2:16).

    You say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked (Revelation 3:17).

    Do you love life?  Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.   (Ben Franklin)

    Don’t look down to see anyone, unless you are glancing down in order to help them to their feet again.

    Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.  For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap (Galatians 6:7).

    Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good habits (1 Corinthians 15:33).

    Stubbornness is an iniquity, and is idolatry in hiding.

    Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account (Hebrews 4:13).

    For if your heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things [so don’t think you’ll get by Him]  (1 John 3:20).

    If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.  [He will stand by us.]  (1 John 3:21)

  • There Is a Purpose For Pain

    Pain plants the flag of reality in the fortress of the rebel heart.  How unfinished and rebellious and proud and unconcerned we would be without suffering changing us!  So simply say, “Thank you, Lord, for this test” for it WILL strengthen you.

    Fact: God does indeed comfort good people when bad things happen to them.  Trouble never leaves us where it finds us; sorrow will always change our tomorrow.  God inspires us to become better, not bitter.

    Pain is inevitable but misery is optional.

    Christian life is not deliverance FROM trouble, but deliverance IN trouble.  God gives us life as we overcome, not an overcoming life.  Only when you spend yourself will you strengthen yourself.

    Sacrifice is the currency of God’s kingdom.                                                          

    Thank God for your adversity.  If it is from the devil, he will stop since God is getting the credit for it.  If it is from God, then at least your gratitude is getting to the right place.

    I think sometimes it takes a life-changing event to make us really see the way we’re living based on the choices we’ve made.  (Jana DeLeon)

    It’s a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn’t want to hear.     (Dick Cavett)

    Sleep, riches and health – to be enjoyed fully – must be interrupted.   (J. P. Richter)

    It is unkind to attribute every sorrow to God’s punishment; suffering can be used to glorify God.

    Neither this man nor his parents sinned – but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in his life (John 9:3).

    God’s economy is upside down from the world’s economy.  God says: the more hopeless your circumstances, the more likely your salvation; the greater your cares, the more genuine your prayers; the darker the room, the more need for light.

    We are better able to appreciate blessing if we endure hardships.

    Our target is to glorify our Lord Jesus.  Tears sometimes blur our vision, but we must remember our position in Christ and continue on.

    Helping others in distress begins when we share their pain.  [Trust comes when we share our pain.]

    Sympathy is two hearts tugging at one load.

    The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will by no means clear the guilty.  The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet (Nahum 1:3).

    “Clouds are the dust of His feet.”  Clouds are a sign that God is there…  Sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are therefore actually the clouds that come along with God, because God is always with us.