Going through Hell with Help from Heaven

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; 
and sayeth such as be of a contrite spirit.
- Psalm 34:18

Being brokenhearted can leave you in the dumps.  The damage done to you can leave you feeling like totally damaged goods and all out of sorts.  It happens to a lot of us.

Fortunately, the Scriptures assure us that the Lord is near to those of us who feel broken and contrite.

Can you imagine going through hell without any help from heaven?

It is hard enough to catch hell as a Christian.  We have fellowship with the Lord and communion with Him.  We have fellow saints, brothers and sisters worldwide praying for us and fasting for us in unity.  We have the Lord's Spirit indwelling within us due to our conversion.  We have all that, but we still catch hell and it can break us down.

We can have all of these things to our advantage and still remain vulnerable to satanic attacks and demonic forces that seek to do all sorts of damage to us and our relationship with the Lord.  Yet, we still have more than those who have no relationship with God.  We can catch hell and still know that God is watching over us and He still loves and cares for us.

Though we may catch hell here on earth, we still have:

• Hope: We have the Lord's will on our hearts.  His will being fulfilled gives us hope that what we may go through is part of the bigger picture that will lead to us having a better perspective and bolder praise.  We go through hell, but we have HOPE.
• Help:  We have the Lord's Word to provide us with His words of comfort and displays of His miraculous power and lovingkindness as well as longsuffering throughout time.  He extends his hand of mercy and grace to help us when we least deserve it, especially since we cannot earn anything from Him on the merit of our own goodness.  It is good to know that we have His HELP.
• Heaven: We have heaven on our side.  We have the Lord and His angelic forces, His almighty power that encompasses all things created on earth and in heaven.  I oftentimes wondered why God and the "sons of God" did not launch a full court press on Satan when he walked into the heavenly realm in the Book of Job.  However, as I learn more and more about the attributes of God, I realize that Satan (Lucifer) was summoned just like all of God's other angels in order to stand before Him.  He was subject to God, even in his fallen state. God has all power over all things, even the hell that we go through with help from heaven.

Keep this in mind as you endure what you have to face in this life.  it could be at work or school, in your home or your family.  No matter where you go through hell here on earth, you can depend on help from heaven.

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Discover more about the type of help that God offers us all.  Read my article Praying with Trust and find some simple ways to continue in Christ with deeper faith.  Also, view facing Your Fears in Faith.  I believe that both of these articles can help those who are hurting and are in need of healing that only the Lord Himself can provide.

God is Available

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 

¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 

¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

-Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV)

God is available to us.  We do not have to await a mediator in the form of a priest or anyone else.  Jesus serves as our "great high priest" who "did not sin." He is our mediator, seated at the right hand of the throne of God and advocating for us before God.  

Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 

- Mark 15:38 (NKJV)

He makes our access to God available to us.  The work of Jesus upon the cross brought about the torn veil that led to the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary of the temple where access to God was limited to those of the priestly order.  That was destroyed and torn in two by the sacrifice of Jesus.  We, as believers through His shed blood, now have access to God.

Take some time and spend it with God, meditating on the sacrifice of Jesus.

Read my article Finding Time to Spend with God Daily. 

Help in Times of Trouble

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

-Psalm 46:1

We are to look to God for our strength.  He is to serve as our supplier.  He is to provide us all that we need, especially when we find ourselves in the midst of trouble.  Finding ourselves in such deplorable conditions and circumstances, we should look with hope to the Lord.  We should earnestly seek Him in such times as these, hoping for the best from the Lord.

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. - Psalm 9:9

You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge. - Psalm 14:6

Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. - Psalm 31:4

My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. - Psalm 62:7

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. - Psalm 62:8

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. - Psalm 145:18

God can step in and stand in for us.  He did it at Calvary at our greatest point of need.  The sin that could not be taken away by any work on our part was cast away on the cross.  The bounty due for the countless transgressions against God were far outweighing any offerings placed upon the altar of sacrifice, but the Lord provided Himself an offering in our stead.  He provided the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the earth.

We were troubled and God made His very presence known among us.  He took the form of man.  He became less to do more, never losing His deity but refraining from resisting the fulfilment of prophecy.  As the God-man, the Lord offered us help when we most needed it.  He continues to do so now, even with His blood continually covering us.

Perfection Personified

The angel then assured her that she had found favour with God, and would become the mother of a son whose name she should call Jesus, the Son of the Highest, one in a nature and perfection with the Lord God. - Matthew Henry's Commentary (Luke 1:26-38)

Jesus Christ is the personification of perfection.

Jesus was Promised: He was the child of promise. (2 Samuel 7:16; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23)

Jesus was Presented: He was presented in the Jewish custom. (Luke 2:21-23, 39)

Jesus was Persecuted: He was the Lamb of God as John the Baptist called Him (John 1:29).  He was slain for our sins, our transgressions and our iniquities according to Isaiah's prophecy (Isaiah 53).

Yet, without His perfection, He could have never stood in our stead and taken on our sin upon the cross.  He was, as Peter stated, a lamb without spot or blemish.  He epitomizes perfection.  He embodies perfection.  He exemplifies perfection.  He is perfect, and we are challenged to become perfect like Him.

We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. - Colossians 1:28 (NIV)

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: - Ephesians 4:13 (KJV)

 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death - Philippians 3:10 (NIV)

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. - Hebrews 5:14 (NIV)

Doing as He Says

Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’

and do not do what I say?

- Luke 6:46 (NIV)

You shall observe My judgments and keep

My ordinances, to walk in them:

I am the LORD your God.
- Leviticus 18:4 (NKJV)



When accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we also accept Him as Lord.  We embrace His sacrifice for our salvation.  We accept His suffering for our sins.  Yet, we stumble when it comes to His lordship over our lives.
 

In Leviticus 18, God addresses His people through Moses the man of God, affirming His relationship with the people by stating repetitively: I am the LORD your God.  The phrase repeats throughout the divine dialogue between God and His people.  God states it through Moses and establishes His relationship with His people based on His decrees and statutes given in the wilderness.

 

Read Psalm 145:13. It speaks of God's "everlasting kingdom." Nathan shared the words of God with David in 2 Samuel 7.  God promised David: And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever (2 Samuel 7:16, KJV).
 
Let us fast forward to Jesus walking the earth as the Son of David.  He came as the Messiah and the Christ, "the Anointed One." The Savior would reign and rule as Lord forever.  His kingdom would extend beyond Jewish bloodlines like He shared through His prophets.  He came and sacrificed Himself for us.  He kept His promise to redeem us.  He offers the sinner in us all reconciliation.  He lives as our Lord.
 

Look at how we handle Him ruling over us as Lord.  We cry out to Him, expecting Him to offer us healing and help.  Yet, we must regard Him as Lord.  We must serve as His loyal subjects, for He is the King.  Those who serve the King do as He says.  They do each and every act according to His commandments in true submission.

 

If He is your Lord, do as He says.  Leave your ego out of it.  Keep your faith as your focus.  Do just as He says.  He is Lord.  Submit to Him.  Do as He says.

 
He is your Lord.
 
Do what He says for you to do.
 
Do just what the Lord says.

Who is Your Gomer?

And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms...- Hosea 1:1

Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them."- Hosea 3:1 (NLT)

God utilized the prophet as an object lesson for others to see.  He put Hosea's entire life on display for all others to view him.  He did so and Hosea's life stands out from the lives of other Old Testament prophets in a special way.  Hosea was used by God to show God's tattered relationship with Israel.

It wasn't bad enough that Isaiah's prophecy referred to Israel as a harlot.  It wasn't enough for Ezekiel to eat the scroll or go to a valley and view dry bones.  Surely, it was not enough for Jeremiah to lament after being the weeping prophet who said he would no longer preach the message that the Lord had for him to share with others.  No, God used Hosea differently.  He used his children and his wife, Gomer, to display that God who is perfect and pure was in love with a woman who turned out to be a prostitute- Israel.

So who is your Gomer? Who is God calling on you to seek, to reach and help? Who is your Gomer?

Find out who God is calling on you to reach with His message.  See who God is calling on you to go out of your way and reclaim for Him.  Let God use you.

The Price of Salvation

"I remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior."
-John Newton (1725–1807)

Salvation is free.

You don't buy it.  You cannot earn it.

Salvation is free, but it comes at a cost.

Truthfully, salvation comes at a steep cost.  While salvation is a free offer from God to those who will believe, it cost God the Father His only begotten Son- Jesus Christ.

For you were bought at a price... - 1 Corinthians 6:20 (NKJV)

The Lord offers us salvation as the "gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).  He showed us mercy, not giving us what we deserved for our sins, and showed us grace by offering what we did not deserve.  Salvation is the ultimate gift of God to the world through His Son's atoning sacrifice as the Lamb of God.

Let us truly believe and accept God's gift with all thankfulness.  Open your eyes to the riches and treasures of everlasting life offered through the sacrifice of the Savior.  Let us who believe open mouths to speak freely about the freedom that we have gained through Christ just as we have opened our hearts to gain such freedom to live in Christ.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,


-Psalm 107:2-3 (NKJV)

From Eden to Egypt Day 45

But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.- Genesis 39:21 (KJV)

Down times can the very times where we need to know that the Lord is a "very present help."  Illness, unemployment, family strife, divorce and a slew of other issues can plague us day by day.  At times, we can feel abandoned. 

That's not what God wants us to feel.  He does not desire for us to be His forsaken children.  He redeemed us for the price of His only begotten Son.  Let us not live like those who are without hope as Paul shared with fellow believers through his epistles.  We are children of God as promised through His Son.

Joseph was in the pit, then in Potiphar's house, and then in prison.  God never left him alone and forsaken.  He showed him mercy.  He even gave him favor in the sight of others.  God could have left it at mercy and that would have been a big deal, but He even gave the young man favor.

The next time that you feel down.  Look around and see what God has provided for you.  Think clearly about what God has taken you through, ups and downs, valleys and mountains.  Let your heart be content with all that God has already done for you.