Skip to main content

Strengthened by the Lord

"Surely God is my help;
    the Lord is the one
 who sustains me."
Psalm 54:4




I don't know about you, but for me the pandemic has put a strain on my spiritual life. I keep up with my daily Bible study, devotional reading, centering prayer, and meditation.

Sunday worship is where there is strain.
Gathering in the church with people I know, having scripture read, prayers prayed, hymns sung, sharing communion, is diminished. Giving adequate thanks to the Lord in the sanctuary is diminished.

A diminished relationship to the Lord is one main consequence of not being able to sufficiently give thanks in God's sanctuary.

As I searched the scriptures, Psalm 54 spoke to my concern.
 
Psalm 54 is a prayer beginning as a plea to God for deliverance and vindication from arrogant foes and ruthless people making murderous threats.

The prayer expresses confidence that God is listening and will sustain his life and repay his enemies justly. 

The psalm ends with a prayer praising God for deliverance from every trouble because the name of the Lord is good.

God's Grace fills this psalm for me.

For me, God's Grace allows us to speak confidently knowing the Lord listens and hears deeply. This grace helps us to grow in our faith by realizing God has given us an inner strengthening spirit. This inner strengthening spirit assists us in coping with and interpreting diminished feelings wisely and accurately.

I recently read this: "First we pray. Then we wait."

As I lift my  prayer, I am confident the Lord hears and understands deeply and will strengthening me while I wait.

I am also confident the Lord hears, understands deeply, and strengthens each of us while we wait.


Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 04, 2021

    I'm absolutely sure I'm here because of God's grace and prayers from my church. Until I was faced with the fact that I could die from the brain bleed, I hadn't realized the serious implications. "First we pray, then we wait" applies to my situation, and I have been blessed!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grantchester's Warning

"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, the owner would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (from Luke 12:32-40 ) I regularly watch Grantchester; a murder mystery set in 1950s England. The main characters are a local detective and an Anglican priest who, as a team, solve mysteries set in the town. Two aspects of Grantchester impress me. First, the simplicity of the 1950’s police communications done by a landline phone and not cell phone. Second, the simplicity of daily life with little television and fewer possessions allowing the characters to focus on their vocation of detective and priest. This simplicity is more than a nostalgic return to the “good old days”. Instead, it’s a Shaker type of simplicity where austerity allows freedom from distractions to focus on worship and community. Today’s distraction-filled world has seemingly countless activ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Walking with God

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. (from Ps.103:1-8 ) Thomas Merton, American Trappist monk, writer and theologian, once asked himself a question he immediately answered:   How does an apple ripen? The apple, by simply being in the sun, fulfills its purpose of ripening, The apple doesn't try to ripen faster, it simply allows the sun to do its work.   There is nothing it can do to ripen itself. It can’t do workouts, tighten its muscles and then suddenly be a red, ripened, juicy apple in the morning. The apple just hangs on the branch in the sun, naturally ripening, where it receives its daily nourishment. This is the basic plan for how Christians ripen in their relationship to God. The difference is that Christians don’t naturally ripen in their relationship to God, we have to place themselves where we can be nourished. The beginning place of nourishment I find most helpful is the Guide to Prayer For All Who Walk With God. The daily walk in the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jesus, Deliverance, and Demons

"Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind." (from Luke 8:26-39 ) Astrid is a streaming program I often watch. The plot is a basic cops and robbers action until the criminal is caught. The uniqueness of the program is Astrid, who is on the Autism spectrum, is brilliant at solving puzzles including connecting clues to solve the crime. Watching this program has given me a more profound insight to people living with this condition and their acceptance in society. My first-hand experience with children on the Spectrum was driving a Special Needs school bus for 6 years. With this experience, I can imagine the life the possessed man was experiencing, especially living among the tombs, bound with chains and shackles, having to live in the wilds. It was no wonder he cried for mercy. Jesus, with his power and mercy, cast the demons out and even...
Post a Comment
Read more