As I grow in the Lord I go through many trials, but I know that these trials strengthen me and enable me to trust more in His power, and His ability to change me and take away all fear.
In Isaiah ch. 41 v. 13 God encourages Israel saying:- 'For I, the Lord thy God, will hold your right hand, saying unto you, ‘Fear not; I will help you.’
Knowing that the church is the Spiritual Israel of God, I too am encouraged by this verse.
The following is a song that I wrote concerning this which I believe I shared in a post a few years back, but which I feel to share in this post.
Touching Your hand
Touching Your hand I feel a power in me
walking Your way leads me into my destiny
all that I am is what You're making me
Your grace in my life is setting me free
You are my strength, death has no power in me
the battle is won, You are my song of victory
Where there's no fear there is no enemy
Your love in my heart is setting me free
For You are the Father's precious breath of life to me
my soul feels Your love that stirs within me
With You in my life I can be all I'm meant to be
each day as You teach me Your ways
Now is the time, in You must my spirit dwell
time to break free from my shadowy prison cell
Now is the time, time for my soul to rise
time to awake and open my eyes
Kissed by Your mercy, bathed in Your tenderness
now I awake to the touch of Your sweet caress
Fear lies behind me lost in the cold of night
Fear lies behind me lost in the cold of night
sweet love lies ahead in the warmth of Your light
For You are the sun that melts this cold, cold heart of mine
and You are the lamp that lights my darkness
My prayer to You Lord is that within my life You'll shine
each day as You lead me along
Once we are born again of God's Holy Spirit, we do not die, we fall asleep in Christ as stated in
1 Thessalonians ch. 4 vs. 13 - 17:-
'Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever.'
So although some of us may not see the Lord's return in our lifetime on this earth, if we have been born again of God's Holy Spirit, believing and trusting in the word spoken to us and allowing ourselves to be changed, then we need not fear death, nor worry about family and friends who have fallen asleep in the Lord, and are assured through Jesus' prayer in John ch. 17 vs. 20 and 21 that we shall all be together as one:-
‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.'
Some time ago I wrote this poem regarding those of us who may have already fallen asleep in Jesus when He returns for us:-
When we awaken from this sleep
Life and death both have their pain
both have their share of sorrow
and what we see and love today
may not be here tomorrow
One day we'll stand at Heaven's door
and pain and tears will be no more
when we awaken from this sleep
to be where shadows can not creep
We'll be together joined as one
with God the Father and His Son
we'll step within that blessed door
to find that sorrow is no more.
17 comments:
Dear Brenda,
Looking for the resurrection of our bodies to be with the Lord Jesus at his return is indeed the motive for living in the present day.
God bless.
Dear Brenda,
What a beautiful song! I would love to hear you sing it! Praise God that His Son conquered death and hell for us. Based on Bible prophesy and current events, I believe (and pray) that the Lord's return for His children will be soon, although we can't know the day or hour.
Thank you for the uplifting post. God bless,
Laurie
Hi Frank,
I agree totally with you here, and also believe that it is essential to spread the gospel of salvation in Jesus. All that I had in my life before being again was nothing, all that I have in Jesus is everything.
I have been over twice to your blog and still haven't finished reading your post. I will return to it today. We are in the process of moving house (again) if all goes through, and I can't believe how time flies.
God bless you and Alex.
Hi Laurie,
thank you for your kind words. I have an mp3 with some of my songs (not that I have the most brilliant voice )and poems on but I believe it takes many hours to upload it. I shall have to learn more about uploading, and then you shall be able to sing my songs with me eh! That would be nice.
I believe the Lord's return could be soon, but until the time we shall share the good news of salvation Laurie.
God bless you.
I enjoyed both the song and the poem.
I especially like the line in which states: "Where there is no fear there is no enemy."...That is so very true, for the enemy gains power only when he evokes fear in us, but with the assurance of Christ's comfort and peace and joy through our salvation and victory over death, there is no more fear, only faith.
Blessings and love~Lisa
Hi Lisa,
how lovely to see you. That is right, fear only comes from the enemy ( I remember hearing on the internet someone saying the FEAR stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. How true )
Love, joy and peace come from our Lord, and there could be no better comforter in our trials. I know this through my own experiences and I know that you know this too Lisa.
God bless you and look foreword to reading your next blog post.
Hi Brenda! You are so talented with verse! I loved your first song, and it reminded me so much of David and his Psalms. Such beautiful, simple faith and trust. That's something we all need to aspire to.
We do know we are well in His hands because of our love for Him, and you're right, He may not come back in our lifetime. But He will come, and I trust that we will all meet Him with psalms and hymns and inspired songs, just as St. Paul instructs us to do. We should not fear, as fear is not of God. Doesn't mean I don't feel that way sometimes, just that I need to remember it's not from God. It's that simple faith. Thank you Brenda.
Blessings,
Ceil
Hi Ceil,
I am so glad you liked the song. All my songs and poems have just dropped into my head at different stages in my walk with the Lord. Whatever I felt inside just seemed to come out in verse, and I believe that many of us have similar experiences.
I believe that we all fear a little at various times, but the Lord understands our weaknesses and I find that when I take those worrying thoughts that might try to invade my mind captive and bring them into obedience to Christ (the Word of God that has spoken to me in my hard times)then I realize that it is definitely a spiritual war.
For Jesus says 'These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.', and God says 'For I know the plans I have for you,' plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'
I love the way that the Holy Spirit brings His words to our remembrance at just the right time.
I'm sure we all know which voice it is best to listen to eh?
God bless you Ceil.
This was great Brenda, both comforting and encouraging. I would love to hear your songs too. :-) God bless you Brenda.
Hi Sateigdra,
It is lovely to hear from you again, I was only thinking of you and of Tim yesterday. I miss your blogs.
I shall have to learn how to upload my disc properly, and then we can all sing together eh?
God bless you too Sateigdra (I don't even know how to put a 'smiley' on my comments.
I've been keeping in touch with Tim, he writes short stories but he hasn't blogged in a while.
Sateigdra,
say 'Hello' to Tim from me. If he publishes his stories ask him what the book is called, I would love to read them. I wrote a couple of short stories, one, called 'Shoes' is on the this blog. Tell Tim that I hope he puts up some blog posts again, even if it is one every couple of months. I believe it is good to share with one another as we all go through different experiences and trials, and we overcome our spiritual enemy by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.
Hi Brenda.
Tim was glad to know that you thought about him, he wants to know what your email address is so he can contact you and perhaps send some of his short stories.
Amen, Brenda! May we spread His Word until He comes again. What a day that will be, when we stand around His throne and lift our voices to Him in one accord! Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
What a beautiful day that will be Laurie, and until then 'Yes' may we spread His word.
God bless you Laurie, as I know He is doing.
Hello Brenda,
I gave Tim your message you sent on my blog.
Hi Sateigdra,
we're in touch now, having a read of his short story. I don't think the problem was anything to do with hacking, it was to do with Google policy concerning browsers - which I am not very good with. I had to agree with the terms before I could use the browser, and it was that which was preventing me getting into my e mails. All about 'cookies' - which to me are the biscuits I enjoy eating. ha ha! Just my age I think.
Hope you are ok Sateigdra,
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