May 15, 2009 Trusting God's Word and Love Kathleen Maples

Psa 62:8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a
refuge for us. Selah.

The Word of God is urging us to remember the Lord is our Refuge, we can be
confident and sure of Him. The certainty that God will do what He said, that He
meant what He said, that He had His Word written for our encouragement,
education and defense, this is our confidence, and our hope. Trust-have confidence
in, be sure of God at all times...no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the
situation, trust in Him. No matter how bad it looks, no matter how dark it is, no
matter how you feel, trust in HIM. Remember how He's delivered you in the past.
Remember how He's delivered others in the past. Remember His deliverances and
take comfort in what you know He has already done. He already knows your
situation. He wants you to run to Him with it, and pour out your heart, tell Him
everything that's plaguing your mind, the feelings you are struggling with, the pain
that tears at your very being. Tell Him your fears and uncertainties, and offer them
to Him to deal with. Lay them at the cross and cry for the blood to cover everything.
Bring your pain and trade it for His comfort and peace. Just His presence in your life
is your strength. Knowing He loves you so much He died for you and will never fail
one who places their confidence in Him is your peace. Believe it.

He has given us access to come boldly into His presence and tell Him everything. He
would not say come if He did not intend to hear. He would not say come, pray, if He
did not want to talk to you. He doesn't only listen. He has much to say to you, too, if
you can learn after you pour out your heart to wait and worship until He speaks. He
truly is our shelter, our refuge, our hiding place from the adversity and pressure of
this time. In His presence is fullness of joy and at His right hand is pleasure
forevermore. He will show us the path of life. It's His Son-who is the way, the truth
and the Life...(Psa_16:11, Joh_14:6)

Psa 91:3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the
noisome pestilence.
Psa 91:4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust:
his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

The word deliver means to snatch away, to rescue, recover or take out. He's going to
rescue His people from the traps of the one who hunts for their soul, to destroy their
faith and their lives. This phrase "noisome pestilence" is one I want to pull apart and
carefully examine. (H1942, H1698, ) This word noisome has an implication of a
rushing calamity, iniquity, a perverse thing that attacks with the intent to destroy.
It can be any kind of situation, mental, physical, family, marriage, financial,
spiritual, etc. This attack is motivated by a deadly enemy who covets and desires to
ruin. What is he after? First and foremost the life of Christ inside you and your faith
in the Word of God. Your faith in the promises of God. He goes after your faith
because if he can steal your faith, and cause you to fall into unbelief, he can destroy
the life in you. (We are kept by the power of God THROUGH FAITH 1Pe_1:5). The
enemy keeps coming, like a vicious predator that will pick and pick and pick until he
is able to tear his victim to shreds. Like a vulture, he will circle and watch, waiting
for the right time to strike. He wants to foul your mind, confuse your understanding,
and destroy your faith. He wants to lead you into error, even religious error. His
greatest successes are with those he leads into apostasy who think they still do God
service but have strayed from the way, the truth and the life and are blind to it.

One of my heartfelt prayers is Lord, please don't let me be deceived, not even by
myself..Amen?

God sees this attack coming in like a flood. He knows what is happening and why.
He hears our thoughts when we see the flood of the enemy coming, He wants to hear
His promises going through our mind, He wants to see us grab His Word as our life
preserver and hold on to His Word. He wants to see us look up and cry out His truth,
not like the disciples, "Oh, Lord do you not care that we perish?" No, He wants to
hear "Lord, you are my Refuge, You are my Ever Present Help, Help Lord!" Oh, He
will cover and protect His own, He will defend us, hedge us in by the power of His
Spirit and His Word. Remember in Psa_34:7 He said the angel of the Lord encamps
around them who fear Him and delivers them. Amen? Under His wings we can flee
for protection, a place of hope and refuge, Someone whose presence we can run into
and be safe and confide everything in. His truth, His stability, His faithfulness is our
shield that surrounds us. He leaves no part of His own unprotected.

Psa 56:2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against
me, O thou most High.
Psa 56:3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

He knows all about our enemies. He knows we struggle with ourselves, with
religion, with the world, the flesh, and the devil. There is a real opposition to His
children that would devour us given opportunity. He knows any and everyone
would swallow us alive like the earth opened and swallowed Korah and those in his
rebellion. (Num 16) He knows sudden fear comes against us. When we struggle with
fear, we can run to Him and remind Him He has not given us the spirit of fear, but of
love and of power and sound mind. We have the right to cry out for His Holy Spirit
to make this Word real to our heart, and lay the fear before the cross and again, cry
out for the blood of Jesus to drown it!

Psa 56:4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what
flesh can do unto me.

We can boast in His Word, in His power, in His ability, in His faithfulness, because
He is the great I AM. We can trust in HIM at all times, in every situation, including
when we are struggling in our prayer life, and hungering for Him but battling
feelings and thoughts of unworthiness, condemnation and guilt. It's His power and
His faithfulness that is able is present us before the glory of His presence, faultless,
where He can receive us with exceeding great joy. (Jud_1:24) He even had to give us
the faith required to believe Him! It's all His work in us, and all we can do is
surrender to His work, and His will, and rejoice in the fact that He loves us enough
to do in us what is necessary so we are accepted when we stand before Him. For
how can we really in our feeble little earthly minds understand what is required to
stand before His Holiness? He knows, He will work in us that which pleases Him!
But we must seek Him and listen and follow Him.

Pro 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in
him.

There is nothing unclean or impure hidden in His Word. There are no secret motives,
no hidden darkness, no malice, just pure truth. Those who flee to Him for protection
and who put their hope in Him are secure because He is invincible.

Jer 29:10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at
Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to
return to this place.
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of
peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will
hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your
heart.
Jer 29:14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your
captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I
have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I
caused you to be carried away captive.

Babylon means confusion. It's the confusing world system. It can be religious, it can
be carnal, it can also be demonic. It's everything God is not. When His people end up
there it's because of their own disobedience. For those who find themselves in this
place, so confused and bound they don't know where to turn or what to do, cry out to
Him. He still loves you, He still wants to save you, and work in you His will so you
can have the inheritance in eternity He means for you to have. He wants you to
search after Him with all your heart though, not half of your heart, not with
unbelief, or carelessness. He wants us to be sincere, and never stop praying no
matter how you feel or what you think or how hopeless it seems. He is the God of all
hope and comfort. There is no other place to get the help we need and no one else
loves us like He does. We must determine to not be satisfied with what we have or
what we know. There is so much more because God is so vast. We can come before
Him, like the little woman who came before the unjust judge in Luke 18, and settle it
in our heart that we are not going to stop coming, regardless, because He is our
desire, not what He has. Oh what treasure we will find. He said when we come with
all our heart, not half hearted, not in unbelief, but hungry, and sincere, He will be
found of us. He will deliver from captivity, and gather us close, like a tired child
gathered up by mom or dad and held, safe and secure in their arms.