{"id":21637,"date":"2020-04-27T09:30:47","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T14:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/?p=21637"},"modified":"2020-04-28T09:50:47","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T14:50:47","slug":"confidence-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/confidence-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Confidence & Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Psalm 27: 10-14<\/em><\/strong>

10 If my father and mother forsake me,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0will take me up.<\/em>11\u00a0<\/em><\/sup>Teach me your way, O\u00a0Lord,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
<\/em>12\u00a0<\/em><\/sup>Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0for false witnesses have risen against me,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and they are breathing out violence. <\/em>13\u00a0<\/em><\/sup>I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
<\/em>14\u00a0<\/em><\/sup>Wait for the\u00a0Lord;
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0be strong, and let your heart take courage;
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0wait for the\u00a0Lord!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a Moment to Ponder<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This popular Psalm is used by many in moments of fear to bring comfort, assurance, confidence and peace.\u00a0 Most of us are familiar with the first section of verse 1.\u00a0 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?<\/em> We look beyond this popular first line and focus on the last set of verses.\u00a0 The Psalmist was facing serious trouble.\u00a0 In verse 10 he expressed confidence in God in the midst of his troubles.\u00a0 \u201cIf my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up.\u201d\u00a0 The verse did not say his parents turned their backs on him.\u00a0 He said IF they were to turn their backs on him, God the loving Father will own him, comfort him and carry him in His arms in his time of weakness.\u00a0 He knew God would never reject him.\u00a0 The Lord\u2019s bond with His people goes deeper than the deepest of human relationships.\u00a0 In this time of crisis, some people may feel as if loved ones are not standing by them and giving them the support that they so badly need at this time.\u00a0 The Psalmist knew the heart of people change with the seasons so just in case the ones who should love him the most turn away from him he confidently stated: \u201cTHE LORD WILL TAKE ME UP\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Psalmist then asks God to teach him His ways (verse 11).\u00a0 He was facing the threat of being lied upon.\u00a0 If he was found guilty he would be facing a harsh punishment.\u00a0 In those days witnesses played an important role in Israel\u2019s judicial system because the accused had no defence lawyers to argue on his behalf.\u00a0 So facing the threat of death he wanted his heart to be in the right place.\u00a0 He wanted his steps to be made right.\u00a0 He wanted to be guided by God\u2019s instructions.\u00a0\u00a0 In this time of crisis as the number of confirmed cases rise each day, this increases the possibilities of us being directly affected.\u00a0 Our prayers must not only be Lord save ME or spare ME.\u00a0 Instead, the person who trusts in God prays Lord whatever comes I will always be serving you.\u00a0 Teach me your way.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the people of God, we face a great enemy in the form of COVID-19.\u00a0 The Psalmist in verse 13 expressed confidence that he will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.\u00a0 Brothers and sisters in Christ all the sermons, all the prayers meetings, all the services we have attended, all the communion we have ever received was preparation for a time like this.\u00a0 He says, \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid, because I have saved you.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I have called you by name, and you are mine.
<\/em>2\u00a0<\/em><\/sup><\/strong>When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When you cross rivers, you will not drown.
When you walk through fire, you will not be burned.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The flames will not hurt you.
<\/em>3\u00a0<\/em><\/sup><\/strong>This is because I, the Lord, am your God.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I, the Holy One of Israel, am your Savior.\u00a0 Isaiah 43: 1-3<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Let\nus be confident in God that come what may HE WILL LIFT US UP.  Let us pray for healing, protection, and\ndeliverance; but also ask HIM to use you so you can be an example to others of\nwhat it means to trust in God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take Action:\u00a0\u00a0WE WAIT ON THE LORD<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the end, follow the words of the Psalmist and WAIT ON THE LORD.\u00a0 We wait on the Lord until deliverance comes from this crisis.\u00a0 As we wait we find purpose by asking Him to direct us so we are not led into temptation of any kind.\u00a0 God is always speaking to us and there is work for us to do even while we must \u2018TAN A WI YAAD\u2019.\u00a0 Isaiah 40:31 states, \u2018But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Moment In Prayer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Give someone a call and pray this prayer for them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God be:
Above you to bless you;
Below you to support you;
Before you to guide you;
Behind you to protect you;
Beside you to comfort you;
And inside you to sustain you.\u00a0\u00a0
Amen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contributed by Rev Larius Lewis<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psalm 27: 10-14 10 If my father and mother forsake me,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0will take me up.11\u00a0Teach me your way, O\u00a0Lord, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.12\u00a0Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0for false witnesses have risen against me,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and they are breathing out violence. 13\u00a0I believe that I shall…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":21642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-moment","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21637"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21643,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21637\/revisions\/21643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}