Time Out! Devotions

God knows our needs

and promises to provide for them.

We know if we bring our requests to Him,

He will give us strength to live through any difficulty. *

“Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice!

Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do.

Remember that the Lord is coming soon.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything;

tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for his answers.

If you do this you will experience God’s peace,

which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.

His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest

as you trust in Christ Jesus!”

(Philippians 4:4-7 – The Living Bible)

“No matter where we are, God is as close as a prayer. He is our support and strength. He will help us make our way up again from whatever depths we have fallen.

We don’t often consider that sometimes Jesus is our strength simply to sit still. ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10). Our natural tendency when we have a painful happening in our lives is to go into action – do something. Sometimes it is wiser to wait and just be still! The answers will come!

We may be sure that God is true to His word and answers all sincere prayers offered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. His answer may be yes, or it may be no, or it may be ‘wait.’ If it is no or ‘wait,’ we cannot say that God has not answered our prayer. It simply means that the answer is different from what we expected.

When we pray for help in trouble, or for healing in sickness, or for deliverance in persecution, God may not give us what we ask for because that may not be His wise and loving will for us. He will answer our prayer in His own way, and He will not let us down in our hour of need.”

(from Hope for the Troubled Heart by Billy Graham)

Imagine never having to worry about anything! It seems like an impossibility – we all have worries on the job, in our homes, at school. But Paul’s advice is to turn your worries into prayers. Do you want to worry less? Then pray more! Whenever you start to worry, stop and pray.

God’s peace is different from the world’s peace (see John 14:27). It is not found in positive thinking, in absence of conflict, or in good feelings. Real peace comes from knowing that because God is in control, our citizenship in Christ’s Kingdom is sure, our destiny is set, and our victory over sin is certain! **

Are you worried or in need?

Bring your requests before God. Be specific.

Let God know your feelings. Praise Him for his help.

Share your prayer concerns with friends who will also pray for you. *

(from *The Inspirational Study Bible - Max Lucado, General Editor

and **The Life Application Bible)

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (NIV)

The God of All Comfort

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. ⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. ⁶If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

Look up “comfort” in dictionary.com or another reference, and you will read a definition like this: “Something that promotes a state of ease or provides freedom from pain and anxiety.” But God’s Word has a different solution when consolation is needed: the indwelling Holy Spirit. In Greek, He is called parakletos, which means “he who stands at one’s side; he who comes to one’s aid.” Believers don’t have to seek outward remedies or distractions to ease their mind, because help is available within.

Even before the Spirit was sent to indwell believers (John 14:26; Ephesians 3:16), Scripture identified God as the one who comforts His people (Isaiah 40:1; 49:13). The Lord personally provides consolation and reassurance because no one knows our hurts the way He does.

I like this anonymous quotation: “When we have gone into the furnace of affliction, His hand is on the thermostat and His eye is on the clock.” God lets us pass through hardship to make us stronger believers, wiser servants, and more humble people. But He stays right by our side through the entire experience, sustaining us and limiting the intensity and duration of our distress. The Holy Spirit’s reassuring whisper to our heart gives more comfort than the solace of family or the encouragement of friends.

People who fail to understand the true source of comfort try to escape their pain. They seek out pleasures, material wealth, or drugs and alcohol to soothe their heart. Only God can offer lasting relief from the crushing pressure of heartache. He even brings joy into periods of mourning.

(by Dr. Charles Stanley from In Touch Ministries)

Antiques and children – that is not a good combination. It is, in fact, an invitation to disaster. Like that lovely antique teapot my wife had out years ago when the kids were little. Well, you know what happened; one moment a teapot, the next moment pieces of a teapot. But my wife quickly rallied to remedy the situation. No, she did not disown one of our children. She sent me out for a tube of some sort of super glue. And amazingly, she put those pieces together and recreated that old teapot, and that glue has held it together to this very day!

There are times when you and I can use a little “super glue” because it’s us that’s going to pieces. And that spiritual glue is available to you right now, if you know where to get it and you know how to use it.

In fact, our word for today from the Word of God is all about this powerful agent that can hold you together, no matter what. Hebrews 4:16 puts it this way: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” I studied that “grace to help us” phrase in the original Greek words of the New Testament and I discovered that the word translated “help us” is used only one other time in the Bible – in Acts 27:17. Paul is on a ship that’s literally being blown apart by a violent storm. The Bible says “they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together.” There’s that “help” word from Hebrews 4:16, except here it’s about literally keeping the ship from coming apart in the storm.

God says that’s what His grace is able to do for you, to help hold you together when the storm is intense and things seem to be breaking apart. He invites us to “approach the throne of grace with confidence.” That word “confidence” means boldness and frankness. So when you start to pray, you go to your Lord boldly, talking, not in some fancy “prayer-ese” language, but with straight talk. You tell Him how it really is, how you really feel, and how much you need Him.

The Bible says that when you do that, you can “find grace.” I like the deeper meaning of the Greek word that we translate as “find” here. It means to “come upon” or to “discover.” There’s almost an element of surprise in it, “Wow! Look what I just found! All this grace – lots of grace to hold me together in this situation right now!” When the verse says “grace to help us in our time of need,” the original language is saying help that comes at just the right time, not before you really need it, not after you really need it, but right on time.

So this is one power-packed invitation from the One who rules the galaxies from His “throne of grace” – to come into His throne room boldly and honestly, reaching out to put in our hands the exact resources we need for this moment, this challenge, this situation, or this need. He will respond with a flood of grace, just the kind of grace you need right now: suffering grace, waiting grace, deciding grace, grieving grace, single grace, physical grace, emotional grace, or financial grace.

But the grace doesn’t just come to you automatically. You have to go for the grace that this moment requires! And so often we don’t. We struggle and worry and scheme, never going to the Grace Throne for the answers or resources we need. We could be rich, but we live in unnecessary poverty. We need to accept this incredible invitation many times a day and pray aggressively, not passively; boldly, not timidly; specifically, not generally. And it’s all available to us because of Jesus. We come there because He died to make it possible for us to get this close to the God of the universe.

So there is never any reason you need to go to pieces. The grace glue of your God can hold you together, no matter what hits you!

(by Ron Hutchcraft from Christianity.com devotionals – A Word With You)

Psalm 23:5
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Some people never find satisfaction in the things they do have, but spend their entire lives wishing for things they don’t have. They are never happy with where their lives are going, they feel empty in their relationships, and therefore they find it impossible to give thanks for the many blessings they have been given. As Christians, we are people of praise. Every prayer we offer unto God should acknowledge the many wonderful things that He has done for us. Only a blind person can deny the beauty and splendor of this world. God gives good things to His children, and we should be thankful for all that we have.

Prayer: Lord, I cannot believe how much I have been given. Help open my eyes to the many blessings that have been bestowed upon me. Make me thankful, Lord. Amen.

(from Christianity.com – Wisdom from the Psalms)