Do you ever get to that point where you feel like you can’t go on? The trials of life leave you weak and wounded. Your thoughts are jumbled, your body won’t function, your day to day tasks become monstrous nightmares. You’re at the end of your rope, you don’t have the strength to journey on. You lay there, tired, weak, trembling, and not even tears can bring you the relief you desire. It might be because of a certain event that’s happened in your life. It might just be life in general, the evils of this world bogging you down. Whatever it may be, it’s not a happy feeling. But how can we fight it? Life sends us tempests, trials that must be fought. But what do we do when we’re out of strength? What do we do when day after day, night after night, we’re fighting the same trials and it’s leaving us spent? What do we do when we can’t fight back any longer and those two words “give up” are looming in our future, looking brighter every day? My friends, we gather strength from the One who has offered it. We lean on Him. When we’re at our lowest, it’s then that He lifts us up from the dirt and murmurs, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28-30) He promises to never leave us nor forsake us. (Deuteronomy 31:6) So how much closer do you think He is when one of His children are suffering? When life is going great, we don’t often see a need to lean on Him. We think “Oh, I’m fine, I don’t need His strength quite yet.” We shouldn’t lean on His strength during the trials only. We should lean on Him every day. Because, my friends, if we are leaning on Him at all times, when we fall, we only fall into His arms. We fall closer into His comforting embrace. And if we’re leaning on Him, what happens when we stumble? He catches us. The times that we fall are the times that we’ve strayed from Him. The moments that we’ve stopped leaning. When trials hit us hard, we typically take one of two routes. Draw nearer to Him, or stray away. The purpose of trials is to strengthen us, make us more like Christ. But they can only do that if we draw near to Him. If we’re already leaning on Christ, then during a trial, we’ll only cling harder. We mustn’t be pompous and prideful and think that we can take this journey of life on our own. We can’t just draw near to Him during the difficult times. It’s much harder to lean on Him when He’s so far away. So, don’t stray away. Lean on Him and take the strength He has offered. He wants to carry your burdens. He wants to hold you and soothe your worries and tears. Leaning on Him at all times Here are a few examples of ways that we can lean on Him every day: 1. Read His truths daily John 8:32 says, “then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” If we’re clinging to His many truths, we will find freedom. Hold tight to His promises. Take joy in reading His word and learning more about Him. By doing this, you will draw nearer to Him. 2. Pray without ceasing The world lost a very beloved man last week. It’s amazing reading all these testimonies of people all around. There were many amazing stories about Mr. Graham, but two things really stuck with me. He said, I always pray without ceasing. Right now, I’m praying that God will give me the words to say to you. (paraphrased) And when someone asked him how he got back into the habit of reading his Bible every day after he missed a few, he replied simply, “I don’t think that’s ever happened.” So, let’s pray without ceasing. Let’s bring everything to Him in prayer. (Philippians 4:6) 3. Memorize His promises This is another really great thing to do! If we memorize His promises, then we’ll always have them ready and close to our hearts. Here’s a link to some amazing verses to commit to memory: https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/gods-promises-verses-in-the-bible/ My friends, if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. (James 4:8) That’s just one of His precious promises. But let’s not even get that far, let’s not draw away. He’s our Shepherd, we are His sheep. Let’s stay close beside our Master. It’s safer that way, it’ll go much better for us, I promise. So, when trials hit you hard and leave you trembling on the brink of destruction, just remember to lean on Him. Draw strength from His never ending well of encouragement and promises. Cling to Christ and never let go.
2 Comments
Viva Phillips
2/27/2018 12:52:35 pm
Another good one Aleigha. Love you bunches.
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Aleigha C. Israel
2/27/2018 01:07:36 pm
Thank you! Love you too! =)
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