Coming To God With Confidence

 

 

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need"

Hebrews 4:16 (KJV)

 

"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"

Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)

 

Not too long ago I watched a segment on Quarterback Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers on ESPN.  One thing that stood out with me from what he said was that he's always been a confident man and that he believed in himself even when others doubted him and his abilities when he was picked to replace the legendary Brett Favre.  That word "confidence" really stuck with me.  As I prayed a short time later, the LORD spoke to me about that verse from Hebrews 4:16.  He was saying to me that we can approach Him with boldness and put our confidence in Him as our High Priest.  While I feel that I am a confident woman at times, sometimes I doubt because of my many failures.  I wouldn't say that I yet feel as confident as Aaron Rodgers does in his own abilities, but the LORD is saying to me that I can place confidence in Him as my LORD and Savior. 

 

 

 

Because of Him and the many times He has seen me through my trials, I can trust Him.  There is no pain that He can't feel.  There is no problem that is too hard for Him to handle.  When I approach His throne I can come boldly with that confidence that He knows, feels, and cares.  Sometimes we doubt ourselves and our own abilities for this reason or another, but we never have to doubt our High Priest.  When we cease from thinking we can rely upon our own selves and rely confidently upon what Christ has already done we can boldly enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:10).  So it is "No More I" but Christ Jesus who has already paid the price.  It is finished!  It is done!  Others may not care about our struggles and toils, but Jesus does.  He truly feels our pain.  We can bring all things to Him, big or small.  We have that confidence.  Amen!

 



Fighting The Good Fight

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:7

 We have to keep fighting, we have to keep running, and we must keep the faith.  No matter what our circumstances are, or no matter how things may seem to us, we must keep trusting in God.  We should not put our faith in man or ourselves.  We have to keep fighting until Jesus comes back to take us home.  There will be some good days and some bad days.  There will be some things that happen that we may not understand.  Each of us all have a race to run.  We may not all finish at the same time.  But we must keep running until we do.  We can't fight unless we are filled up with Jesus' Spirit dwelling on the inside of us.  We can't fight this battle with physical strength.

  "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”   Ephesians 6:12-13

 When I think about all the mental battles that I fight on a daily basis I realize that I can't fight these demons without the Word of God.  How often the devil comes to me trying to get me to doubt the Word of God and to walk in a spirit of fear and anxiety.  But God did not give me a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7).  My prayer this morning was for the Lord to put me on a fast.  I want to have that sound mind (self-discipline).  That seems to be lacking in my life at the moment. There are times when I don't seem to have any control over my actions and the things that I do.  But I know that it's not the Lord's will that I walk in fear and to be in doubt about anything.  I only need to trust in Him and always lean upon Him for all things.  My mind has been constantly on so many things.  I can't seem to focus on anything.  I can't seem to stick to doing anything that I feel that I need to do.  I know that I want to fast but is finding it so difficult.  But, I'm going to trust God in His Word and do what it says.  The devil is constantly on my track and trying to get me to doubt what God says.  He's trying to make you doubt what God says.  Take the full armor of God and fight the devil.  There is no way he can win over the spoken Word of God. 

Scriptures to focus on today

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

Psalms 19: 14 “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."

Forgetting The Things Behind

Hebrews 12: 1-2;   Isaiah 43: 18-19;   Philippians 3: 13-14;  

These three scriptures lay heavily on my mind this morning so I wrote them down and decided to delve into them a little after prayer.  Let's start with Hebrews 12; 1-2

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

"Looking unto Jesus" really stands out to me here.  I feel that God put this scripture on my mind this morning because He's trying to show me that I should not be looking unto anyone else.  I shouldn't have my mind all the time on other people; what they're doing; their walk with God; I should look unto Him.  He's the One that's going to take me to new heights.  No matter how much I look on other people and desire what they have, only God will give to me what He has had for me from the foundation of the world.  My full focus should always be on Jesus and not man.  Sometimes I get so wrapped up in Facebook.  What the church fold and worldly folks are doing.  Not overly wrapped up, but enough to doubt this Jesus that I say I have dwelling on the inside of me.  God is saying "Lora you have got to stop this."  The devil will try to distract me (lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily beset us) and tell me that I don't amount to nothing and will have me looking at my circumstances instead of Jesus.  He is good at trying to get me to see comparisons of others.  Looking at what they have and are prospering because he don't want me to stay in the Word.  God says that He sends His Word to heal us.  I'm receiving my healing right now in the Name of Jesus Christ.  I'm also not relying upon God enough to be patient.  This race that is ordained for me is not a sprint.  It's more like a marathon.  What God is doing in my life will come to light.  I have all these great witnesses (see Hebrews 11) here for my example.  What things they endured, having not received the promise (Jesus Christ)!  Hoping against hope.  These weights have kept me from running.  They have made it much more difficult for me to run.  I watch The Biggest Loser on television and see how the contestants start off.  They're overweight and can hardly able to do anything when they enter the ranch.  But, as they start to exercise and eat better, the weight comes off.  Sometimes there's games that they participate in which requires them to carry the amount of weight that they've lost up unto that point.  For some it's 50 pounds or more...and having to place those sandbags on their backs and shoulders to complete a task is much more difficult.  It's hard for them to run.  And then they realize how that weight was affecting them and how they must not get to that point again.  Spiritually speaking, once we are free from these sins that have enslaved us we need to keep them off.  Which means we have to keep looking unto Jesus.  Once we are saved it doesn't mean that we won't have any more trials.  We will be tested as never before.  That's why we must keep looking unto Jesus.  He knows our beginning as well as our ending. 

Now let's examine Isaiah 43: 18-19

"Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.  Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?  I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert."

I have been so guilty of always looking back.  Looking at what people have done to me.  Looking at where I use to be (both spiritually and naturally).   Even looking back sometimes on the sins that I have committed.  God does not want me to do this.  I feel that He put this scripture before me because He's saying "Enough is Enough"!  Stop it!  If I have come to God and repented of my sins and God has forgiven me, why in the world am I still looking back on the things that I'd done wrong.  God remembers them no more.  But I start to condemn myself.  I send myself to prison and place myself in the electric chair.  The Devil wants us to sit there and continue to look back on our sinful past and forget that God has already forgiven us.  And then when we do commit sin again (though it may not be the same sin) he gets us into condemnation that God is so tired of us committing sin.  The devil paints God as someone who's ready to condemn us to hell and sometimes we may get so afraid that we don't even stop and ask forgiveness for that sin.  What a liar the devil is!  We should not at all be surprised at his devices.  That's why as saints of God we have to daily wear the full armor of God.  Anything else will not do.  No matter what I have done for God in the past and how dedicated my life was to Him, God will do a greater and new thing if I continue to trust Him.  I have to get my mind off the things that I see and trust in the Word of God.  I may not know which way that I'm going right now but I know that by keeping my eyes focused on Jesus I won't go wrong.  He will make ways for me when there are no ways formed or that I can see clearly with my natural eyes.  The next Scripture is somewhat similar to the one in Isaiah.  Philippians 3: 13-14 says:

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:  but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

God is saying to me, "Forget these things, Lora!  There is a greater prize ahead.  But you must be patient.  You must have endurance.  And you must keep pressing toward that."  How can we press toward something if we are always looking back?  This is nearly impossible as we will lose ground on what's ahead because we are so focused on what's behind.  We have got to forget our past.  We have to forget our faults and failures.  We have to forget all the wrong decisions that we have made in life.  We have to let go of it all and trust God for the things in our future.  No matter how perfect we may try to be on a daily basis, the truth of the matter is we may never be. We have to be content in the journey and just trust everything else to God.

 
 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: New Gospel Radio Program Coming Soon!

 

 

 
Hello Friends, Family, and all readers of Daily Manna From Heaven,

I am happy to announce that I have been asked to host an hour long Gospel radio show in the coming weeks.  To say that I'm beyond excited is an understatement.  My show (the name to be announced in 2 weeks) will be on Sundays  (time to be announced) and I will be sharing some of the best Gospel and Contemporary Christian music both old and new.  Right now I'm still getting the details together.  I was asked to come up with a program as part of the launch of Regina Swarn's worldwide radio show "Gin Up Close & Personal".  This show will also be in syndication and heard all over the world. 

It is my prayer that people are blessed worldwide and that the Word of God is spread across the seas.  I'm looking forward to this venture.

Please stay tuned as I will be sharing the links to the show as soon as they are available.  I will ask your prayers that this show is blessed to touch others.

Yours In Christ,

Lora L. Williams

 

 

Fret Not Thyself

“Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity”

Psalm 37:1

 

 

 

What a refreshing Word from the LORD this morning.  I love to pray early in the mornings, and this morning was no different.  After talking to the LORD for a while I asked Him to speak to me through scripture and this chapter from Psalms was laid upon my heart.  For the past several weeks I have experienced great moments of anxiety and fear.  I know that God is always here for me and that He is a present help in the time of trouble.  But I still worried about things.  Have you ever felt this way?  No matter how much you pray you still find yourself worrying about things? 

My heart was so heavy this morning that around 2 am I found myself not being able to sleep.  I got upon my knees and “prayed” to God.  The song of the old hymn came to mind:

What a Friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge,
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you;
you will find a solace there.

Every word of this hymn spoke to me as I poured out my soul to the LORD.  It is so comforting to know that we can take all our complaints to Him.  He will not turn us

away.  We may in this life experience pain and sorrow but God will never refuse and despise us.  We truly have a “friend in Jesus”.  He will not forsake us because we mess up in this life and make mistakes.  He takes all our pain, shame, dishonor, and troubles and turns things in our favor.  Because of some recent happenings I have often felt so shunned and shut out from others, but I can rest assured that the LORD will never forsake me. 

Psalm 37 is a message of hope for all believers.  We all have had our share of worries about this or that but the LORD is saying, “My child I see it all.  You only need to commit your way to me.  I will not fail you.  I am faithful.  I will bring to pass true justice and equity.  Don’t seek revenge.  Just trust my Word and I will not fail.  It is the meek who will inherit all that I have for them.  In your patience possess ye your soul”. 

I heard a well-respected man of God say recently that we breathe in and out Jesus this way:  when we pray we breathe Him out, and when we read the Bible, we breathe Him in.  I never thought of it that way but it’s so true.  We need both prayer and the Word to truly live this life in Christ.  How grateful that I am to know that it is God who fills me with all good things and that without Him there is no life. 

Are you heavy laden and burdened today?  Why not slip away for a brief moment and have a little talk with the LORD.  Tell Him all your troubles.  Lay all your worries and fears before Him upon the altar.  He will not fail you.  He has promised that we will inherit eternal life.  There is nothing too hard for God.  Follow up that prayer with the Word.  Meditate upon it and soak it in.  Then just wait patiently for God to answer.  It may not be the answer that you seek, but just know that God will not forsake you.  Sometimes you may get a yes and sometimes you may get a no.  There may be times when God will say not now.  Just rest assured that He will be there for you.  Don’t worry.

For further reading meditate and read the entire chapter of Psalm 37.  It will truly bless your soul.

Reaching Out For Others In Prayer

 



Are there times early in the morning when you just can't sleep?  Do you lay in bed with troubles and worries on your mind that just causes you to be restless?  This happened to me this morning.  As I lay there in bed I couldn't get back to sleep.  It was around 3:30 a.m. and I knew then that the LORD was wanting me to yield myself to Him.  I got out of bed and got upon my knees.   For an entire hour I talked to God and interceded for His people.

The Devil will talk to you and speak things to your mind when everything is quiet.  I have found that all sorts of thoughts and worries usually come to me when I'm trying to rest.  This doesn't happen all of the time, but there has been so many instances.  I'm sure you all can relate.  He will bring financial troubles, concerns over loved ones, marriage problems, health issues, and anything possible to distract your rest.  This is the best time to give it to Jesus.

Every morning I love talking to God and I love to do it early.  While the world is still asleep and before anyone else gets up in my house, I can usually be found on my knees.  I made a vow to God that I would give Him the first fruits of my lips each morning.  I want to talk to Him before I talk to anyone else.  I don't care how busy my day ahead may be, I want to be found on my knees and on my face before the LORD every morning.

During the past year in 2013 I didn't feel that I gave enough of my time to God.  I was distracted by everything that included making a move from San Antonio, Texas to Missouri, getting engaged and married, becoming a stepmother to 4 children, and going through many other trials.  It was just by the grace of God that I made it.  I was now in a city where I didn't know many people and had few friends.  I went through some things that I knew had to be God for me to get through.  But even in my slackness the LORD was not slack towards me.  He honored my prayers.  The storms didn't take me over though they beat against my house pretty hard.  One of my New Year's resolutions was to have a deeper prayer life and to get to know my LORD and Savior Jesus Christ on a more personal level.  This sometimes involves really getting alone with Him and letting God speak to you and mostly for me, it's early mornings.

I was listening recently to a Brother David Wilkerson sermon entitled, 'Helpers In Prayer'.  He talked about being an intercessor for God's people and calling their name out in prayer.  I thought that I already was doing that, but not to the extent that God wanted me to.  And I have found that now that's the main reason the LORD wakes me up so early in the morning.  Real praying goes beyond just praying for our own loved ones.  We have a dying world on our hands.  Hell is enlarging itself every day.  Souls are being lost and we are just going about in our relaxed state thinking about our own families and loved ones.  What God would have us do is to intercede for other people as well.  We still need to pray for our loved ones but our prayers are not just to be centered upon them.  We are to pray for the entire Body of Christ.

Pastors, Evangelists, Missionaries, Preachers, Teachers, Prophets, Prophetess and Apostles.  All Saints who are especially in roles of leadership.  We are to pray for each other.  When we pray this way the LORD blesses us and our homes and families.  Where would we be if someone didn't pray for us?  We are to uphold these people in our prayers and not pray selfishly.  As I began to pray this morning, all the troubles and things that the Devil was trying to burden me with were squandered.  "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ"  2 Corinthians 10: 4-5


Our LORD is omnipresent and omnipotent!  He's the Almighty God.  When we pray to Him don't act as He's a limited God.  He's our Father and He loves and cares for us.  He is seeking those who will cry out for His people.  The Devil is attacking on all sides.  Sin is rampart in our land.  There is only one way to fight and that is with the Word of God and by keeping on the whole armor of God.  We can't fight the Devil any other way.  The LORD is looking for true worshipers that will make themselves available to reach out for others through true intercession.  "And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it:  but I found none"  Ezekiel 22:30

Are we willing to deny our sleep, our food, our comforts in life to stand in the gap?  Are we merely begging God for things we don't need and for our own necessities in life and forgetting about the true purpose God put us here in the first place?  Will we be obedient to the voice of the LORD as Samuel who said in 1 Samuel 3:10, "Speak; for Thy servant heareth"?

My prayer this morning is that all of us in the Body of Jesus Christ would start reaching out for others.  Let's let our voices be heard in our prayer chambers and upon our beds as we cry out to God for deliverance and Salvation of others.  The time is drawing near for His coming.  Are we listening for His voice?  Are we reaching out for others?  Father, in Jesus name, give us a burden for souls.  Help us to stop praying selfishly and as You would have us.  Help us to pray that Your will be done in our lives and in the lives of others.  In Jesus name I pray.  Amen!