The Lions In Our Face! 🦁
“But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 NLT
This weekend in Kids Life our friends built a tower from pencils. The only direction that they were given was to use all 100 pencils and build ONE tower together. If it fell over (and it did) they had to start again. They could not give up. The activity would not be complete until the tower was finished and standing on its own. The goal was to teach all of us the importance of not giving up when faced with tough moments in life. The excitement at the end on all of their faces was a moment I will not forget. The room was filled with cheers and celebration the moment they backed away and watched as their 100 pencil tower stood firm. We can stand firm on Jesus knowing He will always come through for us just like He did for Daniel in the Lion’s Den.
Daniel was thrown into the lions den after he was found praying. Daniel was very close to God. He spent is days talking to God. Daniel was eager to stay close to God. When the priest became jealous of him they created a law that would throw a person into jail who prayed. However, while this new law tested Daniels faith it did not cause him to give up. He continued to pray. He continued to trust Jesus. He was thrown into the lions den but fortunately God came through when he sent an angel to close the mouths of the lions. Jesus always shows up! Long story short Daniel was saved from the mouth of each lion. We can always trust God in moments when we want to give up.
We are going to go through tough times in life. I’m not sure what it is in life that you may be facing. You might not be up against any obstacle. What I know is that in life everyone faces tough times and during tough moments you will have the opportunity to give up or trust Jesus.
“The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy.” John 10:10
Don’t let the enemy steal your victory from you. I’ll say it again. Don’t let the enemy steal your victory away from you. You’re victory is right around the corner. Joyce Myers says to praise your way to victory. What does this mean? When we are going through tough times it is easy to think negative. When we begin to praise Jesus for all He has already done in our life we open our hearts for all He wants to continue to do in our life. Don’t give up. Continue to fight and trust in Jesus.Choose to fight until the mouth of your lion is shut. Praise Jesus in every circumstance.
When my step dad passed away I hit my low. My stepdad was the closest person to me that I had experienced dying in my lifetime. His death tore me up in more ways than I can even understand. It hurt. It broke me. It scared me. It Confused me. Suddenly nothing in my life made sense. My anxiety grew by leaps after his death. I was dating Jessie at the time and for some reason our relationship began to scare me. What I understand now to be fear of losing someone else who I love so much caused me to want to walk away. I couldn’t bare the thought of losing Jessie unexpectedly. It was easier to just walk away by choice. So I did. I walked away because I needed relief from the intense anxiety that I felt around Jessie. Anxiety I never felt around him before. Honesty everything gave me anxiety after his death.. As Jesus began to heal my heart through counseling and time with Him I realized our relationship was not the problem and all of this was symptoms of my grief. Fortunately, Jessie didn’t let me isolate myself. He pursued me more than ever before. He called me to pray for me, showed up to take me to breakfast and made sure I continued to surround myself with those who loved me. In that time that I pushed him away I fell more in love with him. Realizing I had run out of fear and grief, I had a long and serious conversation with God. During that conversation He broke some things in me and healed my heart. In the lowest moment of my life God spoke to me, “Helena you can give up and live miserably or you can press on.” I’m so thankful that I didn’t give up. I’m so thankful that I decided to trust Jesus in my pain. Nine years after the death of my step dad I have a wonderful husband (same Jessie) , beautiful 3 year old daughter and together we are in full time ministry. Life is full of ups and downs and we are so blessed to have Jesus to lean on in every stage of life. Will you trust Jesus in the season you are in right now? It might be an up season. For some it’s a really down season. I don’t know how Jesus will work it out. I don’t know that it will be the answer you want. I do know that He always works all things for His glory. My go to scripture is…
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 NLT
This scripture is the only answer I have for the question I can not answer. This scripture reminds me that even when life doesn’t make sense. When it feels like God cannot hear me. I know that He is “working all things together for the good of those who love Him.” (Romans 8:28) I love Him so He is working it all out for me. If you love Him he is working it out for you. It might not make sense but He is working. He hasn’t forgotten you. He can see you in the midst of your pain and struggles. The question for all of us is, will we choose to be like Daniel and trust that Jesus is working even when we are surrounded by very angry and hungry lions?
Shine4Him 
Awesome words!!!!❤❤
LikeLike
Love you!
LikeLike