Even in the unending shadows of death’s darkness, I am not overcome by fear. Because You are with me in those dark moments, near with Your protection and guidance, I am comforted. You spread out a table before me, provisions in the midst of attack from my enemies; You care for all my needs, anointing my head with soothing, fragrant oil, filling my cup again and again with Your grace. Psalm 23:4-5 The Voice

Romans 8:5-6 If you live your life animated by the flesh—namely, your fallen, corrupt nature—then your mind is focused on the matters of the flesh. But if you live your life animated by the Spirit—namely, God’s indwelling presence—then your focus is on the work of the Spirit. A mind focused on the flesh is doomed to death, but a mind focused on the Spirit will find full life and complete peace. The Voice

A Messy Pity Party

We sit there in the middle of our pity party. Oh, my life is such a mess and I feel so alone. As we whine and complain, our messy soul gets messier. The enemy brings his friends to our pity party, tracking in all kinds of muck, and mire and we feel overwhelmed and under it all. These uninvited guests spew the stank of their false narratives all over our soul and blind our spiritual eyesight like mud in our eyes. Fear and shame loudly stir up a ruckus as our pity party continues and we can’t hear anything but misery and despair. Depression slinks into the pity party and corners us and we feel dead-ended. All along, God has been in our mess, right beside us, but we don’t see Him, we don’t hear Him above the distractions and disruptions of our enemy, who we have let in. I have had these pity parties, not fun and when I had about all I could take and saw no way out, it was then, I would call out to Jesus. At the mention of His name, He did not hesitate to rise up, He had the advantage, He was battle ready, because His purposes were already in play in our mess, thwarting the craftiness of our enemy. When we invite The Holy Spirit into our mess, He begins working in the unseen on our behalf, shutting down the deception, kicking out the fear and personally accompanies the enemy and all of his cohorts out of our mind and soul. Get out in the name of Jesus!

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now, we can only see a dim and blurry picture of things, as when we stare into polished metal. I realize that everything I know is only part of the big picture. But one day, when Jesus arrives, we will see clearly, face-to-face. In that day, I will fully know just as I have been wholly known by God. The Voice

Strengthened By God’s Promises

It is so easy when we are patiently enduring through a long time of trial to get tripped up by what we see, and the timing of what we don’t see. We get impatient, wanting God to work now in the seen. We need to let go and let God work. God knows it is in the process that we gain the most spiritual treasure to deposit into our character. This song is perfect in God wisdom. We must take the next step in our belief. We believe in God, we must believe God. God’s Promises are true and they set a table of victory in the midst of our trial. There is no challenge greater than the purposes of God. These God purposes are in play in the middle of our trial. We don’t see them, but God is weaving them in, through and out of our life situations. If you have a great challenge right now, you also have God purposes in play that are greater. What you see in part, is strengthened by God’s Promises, because He is seeing whole. God is our promise, our potential and our possibility of things to come. I am wholly known by God and because of this, I can live with only seeing in part as I cling to my identity in Him. The devil very often says to us: “Who do you think you are? Well the answer to that is: We don’t have to think about who we are because what we do think about is Who God is. God is our unshakeable identity and our life situations roll out from our wholly-holy alignment with God. Let’s Roll!

Philippians 1:6 I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began this glorious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you and will put his finishing touches to it until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ! The Passion Translation

I Have A Personal Advocate

The situations in our lives that are draining us, feel never ending. We need to speak God’s Promise into them. God promised us He would finish what He started. He is not going to leave us hanging out to dry in the heat forever and He definitely will not throw us under the bus. So, we watch, we wait, we patiently endure and we cling to His Promises, knowing we belong to Him, knowing our identity is wholly-holy in Him. We speak God’s promises into our life story. We remember the truth, we recall it, we remind ourselves of it. God is not on our timetable. His answers, His deliverance, His healing, His provision, His guidance is not set by our clock. We can get frustrated when God’s ways are not our ways and this is the time to speak the Promises into our impatience and quiet our soul down, kicking out the naysayer thoughts and thinking on God’s Promises. God is working in the unseen for our good. He is our personal Advocate and there is none better than Him. The Holy Spirit is writing our life story and we can trust Him as we put our identity wholly-holy in Him. Believe Him!

Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you. New Living Translation

Worship Spotlight is one of my favorite tables at The Bridegroom’s Café. I love Christian Music, it is soul inspiring. I hope you enjoyed the meal today on the Worship Spotlight Table and I ask you to share it with someone else. God’s music shared person to person will create an epidemic of encouragement. We all need hope in times such as these and encouragement feeds our hope. I also hope you will subscribe to The Bridegroom’s Café by email and be blessed by the meals sent out daily to feed your soul. I highly suggest you purchase my book, The Bridegroom’s Voice, it is a hope filled Journey with Jesus, a devotional book that definitely will not disappoint, the God Adventure is great. You can purchase it here:

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