December 23, 2024

I Need Thee Every Hour

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I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford

I need Thee, oh, I need Thee
Every hour I need Thee
Oh, bless me now, my Savior
I come to Thee

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby
Temptations lose their pow’r when Thou art nigh

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain
Come quickly and abide, or life is vain

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One
Oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed son

 

Words: Annie S. Hawks / Music: Robert Lowry / Sung by Fernando Ortega

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As I was interceding for some friends and family the other night, this hymn came to my mind.  I have several friends going through the battle with cancer and the treatments, and they are suffering.  I have friends in difficult relationships, and they are weary.  I have family whose teen is rebelling, and there doesn’t seem that there will be a happy ending.

What are you going through today…this week…this month…this year?  Do you need Jesus Christ to be with you and to bring you His peace, His wisdom, His patience?  Have you asked Him?  God wants us to come to Him with our needs.  He wants to answer our requests.

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

Pray without ceasing.
1 Thessalonians 5:17

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you.
He will not rebuke you for asking.
James 1:5

I do need Christ every hour. He is my peace (even in troubled times.)

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me.
Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.
But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33

I am so thankful that He is near me always (even in the times when I don’t sense Him.)

“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:20

I’m very grateful that temptations don’t have power over me when I allow His Holy Spirit to guide me.

God is faithful.
He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.
When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.
1 Corinthians 10:13

I am most grateful that whether I am living through the pains of life or the joys of life, Jesus is with me and every hour with Him is worth it all.

The truth of these refrains ring true for me.  Does it for you?  The Lord is gracious, and He wants each of us to recognize our need for Him so that we will come to Him and He can bless us.  Are you calling out to Him today? He’s listening.

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Lord, we need You today, every hour we need You!  Please forgive us when we forget to come to You.  Please, Lord, teach us Your Will, and remind us of Your rich promises.  We desire to be Your’s always; and to hear Your tender voice guiding us, strengthening us, comforting us, and loving us every moment of every day.  Thank You that You are with us every step of our way.  In Jesus’ Loving Name, all God’s daughters say, Amen!

Faithful

psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv

You never promised me that this would be easy
I never knew that anything could be this hard
I wanna trust that You know what You’re doin’
But right now, I’m just fallin’ apart

It’s hard to see it when I’m livin’ in the moment
But Your love’s still written on my heart
I get lost when I feel the wind blowin’
I gotta cling to who You are
‘Cause You are good
Even when You’re not understood

No matter how many skies fall down
I’m covered under the peace I’ve found
You’re my Shelter when there’s nowhere else to go
No matter how many times I break
You promise always to keep me safe
You’re my Rescue when I’m spinning outta control
You are faithful, faithful
You are faithful, faithful

I’m leaving doubt and sorrow in the distance
I’m gonna trust, and cast my fears aside
My life’s a work that I know You’ll finish
I know I’m gonna be alright
It’s You I’ll chase
Even when I can’t see Your face

No matter how many skies fall down
I’m covered under the peace I’ve found
You’re my Shelter when there’s nowhere else to go
No matter how many times I break
You promise always to keep me safe
You’re my Rescue when I’m spinning out of control
You are faithful, faithful
You are faithful, faithful
You are faithful, faithful
You are

And oh, oh, oh, oh
My God is always faithful
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
(My God, my God)
And oh, oh, oh, oh
My God is always faithful
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
(My God, my God)

No matter how many skies fall down
I’m covered under the peace I’ve found
You’re my shelter when there’s nowhere else to go
No matter how many times I break
You promise always to keep me safe
You’re my rescue when I’m spinning outta control
Lord, you are faithful, faithful
You are faithful, faithful
You are faithful, faithful
You are

Listen while you read! 

~ Written by Jonathan Steingard and Sam Tinnesz  / Performed by Hawk Nelson ~

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God’s promises to be faithful!  I can look back over my life and count numerous times of God’s faithfulness in my life…I bet you can too.  Then why is it, when we are faced with a big trial or maybe lots of things coming at us at once, that we tend to forget His Faithfulness in our lives?

I love how this excerpt  describes God’s faithfulness all throughout Scripture. It is from ‘Expositions of Holy Scripture’ by Alexander Maclaren.

He is faithful, worthy to be trusted, as His deeds show.

Faith is our attitude corresponding to His faithfulness. Faith is the germ of all that He requires from us. How much we need it! How firm it might be! How blessed it would make us!

The thought of God as ‘faithful’ is, like a precious stone, turned in many directions in Scripture, and wherever turned it flashes light. Sometimes it is laid as the foundation for the confidence that even our weakness will be upheld to the end, as when Paul tells the Corinthians that they will be confirmed to the end, because ‘God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son’ (1 Corinthians 1:9). Sometimes there is built on it the assurance of complete sanctification, as when he prays for the Thessalonians that their ‘whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord’ and finds it in his heart to pray thus because ‘Faithful is He that calleth you, who will also do it’ (1 Thessalonians 5:24). Sometimes it is presented as the steadfast stay grasping which faith can expect apparent impossibilities, as when Sara ‘judged Him faithful who had promised’ (Hebrews 11:11).

Sometimes it is adduced as bringing strong consolation to souls’ conscious of their own feeble and fluctuating faith, as when Paul tells Timothy that ‘If we are faithless, He abideth faithful; for He cannot deny Himself’ (2 Timothy 2:13). Sometimes it is presented as an anodyne to souls disturbed by experience of men’s unreliableness, as when the apostle heartens the Thessalonians and himself to bear human untrustworthiness by the thought that though men are faithless, God ‘is faithful, who shall establish you and keep you from evil’ (2 Thessalonians 3:2, 3). Sometimes it is put forward to breathe patience into tempted spirits, as when the Corinthians are comforted by the assurance that ‘God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able’ (1 Corinthians 10:13). Sometimes it is laid as the firm foundation for our assurance of pardon, as when John tells us that ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins’ (1 John 1:9).

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Heavenly Father, I pray for each woman reading this blog that they would remember Your faithfulness in the midst of the toughest of trials.  Thank You for the promise in Romans 8:28 that You ‘work all things together for good for those who love You and are called according to Your purpose.’  In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Glorious Living w/ Coach Megan: Financial Freedom {part 2}

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Last week, we began talking about how to begin to have financial freedom in your life. If you haven’t read it yet, you can find the post here.  The questions that we are discussing in regard to finances are:

How do you master money when you feel like money has actually mastered you?

How do I get in the black with my finances when I am always in the red?

How do I get out of debt?

…and today we will be working through the five principles for wise money management that the Bible lays out for us to help guide us as we work to get out of debt.  I pray this will be a blessing to you!

The Law of Contentment

  • Remember…God owns everything! {Psalm 50:12}
  • Recognize that God is our mighty source. He provides all that you possess. {Deuteronomy 8:17-18}
  • Realize that God wants you to be content with what you have. {Philippians 4:12}
  • Take a few moments and review what money means to you… (Security? Significance? Self-worth? Status? Power? Independence? A means to helping others? Other______?)
  • Once you discover all of the needs you expect money to fill, call Philippians 4:19 to mind…especially when you are tempted to spend needlessly.
  • Be sure to rest in God’s presence no matter what your financial circumstances.

Hebrews 13:5

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have,

because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

The Law of Self-Control

  • Start by transferring ownership of everything to God…mentally and emotionally. {Haggai 2:8}
  • Then you must separate yourself from the sin of greed.  You must repent and confess if your trust is in money.  Remind yourself of the consequences of financial bondage. {Luke 12:15}
  • Set a NEW goal for managing your finances.  Get counsel from someone with financial self-control and commit to staying on course with God’s plan for your finances.  {2 Corinthians 5:9}
  • Keep away from temptation by controlling your thoughts. Avoid thinking you can occasionally indulge yourself and avoid thinking that you can do whatever you want, self-sufficiently.

1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

The Law of Stewardship

  • You must recognize your accountability to God for how you spend money.  What does accountability mean?  It means…. Knowing exactly what comes in, knowing exactly what goes out, knowing exactly where it goes (budgeting), knowing how to save (regardless of your income), knowing how to put your money to work for you (safe investment planning), and knowing when and where to give money to God and to others.
  • Return the first tenth of your earnings to God…this must be a commitment!  Many assume that tithing was taught only in the Old Testament.  However, Jesus gave full endorsement to the principle of tithing. {Luke 11:42}
  • Reserve an amount of your earnings for saving.  A wise steward plans ahead by establishing a habit of saving. {Proverbs 13:22}
  • Be sure to respond to the needs of others. When you allow God’s heart to have freedom in your heart, your attitude toward giving will change so that He will use your giving in the lives of others. {Proverbs 19:17}
  • Resolve to live by a monthly budget.  {We will talk more about this next week!}

The Law of Giving

  • Give confidently to God that which He has commanded.  {Malachi 3:10}
  • Give regularly to the work of the Lord.  {1 Corinthians 16:2}
  • Give sacrificially by giving up some of your own desires. {2 Corinthians 8:3}
  • Give cheerfully–not reluctantly or under pressure.  {2 Corinthians 9:7}
  • Give generously to the poor.  {Deuteronomy 15:11}
  • Give compassionately to those in need.  {Romans 12:13}
  • Give secretly without letting others know.  {Matthew 6:1}

The Law of Petition… How to Pray for Your Needs

The following are some conditions on which successful prayer depends:

  • Is your request within the will of God? {1 John 5:14}
  • Have you confessed and repented of any known sin in your life?  {Psalm 66:18-19}
  • Instead of desiring your own will, are you willing to accept God’s will with a submissive heart?  {Mark 14:36, Philippians 4:6-7}

Blessings to you,

Coach Megan 🙂

Glorious Living w/ Coach Megan: Conquering Fear

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Dear Megan,

I have been battling crippling fear for sometime now and it is affecting my whole life. I know I am trying to control this myself and not fully giving this to God. I really need some guidance on how to get started with giving back to God what is not mine to take on. Can you help me begin to reclaim God’s truth on my fear? Bless you, KL

My Dear KL,

Thank you for taking this first step to reclaim your abundant life back and not live gripped by fear! You are so right… God does not intend for you to hold onto this fear and He longs for you to release it all to Him! I know, it’s not as easy as saying that so I pray that this post will give you the tools needed to begin to give all of your fear over to your Heavenly Father and begin to stand on His truth!

There are four types of fears:

  • Fear of loss
  • Fear of Failure
  • Fear of Rejection
  • Fear of the Unknown

Many people struggle with one or more of these fears and they can paralyze you and keep you from God’s best. When I begin to work with a client on fear, we focus on this Scripture:

2 Timothy 1:7

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

The world would like for us to believe that we have no control over our fears and that our only recourse is to totally avoid all fearful situations. However, with Christ alive inside of us, we  KNOW this to be untrue! God asks us to stand in His strength when we’re afraid. As we focus on His perfect love, we will feel His perfect peace in the midst of every fear-producing situation.

1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.

The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Knowing the truth and acting on the truth is critical to conquering fear. The source of the truth is the One who said He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). The primary resource we have for finding God’s truth is His Word, the Bible. The first step in applying truth is to identify the lies behind the fears you are experiencing as to replace those lies with facts. John 8:32 says “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

FEAR: “I can’t help this intense feeling on fear!”

FACT: “This feeling is a bluff to my mind and body. It is not grounded in truth.”

Psalm 27:3

Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.

FEAR: “I have this feeling of doom… a feeling that I am going to die.”

FACT: “The time of death is in God’s hands. I will choose to trust Him.”

Job 14:5

A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months
and have set limits he cannot exceed.

FEAR: “I’m afraid of what others are thinking about me.”

FACT: “My peace comes from pleasing God, not in pleasing man.”

2 Corinthians 5:9

So we make it our goal to please him

FEAR: “I am hopeless and can never change.”

FACT: “In Christ, I am a new person. Nothing is hopeless.”

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!

FEAR: “I am so nervous, I can’t think clearly.”

FACT: “God will guard my mind and give me peace.”

Philippians 4:7

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
FEAR: “To be safe, I have to be in control.”
FACT: God is in control of my life, and He is with me step by step.”

Deuteronomy 31:8

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

FEAR: “I feel trapped with no way of escape.”

FACT: “God always makes a way of escape.”

1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Blessings,

Coach Megan 🙂