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But as for me, I will look to the Lord and confident in Him I will keep watch. I will wait with hope and expectancy for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Rejoice not against me Oh my enemy; when I fall I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me. Micah 7:7-8

We must strongly, earnestly and diligently exercise our faith in expecting to see the Glory of God. In this way we will not grow disinterest and become spiritual sluggards. But through leaning the entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness, and by the practice of cheerful endurance and hopeful expectation we will inherit the promises. When we flee to Him for refuge there is a
mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement that will anchor our souls. (Read Hebrews 6:11-19 amp)

God alone can encourage and lift us up. It is not ours to dictate to God the source He will use to do this. Too often, we have mindsets that dictate to God. We think we know more than God does. In our hearts we say, “God, this is how you should do this. You must use this person or that person or change this situation or that situation.” But God says, “Be satisfied in your present circumstances for I will not in anyway fail you, leave you helpless or relax my hold on you.” – Assuredly not! (Hebrews 13:5 amp)

Our Heavenly father is longing for us to roll the care of our load over onto Him. He and He alone can handle it and carry it. He only asks that we come, as we are, without excuses, asking for His help. He will cause our thoughts to become agreeable to His will. (Proverbs 16:3 amp) His glory and grace will be our enabler and He will lift us up. And after we have suffered a little while, our God, who is full of kindness through Christ, will give us His eternal glory. He personally will come and pick us up, and set us firmly in place, and make us stronger than ever. (1 Peter 5:10 LB)

Are we expecting His personal pick -me – up? God is the glory and the lifter of our heads.

In our walk to maturity, there is only one way to get from point “A” to point “B” and that is to trust in the integrity of Christ. There will be many times when the road will be uncomfortable. There is no way to enjoy the comforts of home when you are moving to a new house. There is change and the process is not pleasant; everything gets turned upside down and inside out.

As it is in the physical so it is in the spiritual. When our Lord moves us it will not be comfortable. We will have to believe that Christ Jesus is who He says He is and He will bring us through. If we are ever to become living stones built into a spiritual house we will first have to be living sacrifices. It is the road to glory. Pure gold comes only from testing and the purifying fires.

“If we are His children, then we are His heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ – sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. But what of that? For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us, and conferred on us.” Romans 8:17-18(AMP)

One moment in His presence makes all the struggles worth while. He knows our grief and He carried our sorrows. He fully understands our stumblings. He never leaves us. He is holding us up, especially when we can’t feel His presence.

Our God is a God of radical change and He is making a way in our desert. The question is will we cooperate with Him in the process? Will we continue to believe, speak forth His words and follow the example of our Lord in obedience and love? Our Heavenly Father will keep us on the Road to Glory. He is faithful.

Oh Lord, You have searched me thoroughly and have known me. You know my down sitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off. You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue still unuttered, but, lo, O lord, You know it altogether. You have beset me and shut me in behind and before, and have laid your hand upon me. Your infinite knowledge is too wonderful for me. For You did form my inward parts, You did knit me together in my mother’s womb. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being formed in secret and intricately and curiously wrought as if embroidered with various colors in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance and in Your book all the days of my life were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. How precious and weighty also are your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them. Psalm 139:1-6,13,15-17

God knows the plans He has for us and they are for our good not evil. He placed us in our natural families. We all have strengths and weaknesses. The strengths are to be used for God’s glory and the weaknesses to keep us humble and dependent on Him. Then He placed us in a spiritual family, gives us His favor, loving-kindness and mercy to enable us and pours His strength and power in and through our weaknesses as we recognize them and trust in His strength. He says, “I am He, and there is no god besides Me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; and there is none who can deliver out of My hand.” Deuteronomy 32:39

“He has set up a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven; a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up. He has made everything beautiful in it’s time” Ecclesiastes 3:1-3, 11

God has seen our willful ways but says He will heal us and lead us. (Isaiah 57:18 Amplified Bible). He will restore or replace for us the years that the locust has eaten (Joel 2:25).

His eyes are ever upon us because we are the apple of His eye. He will hold us up with His Victorious Right Hand and He will never relax His hold on us. We are safe in Our Father’s hands.

So let it be clearly known and understood by you, brethren, that through this Man, forgiveness and removal of sins is now proclaimed to you. And that through Him every one who believes (that is;, who acknowledges Jesus as his Savior and devotes himself to Him) is absolved (cleared and freed) from every charge from which you could not be justified and freed by the Law of Moses, and given right standing with God.
Acts 13:38-39(Amplified Bible)

Paul was continually going forth preaching the cleansing power of Christ’s blood and the futility of self works. He is still declaring today that we are cleared and freed from every charge by the blood of Christ – What a glorious inheritance our Lord has given us to walk in every day. His mercies are new every morning. Each day is meant to be an adventure of victory in Him.

But what do we do? We fret about so many things. We regret what we have done or what we have not done. We worry about tomorrow and wonder how we will ever get everything done that we have to do. Many days we forget to enjoy God’s great love and acceptance. We forget that He is on His throne and that our lives and times are in His hands.

God loves and accepts us. His acceptance of us is not based on our performance. We are already accepted because of Christ and what He has already done. We all mess -up and we all need a Savior daily. The truth is we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We all are in need of His grace daily.

In Him we are all held together. None of us have anything to boast about or be in despair over. Our life is in Him and our hope is in Him. In Him we will not perish. For in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). In Him is the fountain of life and in His light we see light(Psalm 36:9). He put and kept us among the living and has not allowed our foot to slip (Psalm 66:9). In Him we have the hope of realizing the glory (Colossians 1:27).

Hebrews 4:16 (Amplified Bible)
Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace – the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners; that we may receive mercy for our failures and find grace to help in good time for every need – appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it.

Christ’s blood qualified us for grace (Hebrews 2:9). Grace reigns through right standing with God and grace superabounds over sin (Romans 5:20-21). God is able to make all grace come to us in abundance (2 Corinthians 9:8).

We receive God’s grace by faith. We trust ourselves to God and we stand fast being humble-minded enough to receive. God gives grace continually to the humble but will frustrate the proud (1 Peter 5:5). Receiving grace depends not on one’s own strenuous exertion but on God having mercy on us (Romans 9:15-16).

We are justified, made right by grace through the redemption provided in Christ. If we distrust Christ, then we have a hard time receiving from Him. Grace belongs to Christ. It is a gift found only in Him. We will never deserve it. It is an issue of coming to God to receive mercy for our failures. If we seek to justify ourselves by what we do or do not do we will fall short of the grace of God. We will be frustrated, struggle, grow weary and faint in our minds.

We are to be to the praise of His grace, We have been called with a Holy Calling, not because of any merit of our own but simply to further His purpose and His grace that was given to us even before the world began (2 Timothy 1:9).

Therefore we come with assurance before the Throne of Grace, receive God’s mercy and find His power to help us. Then we must be obedient and humble-minded enough to do things God’s way.

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, God with us. Isaiah 7:14(Amplified Bible)

Jesus, God in the flesh, come to earth as a baby but died a sinless man, sacrificed for the sins of the world. He paid the price for sin and was raised to life on the third day. He is our Savior. He still is Immanuel. He is with us today. He has given us His Spirit and has promised never to leave or forsake us.

Jesus, Immanuel, God is with us. He is our High Priest, our Advocate. He’s the One who pleads and maintains our cause. He is our soon coming King. He stands with us in all of life’s circumstances. The second Person of the Trinity – God Himself is in our corner.

Fear not, for I have redeemed you [ransomed you by paying a price instead of leaving you captives]; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned or scorched, nor will the flame kindle upon you. Isaiah 43:1b-2(Amplified Bible)

Jesus knows our weaknesses. He knew them when He called us to be His own. He has seen our willful ways but has promised to heal us.

All this is true but I have a question for you to think about. When you are up against a rock and a hard place, what do you see? What are you looking at? Are you looking at your provision in the Lord or your provision in yourself? Recently I’ve had to ask myself this question. Why do I have so much faith in my inabilities and so little faith God’s abilities? The answer was – I’m choosing to look at the wrong things. I’m forgetting that there are a lot more with me than against me. I’m forgetting who is on my side -Jesus -Immanuel – God with us. His power, wisdom and goodness will see us thru anything. More than that, we will come through victoriously.

The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, and responsibility]! Habakkuk 3:19(Amplified Bible)

Today is the day of God’s power and God is on our side. Therefore, cheer-up and be glad. God is ready to move. The eyes of the Lord are roaming to and fro throughout the earth to find a heart that is peaceable and quiet before Him. To that person, He will show Himself strong. The Lord earnestly waits, expectant, looking and longing to be gracious to you and therefore He lifts Himself up that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. He forgives iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage. He retains not His anger because He delights in mercy and loving-kindness. He will revive the spirit of the humble. He has seen our willful ways but He will heal us.

Who is this among you who reverently fears the Lord, who obeys the voice of His servant, yet who walks in darkness and deep trouble and has no shining splendor in his heart? Let him rely on, trust and be confident in the name of the Lord and let him lean upon and be supported by His God. For God Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless, nor forsake nor let you down, relax My hold on you. — Assuredly not!

If you would like to study this for yourself, look up the following scriptures:
Philippians 4:4-5 and do a word study on rejoice and hand, 2 Chronicles 16:9 and do a word study on perfect, Isaiah 30:18(Amplified Bible), Micah 7:18(Amplified Bible), Isaiah 57:15,17(Amplified Bible), Isaiah 50:10(Amplified Bible), Hebrews 13:5(Amplified Bible), Proverbs 17:22.

If you would like to be motivated to cheer-up, study the alternative route. Read Proverbs 15:15(Amplified Bible). Check out the context of 2 Chronicles 16:9. See what happened to Asa before and after this verse. Check out the children of Israel in Numbers 13 and 14. Last of all, compare it with James 1:1-8(Amplified Bible) and James 4:1-10(Amplified Bible).

We don’t have to be despondent and full of anxious thoughts. We can choose to follow Philippians 4:8 and think on what is pure, lovely, kind gracious and worthy of praise. We can fix our minds and take account of those things. We may need to lament over our sin and hate it and we may need to mourn when others mourn and give comfort but even that must be turned over to our Lord for healing. Any other route brings forth dead flies in the ointment and our lives end up stinky.

Cheer-up and say that the Lord reigns. A cheerful heart works healing.

You have beset me and shut me in behind and before and have laid Your hand upon me. Psalm 139:5

You are a hiding place for me. You Lord, preserve me form trouble. You surround me with shouts of deliverance. I the Lord will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
Psalm 32:7-8

In order to grow in Christ and walk in His peace, joy and love it is vital that we see what the Lord has done and is doing today and every day. Our God has fortified the path before us and behind us. His hand is ever upon us. He knows when we are settled and at rest and how long we will stay that way. He knows what will cause us to rise up. He knows how to stir us up to do His good works. He knows how to cause us to stand up and be strengthened. He also knows how to settle us and cause us to be eased so we can endue. His eye is ever upon us to guide, protect and teach us. In His sovereign power He is able to do all things in us and through us. He asks that we look to Him and have confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness. He will cause us to will and to do His good pleasure(Proverbs 16:3; Philippians 2:13(Amplified Bible). He does it moment by moment, step by step, day by day, ever reminding us where we are headed and to whom we belong.

For years I have thought of God’s grace as His favor and loving-kindness that we stand in because of the blood of Christ. This is true, it is indeed that, but as I’ve been studying grace, I’ve found out that I had a very limited understanding. Strongs Concordance tells us that the Hebrew meaning for grace is graciousness, kindness, favor and it comes from a word that means to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior, to be merciful. The Greek meaning is favor, benefit, Divine influence upon the heart reflected in the life.

2 Corinthians 1:2(Amplified Bible) tells us that God exerts His Holy influence upon souls (there’s the grace), turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens and increases them in Christian virtues. By the grace of God I am what I am. The blood of Jesus paid the price and we now have peace with God. He wants us to line up those inner foes and let Him burn them up. But in order to do that we have to take hold of God’s strength (there’s the grace) and surrender to His protection.

Philippians 2:12-14(Amplified Bible) reveals that we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and self distrust but we are not to try and do it in our own strength. It is God who is all the while at work in us energizing and creating in us the power and desire (there’s the grace) to will and to work for His good pleasure. But do it all without grumbling, faultfinding, complaining, questioning and doubting. We can not find grace in these evil tendencies. Grace is found in humility. God gives us more and more grace, power of the Holy Spirit, to overcome all evil tendencies if we are humble minded enough to receive (James 4:6-Amplified Bible).

We need to remind ourselves what God has done, what He is doing and what He has promised He will do. I have found that when I discipline myself to do this, a spirit of praise will overtake the spirit of heaviness. Hope, peace and joy rule the day.

If we are serious about living our life with Christ then we have to act like it. The Message Bible puts it this way:
“And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death; sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It’s because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good; bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk. Don’t’ lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire.” (Colossians 3:5-9)

How easy it is to go with our feelings and react or go off and do our own thing. It takes a quiet strength in Christ and discipline to be even-tempered, content, quick to forgive, and to cultivate thankfulness.

Taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ demands that we still our soul and know that Jesus is Lord. He is exalted over every nation that comes against us. There is no stronghold in our soul that can stand when we submit to His Lordship. For the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus, the law of our new being, has freed us from the law of sin and of death. It may not always seem like we are freed from the old man but the truth is – that old man was buried in the baptismal waters. When we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace. Sin no longer has dominion over us. That old man will raise up his ugly head but he is no longer in charge. We can now live life on God’s terms. We have now entered into a life of Jesus being there for us. We no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud of sin. A new power is in operation—The Law of Life in Christ Jesus.

Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God’s holy people) in the Light. The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
Colossians 1:12-13 (Amplified Bible)

What is this inheritance that we share in? Isaiah saw it and said, “You shall establish yourself on righteousness – right, in conformity with God’s will and order. No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, those in whom the ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced. This is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me -this is that which I impart to them as their justification – says the Lord.” Isaiah 54:14,17 (Amplified Bible).

Our inheritance is the very life and light of Christ. We have been destined from the beginning, foreordained to be molded into the image of Christ. The character of Christ is ours. We are to seek it first. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. The Kingdom of God is not meat or drink but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The Kingdom of God is the very character of the King and His rule. We are to seek to know Him and walk in what we know. God has given us His Holy Spirit to enable us. We have everything we need to walk daily in righteousness, peace and joy. God is on His throne. Christ has been given all authority in heaven and earth and we are hid in Him. The plan is very simple. We keep our minds in heavenly places and on the sovereign rein and power of God over our lives. God moves through us by the power of His Spirit and brings forth His righteousness in the earth. We live by faith not by sight. We can not have our mind’s eye on the things of this earth and walk in victory.

We are Saints of Light, qualified to share in the Life of Christ and be lights in a dark world. We should be thanking our Heavenly Father daily that He has qualified us to share in such a glorious inheritance.