Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day ( Monday 1/26/09)

Tracy Koweh is away and so the Message In The Music Monday's will resume next week...

Sometimes Life Can Hurt You...BUT Thank God For The Sanctuary!

Psalm 20:1-3 (Amplified Bible)
1) MAY THE Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob set you up on high [and defend you];
2) Send you help from the sanctuary and support, refresh, and strengthen you from Zion;
3) Remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah [pause, and think of that]!

Last week my daughter was texting someone, and in the midst of her texting her face got really sad and her eyes filled with tears. She did not want to talk about what was bothering her, so I took her phone and read her texts ( there is no privacy in our house I am the parent and I pay the bills). As I read the messages, I realized that someone she loved had hurt her and placed in her a precarious position with his comments about me and had caused her heart to break, by his insensitivity and lack of concern for her. Now most people that know me, know I can take it, you come at me, yes, I can go out in prayer on you and stay saved. But when you go after my children or you hurt them, that is a horse of a different color and I can make no guarantees about my salvation, or my silence. To see her hurting for not the first time but the third time by the same person in such short span of time, I hurt and I was angry. I needed God to sit in the midst of my situation and hold my mouth and keep me from sin. All I could think about all week, was God if I could just get to church, if I could just make it to the sanctuary, I knew something would keep me from losing my salvation and my witness. I stayed prayerful and in God's face the remainder of the week to make it.

In life there is pain and there are people that will inflict pain, and they can become distractions. They can become things that make you look away from God and focus on them. They can cause you to stumble and fall, if you let them. The enemy knows our weakness and our infirmities and He will exploit them. But I am learning if I can get to the sanctuary, God can heal me, keep me and deliver me. Sometimes the sanctuary is my restroom, and sometimes it is my room prostrate on the floor, but sometimes it is the assembly of God (church). The sanctuary refocuses us and keeps us in the presence of God and from falling prey to the tricks and the hurts of the enemy and people used by the enemy. The sanctuary is where we can receive a word of salvation and become renewed in our mind and in our hearts so that "no weapon formed against us will prosper."

The next time you feel as if you are about to lose it, or the next time hurt and pain has come to torment you or get you off track, get to the sanctuary, get to God. For it is true that least the "Lord build the house those that labor , labor in vain." Don't let your building, living or giving be in vain, let God build you, uplift you and repair any breaches in your foundation, and in your life. For God can keep you in perfect peace when your mind is stayed on Him and you can find your way into His sanctuary!