Faith and Strength

 The above picture and verse have become very precious to me over the last couple of months.  The Lord seems to be stretching my faith and trust in incomprehendible ways.  Sometimes I am able to take hold of the promises of God and walk with strength and peace.  Other times I feel stuck in darkness and despair, and even though I see the promise it doesn't seem to be working for me.  It is in these times that I must remember to trust, delight, commit, rest, and wait.  Even though we often do not understand His plans and how He gets us there, we know that He is using all for our growth and ultimately for His glory.  I am so thankful for my Savior; He is the solid rock and the only place to run to; the only source of peace and rest.  Sunrises have always carried a sense of peace and meditation to me, and this one carries other significant, precious memories with it as well.  Seeing the scripture passage with the memories helps me to keep trusting and praying.
The devotional below really stood out to me this morning.  Sometimes I fall into despair and lacking faith.  The exhortation to pray in faith was such an encouragement.  Faith is standing on the promises given us in God's Word.  When He shows us the promise, we must walk in it in faith, believing that He is faithful.  In that we can find strength.

"Strong in faith."—Romans 4:20.

Christian, take good care of thy faith; for recollect faith is the only way whereby thou canst obtain blessings. If we want blessings from God, nothing can fetch them down but faith. Prayer cannot draw down answers, from God's throne except it be the earnest prayer of the man who believes. Faith is the angelic messenger between the soul and the Lord Jesus in glory. Let that angel be withdrawn, we can neither send up prayer, nor receive the answers. Faith is the telegraphic wire which links earth and heaven—on which God's messages of love fly so fast, that before we call He answers, and while we are yet speaking He hears us. But if that telegraphic wire of faith be snapped, how can we receive the promise? Am I in trouble?—I can obtain help for trouble by faith. Am I beaten about by the enemy?—my soul on her dear Refuge leans by faith. But take faith away—in vain I call to God. There is no road betwixt my soul and heaven. In the deepest wintertime faith is a road on which the horses of prayer may travel—ay, and all the better for the biting frost; but blockade the road, and how can we communicate with the Great King? Faith links me with divinity. Faith clothes me with the power of God. Faith engages on my side the omnipotence of Jehovah. Faith ensures every attribute of God in my defence. It helps me to defy the hosts of hell. It makes me march triumphant over the necks of my enemies. But without faith how can I receive anything of the Lord? Let not him that wavereth—who is like a wave of the Sea—expect that he will receive anything of God! O, then, Christian, watch well thy faith; for with it thou canst win all things, however poor thou art, but without it thou canst obtain nothing. "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."
~Charles Spurgeon's Morning Meditation, March 19th

Posted by: Brittany