Not Alone Isaiah 49:15-16 John 14:15-18 Psalms 27:10 Psalms 94:14 Psalms 37:25-26 2 Timothy 4:16-18 Deuteronomy 31:5-6 Hebrews 13:5-8 Hebrews 12:1-3 Hebrews 4:14-16 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 05.21.21

NOT ALONE

BREAD

¹⁵ “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!  ¹⁶ See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”   Isaiah 49:15-16 (NIV)

 

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”  John 14:15-18 (NIV)

 

¹⁰ Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.  Psalms 27:10 (NIV)

 

¹⁴ For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.  Psalms 94:14 (NIV)

²⁵ I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. ²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.  Psalms 37:25-26 (NIV)

 

¹⁶ At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. ¹⁷ But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. ¹⁸ The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.  2 Timothy 4:16-18 (NIV)

 

⁶ “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”  Deuteronomy 31:5-6 (NIV)

 

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.”  ⁶ So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?” ⁷ Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.   Hebrews 13:5-8 (NIV)

 

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)

 

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV)

 

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NIV)

 

BUTTER

“‘A small token of hope to remind you that you are not alone. There is purpose in your pain. God sees you, God loves you, and your story is not over.’  Suffering has a way of giving birth to an isolation that feeds our every fear and anxiety, and tricks us into thinking we have to keep it all to ourselves.  The Lord has purpose for you. There may not be healing on this earth but there will be fruit.  Your purpose will look different than mine, but it will absolutely impact other people because God created us first for Himself and then for each other.  Those things that leak out of our eyes when we’re happy, sad, angry, confused or overwhelmed are precious. They are so precious to God that He saves them—all of them.  In the most breathtaking bottles.  This unspeakable gift of knowing we are seen and known and held and not one tear is wasted and every tear is gathered in bottles to grow far more meaningfulness than we could ever know.”  Lindsey Wheeler

“The sympathy of Jesus is the next best thing to his sacrifice. . . . It has been to me, in seasons of great pain, superlatively comfortable to know that in every pang which racks his people the Lord Jesus has a fellow-feeling. We are not alone, for one like unto the Son of man walks the furnace with us.”  Charles H. Spurgeon

“Jesus knows your works and He understands your war.  His grace will be given to you in your time of need, and it will be sufficient for you, even at the very worst times.”  Jon Bloom

“It is pitiful to see men putting their trust in something lower than themselves; but our confidence is fixed on an exceedingly high and glorious Lord. He is a Rock since He doesn't change, and a high Rock because the tempests that overwhelm us roll far beneath His feet; He is not disturbed by them but rules them at His will. If we get under the shelter of this lofty Rock, we may defy the hurricane; all is calm under the lee of that towering cliff. Sadly, the confusion in which the troubled mind is often cast is such that we need piloting to this divine shelter. The wind blows us out to sea—the helm does not answer to our puny hand; You alone can steer us over the bar between the sunken rocks and safe into the fair haven. We are totally dependent upon You—we need You to bring us to You. To be wisely directed and steered into safety and peace is Your gift, and Yours alone.”   Charles H. Spurgeon

“It’s okay to feel on the outside — you have One who is passionate about you on the inside, who wants to be with you so desperately, He moves into you, gets into your skin, so you’re never alone, dwells in you, moves into your empty places, your rejected places, your abandoned places and fills you with chosenness and wholeness and with-ness — because He knows the fulfilled life is an inside job.”  Ann Voskamp

“Now, Lord, not my will, but Yours be done. I don’t know what to do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until You shall halt the floods, or drive back my foes.  I will wait, if You keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon You alone, O God, and my spirit waits for You in the full conviction that You will yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.”   Charles H. Spurgeon

“We are all the traumatized and wounded and cut down. We are all the weary and the limping and the stumped ones, our hope kinda hacked up and axed down. And through the dark, there is hope that whispers: God is here; He is hidden in our hurt. God’s hidden in our grief. The Trinity enfolds all trauma into their encircling love. God is our Father hidden in our failure, like the Cross appeared to be a failure — before the Rising appeared.  No matter how we feel the depth of the darkness — we have a God whose devotion to us is deeper.” Ann Voskamp

“Every time I tried to make it on my own  Every  time I tried to stand and start to fall  And  all those lonely roads that I have travelled on  There was Jesus.  When the life I built came crashing to the ground  When  the friends I had were nowhere to be found  I  couldn’t see it then but I can see it now  There was Jesus. In  the waiting, in the searching  In the healing and the hurting  Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces  Every minute‚ every moment  Where  I’ve been and where I’m going  Even when I didn’t know it or couldn’t see it  There was Jesus.  For this man who needs amazing kind of grace  For forgiveness at a price I couldn’t pay  I’m not perfect so I thank God every day  There was Jesus (There was Jesus).  In the waiting‚ in the searching  In the healing and the hurting  Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces  Every minute‚ every moment  Where I’ve been and where I’m going  Even when I didn’t know it or couldn’t see it There was Jesus.  On the mountain, in the valleys (There was Jesus)  In the shadows of the alleys (There was Jesus)  In the fire, in the flood (There was Jesus)  Always is and always was  No‚ I never walk alone (Never walk alone)  You are always there.  In the waiting, in the searching In the healing and the hurting  Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces  Every minute (Every minute), every moment (Every moment)  Where I’ve been and where I’m going  Even when I didn’t know it or couldn’t see it  There was Jesus.  There was Jesus.”  Zach Williams & Dolly Parton

“To enjoy peace, our unbelieving thoughts must be stilled, and we must learn that the Lord reigns. There is not even a hint of help from any secondary source. The Lord says nothing of friends and helpers: He undertakes the work alone and feels no need of human arms to aid Him. All our looking around to companions and relatives are vain; they are broken reeds if we lean upon them—often unwilling when able, and unable when they are willing. Since the promise comes from God alone, it is best for us to wait only on Him; and when we do so, our expectation never fails us.”  Charles H. Spurgeon

“All we have is in His loving, capable, Hands and His heart is as tender as His arms are strong.  We can trust Him with our lives and the lives of those we love.  Convert fear into faith.  How steady is His Hand to guide me through this world.  My needs shall be His care. Make your faith a defiant response to your fears.”  BHY

“All that we discover in God will teach us to place the arms of our trust in Him alone.  Our God is a safe place on which to lean.”  Thomas Lye 

HEART SAVOR

• ·         He has not left us as orphans – He is a “with us” God.
• ·         His grace is sufficient to meet our every need.
• ·         We can trust Him with our lives and the lives of those we hold dear.  Nothing is too hard  for Him.