1 Samuel 17:38-39 "Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not use to them."
I have been reading and studying the story of David, from shepherd to king. As I read, Saul gave to David his own tunic and protective gear before David went out to fight Goliath. Saul thought he could cover David in his protective gear and it would take care of him. Have we been guilty of these things. In our own protective thoughts, our own love for friends, family, haven't be tried to put our protection over them. But we can only do so much. Our faith reaches to the heavens, our prayers send thosands to flight, but our covering can only go so far. Our friends and loved ones must develop their own covering also. A covering of God's grace that fits them, that they are use to walking in. Each of us must walk in the Lord for ourselves. I covet all the prayers that friends and family lift to the Lord for me. Those prayers sustain me so many times when I am weak, when I find my feet slipping; we need to pray for each other, to constantly lift each other up to the Lord, but it is the Lord's cover that is what we all need for ourselves.
Each of us need our own experience of faith, our own knowledge of the faithfulness of God to get us through our trials, our temptations. There will come times in our lives when we may not be able to ask someone to pray for us, to cover us in their prayers. Things will come against us in an instant and there will be no one there but us and our Lord. We need to be able to access the throne room with our prayers; drawing upon our own shield of faith, that helmet of salvation that fits us, belongs to us; the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God that we have read for ourselves, that is life to us, those precious Words that are written deep in our heart; and we need to pray in the Spirit ourselves, those prayers of intercession for ourself at that particular moment, bringing down the covering of mercy and grace from the Father with the whispers from our lips.
If we walk through this life counting always on the prayers of others, it will become a counterfeit shield, one that is difficult to walk in. The faith of others will not bring you through the darkest nights of agony when you are alone, heartache bringing you down, pain keeping you from resting; when it is you, alone, and you need to reach the Lord, when you need to know He will answer your prayer, when you need to feel His healing touch, His comforting arms, it is your faith and your faith alone that will bring you to trust God. Faith of others is a wonderful example, and will show you what faith can do, but it will not give you that deep, abiding trust in God like your faith in Him will. Only your faith in God will give you that shield of peace that He alone gives.
Read the Word of God for yourselves. Experience the joy of seeing the Lord move through your own prayers of faith. Faith of substance is the kind of faith that stands strong when all seems lost but you know that God is faithful and you will not give in to the worlds standard for things, but will hold fast to the standard of the kingdom of God. Only your own faith in God will give you a sure footing, a solid foundation on which to stand.
See that you arm yourself in righteous armor that comes to you from our Lord, only from Him. Look to others only for examples of the faithfulness of our God, but know for yourself, that never ending love and mercy that will sustain you through any battle, any heartache, any illness; build your shield of faith around what the Lord has done for you. He gives so much grace and mercy to us all, we all have experienced the Hand of God in our lives, we have our own personal knowledge of our Lord on which to develop our faith and trust in Him. Wear that beautiful shield made to fit just you. The Lord has designed each of us so special, so individually, we each have that perfected shield that fits only us.
Lord, I thank you that I am shielded by my own faith in You, my complete trust in You. You have never let me down, Lord and I know I am standing on the Rock, on the Word that You have given. And my sweet Lord, You never lie.....I trust in You alone. Always trusting in You.
I worship You, my King.
02-04-12
No comments:
Post a Comment