“My Christian friends, God has been very kind to us. Because of that, I really want you to serve God with your whole life. Offer your bodies to Him like a sacrifice that continues to live. Serve Him with everything that you have and that will please Him. That is the true way to worship God.” ~ Romans 12:1 Easy English Bible
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we ask that You bless and encourage all who give their lives to take care of others in need. Thank You for their love and compassion. Give these precious souls Thy strength and grace to do all that their jobs require; fill them with rivers of Thy peace, hope and love. May they ever walk in Thy light with You, oh Lord, thank You, in Jesus’ name, amen.
“Lord Help Me Endure To The End” is a prayer song inspired by a scripture verse that Jesus spoke to His disciples when He was talking to them about prophetic events of the dark last days.
Jesus said, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
Matthew 24:13 KJV
What does the word Jesus used for endure mean?
ὑπομένω hupomenō~~Thayer Definition:
1) to remain, 1a) to tarry behind, 2) to remain, i.e. abide, not recede or flee,
2a) to persevere under misfortunes and trials to hold fast to one’s faith in Christ
2b) to endure, bear bravely and calmly: ill treatments
This verse with its word meaning has spoken volumes to me as I have studied and meditated over them.
I’m so thankful the Lord gave me this prayer song to encourage me to meditate on this verse as I seek Him in prayer and in His Word, especially now.
No stranger to affliction being a sufferer of chronic daily migraines and fibromyalgia, I was painting to distract myself from pain early one morning last month.
Mark reminded me of an appointment I had to get ready for so I got in a rush to print my painting and get ready for the day.
Alas, as I rounded the corner of my bed I tripped and fell backwards landing on my left side and crashed onto the hardwood floor.
Horrified, I saw my left arm detached from my body. In excruciating pain, I thought my hip and neck were broken, as they were hurting as much as my arm and shoulder, also I could not move. Talk about screaming. My beloved Mark was by my side in a second.
I had to be taken to the hospital where they did imaging. Not only did I have bruises all over the left part of my body, but the X-Rays and scans revealed that I’d severely fractured my left humerus. Thank the Lord I had broken nothing else. I returned home with my left arm in a heavy splint and sling. It was so heavy in fact, I could barely walk. The pain was unbearable. I learned how disabled one is made by such a severe injury.
At first I just felt manacled by that awful splint and was sent into panic mode in certain positions. I was in more pain than I’d ever been in my life and I begged God to take me to Heaven. He kept saying nope. Not only did I find the pain beyond my endurance, I couldn’t tolerate being so helpless and dependent on others for assistance in EVERYTHING.
The Lord said, “ENDURE.”
Hadn’t I suffered enough, I asked.
The Lord was not going to let me off the hook.
He reminded me of the prayer song He had given me, “Lord Help Me Endure To The End.”
He reminded me of the other prayer song with lyrics He had given me on my most recent release Paths of Faith, “I Will Lay Down My Life.”
Migraines flared up the agony in my fractured arm even more. The wretched splint caused huge tormenting tension knots in my back and neck. I could not get comfortable nor sleep in my bed but had to sleep in Mark’s recliner.
Despite my misery, the Lord showered me with rivers of His measureless mercy. He sent wonderful home healthcare people to assist me. They always ended up telling me about folks who were far worse off than I was and this would somehow comfort me because I not only then felt I was not alone in my pain, it motivated me to pray for people who suffered as I did.
Prayer was the only way I could lay my life down in love for others because of my disability, while others were laying their lives down in love for me. The Lord always sent me people with the most cheerful attitudes. They somehow could make me laugh despite my intense pain.
Our son flew home from LA to help my husband with my care.
Our daughter being tied up with myriad issues in Tucson did many wonderful things for us that we needed assistance with by ordering things we required and had them sent to us.
We were surrounded by love. God showed His mercy and faithfulness in so many ways that helped me to hang on when I thought I could not endure another moment of pain. Many from our church sent beautiful cards and prayers while our friend Sharon came and stayed with me twice so Mark could run some necessary errands.
Our Pastor came over and anointed me with oil and prayed for my healing. All of these beautiful expressions of God’s love comforted me, reminding me that our Heavenly Father still loved me despite my suffering.
One night after I finally fell asleep exhausted from the pain, I dreamed that the Lord Jesus Christ came down from Heaven and into my living room. He stood by the recliner where I lay sleeping and He checked on my arm as if He were a doctor checking on my progress. I dreamed this two nights in a row. I woke up very comforted both times, assured of His love for me.
But on days when the hours stretched by and my pain level stayed at a ten I became depressed and wept, praying for God’s mercy and repenting for everything I could think of that might have upset the Lord. For when we go through serial trials we can’t help but look up and ask the Lord, “What did I do wrong?”
Whenever I ask the Lord questions like that He refers me to His Word. From the Epistle of James: “My Christian friends, remember to be happy, even when many kinds of trouble happen to you. Troubles can help you. God wants to see if you really trust Him. Your faith in God will become stronger as a result of these troubles. So you should continue to trust God all the time. Then you will become stronger as a Christian. You will become completely how you should be. You will not need anything more.” James 1:2-4 (*Easy English Bible)
The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to comfort me and assure me that God is using my trials to enlarge my faith.
“We thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He is so good to us. As our Father, He is very kind to us. He is our God who comforts us in every way. Whenever we have trouble, He comforts us. Because of that, we ourselves can comfort other people. When they have any kind of trouble, we can comfort them, in the same way that God has comforted us. Christ himself received much pain, and God comforted Him. As Christ’s servants, we also receive the same kind of pain. But, God also comforts us very much, because we belong to Christ.”2 Corinthians 1:3-5 *(Easy English Bible)
Peter the Apostle wrote that we should expect to have suffering and trials as Christians.
“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12-13 KJV
Peter asserted that suffering and pain motivate the Christian to do God’s will instead of their own will, even as Christ did His Father’s will on earth.
“Christ had trouble and pain while He lived in His human body. So you should prepare yourselves to have trouble and pain too. Think about it in the same way that Christ did. If someone has trouble and pain in his body, he stops doing wrong things. As a result, that person will want to do what God wants him to do. In his life in this world, he will not want to do the bad things that people think are good.” 1 Peter 4:1-2 (*Easy English Bible)
“That is why we never give up.
Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.
For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT (*New Living Translation)
Scripture Quotations from the King James Version Bible Translation, the Easy English Bible, The New Living Bible Translation, All of which are copyrighted by their various publishers.
*Created through the Indwelling Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Inspired by His Holy Spirit, To The Glory of God The Father, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
There has been so much bad news lately that sometimes I find myself feeling very anxious and unsafe. Psalm 103:19 reminds me that God truly is in control of all things no matter what is going on in the world.
“The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all.” ~ Psalms 103:19 KJV
The Psalmist tells us, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:” Psalms 103:2 KJV
The word he used for “forget” means “to forget, ignore, cease to care…”
He then goes over all of the wonderful things the Lord does for us: “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” ~Psalms 103:3-5 KJV
Imagine spending a night in an agonythat affects every fiber of your body, unable to feel Christ’s loving presence, certain that you’re the chief of sinners, unforgiven, forever condemned to this abyss of torment.
Whenever there is a bad storm or rainy weather, I get violent migraines that rupture my mind with as severe emotional pain as the physical and neurological symptoms they cause.
Suddenly it seems I’ve fallen into a bottomless pit and that no one loves me—not even Jesus. I feel as if I’m the most despised of souls by everyone, even my family. I’m completely cut off, isolated in an abyss of pain. The burden of all the sins in the world are fastened around my aching head in a crown of thorns as sharp as daggers. My legs will not be still and seem like a thousand snakes are crawling inside of them. “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”
I see Jesus on the cross crying to His Father and I cry out in tears for the Lord to come rescue me from this horrible torment. But I neither see nor feel Him. I’m a condemned sinner screaming and weeping in the darkness for I can’t bear to look at any light.
There in the Abyss I weep tears of remorse. Surely I must have been unkind to my husband, been the worst of mothers and grandmothers, daughters, siblings, friends, and citizens. I’m certain that I must have failed God and everyone else. And the most tormenting of all—-I must have committed the unpardonable sin— why else would I keep having these wretched migraines? Why else would God keep letting this happen to me?
In that pit of Sheol showers of condemnation pour mercilessly upon my soul like the rain drumming endlessly upon our windows and roof as the pain and neurological symptoms torture me.
My precious husband comes and prays for me, while I weep and pray unable to feel either Christ’s presence or love, nor even Mark’s, until at last I fall asleep, exhausted.
The next morning my symptoms are gone. I awake as if resurrected to new life. I’m filled with wondrous joy and peace, How grateful I am that Jesus went to the cross for me; that He has washed my sins away as far as the east is from the west. “Bless the Lord oh my soul. Forget not all His benefits. Who forgives all our sins, who heals all our diseases…” The beautiful sense of Christ’s love and presence enfold me in His arms.
I know then that He has held me throughout the night. He had not really abandoned me. Yet the dark storm of pain from my fierce migraine made me feel hidden from Christ’s presence and forsaken by Him who had promised to never fail or forsake me.
The Psalmist once experienced something like this. “Will the Lord cast off for ever? And will He be favourable no more? Is His mercy clean gone for ever? Doth His promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah.
And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.” Psalms 77:7-10 KJV
He goes through the bad things he suffers but then he says, “Ok, this is happening because of my afflictions. But I won’t dwell on the suffering. I will remember the good things God has done for me.”
In other words, “Bless the Lord oh my soul! Forget not all His benefits!”
Nationally we are experiencing a stormy path of darkness. Severe pain and troubling circumstances can make us feel isolated from the loving presence of God and cut off from all His promises.
God’s word promises that He heals all our diseases, He forgives all our sins. God is watching over all of us. He is still on His throne. He has not hidden His face from us. He hears all our prayers. Just as He eventually heals me from my migraines, I believe that the Lord will ultimately heal our nation from our current plague of troubles.
The definition for the word the Psalmist used for healing is interesting: (BDB Bible Dictionary Definition of original translation~ rapha~Strong’s H7495) To be healed of national hurts (figuratively) Of personal distress (figuratively) Of national defects of hurts (figuratively) To heal (literally) Of hurts of nations (Involving restored favor)
“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalms 103:8-12 KJV
Not one of us deserves the grace that has been given us by the Lord through the cross of Christ, for the Bible declares that all of us are sinners.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Psalms 14:2-3 KJV
I guess our world reflects what the Bible declares we are. A mess. Jesus, the Son of God, came to die for us all to make us holy and to clean our souls up~to forgive our sins and heal us spiritually~to make us one with Him. This is very good news and fills me with such joy and peace!
Peace I Leave with You
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 KJV
I appreciate Christ’s gift of salvation and forgiveness more than I can ever say because of my chronic migraine affliction. Therefore I pray that I will never forget, mislay, or cease to care about this wondrous benefit from God, this gift and treasure of everlasting life and peace with God that my Lord Jesus suffered and died on the cross to give me and everyone in the whole world who will receive it.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits…” Psalms 103:1-2 KJV In Jesus’ name, Amen and amen.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your Gift of Salvation in Christ, the forgiveness of sins As far as the east is from the west, Your measureless love for us, Oh thank You and may we never forget Or mislay, or cease to care about all You do for us every day For Thy mercies are new every morning, In Jesus name. Amen and amen.
Peaceangel Song 
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