Isaiah 30:20-21  And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. (KJV)

This verse has been on my heart the last couple of days.  It has been a rough four days on me physically.  Snow has been the worse.  I have struggled with health issues for a long time.

I have faced some things that I never thought I would face in my life.  I can make a list but all my adult life has been a lot of shattered dreams, disappointments, and a lot of heartache.

Rick Amato has preached a series of messages on these two verses.  It was something that I needed to hear when I was going through a valley. I lost them somehow when I moved.  If he still has them available I would like to purchase them.

Yesterday morning, I had a really bad seizure.  I was looking forward to going to church.  It would have been such an honor to participate in a deacon ordination of Paul Turner.  We had a youth night Sunday night, and yes I missed out on food afterwards.

When I began to get down, I meditated on these two verses.  Let’s break them down.

There is an old saying that when someone is thrown in jail, they will eat bread and water during their sentence.  Sometimes when we are going though adversity and affliction we draw away from society, and create our own prison.  Bread and water are the two sustaining things in life.

When adversity comes your way, you find out who your friends are.  There are some who will contribute it to poor choices.  There are some that will claim you are under the judgment of God.

I have made many mistakes in my life.  There are some things that I am not very proud of.  Most of them came from a reaction to the adversity I experienced.  That is where the poor choices came from.

Each trial that the Lord sees me through, I draw closer to him.  When you are in the midst of the battle, it is easy to say why God?  There is someone who is the Bread of Life, his name is Jesus, God’s only son.

35And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. 37All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:35-40 KJV)

.When you are going through times of adversity, lean on the Lord.  God has placed some great friends for me to lean on.  If you feel you are alone, ask God to place someone in your life.  He will provide you a friend(s).

Something that will help you also is get involved in a local church that preaches and teaches the Word of God, without apology.  My church family at Calvary Baptist Church is a blessing to me.

Let’s talk about affliction.  It is another sustainer, water.

When you are sick, there are some people who are well meaning, and some people that are cruel, just say the worst things.

One of the things is comparing ailments with you.  I have this going on, and I carry on with my life.  Some will call you a hypochondriac.  I have been called this before, and the same ones that do, will think a hangnail is some type of trauma.

Some will say that you don’t have enough faith to be healed.  The Apostle Paul asked for his thorn in his flesh to be removed three times.  Each time the Lord said, my grace is sufficient for me.

If you can not attend church because you are sick, remember to drink at the well of living water.  Do not neglect your time with the lord

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  (Isaiah 55:1 KJV)

Verse 21 of the passage above putting it my own translation, says if you don’t know what to do or which way to go, put your faith and trust in the Lord.  Don’t try to figure things out, walk with him and he will guide every step.

Here are two of my favorite bible verses that parallel Isaiah 20:21.  I encourage you to memorize them:

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV)

The Lord can speak through you in many ways to guide you on your path.  The first is his Word.  This can be through preaching, in a small group such as a Sunday school class, and most important, is open his word and have a quiet time.  Yes, his word will give you direction.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalms 119:105 KJV)

God will place people in your life that go through the same battles that you are going through.  He has used me as a vessel to reach people.  There have been others that have been an encouragement to me.

The words just flowed tonight.  God has not spoke to me like this in a long time.  I hope that something I said will speak to you.

I was going to only share this on my personal Facebook page, but I feel an urging of the Holy Sprit to share this on franklincounty-news.com, under the Faith Matters heading.

-Steve Dunford

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Jim Muir

It’s often said that the mark of a good writer is the ability to say more with fewer words. In that case, the unknown author of today’s quote really packed a punch in this little four-word gem that gives us a battle plan to deal with the cares of life that sometimes stand out more than the blessings in our life.

I read this quote and I immediately thought about the numbers involved with ‘counting’ blessings compared to ‘adding’ up troubles. Everybody encounters a few troubles along the way, that’s just part of life. But, what if every time we started adding up the troubles we’re dealing with we immediately ‘interrupted’ the anxiety created by those troubles with gratitude and started counting our blessings? And the beauty of this attack on anxiety is that it really works. Of course, you have to apply this practice to learn that it works.