“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Philippians 4:8
Our minds race, our hearts begin to pound, and it just seems as if we can’t escape this feeling of darkness and anxiety that swells deep within us. We can’t stop our minds from racing to the worst possible thoughts, and it seems as if worries come so near to us that they give us nothing but hardships to meditate on.
That’s the world around us, isn’t it? Wrought with challenges and difficulties, wrought with trials and temptations, struggles and barriers that are placed before us, it just seems hard at times as we look around and we see that there is a captivity that comes so near at hand. Deep within us we feel the bondage of the spirit and the mind, the heart and the soul, and we can’t help but find our minds race to the most terrible of scenarios or situations. It’s just so easy to do that it becomes the simplest thing in the world for us…
Yet, no matter how we may perceive the world around us, no matter what it may do to us or the cruel war it may wage against us, God wants us to know that He is there for us, and that whatever the price, whatever the cost, He will deliver His people from the grips of whatever darkness or oppression, whatever dark slavery might so entangle them.
This is why we are told to meditate on all that is right and noble, all that is pure and admirable, all that is excellent and praiseworthy, because, in all things and through all things, this is the Lord, our God, the mighty hand of deliverance unto His people. In His love and His mercy He always and forever contends with the cause of His people as He binds up their wounds, and heals their broken hearts, as He shows that, regardless of the struggle or the trials that are before us, His grace is transcending and encompassing, moving across the span of time and space to make the weak strong as it provides a refuge through all that we face throughout this temporal existence.
So often it is easy for us to lose hope as we see the challenges that seem to move seamlessly through the course of life... so easy that it becomes the simplest thing in the world to lose heart. Yet, it is in those times that we need, more than anything else, to lean on our faith, to lean on the promises of our God, trusting in His assurances unto us, knowing that, no matter how dark it may seem as a veil covers our eyes like a foggy mist, when we reach out to the Lord He is always there reaching back to us in the love that He has for us.
Turn then your thoughts and your minds, your hearts and your focus to the Lord and know that through all that you are and all that you face, His righteousness and His nobility shall give you reason to praise His Holy name as He carries you through the storm to the places where His hope shall forever dwell.
Let us pray:
With our hearts raised to You O Lord we have heard the promises made by Your lips…
With our spirits extended to You O Lord we have seen the blessings of Your hands…
With our souls given over to You O Lord we now call upon Your blessed name…
Hear our prayers, feel our intercessions and see all that we raise up to You with praise to Your holy assurances made unto Your people through the ages and the generations as they have turned their hopes to You and sought refuge in Your gracious precepts.
Unto You do we commend the lives of the lives of the 77 taken hostage yesterday amidst those three Thai fishing boats that were captured; unto You do we entrust the lives of the 21 who were taken in the hijacking of the Voc Daisy. Rise up O Lord and show Your face unto them. Let them see Your mercy, let them know Your love that they shall, through their ordeal, know that by Your hand Your mercy shall extend to their lives and they shall find hope in even the most hopeless of situations.
Be unto them a rock of refuge, a blessed hope that shall move through the course of their lives, showing forth unto them the mercy and the grace that feels so far distant from them now, and then, in Your time, in Your way, raise up Your hand amidst Your righteousness to set to flight all wickedness and iniquity that has them, bringing freedom once more into their lives that they may find comfort and rest as they are returned once more to their homes and their families.
Let Your compassion encompass them and shine forth Your love in their lives that they may know that then by Your hand mercy shall forever guide their lives through the darkness and into the light that can only come through You and by You in the deliverance that You pour forth for Your people.
In the name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You in the Kingdom, one God, world without end, Amen.
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