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Sacred Whispers Devotional

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When a Loss Seems Too Much to Bear
Jan 06 3:13 AM

When a Loss Seems Too Much to Bear

Jan 06 3:13 AM
Jan 06 3:13 AM

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.

Psalm 40:2

Have you experienced a great loss in your life? Perhaps you’ve lost a parent or, what is worse for most people, a child. Maybe your marriage has ended in divorce or you lost a job that you hoped would take you to retirement. If living means anything, it means that all of us will experience at least one great loss in our lives.

When we do, our grief can become almost overwhelming. In fact, like King David in writing Psalm 40, you might feel like you are stuck in a “pit of despair” (v. 2 NLT). In this pit, we find feelings of sorrow, anger, bitterness, anxiety, fear, and loathing. Too many of us allow ourselves to get stuck in that pit and, when we do, we become overwhelmed and lose hope. Sadly, this is when many people either self-medicate with alcohol, drugs, or illicit sex – some go as far as ending their life. And yet, the Pit of Despair does not need to be the end for those of us who call on the name of Jesus Christ.

In fact, Psalm 40 provides us with great guidance on how to receive healing. First, we need to realize that healing is a process. Psalm 40:1 says, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry” (ESV) (emphasis added). God hears us when we are in pain and He loves to heal us when we are hurting. But we must be patient with Him. While God can heal us instantly and miraculously, there are times when He will use our pain to grow us so that we can become greater forces in His Kingdom.

The second truth we learn from Psalm 40 is that healing comes when we make God a priority. Verse 4 says, “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!” (ESV). While counselors, doctors, and friends can be a wonderful source of support, our ultimate source of healing is our Heavenly Father. Grief hurts so much because it touches our very soul. We need the Holy Spirit inside of us to remind us that, for God, nothing is impossible. Don’t reject the help of a good earthly counselor or doctor, but make sure to always receive our ultimate advisement from our Great Physician.

Finally, Psalm 40 teaches us that God will give us a new praise in the midst of our grief. Verse 3 says, “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God…” (ESV). Part of the healing process is making peace with the fact that we can never go back. The loss of a loved one, for example, means that your story must now proceed without him or her in your life. This is why God gives you a new song. Suffering through a great loss will change our praise because we come to realize that God is great, not because He will undo the loss, but because He will give us the grace to continue living.

Have you experienced a great loss in your life? Do you feel like you are stuck in the Pit of Despair? Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Have I made God my priority in this season of my life? Have I gone to Him in prayer and read His Word so much that I am saturated with His truth?
  • Have I given God enough time to heal me? Have I waited on Him while I have sought counseling or wise advice from people who know Him?
  • Am I open to the truth that God wants to give me a new song of praise or am I being insistent that He give me back my old song?

Remember that God gave up is only begotten Son so you and I could return to Him and have eternal life. He knows grief and can help you with your pain.

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Barbara Love

Truly I heard the Spirit speak to me through this passage ~ thank you

Posted on Wed, Jan 6, 2021 @ 5:41 AM CST

Sharon Lewis

Thank you for this timely message! I have such a challenging year starting with one of my daughters passing, my only other daughter receiving a kidney, followed by a car accident and many other challenges too numerous to share. But also finding that I was not that strong individual and succumbed to illness. Doing better today but your message is exactly what I needed this morning. Praise God for you

Posted on Wed, Jan 6, 2021 @ 7:51 AM CST

Contessa

Thank you so much for this devotion. Grief will hold you captive. My mother died a tragic death. I was so angry with the Lord, and I told him that I would not praise him until he told me why he took my Mom. This lasted a year. On the very day a year later I receive my response in a dream. The Lord told me that he loved my Mom and it was time for her to come home. He said that I am now Your Mom, Your Comfort, your strength and your Peace. Rest have faith in me that I will always do what is best for you and will never leave you or forsake you. The Lord kept me during that time!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!!! I'm now 67 and have never turned away from him since !!!!

Posted on Wed, Jan 6, 2021 @ 7:51 AM CST

Chandra Lemons

Thanks Pastor AC fir this powerful message!

Posted on Thu, Jan 7, 2021 @ 11:04 AM CST

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Day 1
Jan 01 12:32 AM

Day 1

Jan 01 12:32 AM
Jan 01 12:32 AM

Before reading today's devotional, listen to "Goodness of God" from the Sacred Whispers Playlist.

WHAT DO THE BIRDS KNOW?

By Marlin D. Harris

“Look at the birds of the air...”

Matthew 6:26

My wife has a very peaceful pastime activity.  If the weather is right, she loves to sit out on our back patio and look out into the trees in the backyard and watch the birds melodically singing while perched on one of the tender branches.  They come in red, orange, dusty brown and ever so often, blue.

I have often wondered when I would sit with her, what do these birds know that we don’t?  They seem to be so at peace nestled on a tiny branch, or nipping at a leaf or berry for food.  Gently they come, and haplessly land on some tree and softly belt out their melodic tunes as they call out to one another in a ritual that they never tire of repeating.  This they faithfully do each morning as soon as the sun rises over the eastern hemisphere. They sing.  Even after the fiercest storms, they sing.  Even when the clouds hang low and the morning sky is smeared with a gloomy grey, they sing.  Even when the trees have lost their leaves and the berries have all fallen away; yet still, they sing.

Perhaps this is why Jesus instructed us to “Look at the birds…”  We have not learned faith and trust in God until we have learned how to be at peace.  Peace is that one emotional quality that when possessed, it has the power to master all of our other emotions.  Peace has been called the great stabilizer.  Real peace locks anxiety away in its cell, and refuses to allow worry a voice in the meeting chambers of our hearts.  Peace transforms the darkness from being a paralyzing presence that haunts us in the night, into a comforting blanket that lulls us to sleep.  Peace is that rare treasure that few people have been able to find.  But we need not lose heart; God has laid bare in His Word how we can find it.

Isaiah 26:3 tells us clearly how to find peace.  It says, “God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed in Him, because he trusts in You.”  Without using any ambiguity, the Bible teaches that the man who would be at peace, keeps his mind on God and trusts in Him.  

Perhaps the birds know this.  They have learned how to trust God.  It is as if God has established a covenant with them whereby He has promised to provide for their food, and their shelter and they simply fly about trusting that.  It seems too simple to be profound – but it is.  Trusting in God is the only way to peace.  Trust in God happens when you are absolutely convinced of His trustworthiness.  When you are convinced that God is faithful and will always honor His promises, then you will trust Him.  When you are convinced that God is wise and navigates the circumstances of life in such a way as to bring about the greatest possibilities for personal growth, then you will trust Him.  When you are convinced that God loves you and will walk with you through every season of your life’s journey, then you will trust Him.

Be assured that trust is not a casual matter. You only learn to trust over significant periods of time.  Trust is not a confidence that is easily achieved, but it has to be nurtured through the intimacy of relationship.  The more you know someone, the more you trust them.  The more you do life with God, the more you learn to trust Him.  Peace can’t be found without trust, and trust can’t be found without relationship.

Secondly, the birds know how to sing.  I am not proposing that you learn how to physically sing, but rather I am suggesting that you and I learn how to adopt the ‘spirit of singing’.  We must learn how to sing even when the deepest sorrows are knocking at our door.  You see, your song is your victory, and you can only sing it when you have found peace.  No matter what happens to you, don’t ever lose your song.  In that beautiful hymnbook of the Old Testament, the book of Psalms, we are admonished and instructed to sing a song unto the Lord over 55 different times.  We are told to sing unto the Lord a new song (Psalm 96:1), to sing of His wondrous works (Psalm 105:2), to come before His presence with singing (Psalm 100:2), to sing of His mercy and judgment (Psalm 101:1).  On and on, verse after verse, the Psalms instruct us to sing.  Could it be that the psalmists understood that when we sing, somehow we defy the sadness and sorrows that seek to silence our voice and rob us of our joy?  Your song – your worship of God – that is your power.  And if you can push past the sorrow and sing your song, you will soon see peace welling up in your soul like springs of water overflowing the banks of the river. 

I truly believe that this is what the birds know.  This is why they sing, even when the wind is contrary and the storm clouds loom above.  They sing because, like Job, they know that their Redeemer lives (Job 19:25).  They sing because they know that weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).  So the next time you see a bird singing sweetly in the trees, don’t let him sing alone.  Wipe the tears from your eyes, and muster up the spiritual strength to sing your own song.  And when God hears your song, surely He will dispatch His angels to come to your aid and strengthen you with His peace.

PRAYER

Be our Peace-Giver, O God. Let not our hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.  You are our hiding place and in You we find our peace.  O Lord, be our refuge from the noise, and our shelter from the storm.  We look to You to calm our hearts from our fears, and grant us, Your children, peace.  In Jesus’ Strong Name we pray, Amen.

DAILY SPIRITUAL EXERCISE

Take a few minutes every day this week to listen to your favorite Worship song.  Perhaps when you are driving in your car, or just as you rise from bed to prepare for your day.  Press the pause button on your life for just a moment, and take time out to worship.  You will find that it is very difficult to worship and worry at the same time.  You have a song. Find it, and sing it with all of your might.

 


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Download Fasting Guide

Listen To Sacred Whispers Playlist

Day 31
Jan 31 12:51 AM

Day 31

Jan 31 12:51 AM
Jan 31 12:51 AM

THE WEIGHT OF THE WAIT

By Marlin and Monica Harris

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;and they shall walk, and not faint

Isaiah 40:31

We (Monica and Marlin) wanted to share a few thoughts with you as we come to the close of this fast. What a journey it has been sitting at the feet of Jesus each day and listening to the ‘sacred whispers’ of the Holy Spirit as He speaks His peace and hope to our hearts. We have all cried, laughed and learned together as we have been on this amazing journey of self-discovery. We are becoming our best selves. We are challenging the old habits of our past, and finding new paths to walk in. 

 

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Day 30
Jan 30 12:23 AM

Day 30

Jan 30 12:23 AM
Jan 30 12:23 AM

Streams in the Desert 365 Devotions, Pages 452-453

By L.B. Cowman, Editor

“…there we saw the giants.”

Numbers 13:33

Yes, the Israeli spies saw giants, but Joshua and Caleb saw God! Those who doubt still say today, “We can’t attack…; they are stronger than we are” (v. 31). Yet those who believe say, “We should go up and take possession... for we can well able to do it” (v. 30). 

These giants represent, for us, great difficulties, and they stalk us everywhere. They are in our families, our churches, our social life, and even our own hearts. We must overcome them or they will devour us, just as the ancient Israelites, fearing those in Canaan, said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size” (v. 32). We should exhibit faith as did Joshua and Caleb, who said, “Do not be afraid..., because we will devour them” (Numbers 14:9). In effect, they told the others, “We will be stronger by overcoming them than if there had been no giants to defeat.” 

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Day 29
Jan 29 12:21 AM

Day 29

Jan 29 12:21 AM
Jan 29 12:21 AM

YOUR BEAUTY IS NOT FOR SALE

By Marlin D. Harris

What do you see when you look in the mirror? What does the image that looks back at you say when you walk by a reflecting glass or even see yourself in a photograph? 

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Day 28
Jan 28 12:43 AM

Day 28

Jan 28 12:43 AM
Jan 28 12:43 AM

THE WIDOWMAKER

By Dr. Reggie Anderson

(Content taken from “The One Year Book of Healing: Daily Appointments with God”)

“No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! My body rests in hope. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.”

Acts 2:26-27

 As a primary care physician practicing rural medicine in a small town outside of Nashville, Tennessee, I have witnessed a lot of healing. Some of it has been through the work of medical professionals, whom God uses to carry out his good work, and some have happened supernaturally—the result of God’s direct intervention.

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