The LORD presented these words to me a while ago. I have held onto them and have noticed the truth in it over and over again.
In little or in much, it is the same.
His love, His grace, His tenderness, His mercy, His peace, His hope, His strength, His security, His goodness, His wisdom and His joy comes through whatever state I am in. It is in nearness of His presence and His Word and it does not wane. All I need to do is think of Him. He remains the same for me in whatever condition I am in.
In little or in much, it is the same.
His love, His grace, His tenderness, His mercy, His peace, His hope, His strength, His security, His goodness, His wisdom and His joy comes through whatever state I am in. It is in nearness of His presence and His Word and it does not wane. All I need to do is think of Him. He remains the same for me in whatever condition I am in.
In little or in much, He is the same.
The power in His Word reaches me just as deep.
Having spent seven weeks teaching a Bible study in a location where people have great wealth and ministering to those privileged enough that they could speak of their travels, building projects and their latest lesson from a book or DVD they viewed; their hearts longed for more of the LORD and Him in their life. They came as humbled students to hear more of His Word and to know Him more and to recognize the love He has for them. They also came with prayer concerns and heartaches for family and children.
As I taught and read from the Bible they were sometimes moved to tears, sometimes filled with joy with exclamations of praise, sometimes strengthened and hopeful and sometimes humbled by a comprehension of how much God loves them. Prayers were lifted and they needed Him. He was there for them in exactly what they needed through His Word and connecting with them in their prayers.
They left filled.
Last week I was invited to teach at Marie Sandvik Center. They feed the local poor and offer Bible teaching. I was told that they are allowed a meal after they listen to a Bible message. I pained in my heart as I thought of them waiting in hunger as I taught and I was having a hard time bearing the thought of me being in between them and their food. The LORD pressed upon me that their need for Him was just as hungry. Even as I type, I have tears in my eyes.
That morning I had planned to spend several hours preparing for them. I wanted to give them my best. The time was stolen from me in one work related problem after another. I was to leave in just seven minutes and my mom called me. I started crying. I felt empty, like I didn’t have anything good to give to them. I hadn’t had the time to pray and draw fully on God as I always had prior to teaching before. The time I wanted to be my best, I was at my least. As my mom prayed over the top of my sobs, I began to feel a bit more peace. I had to leave. I knew it was going to be up to God and if anything good came out of my teaching it was going to be all Him. I was nothing.
I arrived at the same time that several other women arrived there from my church. They had made sandwiches and cakes and were there to serve the hungry after I taught. I saw all that they made and the heart from which they made it. Then, they offered to gather around me and pray. My head was swimming with thoughts still of inadequacy, but I knew these saints, along with my mom and a dear friend, were putting me before the LORD and asking for all He had to use me for His good.
I began to teach. At first there was talking among each other and then they got quiet. They were listening. I spoke of Jesus and His love for them and His presence in their lives. I read His Words. I told some stories. Just like the women in the summer; sometimes they cried. Sometimes they were filled with joy and exclaimed in praise. Sometimes these hugged one another. At the end of the message I told them I was going to pray and then give them a blessing. I suggested that I’ve known people that like to hold their hands out as in receiving when a blessing is said. The room that held over 100 people was now fully packed with people who eagerly held out their hands to receive the LORD’s blessing.
Just as He said, they were also hungry for Him.
These lovely experiences of little and much and God being the same are imprinted upon my heart. Even His lesson of Him being fully upon me as He calls me to serve when I feel I had much or little in way of teaching was that He was the same. His Word does not return void and His Spirit of love reaches all that we need.
We all hunger for Him and in Him we are filled.
Matthew 5:6 NIV Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Psalm 107:9 ESV For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things
Isaiah 55:11 NASB So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
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