Need Encouragement and Where Is God?

Knowledge and understanding and the love of God is neither male nor female. As God says He is the great "I Am", that 'I Am" says it all. It is the entire Creation of the world, the life, the breath, the hope, the spirit of every man, woman, child, animal, water of life, the sea, the sky, the air all brought into existence, sustained because He says EXIST by the Words of His Mouth of everything living and dead. When the life force of the physical and spiritual body is in trouble it will cry out for the force buried deep within all things. It will desire to hear from it's Creator God. Exodus 3:14 "I Am." 

I will begin by saying that in my life there have been more times than I can count that the only one to lay hands and pray for me in my infirmities and in my spirit is my own. As far as the physical flesh of love and caring I know emptiness and void. I know you have been in the same places. Is there one in the Bible that did not suffer hurt, pain and despair at some point in their life? 

 Many times during the night and early morning hours I have woke in a sweat, tears falling, physically sick, spiritually in a dry land craving the simple touch of kindness or encouragement that comes when you need even a small uplifting, a tender touch to give you reason to get up and face another day of the fight. I'm sure some of you are thinking a Christian should never walk around like that. We should all be clapping our hands and stomping our feet and have all kinds of faith in the Lord never feel discouraged. People will tell you we conquered all that. Read your Bible! Are we any better than all those who have gone before us? Those that wrote the Blessed Book, The Bible, all had heartache and trials. Jesus said we would.

If you have never experienced being sick at heart to the point of it effecting you spiritually and physically than you don't know the valleys and have no need to be lifted up through and by the Holy Spirit. Do you know what it is to cry out to God because there is no other that can help you but Him? Do you know how it is be so engulfed spiritually that you become physically ill? Jesus did! He was surrounding by people yet in the garden as He prayed He sweat drops of blood. The agony of His Spirit was so wrenched. He leaves His prayer closet to find the very people He surrounded Himself with asleep and looked at the them and asked, "Couldn't you endure with me just one hour?" and told them to go back to sleep. Has your heart ever wrenched so hard you thought you'd die and no one there to give you comfort. Job walked that path alone. Every negative thing on earth was being thrown at him. He sat in ashes with agonizing boils, lost everything and no one to encourage him but His time with God. Have you ever been stripped to the bone by the world and people? Have you ever experienced your own true Judas? Has your body ever failed you even when you think you have it all under control? Have you ever been blind sided, hit hard by heartache in your life, that you come to a point where you are so physically ill you feel you just could lay down and give up? Have you ever felt as though you have done all that you can do and it just doesn't matter? You know in your heart the Lord does not want you to give up and you know He is there but your spirit is so deep in the dry place life in you is barely an ember of fire in you.

Now the world would encourage you to run to a psychologist or your doctor and get on some medication to help you because you are just depressed. No, that isn't it. Some well meaning Christians will tell you your having all these problems because of your lack of faith or you have some sin in your life. No, that isn't it. Does remind me of Job's wife and friends. We all have sin and yes, the wages of sin is death but this isn't it either! Others will assist you by just talking behind your back if they knew how you felt and what you are going through and you hear "I'll pray for ya" and off they go. You keep quiet and endure this agony in your spirit quietly. The most frightening thing to me in times like this is to wonder off to people for their opinion. Good people, well meaning people most of the time, without knowing or realizing,  don't think before they speak. They don't know everything within you and can say things that can drive the heart to mere scar tissue. On the other hand you do talk and get some relief of encouragement from good Christian brothers and sisters and it lasts for awhile but you find again you are still going through these valleys and you are alone. You don't want to just keep talking to people because they consider you a whining Christian that doesn't depend on God enough. You let the world dictate all your emotions and feelings. You are one of those Christians that has to go on feelings all the time. We are NOT to go on feelings but faith. But your faith isn't holding. No, that isn't it either. The last bit of embers of life in you has just been snuffed out by what you endured by the world and people and your own thoughts.  But there is good news.

God breaths life!!! What satan or the world has done our God can undo. So if it isn't all the things I have said then what it is. When you are at your weakest, the Bible says, He is at His strongest. You may be going through a sifting of your calling. Just as you sift flour for the finest flour in the bowl, or rocks where the diamonds lay in the sifter we too go through a sifting to purify and get rid of self!! Sifting takes on many forms. When you are down to nothing is when the Lord works with you the mightiest to bring up and out the best in you for Him. You may be the only person in your world that can lay your own hand on your head and pray because Jesus is going to be right there with you interceding in prayer. He tells us that when we don't know what to pray, He does! He will lift you up just as quick as the world has let you down.

I woke up not knowing if I was going to live or die. I sat in my chair where I go as my prayer closet. As I sat not knowing what was happening to me I heard the words to the hymn, "He Touched Me, Oh, He touched me, And oh the joy that floods my soul. Something happened and now I know, He touched me and made me whole." No matter what you are going through physically, spiritually or both our Lord is preparing you. We don't see as far down the road as our God does so we must have faith and He will give you the strength and the faith to endure. It is not always easy coming out but you will knowing His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. You may feel alone but you aren't. You may not feel Him as many teachers and Pastors today are falsely teaching. But your spirit will hear Him. Whose voice are you listening to?