Category: Trouble

Let not your heart be troubled

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” John 14:1

Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled.” Is your heart troubled today? Are you being pressured, distracted, or distressed by circumstances that you have no control over? Some are on the brink of exploding because they have no way of intervening in a situation that has gotten out of control. Not only are adults feeling this, but children also are feeling the pain of distress. A teacher told my husband that during recess, they let the children scream in the school playground, for many are distressed at home. Children, like adults, have questions as to why things are the way they are. The importance of knowledge and understanding is the key to life. Understanding the word of God, the testimonies that are in the word. Understanding His voice in the word is to bring comfort to our hearts when we are pressured by the things that are happening around us.

Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live. Psalms 119:143-144

Has trouble and anguish taken hold of you? Look to the word and believe in God and Jesus. As a child, I memorized the Ten Commandments. After reciting the commandments in Sunday school, I was given a Bible. I was 9 years old. I slept with that Bible under my pillow. I knew it was a precious gift, but I did not understand it. I believe in God, but I did not know who Jesus was. I needed comfort and love. Have you ever felt out of place, like you do not belong in the place you are in at the moment? When I moved to Perth, Western Australia, I felt that I had come home. Although I didn’t have any relatives there, it was an act of charity. “Charity embraces all acts that contribute to human welfare,” as the Merriam-Webster dictionary stated. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “to love one another,” in John 13:34. The act of love is a sacrifice that many do not give of themselves because they have not witnessed it in their own life.

Yet, here in John chapter 14, Jesus states, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” I have been in many houses and have seen the different styles and layouts of homes. I wondered what kind of mansion Jesus was preparing for me. Could trouble change what I believe in and vice versa? Who do we go to for help? Do we not pray to God for help? Jesus goes out of his way to convey that He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father God but through Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is the act of love, the final sacrifice for all humanity. Jesus is the one who will receive us, just where we are, in any moment in time. Jesus has an intimate relationship with the Father.

“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” John 14:10

If you believe in God, can you believe in Jesus? Can you believe that the Father is in Jesus? If not, believe in the works, the miracles of healing, and the unexplained things that have happened in your life. That saving grace of God in protecting you before He comes to receive you. You must know him before your own death. Before you go to the place prepared for you. Our hearts are not to be troubled when Jesus has provided the way to truth and life. The Father is doing the work, states Jesus. Jesus exclaims, “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me,” [see John 14:11]. Relationship and obedience go hand in hand, for Jesus spoke the words of the Father in obedience. Believing in someone is a relationship. A relationship is being connected.

Jesus wanted his disciples to be connected with him and the Father. Therefore, he gave the promise of the Holy Spirit as a comforter. The Holy Spirit is the consoler, helper, and the Spirit of truth to the believer’s ignorance.

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” John 14:16

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, is to abide with us forever. Jesus prayed to the Father for this to happen. This was not only for the disciples in Christ, but for all believers in the body, the church of Christ. A relationship is a connection with God through Christ. This is the ministry of reconciliation, as Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 5:18, “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. This is the truth of Christ within the believer who believes in Christ as the Son of God. Our hearts need not be troubled when we have a relationship with God through Christ. When we are reconciled to God and are connected to him through the Holy Spirit. We can pray and ask anything in Jesus’ name and He will do it, so the Father may be glorified in the Son [see John 14:13].

In the Day of Trouble

“In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.”

Psalms 86:7

In the day when trouble comes knocking on our door, will we call upon the Lord? Any kind of trouble can happen to where you do not have any control over. What do you do about it? These days troubles seem to be all around us where we live. All kinds of troubles have even moved into our neighborhoods where we live. The Hebrew word for trouble is “akar” and it means to stir up or to disturbed. We may find ourselves disturbed by what we see around us. Sometimes we may find ourselves involuntary being disturbed by outside sources that have invaded our environment. I have experienced an outside source that invaded my environment in my home on Labor Day weekend. Four and a half hours’ worth of sonic kick drums and screaming from several bands that was hired to play during Labor Day festivities. This was on the school field bordering our property. Our house was rattled to the point where our dog became disturbed to having an anxiety attack. My ears were pulsating to the point of having a headache. Since I am a musician who produces music, I am aware of how decibel levels can damage one’s ears. I wondered how our neighbors faired during this time. The loud music can definitely stir up a negative response. Not everyone thinks about the health of others when planning a community event.

I share this experience because it is not often talked about how one event can affect those in a negative way rather than in a positive way. Those who suffer through such an experience may not have control over the cause of an event taking place. We have to take it to the Lord in prayer. What do you do when your peace is disturbed? One answer is to flee the scene. During times like this we may not realize what trouble we are in. We just react to the environment. Our environment may consist of lawlessness, shootings, and certain kinds of other disturbances. This is trouble that causes pain and suffering. Consider Job’s words, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward,” [see Job 5:7]. The sparks are the flames of discontent and bitterness. Anger and disappointments cause trouble and is often passed onto those whom we love. Those who are stirring it up are also in trouble of losing their peace and communion with God. The fall of Adam is the human condition we are exposed to on a daily basis. Therefore, we must take a time out and tend to the meaning of life itself. Praying, and remembering what the word of God says will help us to adjust our position as a child of God.

“The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.”

Proverbs 11:17

We must attend to our own soul and spirit by feeding upon the word of God. Those who are cruel are troubling their own body with pain. At the end of verse 23 in Proverbs chapter six, states that, “reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” We need the wisdom of God to understand how we may do good to our own soul. We also read in Proverbs 7, verse 10, the importance of receiving “instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.” Wisdom is better than riches. God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,” [see 1 Corinthians 1:30]. We must know where our help comes from, and it comes from the Lord. I was stunned at the following verse in Proverbs chapter 25.

“A righteous man falling down before the wicked is like a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.”

Proverbs 25:26

Falling down before the wicked in disgrace is not what the Lord wants. What is lacking is the Holy Spirit conviction. A troubled fountain is where the living water cannot spring forth freely. Something has blocked the flow of the spirit of God. Get back to God and plead your case. Just listen to David’s confession. Falling down before the wicked also ruins our testimony that we have in Christ. The Lord knows every feeling we have and the pain of our physical and mental weaknesses. We must come “boldly unto the throne of grace, where we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in our time of need,” [see Hebrew 4:16]. Come to the Lord in your time of need. Cry out like David and confess.

“Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.”

Psalms 31:9-10

Confession to the Lord is the cleansing of the heart and soul of unwanted bitterness, anger, disappointment, pain, and suffering. If you are at your wits’ end, then cry out to the Lord God like David. Like David, some of us have had years of sadness and tiredness where our strength has failed.

 “I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses. Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.”

Psalms 25: 16-18

Take your troubles to the Lord. The Lord will bring you out of all your suffering from anxiety, sorrow, and pain. Proverbs chapter 11, verse 8 states that the righteous is delivered out of trouble. We must confess our sins and forgive ourselves as well as those around us. When we are in trouble remember that when you “cry unto the LORD in the day of trouble, he will bring you out of your distresses, [see Psalms 107:28]. God sent his word, and delivered them from their destructions, [see Psalms 107:20]. In the name of Jesus, He will deliver you out of your own destructions and the destructions of others in the day of trouble.