Help for Students

Seek God’s Strength!


ICEA – “Church at Study”

My soul waits in silence for God only;
From Him is my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.
– Psalm 62:1-2

David was the writer of Psalm 62 above. He was also a great warrior who had strength and ability to lead the nation of Israel. Israel’s army rallied behind him and, together, they won many victories against their enemies. By all accounts the nation trusted him as a victorious and strong leader. Where did David’s strength come from? Reading from (no doubt) David’s writings, it’s safe to say that he SOUGHT God for his continual strength:

Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore.
– Psalm 105:4

He wrote from pages in history to tell us what had been his success in leading God’s great nation. It had little to do with his ability to amass chariots or to strategize on a human level, but his directive came from his abiity to SEEK GOD and get His STRENGTH.

From Psalm 62:2, he writes:

“I won’t be greatly moved.”

Using David’s example, we’re talking about getting to a place where we come to trust God’s strength and allow His strength to be infused and channeled through what strength we possess.

As a result of David being victoriously engaged with his opposers (Psalm 62:1-2), it makes sense why he wrote verse 3:

How long will ye imagine mischief against a man?
ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall
shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

As great and confident as David was, he knew his limitations and taught Israel the reason for his successes (vs. 8):

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your
heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

The strength that David possessed came from his two-pronged approach to everything that he did. He had the ability to “trust” and “pour out his heart” to God. David also used the word “refuge” in the verse above. Similar biblical words used in scriptures are: high tower, fortress, defense, and stronghold. These words are used as places of security from an enemy. David had built such a relationship with God that he knew SEEKING HIM was next to being strong and “fortress-like.” Only through continually seeking God can we acquire strength and see our foe’s defense as being like bowing walls or weak fences. Throughout this Psalm he speaks similar words (vs. 5-7) because he’s sure God will meet his expectations with STRENGTH and he is even more resolved in his stance not to be overthrown.

As a teacher to Israel, he taught that human strength and resources are frail and don’t last (vs. 9-10):

Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men
of high degree  are a lie: to be laid in the balance,
they are altogether lighter than vanity.
Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery:
if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

David, the strong but limited warrior, had heard from God (vs. 11) and early in his life he had come to understand that God was the source of his strength:

God hath spoken once; twice have I heard
this; that power belongeth unto God.

Many of us are not warriors in the sense that David was. We are average people with families and lives to lead. Yet, we have been called to engage in everyday battles with real problems that can amount to devastating consequences if we are not strengthened by the things of Christ. It would be our wisdom if we would take frequent times to SEEK THE LORD and HIS STRENGTH, and to SEEK HIS FACE evermore!

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Happy “Renew” Year!


ICEA – “Church at Study”

Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way
of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.
Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.
(Eph. 4:22-23, NLT)

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Can you count the number of times you have been wished a happy new year during the beginning of this year? Have you ever really thought about what a happy new year looks like? For many it would be 365 days filled with things that would fulfill every appetite.  If we were somehow granted many of the things we thought would make us happy, it would…no doubt…be to our detriment.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
(Prov. 14:12)

God has shown us that every 365 days has with it challenges. For many of us adults, each year is not too different from years gone by. There are struggles – things we wish we could change, but, we eventually come to realize that everything will not change just because we make certain yearly resolutions.

As it is written, the just shall live by faith.
(Rom. 1:17)

If we are honest, there are things we have “commanded” (through sheer determination, year after year) to “be” or “not to be,” only to find those things either evading us or stubbornly persisting in our lives. Frustration often follows on the heels of Sheer determination. A frustrated new year does not look like a happy new year. The two are different. Many of us remember…our days prior to salvation were days we spent in pursuit of pleasures, that eventually led to lives of frustration.

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice
and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
(Titus 3:3)

Anyone who seeks to please the flesh, saved or unsaved, will face the same conclusion – that happiness is not found in expectation of fleshly grasping something newly pursued after. (How does your new year look so far?)

The harvest is past, the summer is
ended, and we are not saved.
(Jer. 8:20)

On the other hand, happy new years are happy “renewed” years. Most who are truly happy are those who have renewed and continual relationships with God. They don’t necessarily look forward to a certain day or expectation of a coming year to find their satisfaction. They live their lives in the present (Matt 6:25, 34). (Notwithstanding…they are people of faith!) These are the people who have true faith in the precious promises of God. They have claimed those promises that they might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (II Peter 1:4). They  don’t “nullify” the grace of God by greedily “commanding” premature blessings…not yet intended for them! (James 4:3.)

He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
(Prov. 15:15)

“God…please grant us happy days – with things that
truly matter most – family, friends, and relationships!”

According to scripture, being truly happy has little to do with how much a person has or possesses.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of
covetousness for a man’s life consisteth not in the
abundance of the things which he possesseth.
(Luke 12:15)

Let’s not look back on the years and see wasted times and opportunities — along with lives of regret. Let’s allow God’s Spirit to renew our thoughts, attitudes and relationships. With God’s help, we can truly make this year a happy “RE-NEW” year!

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Playing An Active Role in Listening


 

ICEA – “Church at Study”

STUDENTS…YOU PLAY A GREAT ROLE in the development of the body of Christ. Every Sunday, you have the ability to develop the art of listening! What a wonderful opportunity! As you listen and watch your instructor, you can hear things that are not stated verbally. You can also see things that, if you look carefully, can only be brought in focus by the Spirit of God.

In Mark 4:23-25, Christ promises a blessing to every individual who will hone their listening skills. He stated, 23 “Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand! 24 And be sure to pay attention to what you hear. The more you do this, the more you will understand—and even more, besides. 25 To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But to those who are not listening, even what they have will be taken away from them.” This is such a powerful truth that cannot be explained with much detail here, but you should know that just simple listening can bring us to a level of maturity that we cannot attain otherwise. With what intensity we listen and focus (or measure we mete), that intensity will return to us in very real and rich blessings!

Listen more and be blessed! (James 1:19)

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The Importance of Attending Church Services. Are You the One Who Neglects or the One Who Encourages?


HEBREWS 10:25 TRANSLATIONS

Let us not neglect our church
meetings as some people do,
but encourage and warn each other…

Do not stay away from the meetings
of our community as some do,
but encourage each other to go…

And let us not hold aloof from our
church meetings, as some do. Let us
do all we can to help one another’s faith…

Let us not give up the habit of meeting
together, as some are doing, instead
let us encourage each other…

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