Friday, January 10, 2020

Fight for Your Family Under Pressure


Fight for Your Family
Under Pressure


Yellowstone National Park is full of beauty and wonder 
The landscape, the wildlife in 2018 attracted 4.115 million people
I wish I was one of them to see this magnificent place
For all that Yellowstone is known for, one thing stands out
Old Faithful
About every 90 minutes it erupts for 1.6 to 5.1 minutes
As the pressure below the surface builds
Long before it was named in 1870
These pressures have been building to make an eruption
The park is full of geysers with a lot less predictability
In 2018, there were 127.59 million households in the United States
Families all with beautiful people God made in His image
Just like Yellowstone National Park these families
Have pressures like the geysers in the park
How will you handle the pressures?
The Family Geysers?



Under Pressure

Yellowstone National Park is full of beauty and wonder.
  
The landscape, the wildlife in 2018
attracted 4.115 million people.

I wish I was one of them to
see this magnificent place.

For all that Yellowstone is
known for one thing stands out…

Old Faithful

At about every 90 minutes it erupts for 1.6 to 5.1
minutes as the pressure below the surface builds.

Long before it was named in 1870 these
pressures have been building to make an eruption.

The park is full of geysers with a lot less predictability.

In 2018, there were 127.59 million
households in the United States.

Families all with beautiful
people God made in His image.

They are amazing to watch in the busy
cities or the wilderness of Alaska.

What 4.115 million people see a year at
Yellowstone National Park, 127.59
million households in the U.S. experience. 

Even the most beautiful family
has to deal with pressures.

Financial pressure to make
the mortgage and pay the bills.

Sickness and injuries.

Family crimes and wrong doing.

For some, these pressures take a long time to
build before they burst through the surface.

For others the pressures erupts
regularly like Old Faithful.

Yellowstone is magnificent in wonder and
beauty, but the family holds a greater glory.

Family pressure is a reality…

 So how do we deal with it?

How do we fight for our family’s homes, health,
and righteousness when the pressures build?

Nehemiah said as the pressures were building
due to threats and lack of security…

So we continued the work with half the men holding spears,
from the first light of dawn till the stars came out.
At that time I also said to the people,
"Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night,
so they can serve us as guards by night and workmen by day."
 Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor
the guards with me took off our clothes;
each had his weapon, even when he went for water.
Nehemiah 4:21-23

Day and night they stood guard.

They slept in their clothes and
never let go of their weapon.

These are times that will wear you down.

Psalms 127 is a big help in times of pressure…

Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat —
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Psalm 127:1-2

I have lost a lot of sleep
worrying about my family…

Only to find out that over time the Lord
was working and the needs were meet.

As much as I know this verse is true,
 I still have times I cannot sleep.

I have learned to pray when I can’t sleep.

To take my worries to Him.

In doing this, I found 1 Peter 5 to be true…

Cast all your anxiety on Him
because He cares for you.

Be self-controlled and alert.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like
a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith,
because you know that your brothers throughout
the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

And the God of all grace,
 who called you to his eternal glory in Christ,
after you have suffered a little while,
will himself restore you and make you strong,
firm and steadfast.
To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 5:7-11

Some have said the Devil is a roaring
lion with no teeth, I disagree.

I have felt his bite and seen
the wounds on my loved ones.

But resisting the fear and
doubt that comes with his roar…

Standing in faith in the midst of pressure and
suffering has always got our family through.

When the pressures come, and how
frequent is hard to tell, but they will come.

But our promise from the “God of all Grace”…

The God who calls us to an “Eternal Glory”…

Will after a time of suffering,
 will personally restore us and make
us strong, firm and steadfast.

 When family pressure builds…

It makes us strong.

Sarah almost dying in childbirth.

 Marty almost died at birth.

 Sandy with cancer, and brain tumor.

 My near death experiences three times.

Financial struggles where we thought
we would lose our home more than once.

 Personal arguments and
drama with each other.

All have made us stronger.

The bad times became times that
bounded us in incredible ways.

When the pressure is building remember this…

And we know that in all things God works
for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28


Scripture Reading

Nehemiah 4:12-18 NIV

12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, "Wherever you turn, they will attack us."

13 Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. 14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

15 When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work.

16 From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.

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