December 20, 2019

December 20
Running with Jesus

Acts 27:29  Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day.

     Oddly it seems to me most storms occur at night, making it hard to sleep. I have learned the minute I turn my light off is when the storms from Satan hit my mind. When the kids were teens he would paint pictures in my mind to cause me to worry. I would see them in a car wreck, drinking, and doing all sorts of things to bring them harm. The old serpent will show his fangs at night and shoot poison into your mind. He wants to rob us of our joy, make us weak by robbing our sleep and cause us to fear.  We have to learn to keep our mind upon Christ because He will keep it in perfect peace. We can function when we have peace. Memorizing scripture and meditation upon it will help us overcome. Singing praise to Him is another way.
      I also learned to not talk to anyone late at night and discuss your storm. The more we talk about it the more magnified it will become.
                 

Father, I pray for the one who is dealing with their storm and ask You to bind Satan from their thought life. Give them the peace that passes understanding and help them develop new sleep patterns by meditation! Thank You for being our mind stabilizer and keeping us in perfect peace! Help them remember daylight will come  soon and that weeping may go on all night but joy comes in the morning.

Tomorrow: Security!

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015

December 19, 2019

December 19
Running with Jesus

Acts 27:20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away

     Hopelessness, feeling despair, inadequate, or incompetent, we all have been in this place at sometime. Most of life is out of our control and throws us into this state. This can lead us into depression if we allow it to master us.
      Paul wrote a lot of scriptures to help us overcome our hopelessness. He has told us to: "Set our affection on things above and not upon things if this earth." Col. 3:2 and "God has not given us a spirit of fear!" 1 Tim. 1:7 fear will lead us down the path of hopelessness.
      Having hope and knowing death is not final because of the resurrection of Christ is what sets our Christian faith apart from all others, so even in death we have hope.  So if you feel hopeless today remember with God all things are possible. This means even if my circumstance doesn't change we will be okay.
                 

Thank You for renewed hope today!  Thank You Father, for always being here for us.  Help us as we choose to focus on You and not things this world brings to us.

 Be gone hopelessness my Savior is near,
 He always listens and my voice He hears,
 He restores my soul,
 He alone makes me whole.
 I can walk in love and light,
 My soul you can rest in peace tonight.

 Wishing for daylight, tomorrow!

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015

December 18, 2019

December 18
Running with Jesus

Acts 27:18 And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship

     Storms can work for good!  These men labored all night trying to save the ship. They wrapped ropes around it then began to toss things overboard.
     When we are in a storm we seek God more and begin to do a self analysis. Confession begins and many will return to church if they have strayed away from God. Storms can be a wakeup call! Come to Jesus talk!
     Sometimes the storm can be because of sin we need to confess or it could be because of another's choice. If it is our sin we need to cast it overboard and out of our lives and seek to return to our Heavenly Father. God can use this storm to cleanse and purify our lives. Our Faith can grow and after the storms we are stronger.
               

 Father, we confess any sin separating us from You. We are casting it off and we are beginning a fresh run with You. We do not want to lose our ship! Help our faith not waver but let it increase.

Hopelessness will show up, in the morning!

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015

December 17, 2019

December 17

Running with Jesus

Acts 27:15-16 And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat:

     The storm came so they had to let the boat ride with the storm.   There is a song called "Ride Out Your Storm". It says at first you have been in this storm it seems like forever then it tells us to hold on to Jesus. 

     These men were in this storm and I am sure it felt like forever! That is the way we feel when a life storm comes. I am sure they felt they wouldn't survive. So what did they do? They gave way to it and were driven along. As a Christian we cannot stop our storms so that is when we have to have FAITH in God! Forsaking all I trust Him! We must continue on our journey and ride out the storm. We live day by day and sometimes moment by moment and sometimes praying for grace for the next second. I am reminded of Peter walking on the water. As long as he had his eyes upon Jesus, he walked on the water. The minute however, he took his eyes off the master he sank. Jesus was there and took him by the hand and walked him to the boat. So today if you are in a storm, ride it out and hold on to Jesus. We don't know where we are headed but He will not forsake us. 

Father, we are so thankful You can see the other side of the storms in our life! Today, we will walk by faith and not by sight or feelings. We cannot trust them but we can trust You! For that we are so grateful!

Tomorrow: Storms can work for our Good!

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015

December 16, 2019

December 16

Running with Jesus

Acts 27:13-15  And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.  But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.  And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.

      Yesterday Paul had told the captain it would be rough sailing so what did they do? Pulled up the anchors and headed out and sure enough the winds began to blow and their ship was no longer under their control.

     This is exactly what happens when we pull up the Biblical anchors for our souls. This is what happens the moment we begin to believe the lies of Satan over the Word of God. He will entice us to pull up our anchors one at a time. When we begin to go against the first principle, Satan says, "Surely this will not hurt!"' or He slyly gets you to believe his words are your thoughts. Look at America, she was like Titanic, big and strong. One day the enemy hit people to believe that one curse word in a movie would be okay! Wrong!  that one tolerant act opened the door for filth to move in. What men use to slip around to peak in magazines is now on public display in malls with the title "secrets"'. We don't have to leave home to see these things, turn on the one eyed monster! 

     This all started when we pulled up the anchors one by one, trapped in the wind. If we plan on surviving we better return to the anchor, God's Word! 

It's us it's us O’ Lord, standing in the need of prayer! Father help us to know how to help our Nation return to You! Help them to listen to truth. Let Your Word be read in public place and help people to see when they stop using their anchors their lives will be tossed around in life's sea. 

      Please throw down your anchors and stop pulling them in! 

Tomorrow: The storm won’t go away!

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015