Living Word Live! Hold Fast

He says god is present in it. Amen. That's a different promise, and in some ways, in many ways, a greater promise. Why is that? Well, because notice what follows. Therefore, we will not fear. word therefore is doing all the heavy lifting. It's a logical conclusion. Because God is our refuge and our strength, because he is an ever present help, therefore, fear doesn't have the last say in our lives. [00:40:31] (38 seconds)  #FearHasNoFinalSay

The in between is not a waiting room. The in between is a classroom. And God is never more present than in the spaces where we find ourselves most uncertain, unsure. Psalm 46, if you turn in your Bibles, if you have them, and I hope you do, was written in one of those spaces. Now there's a lot of debate about the circumstances. Some say it was a military invasion. Others say it was a natural catastrophe or a disaster. [00:37:20] (43 seconds)  #InBetweenIsClassroom

And and struggle is honest, I think. Struggle is human. Struggle is is healthy even. It makes us stronger, but it will not fall because the one who dwells within it has made a promise. What is that promise? The promise is that the Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob, the God who met a runaway in the wilderness, the God who blessed a man with a limp, the God who kept covenant with people who kept breaking the covenant. That God is our fortress. [00:47:07] (39 seconds)  #GodOurFortress

That says God is not a distant God who, you know, checks in occasionally. He's not a God for us here at Living Word Church that that six years ago was present and and helped us plant this thing, and, you know, now he's drifted on to other projects. He's an ever present right here, right now, in this uncertain, in between, unresolved moment. And I think it's important as well that the psalmist doesn't say that god will remove the trouble. [00:39:43] (48 seconds)  #GodIsHereNow

Maybe you've been there. It's just that that deep bone level fatigue that comes from from holding on through a a long and uncertain season, the in between. Maybe it's a health issue or something else. And he doesn't promise that the waiting will end immediately. He promises that those who hope in the lord will renew their strength in the waiting while they're waiting. The very act of hoping, of turning to God in the in between rather than away from him, that becomes the source of our renewal. [00:51:46] (39 seconds)  #HopeRenewsInWaiting

Be still, it says in the original Hebrew. I love that word because it almost implies stop striving. To release the grip, what we talked about a couple weeks ago, to let go of those things in a frantic effort to resolve what only God can resolve. It's the posture I like the driving analogies. It's the posture of the person who's white knuckling it and finally getting to the point where they release the steering wheel and say, okay, you drive. [00:49:00] (37 seconds)  #ReleaseAndBeStill

It simply flows, and it brings life wherever it goes. Beloved, the Holy Spirit is that river. Because in your most chaotic season, he doesn't match the volume of the chaos in your life. He flows quietly underneath it. He brings life, unspeakable joy, sustaining joy, making glad the people who stay close to his banks. It also says that that god is within her. She will not fall. It doesn't say that she won't struggle. [00:45:35] (44 seconds)  #HolySpiritRiver

In between times, through all those things, in between times gave us proof that God had proven himself in those in between times. And that's important. It's important to see. It's important to know. God is with us. And then look at verses four through seven. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the most high dwells. God is with her. She will not fall. [00:43:58] (35 seconds)  #RiverMakesGlad