DEPEND ON HIS NAME

Psalm 20:7 "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God."

"Depending on the Names of God determines the stability and direction of your life." ~ Catherine Martin page 85 of her book Trusting In The Names of God

Catherine goes on to say that dependence on God's names requires yielding and surrendering our own control to God. We wrestle with an inner need for control, as Paul explains in Romans:

Romans 7:23 "In my inner being I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members."

Dependence on God means surrendering yourself, your loved ones, your circumstances, and your future to the only One who is trustworthy ~ God. This kind of unabashed surrender is not easy because trusting on a human level has taught us that people and things can disappoint us. But you can know that God is not like fallible human beings ~ He is good, perfect, loving, and faithful.

Lamentations 3:22-27 From The Message (MSG)

"God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left. God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God. It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times."

I was reading through the lesson today in our study book, TRUSTING IN THE NAMES OF GOD, and I realized our family has actually lived through this lesson BIG TIME with our daughter-in-law Molly. I want to take the time right now for her to post her testimony on how she has truly depended on EL ELYON these past few years.

In August of 2009 God blessed me with the opportunity to face a life threatening illness. Yup, you got it... I said blessed. Let me start with a little back ground information. This journey started with a not so routine colonoscopy. I was in some major pain from what I thought was normal hemorrhoid issues for a woman with 3 kids. I was only 30 and my youngest was 1. The surgeon I went to see insisted I have this procedure done before she went any further fixing them. On August 12th 2009 I went in to humor the doctor and came out a stage 4 rectal cancer patient. No I did not feel blessed that day. I only felt total fear. Mainly I feared what my husband, children, family, and friends would have to watch me go through. I knew they wouldn't leave my side (and they never have). I feared my husband having to work even harder than he already did just to pay the bills. I feared my children seeing me look like " a bald cancer ridden skeleton mom". I feared not being able to continue my church ministries. I feared having to sit still all the time. This list will go on and on if I let it. The rest of the day was kind of a blur, My blessed feeling came the next day when I had my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th procedure done. I met a lady in her 70's who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She had been fighting for 6 years and was now bound to a wheel chair. We talked for a while in the waiting room and by the time my name was called she began to sob. I turned and asked if she was in pain. Her reply was the beginning of casting out fear in my life. She was crying because of me. She was so sad that I was so young and a wife and a mother and she knew my prognosis was grim. That terrible wall of fear built out of bricks of lies hand made by the devil fell away from my mind. I knew darn well that God had never let me go in my whole life. He has fought for me when I wouldn't even acknowledge His name. He saved me when I didn't think I deserved to be saved. He loved me when I didn't love Him. His plans for my life are always for good and not evil and I knew I would trust Him always. I told her not to cry for me. God will only allow me to go through what I could handle. And if He chose to bring me home into His kingdom and accept me as the sinner I was, then I would go through it and speak His Name with honor and glory to all that would listen. I went through a lot that year and a half. 25 radiation treatments and 5 weeks of oral chemo followed by a hysterectomy, appendectomy, part of my colon removed, three fourths of my rectum removed, a tumor, blood vessels and lymph nodes removed and part of my intestine brought out through my stomach so that I could pass waste into a handy dandy bag while I healed.. Then came 10 rounds (20 weeks) of chemo infusion that lasted for 3 days each, and another surgery to put my insides that were outside, back inside! Yes I had some really hard days. Days that I really felt sorry for myself and all the people taking care of me. But at the end of the day God was always El Elyon! He brought me through all of it and allowed me to use His strength when I had none. He allowed me to share my story with those around me so that they to might understand His love for them. He's given me wonderful family and friends that worship Him too. Jesus died a cruel and painful death so that He could bless us with eternal life. I tried to remember that when I was hurting. It helped me realize,if you trust in His sovereignty in all that goes on in your life (bad or good, hard or easy) everything that happens can be a blessing in disguise. Now I'm blessed with being cancer free!

Dear God, As always I pray that You use this testimony you have allowed me to call my own and use it to touch the heart of someone who is facing fear of the unknown. Give them the peace that passed all understanding that only You can give them. Give them strength to get through it. Show them your will for their life and the wisdom to follow it. Thank you for the gift of eternal life. Amen

To call upon the name of God is to turn over every aspect of your life to Him; to yield all that is within you to Him, and to allow Him to truly be your EL ELYON. Are you ready to take that step? Are you ready to make God your Sovereign? Please meditate on the words in Psalm 116 as we close out our study today.

Psalm 116 Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death. 1 "I love the LORD, because He hears My voice and my supplications. 2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live. 3 The cords of death encompassed me And the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow. 4 Then I called upon the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I beseech You, save my life!” 5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. 6 The LORD preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. 7 Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For You have rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling. 9 I shall walk before the LORD In the land of the living. 10 I believed when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.” 11 I said in my alarm, “All men are liars.” 12 What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me? 13 I shall lift up the cup of salvation And call upon the name of the LORD. 14 I shall pay my vows to the LORD, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people. 15 Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones. 16 O LORD, surely I am Your servant, I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid, You have loosed my bonds. 17 To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of the LORD. 18 I shall pay my vows to the LORD, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people, 19 In the courts of the LORD’S house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD"