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Devotional-Self Help vs. God's Help Praying · The Father's Business Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this devotional.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Have you ever gone through an unsettled or stressful time in your life where it feels like so many things are happening all at once and you find yourself tossing and turning at night rehearsing all the details, trying to resolve the problems in your head that can't be solved at two o'clock in the morning, but that's when they seem to appear the most.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I know I have.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: There's been times when there's major decisions that have been affecting my life, my ministry and my family and it feels like it was all up to me to handle it and there was no one else that could help.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: During one of those times a timely reminder came for Matthew 16, 24-25.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: In the message it says Jesus told his disciples Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: You are not in the driver's seat, I am.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Self-help is no help at all.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: When that happened, I found a piece of paper and I drew a line down the middle of the page.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I labeled the left-hand column self-help and the right-hand column God-help.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: It would have been silly for me to write anything I was worrying about.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: On my side of the page, I knew I couldn't do it in my own strength and wisdom.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: On God's side of the page, I listed everything that I was facing lots of big things far beyond my ability to handle, and also down to the littlest things that seemed almost too silly to write down on the page, but all of them felt like they were demanding my attention.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Now, during this time, I read Psalm 9.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: It is a great scriptural framework to remind me about my part and God's part.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: God never intends for his children to handle his part, and ours too.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: God is sure to engineer for us valuable lessons and opportunities to teach us to trust him and to let go, and let him be the one to lead us through.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: So, as we read through Psalm 9, listen and hear what is our part versus what is God's part.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: It starts with verses 1 and 2, which is our part.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: I will praise you, o Lord, with all my heart.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: I will tell of all your wonders.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I will be glad and rejoice in you.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I will sing praise to your name, o Most High.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Then comes God's part in verses 3 through 9.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: God, you make my enemies turn back, for you have upheld my right and my cause.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: You have sat on your throne judging righteously.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked Justice.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Ruin has overtaken the enemy.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: You have uprooted their cities and even the memory of them has perished.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: You reign as Lord forever.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: You have established your throne for judgment.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: You will judge the world in righteousness.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: You will govern the peoples with justice.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: You, lord, are a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: In verse 10 we see something that is our part and something that is God's part.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Our part comes first I know your name and I will trust in you and then God's part.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: He will never forsake those who seek Him.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Verse 11 is our part.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I will sing praises to the Lord and throne to Zion.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I will reclaim among the nations what he has done.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Verse 12 is God's part.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: He does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Verse 13 is our part.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: O Lord, see how my enemies persecute me.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: And then verses 16 through 19 are God's part.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: The Lord is known by His justice.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: The wicked are ensnared by the works of their hands.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: That the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Arise, o Lord.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Let not man triumph.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Let the nations be judged in your presence.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: And then the final bit of the chapter ends with our part.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: That I may declare your praise in the gates and their rejoice in your salvation.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: That act of laying it all out before God showed me dramatically that I could carry the burdens for each item, or God would, but I had to choose to let Him as I did.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: God did so many things so quickly in such a short amount of time that I wrote praise the Lord across all the items of the transaction.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Most importantly, I never fretted another minute about it because God was carrying all of my cares.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: In the Amplified Bible, proverbs 16.3 says Roll your works upon the Lord and entrust them wholly to Him.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and so shall your plans be established and succeeded.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: So I had to continually ask myself who can do the most, you or the God of heaven and earth?
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: It's not always easy to trust.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: It's not always easy to let go and let God.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: But he has promised us in His Word that as we lift our eyes to Him and worship Him, that he will be there for us.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: So make your own list.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Roll everything over onto the shoulders of the God of heaven and earth.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Experience the relief from the burden of carrying responsibilities that you are not meant to bear.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Spend your time, rather than worrying about the issues, declaring His praise and rejoicing in who he is A beloved Father who cares deeply for you as His child.