In what ways do you need help? How present to you is the help you need?

We all need help in difficulties and in hard times. We need the safety and security of peaceful refuge, strong protection, and provision when trouble comes.

The Psalmist writes, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1, ESV).

God is our shelter and our helping hand. God provides the help we need in our trouble. God is very present with us in our difficulties.

How are you holding up? How do you hold up, hang tight, and endure hardships in your life? What do you do to endure trials?

Hard times are inevitable in a fallen world. We all face trials and hardships in life at some point and time.

As God’s beloved children, we are called by God to stand firm in hardships and when we are experiencing trials. God blesses those who love him and who endure to the end with his crown of life.

James, the half brother of Jesus, said it this way when he wrote, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12, ESV).

What will you say to God when you are confident he is your trustable refuge and strength?

What we say to God indicates our level of trust, safety, and security in him.

The Psalmist writes, “I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’” (Psalm 91:2, ESV).

Confident in God’s strength and safety, the Psalmist places their complete trust in him.

How near is God to you? Did you know that the more broken you are the closer God is to you? How crushed is your spirit? Did you know God saves the crushed in spirit?

The Psalmist writes of God’s closeness to those who are broken, saying, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18, ESV).

When we are downtrodden and broken, God is near. When we are disheartened, discouraged, and crushed in spirit, God is mighty to save.

What does it look like for God to search your heart? What does God discover in searching your heart?

Repentance requires an honest assessment of where we are with God. Only God can reveal the true condition of our heart by searching deep within us and honestly revealing our condition to us so that we may have his light and turn to God in our darkness.

The Psalmist writes, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, ESV).

When we ask God to search our hearts, he will tenderly reveal what we need to know so that we can come to God and be led by God into his perfect and everlasting way.

What do you set out to accomplish when you pray? Why should you pray? What does it look like to pray like Jesus?

Prayer is a priority for Jesus. Many times in the scriptures we see Jesus praying to spend time with his father.

The gospel of Luke tells us, “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.’” (John 11:1-2, ESV).

Have you ever left some things behind to pursue something better? Do you have priorities that are different from God’s priorities for your life?

We have hopes and goals and go about our day pursuing our lives, and when we encounter Jesus along the way, our priorities change. Our priorities become the priority of Jesus.

The gospel of John tells us that when Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well, “The woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?'” (John 4:28-29, ESV).

Does God hear and respond to our prayers? Will God give good gifts to his children when they make requests of him?

Prayer is coming to God with who we are and with what we need in a dependent and loving relationship with our Heavenly Father.

When we seek God, we find God. When we ask of God, he hears our request and responds in love to our need. God answers our prayers.

In Luke’s gospel account, Jesus encouraged his followers of God’s faithfulness in answering prayer when he said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13, ESV).

What does it look like to love well? What does it look like to express love in our actions? What does it look like to love well with our words?

Love is more than lip service. We are called to love in our actions. We are called to love in God’s truth. We are to love in deed and truth.

The Apostle John said this about loving well in deed and truth when he wrote, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18, ESV).

What does a Godly woman look like? What can we expect to see from the woman who is lovingly dedicated to God?

A Godly woman sets herself apart as one who gives and serves sacrificially.

The wise author of the wisdom book of Proverbs writes this of the Godly woman in Proverbs 31, saying, “She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.” (Proverbs 31:20, ESV).

Just as God gives and serves us, the Godly Proverbs 31 woman lives with an open heart and open hands as she reaches out to those in need of God’s love and provision.

What sustains you? What enables you to live? What are you living for?

As people who are crafted for a relationship with God and his word, we need more than food to sustain us. Our lives consist of more than our physical appetites.

We can be tempted to live to consume and to satisfy ourselves, but God calls us to more. God calls us to be sustained by his word.

When Jesus was tempted by the enemy to turn stones into bread, Matthew’s gospel tells us “Jesus answered, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4, ESV).

What does it mean to turn from our sin? What would it look like if we resisted the temptations in our life and turned away from our sin and toward our God?

If we turn away from our sin and toward God, we will receive God’s forgiveness, the wiping clean of the slate, and we will receive God’s refreshment and restoration. God is present with us in our turning towards him.

In the Book of Acts, the author Luke tells us of Peter’s words when he says, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” (Acts 3:19-20, ESV).

Are you weary? Are you languishing? In what ways do you need to be replenished, rested, or refreshed?

God desires to satisfy our every need and to minister to our weary souls. God will replenish us when we are weary and languishing.

God spoke through the Prophet Jeremiah, saying, “For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” (Jeremiah 31:25, ESV).

Is it hard for you to tell the truth about who you are and what you have done or not done?

Honest confession to God is difficult. It can be painful to acknowledge our sin.

However, it is essential for us to honestly confess our sin to God so that he can forgive us, heal us, and restore us to himself.

The Apostle John wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9, ESV).

Do you need help? What kind of help do you need?

We all need help. We specifically need help in our relationship with God. We need understanding and wisdom. We need to be reminded of Jesus’ teachings, and we need help remembering all he has said to us.

In John’s gospel, Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26, ESV).

After Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, we were not left alone. We were given a Helper. We were given the Holy Spirit to be our Helper, to teach us all things, and to remind us of everything Jesus did and taught.

Does your offering to God cost you? When you fast, do you experience the loss and the gain of Jesus?

When we make an offering to God, it should be something of value. When we fast, we should experience the loss and gain intimacy with God as we let go of the things of this world and of the flesh and take hold of what God has for us.

King David wanted to make an offering to God after he had sinned and a man named Araunah offered to freely give David the sacrifice. David said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.’” (2 Samuel 24:24).

Where do you place your trust? Where do you find security? What do you value? Do you trust your treasure more than you trust God? Is your security in your possessions or in the one who possesses you?

It is easy to place our trust in our possessions and in our earthly treasures. We can find security in our financial securities. However, our belongings and financial stability can disappear in an instant. We cannot put our eternal trust in our temporary treasure.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21, ESV).

Who are we listening to? Who is the most important person we should be listening to in our life?

God wants us to listen to his son Jesus. At the transfiguration, Jesus took his disciples, Peter, James, and John, with him on the mountain. Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus, and Jesus was transfigured before them.

Matthew’s gospel account tells us, “a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’” (Matthew 17:5, NIV).

Matthew tells us, “When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up. Don’t be afraid.’ When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.” (Matthew 17:6-8, NIV).

How do we draw near to God? Do we draw near to God with a correct assessment of who we are and who God is? Are we honest with God when we come before him?

Drawing near to God requires self-awareness and integrity. When we draw near to God we must do so with honesty about who we are and what we need from him. However, most of us have blind spots and we are not fully aware of our sin, our true condition, or our need.

God spoke to the Prophet Isaiah, saying, “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.” (Isaiah 58:1-2, ESV).

What does it cost you to have what you need? Have you ever not had the money or resources to buy what you needed?

God freely provides for our needs. There will come a time when all we need and desire will be freely given so that we may freely receive.

God invites us to come to him so that we may freely receive all that we need from him.

God spoke through the Prophet Isaiah, saying, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” (Isaiah 55:1-2, ESV).