Coffee With The Lord

One of the tactics of warfare is to isolate and then attack!  It is a tactic of the enemy of our souls spiritually as well.  Feelings of isolation, abandonment, loneliness beg for attention spiritually!  When those emotions abound and sweep over us we need help… God’s help!  Examples in Scripture abound… Jacob fleeing Esau, Hagar fleeing from Sarai, Moses fleeing from Pharaoh, Elijah’s feelings of isolation as a worshipper of God, Isaiah and Jeremiah both experienced it, and in a passage I read this morning during devotions… King David experienced it…

David did something positive in his isolation… He cried out to God!  Here is what he said…

“Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint! Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.  Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings!”  From Psalm 61:1–4 ESV)

So if you’re feeling isolated, weak, and under attack and need help and a place of safety… I’d make these words my prayer as David did!  I’d cry out to God!  God will come – He’ll even supernaturally make Himself real!  He will not abandon you!  That’s his promise! (Check out Deuteronomy 31:6-8; Joshua 1:5-6; 1 Chronicles 28:20: Matthew 28:19-20; and Hebrews 13:5-6)

But Listen, I wouldn’t allow a sense of loneliness and isolation – even disappointment with the failures of other Christians – drive me to further isolate myself from fellowship.  That’s the devil’s trick – a strategy our adversary loves to use!  Here’s what the New Testament urges us to do:  “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful!  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day [of the Lord’s return] drawing near!” (Hebrews 10:23–25 ESV)

Yup, that’s two things I’d do!  I’d cry out to God in my sense of isolation and I’d be in a Bible believing fellowship of believer’s my very next opportunity!

Some Christians have no tolerance for those who disagree with them theologically or in matters of personal preference and practice! Unless there is complete agreement with them in doctrine or practice those who differ are excluded or vehemently vilified. How tragic! How out of step with the teaching of Jesus! This morning during “coffee with the Lord” I read what Jesus told his apostolic band…

“John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not one of us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in My name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For the one who is not against us is for us! For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.’” (Mark 9:38-41 ESV)