SEPTEMBER THEME — “SEEING THE CROSS FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE”

Join us in praise and thanksgiving as Belmont Baptist Church celebrates our Year of Jubilee—fifty years of God’s unfailing faithfulness, filled with answered prayers, saved souls, transformed lives, and sustaining grace. As we look toward the cross this September, we thank God for every yesterday and trust Him with every tomorrow, declaring with grateful hearts, “Thank You, Lord, for fifty years—to God be all the glory!”

BEATS FROM YOUR PASTOR’S HEART

I WILL BE WITH HIM IN TROUBLE

Psalm 91:15 , “He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.”

GOD NEVER SAID THERE WOULDN’T BE TROUBLE

There is one word in Psalm 91:15 that we probably wish wasn’t there: trouble. After reading about the secret place, the shadow of the Almighty, His feathers covering us, His angels watching over us, and His promises of protection, we might expect God to say, “Because you belong to Me, trouble will never come.” But He doesn’t. Instead, God says, “I will be with him in trouble.” Perhaps that is an even greater promise. Sometimes God keeps us from trouble, but other times He walks with us through trouble. There are prayers God answers by changing our circumstances, and there are prayers He answers by giving us His presence in circumstances He has not yet changed. The absence of trouble is wonderful, but the presence of God in our trouble is even better.

CALL ON ME — PRAYER IS OUR FIRST RESPONSE

“He shall call upon me…” Trouble has a way of revealing who we call first. We call the doctor, our spouse, our children, a trusted friend, or someone we think can help us. None of those things are necessarily wrong, but somewhere in all our activity God asks, “Have you called Me?” Prayer should never become the emergency number we dial only after everything else has failed. Prayer is the privilege of a child calling Father. God doesn’t say we have to explain everything correctly or understand what is happening. He simply says, “He shall call upon me.” Sometimes the most sincere prayer we can pray is simply, “Jesus, I need You.” You don’t need beautiful words when your heart knows Who to call.

I WILL ANSWER — TRUSTING GOD’S HEART

“…and I will answer him.” What an extraordinary promise from God Himself. Yet we must be careful not to interpret “I will answer” as “I will always do exactly what you ask.” Sometimes God’s answer is yes. Sometimes it is no. Sometimes it is wait. Sometimes He answers in a way we never considered. And sometimes He doesn’t immediately change what is happening around us because He is doing something much deeper within us. Faith does not tell God how He must answer; faith says, “Father, I trust Your answer because I trust Your heart.” God’s answer may not always look like the answer we wanted, but it will never contradict His wisdom, goodness, love, or character. When I cannot understand God’s answer, I can still trust God’s heart.

I WILL BE WITH HIM — THE PROMISE IN THE MIDDLE OF TROUBLE

“I will be with him in trouble.” Read those words slowly. God doesn’t say, “I will watch him from heaven,” or, “I will check on him occasionally.” He says, “I will be with him.” There are places in life where nobody can completely go with you. People can sit beside your hospital bed, but they cannot feel everything you feel. They can attend the funeral, but they cannot enter every private room of your grief. They can pray for you, but they cannot carry every burden inside your heart. There are valleys where even those who love us most can only walk so far, but there is no valley where Jesus stops walking. He goes into the hospital room, the operating room, the courtroom, the funeral home, the lonely house, and the midnight hour. God doesn’t merely promise to meet you after the trouble; He promises to meet you right in the middle of it.

SOMETIMES THE MIRACLE IS HIS PRESENCE

We naturally pray, “Lord, get me out. Lord, make this stop. Lord, change this. Lord, remove this.” We should pray boldly and believe God for deliverance, but what happens when He doesn’t immediately remove the trouble? That is when we discover something about God that comfortable circumstances could never teach us. Sometimes God calms the storm, and sometimes He lets the storm continue while He calms His child. Sometimes He keeps us from the fiery furnace, and sometimes He steps into the furnace with us. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego discovered that truth when Nebuchadnezzar looked into the fire and said, “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt.” — Daniel 3:25. They discovered God in a place they never would have chosen to enter. There are things about Jesus we sometimes discover only when we meet Him in the fire.

I WILL DELIVER HIM — TROUBLE DOESN’T GET THE LAST WORD

God continues, “I will deliver him.” He does not leave His child in trouble forever. Yet deliverance doesn’t always look the way we expected. Sometimes God delivers us from the situation. Sometimes He delivers us through the situation. And ultimately, for every child of God, He delivers us out of this world and safely into His presence. That means trouble never gets the final word. Cancer doesn’t. Grief doesn’t. Financial difficulty doesn’t. Broken relationships don’t. Satan doesn’t. Even death doesn’t. God gets the last word. Your trouble has an expiration date, but God’s faithfulness does not.

AND HONOUR HIM — GOD SEES YOUR FAITHFULNESS

God finishes the verse with the remarkable promise, “and honour him.” The world may never understand what you have walked through. Nobody may know how many nights you cried, how difficult it was to keep believing, or what it cost you to remain faithful. But God knows. He saw every prayer, every tear, every act of obedience, every moment you chose faith instead of fear, and every time you whispered through the pain, “Lord, I still trust You.” Nothing done in faithfulness is overlooked by heaven. God sees what others never see, and He remembers what others never know.

WHEN GOD DOESN’T REMOVE THE STORM

Imagine a frightened child awakened during a terrible thunderstorm. Lightning flashes, thunder shakes the house, and the child cries out, “Daddy!” The father enters the room, sits beside the child, and takes his hand. The storm doesn’t immediately stop. The thunder still rolls and the rain continues beating against the windows, but something has changed. The child is no longer facing the storm alone. Daddy is there. Sometimes that is exactly what God does for us. We call, and the storm continues, but suddenly we become aware that our Father has entered the room. The storm may still be raging around us, but His presence gives us peace within us. Sometimes God’s greatest answer isn’t immediately stopping the storm; it is reminding us that we will never face the storm without Him.

DON’T MISS GOD WHILE WAITING FOR DELIVERANCE

Perhaps you’re praying for God to get you out of something today. Keep praying. Believe Him. Ask boldly. But don’t become so focused on getting out of the trouble that you miss the God who has promised to meet you in the trouble. Maybe our prayer sometimes needs to change from, “Lord, get me out of here,” to, “Lord, show me where You are in here.” One day you may look back and discover that a place you would never have chosen became one of the places where you knew Jesus most intimately. Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” — John 16:33. God never promised us a trouble-free life, but He has promised something trouble can never take away: “I will be with him.” Sometimes knowing WHO is with you matters more than knowing WHAT is ahead of you.

WARFARE PRAYER

Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, I call upon You today because You have promised to answer me. I refuse to allow trouble to convince me that You have abandoned me. Satan, you will not use this valley, this uncertainty, this pain, or this delay to make me question the faithfulness of my God. I declare that I am not alone—the Lord is with me in this trouble. Father, surround my mind with Your peace, guard my heart from fear, strengthen me when I am weary, and give me faith when I cannot see what You are doing. Deliver me according to Your wisdom, Your timing, and Your perfect will. Until deliverance comes, let me experience Your presence more deeply than ever before. May this trouble not drive me away from You but deeper into the secret place. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

DAILY CHALLENGE — FIND GOD IN THE TROUBLE

Today, identify the one situation you most desperately want God to change. Name it before Him, pray specifically about it, and ask Him boldly for deliverance. But then add another prayer: “Lord, until You change this, show me how You are with me in it.” Throughout the day, watch for His presence. Look for His peace, listen for His Word, notice the person He sends, and recognize the strength He provides exactly when you need it. Tonight, instead of only asking, “Did my situation change?” ask yourself, “Did I recognize Jesus with me today?” Sometimes the greatest testimony isn’t, “God kept me out of the trouble.” Sometimes the greatest testimony is, “I went through it—and He never left me.”

TUESDAY’S PRAYER NEEDS

Anna Belle Taylor

Britany Smith

Darlene Kelley

Darlene Thaxton

Ginny Ford

Susan Bankston

Kim’s McClain’s Mother

Nancy Brown

Rob Davis