Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today, our encouragement is God sends ministering angels to renew our strength.

Today’s scripture, 1 Kings 19:3‭-‬8 (NLT), shares…
Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.

Consider…
Have you ever been exhausted with grief or despair? If you have, you’ll be encouraged to know that you are not alone.

In Luke 22:42‭-‬44 (NLT), Jesus prayed…
“Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

Here we see Jesus agonizing about the excruciating suffering He was about to endure. We know that He was agonizing because the scripture says it. Yet, sandwiched between the acknowledgement of the Son of God agonizing, and Him praying to His Father for a stay of execution or pardon for the death sentence for our sin, we find a piece of encouragement that we can look forward to in our moments of despair. The passage says…
Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him.

Sometimes God doesn’t answer your prayer the way you want Him to, but instead He sends angels to strengthen you.

This makes me think of Paul’s testimony in 2 Corinthians 12:8‭-‬10 (NLT). Paul said…
Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The Holy Spirit is saying, whatever your weaknesses, hardships, persecutions, and troubles are, you can be encouraged that God’s grace will help you endure.

In today’s scripture, we read about the prophet Elijah who was running for his life because he was sentenced to death by the queen. Here Elijah had brought God glory by exposing the false god, Baal, and revealing the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be the one True God, and his reward was a death sentence.

This is a good place to pause and remind us that, glorifying God invites rather than prevents suffering.

That’s why Paul told Timothy, and us…
everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer. persecution. – 2 Timothy 3:12 NLT

Resuming with Elijah’s story, today’s scripture tunes in when he’s exhausted and ready to throw in the towel. We know that because scripture says…
He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life…

I’ll admit, I have prayed that prayer too. I suspect some of you have prayed it as well. Sometimes life can be overwhelming and exhausting. Nonetheless, we keep living and trusting God to help us endure.

The next thing Elijah did is lay down hoping to die. Remember he just prayed for the Lord to put him out of his misery. That’s important, because sometimes we don’t want the Lord to change our situation, rather we want Him to remove us from it. However, notice God’s response. The passage says…
But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water!

I remember in some of my darkest moments, God sent angels in the persons of…

• Mr Joe Moses
• My heart and sister, Cynthia Renee
• Brothers in Christ, Ken, Gregory and Big T
• Sister in Christ, Zelda
• And my Proverbs 18:22 wife, Dana

… they all told me to get up and live. They all strengthened my heart.

You see whether you know it or not, God has placed angels all around you, both in heaven and here on earth.

So I pause and say, thank you Lord for Your ministering angels. 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Today’s encouragement is simply this, sometimes God doesn’t still the storms in life, but instead in His sufficient grace He sends ministering angels to strengthen us in the midst of them.

The Holy Spirit is telling me to leave you with the reminder, that God’s primary ministering Angel is Jesus Christ our Lord, who personally knows how much we can bear. Hebrews 2:18 (NLT) affirns…
Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.

Paul said it best when He said…
I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me…For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Allow God’s ministering Angel and angels to strengthen your heart! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Today’s song is…
How Much We Can Bear

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)