surrounded by problems | Devotions by Chris Hendrix

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November 24, 2023 · 5:32 AM

Surrounded By God

There are times in everyone’s life when it feels like everyone is against them. There’s people who attack you on one side, bills piling up on another, things you rely on breaking down on another and there’s never enough time to do anything. Sound familiar? Times like these can feel stressful and overwhelming. We can feel like Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6 when he walked outside to find they were surrounded by an army. They were in an impossible situation with no way out when Elisha prayed, “Lord open his eyes so that he may see.” That’s when he saw that they were actually surrounded by God’s army. I pray today that God opens your eyes to see you’re surrounded by Him.

Here are some Bible verses on being surrounded.

1. Yes, they surrounded me, like a swarm of killer bees swirling around me. I was trapped like one trapped by a raging fire; I was surrounded with no way out and at the point of collapse. But by Yahweh’s supernatural power, I overcame them all!

Psalms 118:11-12 TPT

2. I have heard the many rumors about me, and I am surrounded by terror. My enemies conspire against me, plotting to take my life. But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, “You are my God!” My future is in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly.

Psalms 31:13-15 NLT

3. In my distress [when I seemed surrounded] I called upon the Lord And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry for help came before Him, into His very ears.

Psalms 18:6 AMP

4. When I am surrounded by troubles, you keep me safe. You oppose my angry enemies and save me by your power.

Psalm 138:7 GNT

5. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, now and forever.

Psalm 125:2 GNT

Photo by Hrvoje_Photography 🇭🇷 on Unsplash

Winning The Battle

In 2 Chronicles 14, the Ethiopians brought a million man army up against Israel. King Asa only had about half of that. He didn’t wait for the Battle to come to them either. He rallied his troops and went out to meet the Ethiopian army. After he got to the battlefield, he prayed, “O GOD, you aren’t impressed by numbers or intimidated by a show of force once you decide to help: Help us, O GOD; we have come out to meet this huge army because we trust in you and who you are. Don’t let mere mortals stand against you!” (MSG) The next verse says that the Lord defeated the Ethiopian army right in front of Asa.

As I read this story, I was reminded that many times when we look at the battles we face, we are outnumbered, outgunned, and often surrounded with seemingly no way out. I’m sure Asa’s scouts told him how big the Ethiopian army was, but he still showed up for battle. Half of any your victory is simply showing up for the battle. When everything inside screams run, we’ve got to show up or we’ll miss seeing what God can and will do. If we want to be victorious, we can’t run from our problems. We’ve got to face them head on.

The other thing I was reminded of is that our battles are not our own. Asa fully trusted God to bring the victory. He didn’t look at the battlefield through his eyes. He saw it through God’s eyes. When he prayed, he already saw the victory because he trusted in what God would do. You and I need to change the lenses that we look at things through. Victory isn’t brought about by our might or our power, but by God’s Spirit. You shouldn’t be intimidated by how big your problems are. They should be intimidated by how big our God is. Show up, pray and watch God fight for you.

Photo by Chuanchai Pundej on Unsplash

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Tagged as christian living, Devotion, Devotional, encouragement, fighting battles, finding hope, getting victory, god fights for us, hopeless, pick your battles, prayer, spiritual growth, spiritual war, spiritual warefare, surrounded by problems, this is how I fight my battles