Sometimes we hear a lot of whispers from different people in our lives. Some of these whispers we pay attention to and some we don’t even stop to hear, but there are certain specific whispers being whispered to us to which we should pay special attention — the whispers that flow into our hearts and minds from the Holy Spirit. These whispers edify us and build us up in our holiest faith, despite our own doubts and misgivings.
“I may have fallen!” — but I heard Him whisper in my ear and say to me: “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity..”
“Perhaps I have fallen ill?” — but I asked to touch the hem of His garment, and I was sure that if I touched it, I would be healed, for by His stripes, I am indeed healed.
“I am tired.” Yes, I am tired, because I am a human being, and this body is still weak, but I know that my soul is active, and my soul still hears my Lord saying to me: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
“I am grieved.” I went through grief this past year, and I will not deny it, but my Savior eased my grief when He said to me: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” and He commanded me not to grieve like those who have no hope.
“I have suffered loss.” Yes, I may have lost a friend, a dear one, a business, but I declare as Paul declared in Philippians 7, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” I also heard Him whisper and say to me, “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…”
“I feel frustrated.” Sometimes we might get into a state of frustration. Maybe we were disappointed by people, loved ones, friends. We planned something, but because of the circumstances we went through, all our plans were ruined. But Christ still says to us as He said to his disciples in Luke 24:38, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?” God makes all things work for the good of those who love Him, and who are called according to his purposes.
“I have sinned.” Yes, I am still a human being and I commit mistakes and sins, but I repeat with Paul in Romans 7:24 “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” But I thank God that through Jesus Christ our Lord, because “if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
“I failed.” I may have failed in some of the things I attempted, and I was sure that the failure defined me, but there is no failure in Christ. “Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.” (Micah 7:8), for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)
Yes, I may have gone through these situations or some of them, but I put before me the living and effective word of God that works in and within me, through which the Lord promised me and said to me: “I will not neglect you nor let you be stressed and discouraged.”
So I set before me this year and I declare according to the Word of God that I will be waiting on the Lord, renewing my strength, flying on wings like eagles, running and not getting tired, walking and not fainting.
This year I declare with Paul in Philippians 3:13 “I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.”
Amen