SMR Prayer Group

Isaiah 41:10

‘Fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Blessing Of Loneliness

Brenda Walsh

There are many people today who live alone - some by choice, and others because they simply haven’t found that “perfect mate!” The Bible says in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for the man to be alone,” which is why He created Eve to be with Adam. So it is safe to say that “marriage” was God’s idea. But when you read 1 Corinthians, chapter 7(see below), it is clear that God wants each of His children to be happy and allows them to choose for themselves whether or not they want to marry - but if they choose to stay single, it is good because it is easier to stay focused on spiritual things. Now those two texts might sound contradictory, but they really are not. God is merely giving His children the ability to decide what makes them happy. There is no shame in being single or in being married. God has blessed both choices! Being alone doesn’t mean you are lonely, but if you are single and feeling as if you’re isolated on a desert island, thinking no one even notices - Jesus does! And please know this - you are never really alone because God is always with you, and loves you more than anyone else possibly could. You can even thank God for the blessing of loneliness as this might be the perfect lifeline to draw you even closer to Him - someone who will never ignore you, forget you, or leave you! Use this time to pray and spend extra time with God, leaning on Him to heal your heart. Soon you’ll find yourself rejoicing because you are filled up and overflowing with His love - so much so, that you’ll be able to share God’s love with others who are lonely too!

Text:

1 Corinthians, chapter 7: 1 Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman.

2 But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.

3 The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.

4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

5 Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6 But this I say by way of concession, not of command.

7 Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.

8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I.

9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

10 But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband

11 (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.

12 But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.

13 And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away.

14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.

15 Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.

16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

17 Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches. (1 Corinthians 7:1-17, NASB)

Romans 14:7-8

7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself;

8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. (Romans 14:7, NASB)

Luke 5:16,

But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. (Luke 5:16, NASB)

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

9 Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.

10 For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.

11 Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?

12 And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, NASB)