Morning by Morning, October 20, 2026 — “But the Lord Stood With Me”
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Fill me with Your Spirit and ground me in Your Word, as I begin my day in deliberate communion with You—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. …
“But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!” (2 Timothy 4:17-18)
At the end of his life, literally in the battle for his life before the Roman governmental authorities that had persecuted and imprisoned the Apostle Paul, he looked around to see who would stand with him. It breaks my heart to hear him say, “No one stood with me, but all forsook me” (v. 16).
Then comes his heart cry: “But the Lord stood with me.”
Men may fail. Fears and insecurities, cultural pressures and wavering faith may lead those we trusted to be found faithful to us to the end to falter and flee and fail. But our hope is not in them. Our hope is in You.
“The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25).
You stand with us. You strengthen us. You encourage us and empower us. You never leave us nor forsake us. You are a shield about us. And You’re always with us.
I don’t know all that Paul meant by being “delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” Maybe a lion in the Roman arena. Maybe the lion that speaks of his spiritual “adversary the devil (who) walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Whatever it was, You delivered him through that and he trusted You to deliver him through whatever he was facing now.
He wasn’t afraid of dying for the sake of “the message” You’d put in his heart to “be preached fully.” He’d made his choice long before to be dead to this world and fully alive to Yours, declaring: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). The kingdoms of this world would have no ultimate power over him because his heart belonged to the kingdom of God.
That’s how he could say, even in the face of impending judgment and physical death at the hands of the rulers of this world, “I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. (But even so,) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:6-7).
Paul could fight the good fight even when he stood alone because You stood with him. Paul could finish his race well because You ran with him.
You delivered him from the lion when his message of the kingdom was yet to be proclaimed. And then, when he fulfilled his calling in this world, when he finished fighting the good fight and finished his race—even expressing the very words we call “Scripture” today—You delivered him through the jaws of death and into his eternal reward.
Lord, let me be found faithful. No matter what lions I face. No matter who stands with me or who runs away in the heat of the battles or the challenges of the day. You’ll stand with me. You’ll rise up within me. You’ll keep reminding me of those powerful words of that overcoming perspective You put in Paul’s heart and put in the hearts of all who turn to You to be our strength: “But the Lord stood with me.”
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged this day. In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you be stregthened and empowered by the Lord who stands with you, in Jesus' name. God bless you, my friend! And you have a great day!
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Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
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