All tagged Trust
Where do you look for help when your footing of Faith becomes uncertain? Where do you turn to be uplifted, and made firm in your faith once more? When you begin to sink into an envy of the world what secures your step? Those who worship the world might look to be prosperous and happy in their wickedness, but their singing lasts only a night, and their path is slippery... even unto death.
We want to do the will of God, and to deliver the gospel message as we have been instructed, but sometimes we are lead to very dangerous places, and told to speak; in those moments are we afraid? Fear can silence us, and yet, Jesus has said we will be protected, so what is it, and who is it, that we are afraid of? Yet even knowing His promise of protection fear can pursue us.
Do we look to men for our help and protection when God has already promised to give it to us, and does this cause us to be embarrassed before God for our lack of faith? How too have we made the Lord appear when we do this; has it made him seem weak because of our distrust in His provision? Our faith should remain strong, and we should be careful to defend the honor of our God.
The Lord used the few to conquer the many in the story of Gideon’s three hundred men. He first used Gideon’s own fear as He sent him with his servant Purah to hide at the outskirts of the massive camp of Midian, and spy on them. Then God showed Gideon how to defeat Midian’s army by using their own great fear against them. God understands our fears, but more than that He understands the deep seated fears of our enemies. What are our fears, and can God use them to do His will? Can He use our few to defeat the many?
Do you have a project at work that isn’t going very smoothly? Is there some task you are working on at home, or elsewhere, that is causing you trouble? There are so many sources of bad news and difficulty in our day to day lives, but as Christians how are we to approach them? What sets us apart from the unbelievers, and what are the consequences when we approach trouble as the worldly do?
Are you afraid? What is fear that it makes us tremble so mightily, or cower so completely when it comes upon us? Is there something that brings you such fear... something that wells up inexplicably from deep inside? Is there a fear that is so complete that it incapacitates you? If so, where do you turn for relief? Who do you call on for rescue? Is God able to comfort you, and calm your fears?
Impatience, it is one of the greatest challenges to our faith, and brings many a righteous soul to that place where they begin to question God, or say to themselves on the third day that Jesus will not rise... He is dead. Are we in need of something from God right now that we have been praying for night and day, yet haven’t received so much as a hint of deliverance regarding? Well, waiting is not easy, and bearing pain and suffering while we do might feel cruel, but God’s ways are perfect, and by them He is perfecting us... have faith in your waiting.
Do you carry around a heavy load of stress, and anxiety that comes from all the problems you have in your life? Do you keep repeating “The Lord won’t put any more on me than I can endure.” as if that were scripture? Yet, the problems keep mounting and you are about to break? Well that saying isn’t scripture, and the Lord never intended that we solve our own problems, but rather that we bring them to Him. We were not created self-sufficient; we were made to need God, to love Him, and be worshipful of Him.
Are you sick, lame, blind, pursued by Demons, or in any other way in need of healing? Well if so are you following Jesus and asking Him in faith to heal you? Are you going wherever He goes until your belief has at last reached its peak, and you not only believe He can heal people, but that He is the Son of God, and can heal YOU? No? Well perhaps then you are you like Thomas, and need a sign. Follow Him, pursue Him, and stretch out your hand expectantly towards Him to receive His healing touch.
When you are being persecuted or ridiculed for your faith in Jesus Christ do you hold fast to your beliefs, and not let go of all that you have come to trust in? Depending on your circumstances, or the place in which you live, your degree of persecution can be very different, but your dedication to Christ should be the same, because the promise of His love and reward never changes.
Do you complain about where your faith is leading you, and the hardships and punishments that you must endure along the way? Some of us feel that when we accept the LORD as our one true God, and Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, that we have reached the pinnacle of life, and that everything should be fragrant and painless from that moment on, but in fact we have just entered into a journey of faith in which we will be challenged, and made to suffer as we grow in faith. So do not grumble at the lessons we are receiving, they are evidence of God’s love.
When you awoke this morning was your first thought to thank God for this day, followed swiftly by a look through the eyes of Jesus Christ? Does your day begin with a stretch, a cup of coffee, and reading the newspaper, as you determine the status of your physical life, or does it begin with a quick prayer, and a renewed following of Jesus? Every day should begin in thanksgiving, and with an invigorated spiritual accounting of our faithfulness.
When things get tough regarding your faith how do you go about handling the situation? If challenged or threatened because you are a Christian do you stand by your faith, go to your prayer closet, or run away from it altogether? Not all threats are of bodily violence or death; some are merely the fear of being ostracized, made fun of, or maybe being passed over for promotion at work. Fear of ridicule and failure can be just as effective as bodily harm to the steadfastness of our faith. Are you one of the apostles that ran away, or more like Peter who denied Jesus?
How do you pray in the time of great sorrow, or imminent death? If you, or a loved one, is facing near certain demise how do you go before God in prayer? Most often when situations are dire, and danger is near, our emotions cause us to reach a point of near panic, but as men and women of Faith is that how we should enter into the presence of God in prayer?
So often we try to fix our own problems, or at very least help God as He endeavors to make things right. In this manner we are like a young child who gets in the way of his father after having just asked him for help. Most of the time we ask because we are unable to do these things, or at very least are unable to do them on our own, and yet when we ask for God to intercede, we then proceed to wrest control back from His hands as He responds. Is this you? Are you the impatient or presumptuous child?