trust

When to Give Up on God

by 4myluvs89

Mannn, let me tell you – I’ve had a week. Oh, for sure, it’s not the worst week ever, but still, it’s been a doozy. I’ve been on a new, temporary job for about two weeks now and I do thank the Lord that the negative stress level is minimal. It has it’s downfalls, but doesn’t every job? If you don’t think so, we’ll just agree to disagree upfront, LOL. I contemplated listing the things I could remember that caused me to feel so downtrodden this week, but I’m going to skip that part and get to the ‘when and why’ of our topic.

All throughout the bible, there are stories of trials and tribulations. My brother often jokes me about how much I’d reference the Book of Job over the years. It’s hard not to revisit Job’s story. He endured so much and was blessed even more. But for most people, it’s hard to read Job’s story from the beginning and feel better anytime soon. Here is where I submit to you that we have got to recognize that our lives, too, are but pages on a book, yet to be written.

When we read any book, it usually never gives the ending at the beginning. So, we have to read it, just as we have to live life. One of the biggest delusions about this, though, is that life is supposed to be lived out at the same speed. How soon we finish a novel is dependent on how long we decide to sit down and read it. Eventually, we’ll read to the end and can move on to another book. We get one life to live and there is no other book to move on to (it’s life and death). If you’re not a fan of Ms. Shirleen or are unaware of her altogether, this would be a great introduction to her. She submits to you that she is going to live her best life and I submit that we all should do the same.

Living our best life is encouraged in the Book of James, Chapter 1. Verse after verse provides a stark reminder that the time to give up on God is never. I will be the first to tell you over and over. I choose to be your friend today and tell you that nothing is ever so horrible or traumatic that it warrants an unexperienced or broken relationship with God. We will fall and mistakes. We will become weary and afraid. Bills will come due and money will be short. But God. Friends will hurt us and family will betray us. Still God. The Lord is faithful. Never give up on God.

READ: Job 19; James 1

LISTEN: https://youtu.be/B2YHvIam5vY?si=OEXfSSgE8pPaNe5P “Faithful Now” by Vertical Worship

Get Beyond Seeing with the Naked Eye

by 4myluvs89

This is a subject that followers of Christ tend to frequent over the course of their lifetime. It’s most often noticed by those of us who spend an enormous amount of time within the physical walls of a church. It’s extremely easy to move from the forefront of our minds to the rear that we, in fact, are the church. In a nutshell, we can get so busy doing the work of the church (Acts 2:42), doing the work of the Lord (Revelation 3:8), doing the will of the Lord (Matthew 28:19-20), that we actually begin losing sight of the Lord (Revelation 2:4). This is what happened in the case of the prophet Balaam.

I recently watched a sermon where the pastor taught from the book of Numbers. For the life of me, I can’t remember the focal point, but if I do before this ends, I’ll be sure to reference it for you. During the sermon, though, my focal point became Balaam. I didn’t recall seeing his behavior as it was described in the sermon, so I wanted to refresh my own understanding of the scriptures. In all honesty, this is what we should do following any sermon, lesson, devotion, etc. We need to seek the wisdom of God so that we become not clever, but wise. We cannot hold any man fully accountable for what he teaches or what we take away from his teachings. God will do that for us all. But, I digress.

As I began to read through Numbers, I wondered why God was doing what he was doing to Balaam. At this point, you already know I’m not going to give you the entire chapter’s explanation. This is the blessing – you get to go and read it for yourself. I will say that I felt some type of way because, at the onset, Balaam was being obedient to what the Lord had said. I found myself furrowing my eyebrows because how could he be wrong for actually listening or was it that he heard the Lord wrong?

I’m happy to say that it doesn’t take much for me to be grateful for a mustard-seed’s worth of an understanding because that’s all I got. Balaam hadn’t done anything wrong YET. God wanted Balaam to be so in tune with him that he would only say what God told him to say, only do what God told him to do, and not waiver. God wanted to help Balaam avoid fulfilling the yet. It took God speaking through a donkey for Balaam, so what do you think he’d do for us?

It’s a wonderful, absolutely humbling feeling to be able to hear from the Lord. It’s ten times the rush when you hear some things so clearly. But when we begin to walk out what we’ve heard from the Lord, we can become complacent in the work. We can begin to hear less and less from God because we’re focused on the last thing that was said and, eventually, we lose spiritual sight because we’re only seeing with the naked eye. 

There are some things, my friend, that God has told you to do and you need to begin looking for him with your spiritual eyes. Continue to do the work the Lord has given you, but don’t lose sight of him trying to pause you to give you clarity for the next steps along the way. Be blessed. 

READ: Numbers 22-25; Ephesians 4:11-15

LISTEN: https://youtu.be/31PyNIGh3Oc?si=GzxymXnraGZggNFu Michael Ketterer, “Spirit Lead Me” 

Hurt, Harm, or Danger

by 4myluvs89

I grew up with so many ‘sayings’ and hearing so many ‘ole wives’ tales’ that it just ends up being something that I still do – saying things without necessarily thinking of where they came from or why whoever said it began saying it. And, yes, sometimes we do it even in prayer. That’s a topic for another discussion. Our focus today, though, deals with a conversation I recently had with my youngest daughter.

I often asks my children how their day went, regardless of their location. Different things happen at school that can bring about certain emotions, yet a similar thing taken place at Walmart might’ve not phased them at all. Believe it or not, having your feelings hurt at the mall has a different effect than, let’s say, having your feelings hurt in the McDonald’s drive-thru. I don’t know why that is, I just know it’s true. 

So, after listening to my daughter explain to me that things went well for her earlier, I responded by telling her I was so very grateful to God that things were good. I followed by telling her that, as far as my prayers, I ask God to continue to keep her and her sister safe from all hurt, harm, and danger. I wanted her to know that I’ve begun to recognize more and more that, as they grow older, there’s less and less I’m going to be able to do any of that, protect them, that is, from all hurt, harm, and danger. I transitioned to talking about the fact that there’s truly only one person who could do that and even he won’t always do it. That’s when I began to wonder why is it that we speak something we know isn’t guaranteed? It’s all fine and well to ask for it, but we can’t hold God to it. I’m of the mindset that anything he won’t block is certainly not because he can’t, it’s just that he won’t. And the reasons are given to us over and over throughout scripture. God, in his infinite wisdom, gave us Psalm 23:1-6 because he knew we’d need it when Romans 5:3-5 came a’knockin.’

The truth is that we will experience hurt, whether it be physical or emotional. We will encounter situations that are harmful, and we will, inevitably, make decisions that could put us in some serious danger. Psalm 27 begins with a reminder that the Lord is our light and salvation and proceeds to talk about the when’s. “When” evil people come and “when” foes attack are just the beginnings of trials that we’ll face. It doesn’t say at what age or where, just that “when” it begins, we are to remember that the Lord is a fortress.

So, as I pray for my children and you pray for yours (or whoever else you want to plug in), let us still ask the Lord to protect them from all hurt, harm, and danger. If you weren’t saying it, consider adding it to your prayers. If you were and just didn’t know of any scriptures to reference, now you have some to fortify your stance. While we know that God may allow some trials, we can rest assured that he’s already prepared a place of refuge. We need not fear or be afraid.  

READ: Psalm 121:7-8; Proverbs 22:3

LISTEN: https://youtu.be/Bq8PzU2W8VI?si=4CBld3EKWaSs4Nfe William Murphy, Everlasting God

In the Midst of the Shaking

by 4myluvs89

Throughout yesterday, a portion of the lyrics to the song, Firm Foundation (He Won’t), played over and over in my head. Why? I’m guessing because God was allowing me to see how differently I felt when I’m supposed to walk out faith on the lyrics versus just singing them because I have a love for worship.

I wondered if Cody Carnes sang it based on the former or the latter. ”Christ is my firm foundation, the Rock on which I stand. When everything around me is shaking, I’ve never been more glad that I’ve put my faith in Jesus cause He’s never let me down. He’s faithful through generations, so why would He fail now – He won’t.”

Even now I’m reminded that it really doesn’t matter why he sings it, but why I do. God isn’t holding Cody Carnes accountable for my faith or my trust in Him. Sure, He’s allowed Cody to produce and sing a great worship song, but what I (or we) do with it is solely on us once we’ve heard it. Yep, it’s just like that with the written Word of God, too. 

Notice that the lyrics imply that faith needs to be present prior to the shaking. The Word reminds us that we need to have it, the Word of God, hidden our hearts already, so that when the shaking comes, we can be glad that our faith was already in Jesus. 

If you haven’t experienced some shaking yet, you will. If you have, but just haven’t felt it in a while, you will. In the meantime, begin to put or enhance your faith in Jesus. Pray as though you’re already going through something while thanking Jesus for the outcome. Pour into others so they are encouraged to do the same. Set yourself up so that you can not only sing words of affirmation and victory, but so you can walk them out in the midst of the shaking.

READ: Psalm 119:1-16; Romans 3:22-24

LISTEN: https://youtu.be/x9ndiD0_qNk Cody Carnes, Firm Foundation (He Won’t)