If your life has been like mine has lately, it's been busy. It's been discouraging to see time kinda slip out of my hands. While I was preparing a lesson for girls' group, I learned something about growing faith. That when you're going through something tough, sit down and read your Bible; that's the greatest thing that you can do! And, oftentimes when we read God's Word it contains stories of victories God has provided in the past.
Let me put it this way:
You may have just gone through a trial, and are coming out of one.
Stop and smell the roses.
You may be in a trial now.
Stop and smell the roses.
Remember the time...
...when God worked that out?
...when God answered that prayer?
{most of all}... when God saved your soul through His amazing grace?
Those events, those victories of God are beautiful gems, fragrant roses. But, their fragrance continues. We can still smell them, and they smell beautiful.
You may be pretty busy now, but take a moment to look back and find a specific instance where God had the victory. Have faith. Stop and smell the roses!
What an amazing verse Psalm 46:10 is! Praise God! for He is God alone!!! Exalt Him!
Let me tell you a story about how this verse has recently affected my family...
My mom was the first one to read the verse. This was on the 16th, and she started reading the Psalms of the day, which brought her to Psalm 46:10...
She got this line stuck in her head. The verse really spoke to her heart, and when she read it, a song came into her mind. She could only remember a few notes, so she looked it up, hoping to find the whole song available to play. She found it. She played it, and she loved it. Later on that morning, she was in our living room, and decided to listen to it again... not knowing that my father was kneeling beside our kitchen counter praying for God's help and encouragement! So, as my dad was praying, my mom played this song...
When I finally got up outta bed (I took advantage of getting the monday off), I heard my mom singing this song, and I knew it was frim a Bible verse. It was exactly what I needed to hear before I continued my day!
So I am sharing this with you, and I pray that you will receive it and it will be a blessing!
Have you ever played the game, "Trust Me"? I have. It's when a friend comes up behind you, holds out her arms and commands, "Trust Me!" You are to blindly fall back into her arms, trusting that she has the strength to catch you, and doesn't back away. The "catch" (hahaha) is that your friend is standing just so that by the time you're either caught or doomed, you have absolutely no control over your body; gravity does.
The lesson I learned Sunday is that we are to trust God. So often we say, trust, without even really thinking about all the wild aspects of the action that t-r-u-s-t represents. So let's take a look.
According to wikipedia, trust involves the following: "One party (trustor) is willing to rely on the actions of another party (trustee); the situation is directed to the future. In addition, the trustor (voluntarily or forcedly) abandons control over the actions performed by the trustee. As a consequence, the trustor is uncertain about the outcome of the other's actions; he can only develop and evaluate expectations. The uncertainty involves the risk of failure or harm to the trustor if the trustee will not behave as desired." Let's examine this. Of course, this definition is geared toward a human trusting another human, so some things are different, for we are trusting our Creator.
First, the trustor is willing.
Willing to do what? Rely on the trustee. Remember, we are the trustor, and God is the trustee. We must rely completely on our Trustee. Right now I am reading a biography on Hudson Taylor. He literally put himself in the middle of helplessness, because he couldn't wait to see what God did next! At on epoint, He needed money for necessary preparation for his missions. He received two offers to pay for this preparation: from his father and the Chinese Evangelization Society. Yet he didn't receive either! Instead, he relied on God to provide his needs.
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches
in glory by Christ Jesus.
~Philippians 4:19
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto
thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy path.
~ Proverbs 3:5-6
These verses brings us to the next points:
Our situation is directed to the future.
Now, we can trust God at the moment also, right? Yes, we can, but trust in God is not to be a last resort. We are not to say, "Well, now that I am about to ruin it all anyway, let's try God." No, we are to trust God as a priority.
Next, trust involves voluntarily abandoning control, or surrendering.
We do not have control over our lives. Our Creator does. And He invites us to trust Him to supply our needs. So. You have two options:
Attempt to steer your life in the way you will it, although you don't know exactly what will happen in the next three seconds, or
Surrender the steering wheel of your life to the will of the One who does know what will happen every split second of eternity future.
The next part of the wikipedia definition does not apply to our trust in God, because God promises that He will supply, and God doesn't lie.
Think about that for a sec. God promises, and He doesn't lie! What an amazing thought! We already know that He will steer us in the right way, yet many times we take the wheel anyway, even though we haven't even taken driver's ed!
So far we see that there is much involved in trust, but wait, there's more!
With our application of driving comes yet another area for trust and surrender- the gas peddle!
We cannot be controlling how fast we are moving in our lives. For example, if you didn't know much, you wouldn't know to slow down on sharp corners and would probably end up falling off a cliff! But God knows, and He knows the whole road ahead! God's timing is perfect, my friend!
I have previously posted about forks in the road of life. As a matter of fact, these two posts parallel alot. To read this post, click here.
You see, trust represents a very complex surrender-type action/comfort. Is God commanding "Trust Me" right now? You may be going through a trial, or maybe not. Either way, are you ready to fall back into the arms of God, whom you know will catch you? Friend, I am praying for you, that you would trust God!
This video was on a post that I read recently on Meditations of His Love. The lady who wrote the post shared her experiences this past year of God's faithfulness. The song and video go along with the the lessons that I have been learning and posting about in the series New Every Morning, so I thought I'd share this!
p.s.~I highly suggest you read Miss Rachel's post :)
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
~Lamentations 23:3-4
I named this series "New every morning" inspired by this verse. God's mercies and compassions are faithful. We can count on waking up every morning to His love and mercy. This post has songs and hymns that praise God for His faithful love and mercies, which may sometimes be disguised to our human eyes.
"Blessings"
"We pray for blessings We pray for peace Comfort for family, protection while we sleep We pray for healing, for prosperity We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering All the while, You hear each spoken need Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops What if Your healing comes through tears What if a thousand sleepless nights Are what it takes to know You're near What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
We pray for wisdom Your voice to hear And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love As if every promise from Your Word is not enough All the while, You hear each desperate plea And long that we have faith to believe
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops What if Your healing comes through tears What if a thousand sleepless nights Are what it takes to know You're near And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
When friends betray us When darkness seems to win We know that pain reminds this heart That this is not, this is not our home It's not our home
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops What if Your healing comes through tears And what if a thousand sleepless nights Are what it takes to know You're near What if my greatest disappointments Or the aching of this life Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy And what if trials of this life The rain, the storms, the hardest nights Are Your mercies in disguise?"
~by Laura Story
"Great is Thy faithfulness," O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
"Great is Thy faithfulness!" "Great is Thy faithfulness!" Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided— "Great is Thy faithfulness," Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! ~by Thomas Chilsolm
Note: This song was inspired by Lamentations 23:3-4, the verse at the top of this post.
Honestly, I didn't think there would be a "part two" to this post, but God laid it on my heart.
In Part one, we talked about trusting God because He commands it and He abundantly provides for us. The center of our story was the Shunnamite woman in 2 Kings 4. Well, she makes a reappearing in chapter 8!
Read 2 Kings 8:1-6. Remember that God provided for this woman and brought her son that he promised to her in her old age back to life. (Mouthful! :) Now, God tells her to go to the land of the Philistines, because there would be a famine in her land. After seven years, she brings her family back, trusting God to give her the provisions, such as her home and land, that she gave up when she left. She confronts the king, at the same time that Gehazi, Elisha's servant, is telling the king about her son coming back to life! Once again, God's timing is perfect! The king makes sure all her previous possessions are restored.
Here we see that God not only provides, but He has purpose in His provision. And sometimes, God's provision doesn't seem like much of a blessing at the moment. I am sure this woman, at the time of her son's death, did not see the death as a blessing. But Godbrought her son back, and she rejoiced. Even then, I doubt she realized exactly how God would use this in her future.
You may not realize it now, but God will use your current trials and blessings in the future. What He is providing now has a purpose. He is preparing you now, and He will be preparing you for other things throughout your life.
4 steps for an open heart to God's provision and purpose:
~Recognize that submission is necessary:
"And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself,and take up his cross,and follow me."
~Mark 8:34 ~Recognize that God is faithful in His work: "And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee." ~Psalm 9:10
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the
day of Jesus Christ."
~Philippians 1:6
~Recognize that God's way is much better than your way:
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts
than your thoughts."
~Isaiah 55:9 ~Recognize that God has a purpose for you and what He is doing in your life-He knows what He's doing!: "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." ~Jeremiah 1:5
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
I named this series "New every morning" inspired by this verse. God's mercies and compassions are faithful. We can count on waking up every morning to His love and mercy.
I suppose I have difficulty learning quickly. Our towering oak tree has a branch that reaches down to about five feet above the ground, eye level with me. You guessed it; I get a slap on the face from that branch every morning! Every morning it startles me, whacking me into action of reproaching myself for not paying attention AGAIN!
I think I found a woman in the Bible who probably didn't have an oak tree in her front yard, but had a similar experience, with much more spiritual meaning: the Shunnamite woman in 2 Kings 4. Go ahead and read it. It'll be worth the time.
Again, I think my walking into my majestic oak tree parallels with the experience this hospitable lady encountered every morning. Maybe God's new compassions every morning startled her as she woke up each morning to the remembrance of God's provision. I know that God's love slaps me into perspective.
Ya know what you used to do in sixth grade to your best friend, when you would slap 'em on the forehead and tease, "Shoulda had a v8!" Well, I have had to do that to myself saying, "Shoulda trusted God!" or "Shoulda kept your mouth shut!" (Just thought I'd put that in there:) See, we can trust God because He loves us and He cares for us and therefore provides for us. And, oh man, God sure knows how to provide for us!
"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."
"And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured..."
Exodus 16:2
While this text is referring to the Israelites, it also applies to all God's children at times. We tend to get so caught up in what we don't have, rather than what we do have. Quoting Dori from Finding Nemo, "Look on the bright side-the whale half empty!" (Of course, in her case, this was the bright side :)
We are to be grateful to God for all He has done for us, down to the simple moments of life. We should have a single mind of optimism, to have stableness in all our ways.
"A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways."
James 1:8
That also means the opposite: a single-minded man is stable in all his ways.
Anyway, I've been learning an important lesson about gratitude... through a really neat tool, called a gratitude journal... My mom took the dare in One Thousand Gifts, and this school year she has been encouraging Mark and I to do the same. The dare is to write down 1000 things you are grateful for. It's transforming my attitude as each moment of my life is a wonderful new item to add to my growing list. Every item, however, does not make me prideful, but each item points to my Provider. You see, the dare is not about how much you think up, but how much you learn to thank God for; the moments that seemed useless before transform into those special moments that compose our earthly life. Remember, though, you must take the dare with the correct willing heart to be grateful.
Another great tool is a blessings journal. Write down any answer God gives to your prayers, even if it wasn't the answer you wanted. Years from now, you will look back and be encouraged by the blessings of God in the past, and you will be able to see how He worked things out.
I highly suggest that you use these tools in your daily life. Allow God to work through them and transform your heart! :)
~And don't forget, be RADIANTLY OPTIMISTIC AND GRATEFUL!!!
