We either get in the Lord’s way because we act as though we know best, or we try to rearrange the circumstances so things work from our very limited perspectives. By doing this, we unfortunately forfeit blessings as we jump ahead of the Lord and try to handle things ourselves, convincing ourselves that the Lord needs a helping hand. Believe it or not, the Lord does not need our help to carry out His will. True, we are often blessed by being allowed to be a part of it but if we were not there, God would handle it without us. When we try to “help” God, we are not doing it for Him. Bottom line is that we are doing it for us. We just don’t have enough patience to wait for what He is going to do, even though we know that when God handles something, it is better than anything we could imagine.
Isaiah 40:31 tells what God says about having patience. “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” A dear friend is battling breast cancer right now and I am so proud of the way she is standing on these promises from God. When she is through with this cancer battle, I am 100% confident that she will gain that new strength, run and not get tired, and walk and not become weary. That promise isn’t just for my girlfriend, it’s for us, too. So my prayer for each of us is that we would exercise that holy discipline of patience in our lives and watch with great anticipation to see what God will do when we get out of His way.
God, our lives would be so much better if we would just be patient and wait for You to work on our behalf. Please help us to be more patient. Amen.
20…FORGIVENESS
Good morning! Forgiveness is one of those commands from God that’s not optional. When Peter asked Jesus in Matthew 18:22 how often he had to forgive a wrongdoer, Jesus’ answer surprised him. Peter offered as an answer of seven times but Jesus said, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Clearly that wasn’t the answer Peter was looking for, and I bet not the one we sometimes look for either. Jesus wants us to forgive each and every time we are wronged. I’ve been talking to the Lord a lot about forgiveness lately and He’s teaching me some truths that might also help you forgive from the heart as we are commanded to do.
Let’s first look at what forgiveness doesn’t require of us. Forgiveness doesn’t require us to excuse someone’s behavior. Forgiveness also doesn’t mean that we have to forget about the wrong that was done to us and act like an ostrich with our head in the sand pretending like the wrong never happened. But what forgiveness does require us to do is to make an intentional effort on our part to forgive the person or persons who have wronged us. Forgiveness also requires us to agree with God that we surrender our right to settle the score with that person or persons. God wants us to extend the same love and mercy that He extended to us to those that hurt us. I don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s just hard for me to do the things that forgiveness requires of me. It’s like I want to say, “Lord, all of these tears and heartache can’t just be for nothing.” And what the Lord is showing me is that our pain and suffering does not go unnoticed. The Lord sees every tear that falls and hears every time our heart breaks because it breaks His, too. The Holy Spirit is waiting to help us do what we can’t do by ourselves and that’s to forgive those who hurt us.
Holy Spirit, forgiving others is hard for us to do sometimes but with Your help we can do what is required of us and what is best for us. Thank you for always being there for us. Amen.
21…HOLDING HIS HAND
Good morning! One of the things I love about watching the horses behind my house is watching the relationship between the moms and their babies. The moms guide their babies to where they want them to be. And because the little ones know that their moms are looking out for them, they stay really close to them. With those foals being all legs, they often stagger or even fall over as the mom is guiding them and other times they are leaning on their mom to hold themselves up. But when that happens, the mom waits for her young one to regain their footing and then they’re off again.
Our Heavenly Father wants to do the exact same thing with us. He desires a close relationship with His children. God wants us to lean on Him. The Lord wants to lead and guide us through our days here on earth and throughout all eternity in heaven. When we become new believers, we tend to stick close to Jesus. During this time, we are easily guided as He leads and directs us in our Christian walk. And just like the foals, we too can stumble and fall but just like their moms, the Lord gently guides us back to the path He has laid out for us. Psalm 37:23-24 says it like this. “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.”
Hanging on to the Lord’s hand is crucial in our Christian walk. When we are close to the Lord, it’s much easier for Him to guide us along life’s journey. We can stay close to God by spending quiet time with Him, reading the Bible, staying in fellowship with other believers, and praying throughout our day. James 4:8 tells us the cause and effect of staying close to God. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” And there is no better place to be.
Heavenly Father, please help us stay in close fellowship with You as there is nothing we desire more than to walk closely with You through our days. Amen.
22…HE HEARS AND SEES ALL
Good morning! Do you ever feel like you go unnoticed or that the work you do doesn’t matter? I was thinking about that question as I was reading in 1 Samuel 16. This is the story of David and his older brothers. David’s older brothers were strong and big guys but David was just a small boy, both in age and stature. David’s job was looking after the sheep. He did his job well and became a great shepherd, never allowing any of the sheep to stray and preventing anything from harming his flock.
As the story goes, Samuel, a profit of the Lord, came to Jessie’s house on a mission that only Samuel knew about. The Lord has sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the king that would replace King Saul, with whom God was not pleased. Jesse had each son parade before Samuel and each time God told Samuel this was not the one. In verse 11, Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all your children?” When I read that verse I thought it was so sad that Jessie had all but forgotten his youngest son until Samuel asked about him. When David was brought before Samuel, Samuel knew that this was the one God had chosen. Verse 13 said it this way, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointing him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.”
So this morning, do you feel like what you’re doing in life doesn’t matter? We never know what God is going to use in our life, just like with David. David was simply doing his job and then God came along and took David’s skills and eventually made him a king. Can I encourage you by saying that nothing you do goes unnoticed by God? He hears and sees all. Whatever you’re doing, do it as though you’re doing it for the Lord and not for man and be ready to let God use the skills He has given you to further His kingdom, just like He did with that young shepherd boy who became a king.
God, thank you for noticing us, even when others don’t. Amen.
23…IN THE MIDST OF THE STORMS
Good morning! Oh what a difference a day can make! We’ve had lots of storms lately and the storms the other night were really intense. We had tornado warnings that were literally overlapping each other. But the next morning I woke up to birds singing as if the storms from the night before had not happened. The storms in our life can be just as wicked. Everything can be going smoothly, then something unexpected happens and it rocks our world. We begin to pray about the situation, crying out to God to return our life back to peaceful mornings where birds are singing and there’s nothing but blue skies. When that happens, we rejoice in the Lord.
But what happens when the Lord allows those storms in our life
