Hope Will Not Put Us to Shame

Posted on July 23, 2023 by daaorg1214

Romans 5:3-5(ESV)
“3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

“This is a tough one for me – I’ve never been alone and Kevin’s decision to leave me
and the kids still doesn’t seem real to me.”

In my spirit, I felt that my friend Gwen was going through something. We’d usually talk at least twice a month, but it had been a while since we last spoke. I’d called her a few times and sent a couple of text messages, and it took a while for her to respond. When she did, her responses were brief, and that wasn’t like her. Gwen and Kevin had been married for twelve years, and the last two years had been tough. One of their kids has autism, and Gwen didn’t think Kevin was as supportive as he should have been. On a Saturday afternoon, my doorbell rang, and there stood Gwen. She stopped by on her way to her mother’s house and said she wanted to see me in person instead of telling me about her news over the phone. “He left me and the kids!” She belted out and fell into my arms as they seem to automatically move to embrace her.

Romans 5:3 says that we rejoice in our sufferings because they produce endurance. Endurance is a quality that is necessary to run this race of life that God has set before us, but when we’re going through something like Gwen, endurance may not be all that appealing. In fact, it’s probably the last thing any of us would want to think about. As a parent with mouths to feed, your mind is inundated with thoughts about how you’re going to support your kids and get from point A to point B. The thing we must recognize is that endurance is the ability that allows us to do that. It helps us to move ourselves out of heartbreak and into a place of resilience and strength. Endurance goes hand in hand with faith and hope, because even though things may look troubling, our faith in God sustains us and carries us through.

Psalm 95:6-7(NLT) says, “6 Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker, 7 for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today!” When our minds are racing with anxiety and worry, most of us don’t listen, but we should. We should listen to the truth that God tells us in His Word about His power, love, peace, and comfort. He is worthy to be praised and our gratitude for all He has done for us should prompt us to pay attention to His promise to help us. It is an extraordinary privilege to worship God and to do the things that please Him, but some of us have an accurate image of our Heavenly Father in our minds and hearts. Because of this, we can allow the difficulties of life to make us become emotionally detached from Him. Whether we know it or not, this is a deeper pain than any heartbreak or abandonment caused by a mere human being.

When we’re broken, and have others depending on us, we need the kind of comfort and assurance that only the Lord can give. God leads, guides, and directs us into the kind of life that pleases Him and fulfills us as well. He is our Shepherd, Refuge, and Maker. We’re His people and He has promised to take care of us. He allows us to rest in green pastures and leads us beside peaceful waters. He, and He alone, restores our souls and lead us in the paths of righteousness. We need to remember this when we’re faced with devastating loss.

No matter how damaged we are, God is forever and always our Shepherd. He said in Malachi 3:6(NKJV), “For I am the LORD, I do not change;” Titus 1:2 tells us that He cannot lie. He wants us to lean on Him because He has all power in His hands, and He is willing and able to help us. We must also be clear that we have a part to play as well. We must shift our false beliefs and thoughts away from defeat and self-punishment and allow God’s perfect love to cast out all our fear and anxiety. All the traumas and heartaches we endure will reveal some patterns of behavior that we need to release. They need to be removed from our lives, so God’s love has greater room to move and restore.

Psalm 146:5(NLT) says, “But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the LORD their God.” Our hope in God will not bring us shame. It will bring us victory, restoration, and renewal! Our hope in God will give us the strength to learn from our past mistakes and take back our power to love better and make better choices. We do not have to be held captive by the pain we’ve endured. We must be committed to ask for God’s forgiveness for all our sins. We must pray for wisdom and understanding, and we must pray and apply the blood of Jesus Christ in those areas in our lives where we need healing and deliverance. Although our hard times are unexpected and painful, God has something much brighter and better for us if we remain hopeful, keep our faith in Him, and focus our eyes on His love and power.■

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Unwavering Faith

Posted on June 18, 2023 by daaorg1214

Hebrews 11:1(NLT) teaches us that “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Another helpful way of looking at it is to see faith as the title deed to the thing we are believing to receive. Within the laws of this country, a deed is a document that serves as evidence of a person’s legal ownership of a property or thing, and it is recognized by all authorities as proof of ownership. In a spiritual sense, our faith is the legal evidence of our belief in God’s willingness and ability to bless us. God has decreed that it is unquestionably accepted by everything in heaven and beneath it. Our faith is the proof that we have legal ownership of the blessing we’ve prayed for even before it actually arrives on the scene.

Faith is right believing, and Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. This tells us that faith involves our minds and hearts, because faith demands that we believe in something we cannot see. In our everyday circumstances, most of us don’t have a problem believing God for small things, but some of us struggle to believe Him for really big things. Whether it’s minor or major, our minds must be focused on the goodness of God and His willingness and ability to bless us continually.

Faith demands that we guard our hearts, and not allow thoughts, attitudes, or behaviors to move us off it’s path. This requires us to continually renew our minds to God’s promises so that our minds and hearts equal the goodness and bounty of the blessing we are praying to receive. This can be challenging for us, because we’re hooked into the way we have always thought, spoken, and behaved in our every day lives. We’re so connected to our cell phones that they’re almost an extension of our bodies. We’re constantly distracted by many things that are going on in the world, and this is exactly what the devil wants. Interrupting our mental discipline so that we will not believe and trust God as we should is the devil’s main objective.

The mind is the battleground of faith, and to remain spiritually strong, we must confess God’s promises and be anchored in His Word. Hebrews 11:6 (NLT) tells us, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” When God tells us that something is an impossibility, we had better believe that it is. We cannot please God without faith, because faith is the foundation of our relationship with Him. None of us have ever seen God. We weren’t physically there when Jesus Christ died on the cross and gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins. Neither were we physically there when God resurrected Christ from the dead. We didn’t physically witness what God accomplished in Christ for our salvation. We didn’t see it, but faith demands that we believe it.

Keeping our faith in God strong is the number one thing that believers wrestle with. It can be mentally and emotionally intense because the enemy tries to vehemently come against our believing, messing with our minds with all kinds of defeating thoughts. 1Timothy 6:12 tells us to fight the good fight of faith, because we have already won through Jesus Christ; we just need to stay the course and remain faithful and obedient to God. Our faith in Him brings us in direct proximity to His Will. We cannot be defeated when our faith is unwavering in this way, and the devil knows this.

Romans 8:37(NKVJ) affirms, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Unwavering faith is believing God even when the devil tries to make our situations look impossible to conquer. God is the Lifter of our heads. He has made us more than conquerors in Christ. Because of the strength and spiritual weapons that we have received from Him, we are empowered through the Holy Spirit to stand firm against all the tricks, plots, and devices of the enemy.

The blessing of having unwavering faith in our Heavenly Father is something that can’t be compared to anything else. We are on this earth to grow in our faith in God, because this is what deepens our relationship with Him. God will never leave or forsake us and trusting this means that our faith is unwavering. Not trusting it means that our minds are not made up and we are undecided. This will not do. James 1:6(NLT) tells us, “But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.” As children of God, our faith must be solidly planted on the truth of who our God is. We are empowered by Him to strive for this level of believing every day, and if we do, our lives will flourish and our faith in God will not waver.■

A Happy and Successful Life

Posted on May 28, 2023 by daaorg1214

Joshua 1:8(NLT)
“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”

In the Old Testament, after Moses died, Joshua took his place as the leader of God’s people. In Joshua 1:8, God commanded Joshua to tell His people about His requirement. There could be no substitutes, addendums, alterations, or adjustments to God’s instruction. It was to the point, and very clear. He commanded the people to study His Word. The practice of studying means to devote time and focused attention upon a subject. This is how we must all approach God’s Word. It’s not meant to be a once-in-a-while practice. God commanded those living in Old Testament times to study His Word continually, and the same goes for us. God rewards those who study and mediate on His Word. He delights in this, and we should as well.

Not only is our focused attention on His Word required, but He has told us to meditate on it day and night, and He has commanded us to obey all His statues and commandments. Again, we can have confidence that the practice of studying and meditating on God’s Word is something that Heavenly Father rewards. He promises to reward our diligence by causing us to prosper and succeed in everything we do. God spoke this to His people living thousands of years ago, and He is speaking it to those of us living today.

In the New Testament, He tells us in Hebrews 4:12(ESV), “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” And in 2Timothy3:16-17(ESV), He tells us, “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” God’s Word is our bread of life! When Jesus Christ was tempted and tested by the devil in the wilderness, he responded to every temptation with “IT IS WRITTEN…” The Word of God equips us for every good work. It equips us for victory!

God’s Word is the Spirit’s sword, and God commands us to use it so that we are spiritually prepared to carry forth His purpose, and so that we can abide continually in His blessings. To meditate on God’s Word is to fix our minds on a verse or passage and allow it to marinate in our minds. It’s to examine the verse or passage from all angles and to do this in a very peaceful and calm state. The psalmist tells us a lot about what we should be meditating on in order to please God and draw closer to Him. In Psalm 48:9(NLT), he wrote, “O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple.” In Psalm 119:27, the psalmist tells us that he meditates on God’s wonderful deeds, and Psalm 119:117 tells us he meditated on God’s decrees.

The words of the Psalms give us all the inspiration we need. It tells us the aspects of God’s nature and being, and these are the excellent and holy qualities, promises, and decrees of God that should capture our attention continually.

Our Heavenly Father wants us to keep our minds focused on His Word, so that we can respond to any situation or crisis and do so with His strength and wisdom. For this to happen, His promises, guidance, and direction must sink deep within and be cemented in our minds and hearts. It’s not a verse or two every month or so. It’s an imbedded habit pattern of staying our minds on what God has said. Many living in our current times are not responding to God and to life with His Word. In fact, many have turned their backs on His wisdom. They have labeled God’s Word as ‘outdated’ or ‘antiquated’. “People can’t live that way now…” Many have said, and they have used this as an excuse not to obey what God says. This is a very costly mistake.

Our Heavenly Father is brilliant beyond brilliance. He has empowered us to live holy and righteous, and He has purposed every aspect of our existence to model after our Big Brother, Jesus Christ. God tells us in 2Timothy 2:15(ESV) to “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” It’s our privilege and responsibility to be a worker of God’s Word. It’s the way we stand approved before Him. If we are committed to study God’s Word and live by the example of Christ, we will become wiser and spiritually stronger, and because of our commitment to obey Him, God promises that we will have a happy and successful life.■

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Walking in Your Purpose

Posted on May 21, 2023 by daaorg1214

Marthea Duncan received the promotion she had been vying for since the day she started working for a prominent nonprofit. Her former boss was terminated for consistently missing the company’s fundraising goals. Marthea believed she could do a much better job, but already she had rubbed some of the other employees the wrong way. Like her predecessor, she went in thinking she could do everything better, and rather than creating a teamwork environment, she began micromanaging. Marthea’s expertise is fundraising, that’s what she’s done her entire working life. She’s good at it, but she’s not good at tracking the numbers. Instead of working with a well-seasoned accounting person who has been at the organization for ten years, Marthea tried to belittle her and now the accountant is about to quit. When Marthea’s boss heard about this, she arranged to speak with Marthea immediately.

As my grandmother would say, “You can catch a lot more bees with honey than you can with vinegar.” This saying means that you can get further by being polite than you can by being mean or unkind. Marthea had a little trouble with this lesson. If she had shown gratitude for the efforts and skills of the other staff, they all could have enjoyed the benefits of surpassing goals, but Marthea was more interested in her own success. Her goal was to prove to everyone that she could do it all and she could do it best.

Some might say that Marthea knows how to bring in the big bucks, but she doesn’t know how to stay in her lane. She could have been greatly helped by the other staff if she understood more about staying true to your purpose. Recognizing and being committed to God’s purpose for putting us on this earth will squash arrogance, keep us humble before Him, and reroute our motives to follow the direction of His Will.

In the Old Testament, God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that He knows the plans He has for us. This piece of knowledge should be very organic to our thinking, but it isn’t. God reassured His people living during Old Testament times that He is the One with the plan, not them and not us. God knows His own mind. He knows His own perfection, brilliance, and majesty. He’s sovereign, and He alone deserves all praise and glory. He knows…and that’s all that is necessary for our full confidence in the future. He knows; therefore, we can be confident in His plan and purpose for our lives.

We are driven by a desire for success in various areas and at various stages of our lives. This is very natural, but at some point, we must make a shift. Every individual with a sound mind reaches a pivotal point in their lives. It’s a place where nothing turns out the way we expect, and nothing we do seems to help. We’ll have to decide whether our aims are based on superficial motives and gains, or if there is more to life than chasing something that isn’t real.

When we get to this point in life, deep inside we know that our search is about a sense of personal fulfillment and purpose. All of us have this, but we must stop wasting our time and energies on pursuits that have nothing to do with our purpose for being on this planet. The thing that is missing in our lives is a lack of knowledge about the purpose God has for us. Colossians 1:16(ESV) states, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” No matter how old we are, all of us are children. Children of God is what we were created to be. We do not belong to ourselves, we belong to God, and He sets the boundaries of our existences. He created all things, and all things were created for Him. This is the most prominent aspect of our purpose. Our purpose belongs to God, and He has strategically positioned us right where we are to carry it out.

2Timothy 1:9(AMP) states, “for He delivered us and saved us and called us with a holy calling [a calling that leads to a consecrated life—a life set apart—a life of purpose], not because of our works [or because of any personal merit—we could do nothing to earn this], but because of His own purpose and grace [His amazing, undeserved favor] which was granted to us in Christ Jesus before the world began [eternal ages ago],” We are purposed to keep and follow the example of Jesus Christ, and we are called to carry forth the work that he began. So, our purpose is about walking with God, hearing His instruction and carrying it through. Our purpose is to do whatever the Lord tells us to do; it is to do His Will.

It’s specific in that no one can do what you do the way that you do it. God has woven within your DNA all that is necessary for the purpose He has set for your life. You already have the skill, gift, and abilities, to do all that He requires. You simply must have faith, and this requires you to humble yourself before God in obedience so that you can hear and recognize His voice.

We should be ever so thankful to God that He called us and chose us through Jesus Christ. We are to live, give, and love just the way Jesus did when he walked upon this earth. He totally submitted himself to the Father’s Will and Word, and we must do the same.

Walking in God’s purpose is never about the “ME” and always about the “WE”. His purpose considers what is best for everyone involved. We must remain compassionate, loving, and kind so that we invite His presence and strength into every situation. Walking in God’s purpose makes us a blessing in the lives of others. Pursuing it demonstrates our desire and commitment to please Him with our whole lives. When this is our focus, we can’t help but to grow closer to our Heavenly Father. There’s nothing in life that compares to the intimacy we share with Him, and nothing makes life sweeter than the validation we receive when we remain on the path of His purpose. ■

Knock Down Walls and Bypass Opposition

Posted on December 26, 2022 by daaorg1214

Do you feel in your heart of hearts that you are destined for much greater things, but you have no idea how to start? Does it feel to you that you’re boxed in because you lack the resources to get your vision off the ground? If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to either of these questions, then you’re probably also asking yourself another pivotal question as well. If God has placed a dream in your heart, and you’re confident that there’s more to life than what you are experiencing, why hasn’t Heavenly Father opened the door for you to seize the prize?

To answer this question, I’d like to begin with something that I witnessed not long ago. I watched a series of teachings by a well-known Christian prophet, that is also an author and teacher of God’s Word. His teaching style is not charismatic or theatrical, and it may not be considered captivating in some circles, but he’s a person that has studied and continues to study the Bible extensively; with access to Greek manuscripts that many of us will never see. He has been privileged to lay his eyes upon books that were written hundreds of years ago, and he sheds light on some of the mysteries that have boggled the minds of biblical scholars for years. So indeed, this man is a treasure.

Although he teaches without a certain theatrical quality that many of us have grown accustomed to hearing from some preachers, the love of God oozes from his very being. He’s a lovely, soft-spoken man, and his love for Jesus Christ is palpable. He brings to the table an understanding of scripture that millions of people have died without ever getting remotely close to. He has been appointed to open the eyes of our generation to what God is doing in this day and time, there is no question about it.

During one part of the series, the camera panned the room and allowed the viewers to see more of the setting where this particular session was being filmed. He was in fact visiting a smaller venue than what I had seen in his other videos, and it was apparent that the congregation was not at all accustomed to his style of teaching. I watched as many of them missed this opportunity to gain a greater understanding of God’s Word. They were looking about the room, appearing bored, sleepy, and a few were shown passing notes. It was evident that some of these folks were not truly interested in seeking to partake of the feast laid before them.

You hear so many people crying out to God that they want more of Him, and they sound so sincere, and dare I say, so religious; but these same individuals will not seek God for more. They WANT more, but will not make the efforts to SEEK more. They will not seek to understand God on a higher level, and seek to know His Will and Plan for their own individual lives.

The end result of this lack of positioning is a feeling and sense of being boxed in, without the resources to expand beyond barriers that hold a person back. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 22:14 (KJV), “For many are called, but few are chosen.” God Almighty, the Great El Shaddai, calls us to the feast He has prepared. He calls us not because we are so worthy, but because He has chosen us upon which to lavish His best.

Romans 2:11 tells us that God has no respect of persons. He doesn’t favor one over the other. So in Matthew 22:14, Jesus Christ isn’t leading us to believe that some are chosen because God favors them more. We are God’s elect and chosen ones because we have an intention to fulfill the call.

Just as a new life needs food and milk to live and thrive, our minds and hearts need the truth of God’s Word in order that our lives on earth can be prosperous and impactful. When it comes to fulfilling your purpose and living the life you’ve always dreamed of living, there’s information from the truth of God’s Word that you simply must have in your arsenal. We can’t do all of the things that we normally do, taking in little bits and pieces of God’s Word here and there, and think this will position us to stand strong amidst opposition. It will not; it’s not enough. We must position ourselves for greatness so that we can receive the treasure God has for us. This is not a new message, but it is one you must continue to hear to stay motivated and encouraged to fight the good fight of faith.

This feeling of being boxed-in is unfulfilled potential. That’s what it all boils down to. I knew an extremely sweet woman years ago, who became ill in her seventies. She expressed to me her regrets about not having lived the life of which she believed she was capable. She said that she always felt that something was holding her back, but she could never put her finger on what it was. She passed away regrettably, and I was deeply saddened that she died feeling that she had lived far beneath her privilege, and had not fulfilled her potential.

The thing that held her back is the same thing that holds many of us back today, and it is the refusal to expand our knowledge of who God is, what He will do for us, and what He has called us to do through His precious and powerful Son, Jesus Christ. This is something that we’re not going to be able to bypass. Ignorance pertaining to the purpose for which God placed you on this earth creates a barrier around your life. The only thing potent enough to penetrate it is the revelation of your purpose and your intention to carry it through.

A person can feel it internally when they are aligned with the plan of God. Something is filled up within your soul when you fall in step with His Call. You burst out of oppression, knock down walls of no’s, and bypass opposition, because you are legally in a place where the enemy cannot buffet you. Only seeking God through a commitment to know Him greater can give you this.

Sometimes, we see ourselves as someone that is not able to do much in the way of impacting and affecting the lives of others positively and significantly. The truth is that we carry in us the power to change towns, cities, and for some of us, nations. But because we will not stretch to increase spiritually, we are not legally prepared to take ownership of what is stored up for us.

It’s common knowledge that a healthy individual must pass from childhood to adulthood, this is true in the spiritual realm as well. At some point in our walk we will have to get beyond the need to be enticed by anything other than a deep and burning desire to grow mentally and spiritually through God’s Word. We need to come to God with a heart and mind that is eagerly seeking to know the very information that is going to position us to do more for His Kingdom. When we hold this key in our hands, we will find that it will unlock any door we want to open. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

The Place God Has Prepared for Us

Posted on December 5, 2022 by daaorg1214

Exodus 23:20-22(NLT)
“20 See, I am sending an angel before you to protect you on your journey and lead you safely to the place I have prepared for you. 21 Pay close attention to him and obey his instructions. Do not rebel against him, for he is my representative, and he will not forgive your rebellion. 22 But if you are careful to obey him, following all my instructions, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will oppose those who oppose you.”

“Sometimes I just want to give up! Nothing in my life is easy! Every time I turn around, there’s another hurdle to jump through.”

Can you sense the frustration and disappointment in the statement above? Sometimes, the Christian journey isn’t easy. There can be jubilant highs and gut-wrenching lows. There are hurdles to jump through, and many trials and tribulations to overcome. These are all a part of life’s journey. But somehow, many individuals think that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are exempt from challenges and adversities. We are not. The difference between those that have made Jesus Christ their personal Lord and Savior and those that have not is the victory that he offers us through our faith! 1John 5:4(NLT) declares this! It states, “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.”

You may feel as though you’re on the losing side, but this is where faith comes in. We must trust that God set up our journeys in Christ to be victorious and triumphant, not downtrodden and powerless. When we’re struggling to believe this, God commands us to renew our minds so that feelings of defeat and sadness are not our go-to emotions. He wants us to replace these with faith and confidence in Him.

Our struggle begins when we believe that we must strive to be good enough and that we must force ourselves to have confidence. Jesus Christ tells us in John 6:63(NLT), “The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” He’s teaching us the difference between the realm of the flesh and the realm of the Spirit. You and I didn’t save ourselves from the bondage of death and darkness, there was no way we could have possibly done this. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. Through the finished work of his sacrifice and resurrection, God has set us free through His beloved and powerful Son.

He tells us Galatians 5:1(NIV), “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” This means that we’re to abandon the mindset of trying to make ourselves right and lay hold of the mindset of accepting God’s way of making us right through Jesus Christ. We are spiritual beings, and our new way of responding to God and life is through His Spirit.

God teaches us many spiritual lessons about His provision, protection, and power through the Children of Israel in the Old Testament. We see His faithfulness and His desire for a family. And we also see how God expects us to behave as members of His family. He is our Heavenly Father, and He commands us to lean totally and completely on Him for everything. In Proverbs 3:5-6(NLT), He instructs, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” So, even in our emotions and feelings, Heavenly Father expects us to make them submissive to our faith in Him.

We can learn a lot in the Old Testament from the mistakes His people made when they didn’t trust Him. They witnessed God part the Red Sea to rescue them from slavery under the Egyptians. He rained manna from heaven to feed them, and when they complained about the manna, He caused a wind to bring quails to them from the sea. In the wilderness, He split open rocks and caused water to burst forth like a spring. The miracles God showed them were too numerous to count, but even with all His miraculous works, they still did not remain faithful. With everything that Heavenly Father did for them, they were not totally convinced of His love and power.

You and I can be assured that witnessing God’s miracles doesn’t necessarily cause our minds and hearts to change towards Him. This is a tremendous lesson for us to learn. Jesus Christ commands us in Mark 12:30 to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. This means that we are to love our Heavenly Father with all that we are. This kind of love comes from Jesus Christ, and it is not dependent on the wonderful things that God does; it is dependent on the reality of who God is. We must love Him because He is the ‘Great I Am!’ He’s holy beyond holiness, brilliance beyond brilliant, perfect beyond perfection, and majestic beyond majesty. He is worthy to be praised because He is who He is. This is the truth on which our faith must be anchored.

This race that you and I are running in life is the race that God has set before us. We didn’t set it, He did. Our lives belong to Him. He knows every detail, experience, and encounter in our lives before these things occur. In Exodus 23:20, God shows us that He will even send His angels ahead of us to protect us, and He will keep our feet from falling while we’re running this race of life, but we must trust Him and He will not force us to do so. Everything we do, think, feel, and say is completely up to us. We are the ones to determine whether we will walk in the victory of Christ based on the choices and decisions we make. God desires that we choose Him and His Word every time. He desires us to walk in the victory of Christ so that we will not be defeated by the tricks of the enemy. He wants us to know that we will outsmart the devil by thinking, speaking, and behaving like Christ, and having the kind of faith that Christ has.

Notice also in Exodus 23:20 that God tells His people that He had prepared a place for them. When He told them this thousands of years ago, He was referring to the Promised Land. But because of what God accomplished for us in Christ, we can walk in the Promised Land every day because God has set us free! We need to focus on the reality of who God is more than we focus on our emotions and feelings. We should never want it said about us that we value our emotions and feelings more than we value the truth of God’s Word.

It’s a mistake to think that God can’t relate to the troubling times we face on earth as His Children. He absolutely does, and He tells us in Romans 8:37 that He’s made us more than conquerors over those things through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Many of us have a pattern of relying on how we feel, and we allow this to govern us, but feeling low, sad, and defeated is not the place God has prepared for us. He wants us to put all our trust on the reality of who He is. He is faithful and has all power in His hands. When we trust in the totality of His goodness, grace, and mercy, He will go before us and lead us every step of the way. He will handle those that talk about us and try to cause us trouble, as we have confidence that victory in Christ will always be our destination when we continue to place all our trust in God.■

Be Aware of the Consequences

Posted on October 17, 2022 by daaorg1214

Galatians 6:7(NLT)
“Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.”

“I know actions have consequences, but I didn’t know it would be like this.”

It’s not an easy pill to swallow when we finally understand how the circumstances and conditions of our lives fit into the Law of Cause and Effect. In simple terms, this law means that for every action there is a re-action or response. This is the way our Heavenly Father designed the universe to operate. Whatever we put out there is going to boomerang back to us. In other words, whether it is good or bad, there’s a consequence for every action. We’re going to reap what we sow.

Jesus Christ teaches us in Matthew 12:35(NLT), “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.” Our Master Jesus defines a good person as one who has a heart that wants to please God and to bless others. When this is our motivation, we will see positive consequences and blessings reflected in our lives. But there’s a flip side to this, and that’s the side we should try our very best to always avoid.

When there’s ugliness in our hearts like bitterness, anger, arrogance, jealousy, selfishness, and resentment, it’s going to come out of us and be expressed through our words and actions. The boomerang of our negative actions and words will often surprise us, because the consequences are far worse than our initial poor behavior. God doesn’t want these remnants of darkness in our hearts because they injure our relationship with Him and keep us from being who He wants us to be. He tells us in Ephesians 4:22 to “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.” He has commanded us to rid ourselves of those thoughts, attitudes, feelings, and words that do not represent His Kingdom. We are children of His light, and we have the privilege and responsibility to represent His goodness in the earth.

2Timothy 1:7(ESV) states, “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” God has empowered us through the Spirit of Christ to have self-control. This means that we don’t let people and situations determine who we are going to be and how we are going to act. We should know that our identity is in Christ, and we can and should walk in his love continually. If we don’t do this, we are setting ourselves up for consequences that we will not like.

The truth is that no one escapes the consequences of their actions. We sometimes think this, but it isn’t true. God said in Revelation 2:23(NLT), “I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve.” God is telling us this because He wants us to understand His laws and how they work. He is a God of order, not confusion. Everything He does has order, and as His children, He wants us to follow His Word because He blesses His Word.

He has given us free-will to live our lives the way we choose. His love doesn’t shove or push. He doesn’t force us to love Him but hopes that we will. When we turn away from God’s love through our actions, our lives begin to deteriorate, and unless we recognize this, our lives will continue to spiral downward. We can change this, and we should.

You might ask, “Why does God want people to suffer?” John 3:16(NLT) tells us, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Our Heavenly Father has shown us how much He loves us by giving His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this when we were at our worst. We were lost and without hope, but God rescued us through Jesus Christ and redeemed us from the curse of sin and death. Now, we can walk in the victory of Christ every moment of our lives, but this is a choice we all must make.

Consequences can be devastating, but God doesn’t cause pain and suffering. However, He will allow them whenever and wherever there is disobedience and sin. He’s equipped and empowered us in Christ to live in love. This means we have the privilege and honor to line up all that we do, think, and say with the reality of who God has made us through Christ. The time is out for excuses. Now is the time to come to God with humbled hearts and made up minds to serve and honor Him. He will forgive our sins and transform our lives to such a degree that we will produce good things from the treasury of a good heart. When we put on our new nature in Christ the way God commands, we will love others through Him, and our lives will overflow with His goodness.■

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