DAN THE CHILD OF GOD: December 15 Trusting in God's Faithfulness 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 Is there something God has told you to do that seems just too difficult? You can be sure that if He has called you to carry out His will, He’s going to be faithful to accomplish it through His Spirit living and working in you. So if you tell Him, “I can’t do that, Lord—what if I fail?” you’re really saying, “God doesn’t keep His word.” And yet, our total expectation should be in Him—not in our own energy, ability, or experience. When you doubt God’s trustworthiness, that unbelief becomes a gap in your spiritual armor, and you can be sure that’s exactly where Satan will attack you. You’ll begin to doubt even more about God’s character, such as His goodness—and that distrust will become a heavy load of baggage you’ll needlessly drag through every area of your life. You might feel that you do not have enough faith to obey, but the Lord isn’t asking you to have faith in favorable circumstances. He’s asking you to trust that He is who He says He is. Do you believe that God is a liar? It’s really that simple: either He is truthful or He’s not. But if you believe that faithfulness is His character, then you can do anything He requires. You’ll be strengthened by your dependence on Him—whether a deluge or trials or a flood of blessing comes. It’s actually when life gets rough and rugged that the sweetness of God’s faithfulness makes itself real in your heart. As you walk through those storms in complete reliance on His strength, your trust in His character becomes part of who you are and strengthens from within. from Dr. Charles Stanley,Keep on Praying Work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. - Romans 12:11-12 Are you excited about your recovery? Here Paul tells us to serve the Lord enthusiastically—or, as a footnote to the New Living Translation suggests, to "let the Spirit excite" us as we live for him. There is something exciting about taking our lives back. There’s a sense of wholeness that we’ve longed for and an anticipation of what God is going to do next. There is a growing sense of hope that life can be different. But sometimes our forward movement feels so slow. And there can also be setbacks, where it feels like we’ve moved forward a bit, only to reverse direction. When that happens—and it will—Romans 12 tells us to do three things. First, we are to remind ourselves to rejoice in what we have been working toward and hoping for. Second, when trouble comes, we are to be patient—there’s that word again—and not throw in the towel. And third, we must keep on praying. God never tires of our prayers, even when in our frustration we repeat ourselves. He loves to hear from us, so we need to keep on talking to him. Ask Yourself Are you excited about your process of healing and recovery? If not, why not? If so, why? Describe your strategy for what to do when you get discouraged with the healing process. Ask God Patient Father in heaven, help me be more patient, especially with myself. And Holy Spirit, I ask you to excite me about the process of my recovery. Help me experience that confident by Stephen Arterburn and David Stoop
Trusting in God's Faithfulness
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Is there something God has told you to do that seems just too difficult? You can be sure that if He has called you to carry out His will, He’s going to be faithful to accomplish it through His Spirit living and working in you. So if you tell Him, “I can’t do that, Lord—what if I fail?” you’re really saying, “God doesn’t keep His word.” And yet, our total expectation should be in Him—not in our own energy, ability, or experience.
When you doubt God’s trustworthiness, that unbelief becomes a gap in your spiritual armor, and you can be sure that’s exactly where Satan will attack you. You’ll begin to doubt even more about God’s character, such as His goodness—and that distrust will become a heavy load of baggage you’ll needlessly drag through every area of your life.
You might feel that you do not have enough faith to obey, but the Lord isn’t asking you to have faith in favorable circumstances. He’s asking you to trust that He is who He says He is.
Do you believe that God is a liar? It’s really that simple: either He is truthful or He’s not. But if you believe that faithfulness is His character, then you can do anything He requires. You’ll be strengthened by your dependence on Him—whether a deluge or trials or a flood of blessing comes.
It’s actually when life gets rough and rugged that the sweetness of God’s faithfulness makes itself real in your heart. As you walk through those storms in complete reliance on His strength, your trust in His character becomes part of who you are and strengthens from within. from Dr. Charles Stanley,Keep on Praying
Work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. - Romans 12:11-12
Are you excited about your recovery? Here Paul tells us to serve the Lord enthusiastically—or, as a footnote to the New Living Translation suggests, to "let the Spirit excite" us as we live for him. There is something exciting about taking our lives back. There’s a sense of wholeness that we’ve longed for and an anticipation of what God is going to do next. There is a growing sense of hope that life can be different.
But sometimes our forward movement feels so slow. And there can also be setbacks, where it feels like we’ve moved forward a bit, only to reverse direction.
When that happens—and it will—Romans 12 tells us to do three things. First, we are to remind ourselves to rejoice in what we have been working toward and hoping for. Second, when trouble comes, we are to be patient—there’s that word again—and not throw in the towel. And third, we must keep on praying. God never tires of our prayers, even when in our frustration we repeat ourselves. He loves to hear from us, so we need to keep on talking to him.
Ask Yourself
Are you excited about your process of healing and recovery? If not, why not? If so, why?
Describe your strategy for what to do when you get discouraged with the healing process.
Ask God
Patient Father in heaven, help me be more patient, especially with myself. And Holy Spirit, I ask you to excite me about the process of my recovery. Help me experience that confident by Stephen Arterburn and David Stoop