Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions (11 page)

More than any other command in Scripture, God tells us not to fear. God never promises us a trouble-free life, but He does promise us His presence and the strength (mental, physical, and emotional) we require to get through our troubles.

Several years ago, a friend of mine went in for a routine checkup and learned days later that her doctor feared she might have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the most aggressive form of the disease. More tests were needed, and she was told it might take two or three weeks before a confirmed diagnosis could be reached.

I asked my friend how she got through those weeks of uncertainty and if she was afraid.
“Yes, I was afraid,”
she said.
“But I also knew that whatever the outcome was, it would be no surprise to God.”
Then she said something else that might be of help to you. She told me that she realized if she worried for three weeks and then learned that she had lymphoma, she would have wasted three valuable weeks of her life. And if she worried for three weeks and learned that she did not have lymphoma, she would have still wasted three valuable weeks of her life.
“Believe it or not,”
she said,
“I didn’t lose a minute’s sleep for those twenty-one days.”

When the tests finally came back, my friend learned that she did indeed have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She had surgery and endured many months of chemo. I’m pleased to tell you that, ten years later, she’s in terrific health. And she didn’t waste three valuable weeks.

I
t may sound spiritual to say,
“I am full of faith,”
but are you
using
your faith? Faith is released by praying, saying, and doing whatever God asks us to do.

Praying
. Most of us believe that prayer is powerful, so that should always be our first response. We invite God to get involved in our situations through our prayers. The Bible says tremendous power is made available through the prayers of a righteous man. Since we have been given the righteousness of God through our faith in Christ, we can come boldly to the throne of grace, and by faith, ask for help in plenty of time to meet our need (see Heb. 4:16). Don’t merely pray for the problem to go away, or that you will get something you need or desire, but also pray that God will strengthen you during your waiting period. Pray that you will have the grace to wait with a good attitude. A good attitude glorifies God and is a good witness of our faith to others.

Saying
. After we have prayed, it’s important that we talk as if we truly believe God is working in our favor. We don’t have to deny the existence of the problem, but we should talk about it as little as possible. It is also very important to include in our conversation that we believe God is involved and we are expecting a breakthrough. Hold fast your confession of faith in God!

Doing
. The third ingredient in releasing your faith is to do whatever you believe God is asking you to do. Obedience is a key to our victory and shows that we have faith in God. Sometimes He even asks us to do nothing, and in that case, nothing is what we need to do.

If we are hearers of the Word and not doers, we are deceiving ourselves through reasoning that is contrary to the truth (see James 1:22).
Satan will use fear to steal our destiny if we allow him to, but our faith has more power than fear when it is released.

W
hen God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, Moses gave one excuse after another as to why he could not obey. All his excuses were rooted in fear. When Moses finally did take a step of faith, which manifested in obedience, he was used mightily by God.

What do you think of yourself? I encourage you to work with the Holy Spirit to see yourself the way God sees you—as a unique and powerful child of God. There is no power without confidence. Are you afraid God is not pleased with you? Do you regularly inventory all your faults, past failures, and weaknesses, and then feel weak like Moses did due to fear? If you do, then you are focusing on the wrong things. God gives us His power (grace) to enable us to do what is needed in spite of our weaknesses.

I experienced a lot of fear about myself, so if you are in that place right now, I can assure you that I know how you “feel.” But, I am encouraging you to remember that your feelings don’t convey truth; only God’s Word does that. You may feel you are not what you are supposed to be, that you are strange or unusual, but the truth is we are all uniquely created by God for a special purpose and should learn how to enjoy ourselves.

I wasted some years trying to be like other people I knew, but I found
that God won’t help us be anyone other than ourselves. Relax, learn to love yourself, and don’t be afraid that you won’t be able to do what you need to do. The truth is that none of us can do what we need to do without God’s help. If we look at only what we think we can do, we will all be frightened; but if we look at Jesus and focus on Him, He will give us the courage to go forward even in the presence of fear.

I
believe God mourns with us when we suffer a great loss. After all, when Jesus taught us to pray, He told us to call God “Abba,” which is best translated as “Daddy.” What daddy doesn’t ache when his little boy comes home defeated after striking out at his Little League game? What mother doesn’t feel her own heart break as her little girl comes home from school having been taunted on the playground? In the overall scheme of things, these are tiny losses and hurts, and the parent knows that. But the pain of seeing your child suffering is piercing nonetheless.

Immediately after teaching the disciples to pray what we know as the
Lord’s Prayer, Jesus asked, “What man is there of you, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will hand him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will hand him a serpent?” (Matt. 7:9–10). In other words, because He is our Father, God suffers when we suffer. And while He could change our circumstances in an instant, more often than not, He doesn’t. But when He sees His child suffer, He suffers, too.

When you are feeling loss and sorrow, ask God to hold you in the hollow of His hand, to whisper His comfort and to stroke your head, like a parent fussing over his fevered child. You may or may not
feel
that comfort, but God’s Word is true, and so is He.

S
ometimes we see the wicked succeeding and getting away with evil and it discourages us. As children of God, we expect to be blessed more than those who are not serving God. We might paraphrase a portion of Psalm 73 this way:
“It looked to me as if the wicked were better off than the righteous, until I realized God’s patience does run out and He will deal with them.”

The Bible emphatically states that the wicked in the end will be cut
off, but the righteous shall inherit the land. I don’t think “the end” necessarily means the end of the world or the end of our lives. I think it means when all is said and done, in due time (God’s time), the blessings of the child of God will surpass those of the wicked. The Word of God says in Galations 6:9 that if we refuse to become weary in well doing, in due time we shall reap if we don’t faint.

It is a serious mistake to look at what other people have and compare it to what you have. God has an individual and unique plan for each of us, and comparison only tends to be a source of discouragement or pride. If we feel we are better off than others, we may become prideful (thinking more highly of ourselves than we should); if we feel they are better off than us, we may become discouraged and even depressed.

It is vital that you learn to accept and respect the person God made you to be. All of our behaviors may be far from what they need to be, but if we are willing to change, God will keep working with us, and every day we will get better and better in every way. Don’t despise yourself because of your imperfections; instead, learn to celebrate your successes, even small ones.

F
rom Genesis to Revelation, we read of God’s forgiveness toward us and of our need to forgive others. It is one of the main themes of the Bible. We’re very eager to receive forgiveness, but we often find it extremely difficult to offer others the forgiveness that we have freely received from God. We may want to forgive, try to forgive, and pray to be able to forgive, and yet we remain bitter, resentful, and filled with angry and unforgiving thoughts. Why? If we want to forgive, why is it so difficult to do so?

The truth is, forgiveness hurts. It’s painful. Fortunately, you can learn how to manage your emotions rather than allowing them to manage you. What can you expect from your emotions once you begin to operate in forgiveness toward yourself or others? God is ready and willing to forgive you, but are you equally ready and willing to receive His forgiveness? Your emotions can get in the way. You may not “feel” worthy of receiving such a wonderful and undeserved gift from God. You may “feel” you need to somehow pay for what you have done wrong. You may “feel” you must sacrifice in some way in order to pay for your sins. If you do feel that way, I totally understand and can even say it is quite normal, but I also must say it is not God’s will for you.

I persecuted myself for many years trying to pay a debt that Jesus had already paid. Over time I’ve come not just to understand but to receive the truth that Jesus paid the price and took on Himself the ultimate hurt so I wouldn’t have to. You and I can’t pay a debt that has already been paid—the only thing we can do is receive it or reject it. When we do learn to freely receive God’s forgiveness, then it is easier to let it flow through us to others.

T
he first thing that really helps me forgive is to remember this:
God forgives me for much more than I will ever have to forgive others for
. We may not do what others have done to us, but then again we may do things that are worse. In God’s Kingdom sin does not come in sizes like small, medium, and large; sin is just sin! Do yourself a favor and forgive quickly and freely (without expectation or stipulation). The longer you hold a grudge, the more difficult it is to let it go.

The second thing that helps me forgive is to
think of God’s mercy
. Mercy is the most beautiful gift we can give or receive. It cannot be earned and is not deserved—otherwise, it wouldn’t be mercy. I like to think of mercy as looking beyond
what
was done wrong and on to
why
it was done. Many times people do a hurtful thing and don’t know why they are doing it, or they may not even realize they are doing it. I was hurt so badly in my childhood that I in turn frequently hurt others with my harsh words and attitudes. But I did not realize I was being harsh; because life had been so hard and painful for me, that harshness had become part of me.