Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions (15 page)

J
esus told us plainly what we need to do if we want to follow Him. The “cross” you and I are asked to carry in life is simply one of unselfishness. Most of us concentrate on what we can
get
in life, but we need to concentrate on what we can
give
. We think about what other people should
do for us and often become angry because they do not give us what we want. Instead, we should think aggressively about what we can do for others and then trust God to meet our needs and fulfill our desires.

Please notice that I say we need to think
aggressively
about what we can do for others. Galatians 6:10 conveys the same meaning, encouraging us to “Be mindful to be a blessing.” Simply put, to “be mindful” means to be intentional, to be purposeful and deliberate. God wants us to think on purpose and to make a point of being a blessing to others.

I do my best to be aggressive in thinking about who I can bless, and realizing I must give and help on purpose has been very beneficial to me. It did not come naturally. I had to learn to do it, but it has been one of the greatest, most rewarding lessons of my life. There are certainly times when I “feel” like being a blessing, but there are many times when I don’t.

Sometimes I may also feel that people should be doing more for me, and in reality perhaps they should be, but that cannot be my concern. You cannot live by what you feel and ever have consistency and stability. Our ability to choose is greater than how we feel, and it is that ability we must activate. Be deliberate about loving others!

J
ust because ordinary people take steps to accomplish extraordinary things does not mean that they do not feel fear. I believe the Old
Testament hero Esther felt fear when she was asked to leave her familiar, comfortable life and enter the king’s harem so she could be used by God to save her nation. I believe Joshua felt fear when, after Moses died, he was given the job of taking the Israelites into the Promised Land.

I know I had fear when God called me to quit my job and prepare for ministry. I still remember the fear I felt then, but it frightens me more now to think of how my life would have turned out had I not faced the fear and pressed forward to do God’s will. Fear does not mean you are a coward. It only means that you need to be willing to feel the fear and do what you need to do anyway. It’s one of my favorite phrases: “Do it afraid!”

If I had let the fear I felt stop me, where would I be today? What would I be doing? Would I be happy and fulfilled? Or would I be sitting at home, depressed and wondering why my life has been such a disappointment? I believe a lot of unhappy people are individuals who have let fear rule their lives.

How about you, my friend? Are you doing what you really believe you should be doing at this stage in your life, or have you allowed fear and a lack of confidence to prevent you from stepping out into new things—or higher levels of old things? If you don’t like your answer, then let me give you some good news: It is never too late to begin again! Don’t spend one more day living a narrow life that has room for only you and your fears. Make a decision right now that you will learn to live boldly, aggressively, and confidently. Don’t let fear rule you any longer.

A
confident person does not fear being unloved, because they know first and foremost that God loves them unconditionally. To be whole and complete, you and I need to know we are loved. Everyone desires and needs love and acceptance from God and others. Although not everyone will accept and love us, some will. I encourage you to concentrate on those who do love you and forget about those who don’t. God certainly does love us, and He can provide others who do as well—if we’ll look to Him and stop making bad choices about whom we bring into our circle of inclusion.

I believe we need to have what I call “divine connections.” In other words, pray about your circle of friends. Don’t just decide what social group you want to be part of and then try to get into it. Instead, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in choosing who you want to be close to.

The first place to start if you need to be loved is with God. He is a Father who wants to shower love and blessings upon His children. If your natural father did not love you properly, you can now get from God what you missed in your childhood. Love is the healing balm that the world needs, and God offers it freely and continuously. His love is unconditional. He does not love us
if
; He simply and for all time loves us. He does not love us because we deserve it; He loves us because He is kind and wants to.

S
ince being good to people has been one of my personal goals, my “joy tank” never runs dry for very long. I have even discovered that when I do get sad or discouraged, I can begin to think on purpose about what I can do for someone else, and before long I am joyful again.

You may have heard many times that the Bible says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35
NKJV
). The Amplified Bible renders that verse this way: “It is more blessed (makes one happier and more to be envied) to give than to receive.” You may know that verse, but do you really believe it? If you do, then you are probably doing your best to be a blessing everywhere you go. I must admit that, for many years, I could quote this verse, but I obviously didn’t really believe it because I spent my time trying to be blessed rather than being a blessing.

I have now learned that we do not even know what “happy” is until we forget about ourselves, start focusing on others, and become generous givers. In order to be generous, we have to do more than simply plunk some change in a bucket during the holidays or give to the church once a week. Actually, I think learning to give in church should simply be practice for the way we should live our everyday lives. I do not just want to merely give offerings; I want to be a giver. I want to offer myself every day to be used for whatever God chooses. For this
change to take place in my life I had to change my thinking. I had to think and say thousands of times, “I love people, and I enjoy helping them.” This thought will be life-changing for you if you put it to work in your life.

As you become a generous giver, you will be amazed at how happy you will be and how much you will enjoy life. If you want to be like God, you need to always go the extra mile, always do more than you have to, always give more than enough, and always be generous.

W
e cannot love ourselves unless we realize how much God loves us, and if we don’t love ourselves, we cannot love other people. We cannot maintain good, healthy relationships without this foundation of love in our lives.

By the time I met the man I have been married to since 1967, I was desperate for love but did not know how to receive it, even when it was available. My husband, Dave, really did love me, but I found myself constantly deflecting his love due to the way I felt about myself down deep inside. As I entered into a serious and committed relationship
with God, through Jesus Christ, I began to learn about God’s love. But it took a long time to fully accept it. When you feel unlovable, it is hard to get it through your head and down into your heart that God loves you perfectly—even though you are not perfect and never will be as long as you are on the earth.

There is only one thing you can do with a free gift: receive it and be grateful. I urge you to take a step of faith right now and say out loud, “God loves me unconditionally, and I receive His love!” You may have to say it a hundred times a day, like I did for months, before it finally sinks in, but when it does it will be the happiest day of your life. To know that you are loved by someone you can trust is the best and most comforting feeling in the world. God will not only love you that way, but He will also provide other people who will truly love you. When He does provide, be sure to remain thankful for those people. Having people who genuinely love you is one of the most precious gifts in the world.

I
will not fear” is the only acceptable attitude we can have toward fear. That does not mean that you and I will never feel fear, but it does mean that we will not allow it to rule our decisions and actions.
The Bible says that God has not given us a spirit of fear. Fear is not from God; it is the devil’s tool to keep us from enjoying our lives and making progress. Fear causes us to run, retreat, or shrink back. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:38 that we are to live by faith and not draw back in fear—and if we do draw back in fear, God’s soul has no delight in us. That does not mean God does not love us; it simply means He is disappointed because He wants us to experience all of the good things He has in His plan for us. We can receive from God only by faith.

We should strive to do everything with a spirit of faith. Faith is confidence in God and a belief that His promises are true. Faith will cause you to go forward, to try new things, and to be aggressive. Unless we make a firm decision to “fear not,” we will never be free from the power of it. “Do it afraid” means to feel the fear and do what you believe you should do anyway.

I encourage you to be firm in your resolve to do whatever you need to do, even if you have to “do it afraid!”

M
any people are confused about what they are to do with their lives. They don’t know what God’s will is for them; they are without
direction. I felt the same way once, but I discovered my destiny by trying several things. I tried working in the nursery at church and quickly discovered that I was not called to work with children. I tried being my pastor’s secretary, and after one day I was fired with no explanation except, “This just isn’t right.” I was devastated at first, until a short while later I was asked to start a weekly meeting on Thursday mornings at church and teach God’s Word. I quickly found where I fit. I could have spent my life being confused, but I thank God that I was confident enough to step out and discover what was right for me. I did it through the process of elimination, and I experienced some disappointments—but it all worked out well in the end.

If you are doing nothing with your life because you are not sure what to do, then I recommend that you pray and begin trying some things. It won’t take long before you will feel comfortable with something. It will be a perfect fit for you. Think of it this way: when you go out to buy a new outfit, you probably try on several things until you find what fits right, is comfortable, and looks good on you. Why not try the same thing with discovering your destiny? A confident person is not afraid to make mistakes, and if they do, they recover and press on.