Biblical accounts of heroes of the faith abound in good lessons for us to learn and to use for our own life. We draw from the example of this “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1). Though they were imperfectly human, we gain courage and conviction from their modeled behavior and attitude.
Their lives give us perspective on how to survive in our own trials and tribulation. Their secret was: trusting only in God’s love and care for us every day of our life (Proverbs 3:5-6). Rather than to complain about our circumstances, we can embrace them, learn from them, and allow them to increase our faith and to perfect us (Philippians 2:14-16).
This allows our life to be a shining light, a city set on a hill (Matthew 5:14-16) for all to see our example, which will encourage those who are familiar with our life, struggles, and the times we have trusted God and overcome our issues. God is in control. He’s got this.
Worry weakens our faith, and it prevents our whole heart from totally trusting in the Lord to abundantly supply everything that we actually need in our life. Yes, bad things do happen to good people, and God may not answer our prayers as we want Him to; but if we keep an open mind, we see that He always does what is best for us.
God also gives us the fruit of His Spirit to strengthen us through our trials. He did not answer Jesus’ prayer as He requested, but He did give Simon to Jesus to help Him to carry His cross, and He shortened the hours Jesus had to hang on the cross to six hours rather than days and days like it normally took (Hebrews 5:7-8; Matthew 27:50-51).
If we remember how faithful our Daddy God is in our life, we can exchange fear with faith. Thinking back over our lifetime, we did experience distressing times, but God always worked them out for our ultimate good – sometimes even better than we ever imagined (Romans 8:28).
Prayer:
Father God, we often get discouraged, grouchy, frustrated, frightened and miserable when we go through, or imagine going through painful trials. Teach us how to change our focus, viewpoint and perspective, so that we see that if we are walking by the guidance of Your Spirit each moment of our day, You are always in control. We want to live as a city set on hill, rather than to hide Your light within us under a basket (Matthew 5:14-16).
Please take away the habit of viewing our issues from the standpoint of worse-case scenarios, so that we do not foster fear, but faith in our soul. We want to be examples of joy, not depression; faith, not fear; strength, not weakness; and peace, not turmoil and unrest. Help us to decrease, so that You can increase in our life. You are worthy of all of our praise.
Thought for the Day:
When facing the cross and persecution and trials that He would endure in His last days as a human being on this earth, Jesus spent hours in prayer in the garden with a few trusted disciples; Jesus wanted our Daddy God to find another way to save us from our sins, but He ultimately submitted to God’s will for His life; then, three days later, He rose victoriously from the grave in His immortal body, and God gave Him authority and dominion over everything.
- Matthew 26:39-42
