Facing the Future

 

When we pay attention to all that God does for us throughout our day, we find our soul overflowing with love and gratitude to Him. We rejoice in Him, His provision, His peace and His joy that He showers us with each moment of our day. He is our source of rejoicing.

 

The Trinity of God is available to us every moment of the day, because God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit abides within us. He provides everything for us exactly when we need it – in His perfect timing and will. 

 

Each day is a new surprise, as we put our trust in Him with every hurdle we come up against. Thanks to God’s Spirit, we have fathomless riches because of who He is and what He does for us each day. This is all possible only because of what Jesus, the Son, did for us on Calvary’s cross. 

 

Once we totally surrender to our Father’s love, our supply of His blessings is instant and eternal. Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Our Father God intimately knows us, because He knitted us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139). 

 

We recognize the Holy Spirit’s voice, He leads us, and we follow (John 10:4). God’s Trinity goes before us, to ward off any approaching enemy, and we feel protected and secure in His love (Psalm 27:1-3). He makes a way for us over every towering mountain pass, flooded creek, and even the darkest valley (Psalm 23). 

 

God makes the crooked places straight for us (Isaiah 45:2), He knows ahead of time all of the events of our tomorrows, and He keeps us close to Him (Proverbs 18:24). We even slumber and sleep in His eternal peace. He provides all of our needs.

 

Since God knows what lies ahead of us, we thrive in His mercy, truth, and grace through every circumstance that we face. He heals us in body and soul and spirit, reduces the pain of our trials, and uses us as a testimony of His grace and provision (Philippians 4:19).

 

Prayer:

Father God, it is a comfort to know that we are not a nameless entity who drifts around in this stress-filled life until the day that we die. We are not strangers in the throng of humanity surrounding us, but we are known by You, provided for by You, saved by Your grace, and we will spend eternity in Your service. In the center of Your love, even death is not our enemy, because Jesus overcame death and He abides within us (1 Corinthians 15:19-23).

 

Thank You for walking with us and in us, during every step of our life on this earth. You are our Helper, Hope and Expectation. We need You to care for us each moment of the day, and we thank You for all You have done for us, in us, and will do for us in our future. We have the confidence to face whatever the future holds for us, because You are working our Your purposes for our life. We look forward to worshipping You, with the angels around Your throne (Revelation 7:11), for all of eternity.

 

Thought for the Day:

We do not know what the future holds for us, but we do know who holds us in our future; He knows the number of hairs on our head, He rejoices over us with singing, and He allows us to come boldly to His throne in our every moment of need. 

-      Luke 12:7; Zephaniah 3:17; Hebrews 4:16

 

The Benefits of Believing

Anger previously peppered our life, and rose from the disappointments we experience from conception, and which intensified throughout the years. Some have a more violent past than others, but we all suffered from deprivation, violence, permissiveness and/or wickedness in one form or another. Salvation eliminates much of our anger. Christ frees us and heals the pain of our past and gives us courage to face the future.

The second asset we receive with salvation is the blanket of peace, which defies human explanation and envelops every fiber of our being (Philippians 4:7). We suddenly realize that we are not alone (Hebrews 13:5). We have no need to struggle through life any longer. Rather than seeing life as full of hopelessness, we see that all things are now possible, because Christ lives in us (Luke 18:27). In our exhaustion, we yoke up with Jesus and find fulfilling rest (Matthew 11:28:390; Hebrews 4:10).

Jealousy and envy no longer rot our bones (Proverbs 14:40), because we realize that God does not love another person better than He loves me. He loves us all enough to go to Calvary’s cross and bear the penalty of our shameful sins. Problems only arise when we compare our life to someone else’s and focus on what we do not have, rather than to live in gratitude for what we do have. God works all things, even bad things, out for the ultimate good (Romans 8:28; John 3:16, 3:34).

We are filled with God’s Spirit (Romans 8:9). We are able to accomplish the works God created for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), because we can do anything now that Christ abides within us (Philippians 4:13, 19). When we feel defeated, His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9; Psalm 91:15). God works in and through us as we walk in His Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25). We are still powerless alone, but Christ in us is infinitely able. We are now more than conquerors and nothing separates us from His love (2 Corinthians 9:8; Romans 8:37-39).

Prayer:

Father God, You are our Everything (Psalms 23 & 91). There is not a hair on our head that grows in or falls out, which You do not see (Matthew 10:30). You give us wisdom to face the challenges of life (1 Corinthians 1:30), and You walk within us every step of the way (Hebrews 13:5). Each day, we acknowledge You and You direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). When life worries or frustrates us, we can cast every care on Your shoulders, because You care for us infinitely more than we even care about our self (1 Peter 5:7).

Thought for the Day:

When I feel like I can no longer face the challenges of life, I realize that the King of Kings forgives me and provides me with love, power and a calm mind, which allows me to obey His will. - 1 John 1:9, Romans 8:1-2, 2 Timothy 1:7