Doubting God

We actually deceive our self when we think that we have life all figured out (1 Corinthians 3:18-19). God smiles patiently at those who profess to be wise. He considers human wisdom as foolishness (Romans 1:22). As foolish as Satan was to rebel against God, he is smarter than we are. God calls him the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Yet, we have power over Satan if we surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We can take authority over Satan when he tries to take advantage of us, and attempts to get the victory in our circumstances (Daniel 10:13). As Believers we can refuse to rely on our human wisdom; and, instead, seek God in all of our choices and decisions (Proverbs 3:5-6; Isaiah 55:6).

At times, we are subjected to life's fears, worries and anxieties. Actually, we are doubting God when we worry. Sadly, worry causes us to view our self as an orphan, alone in the world without nurturing caretakers (Psalm 68:5). We are saying that we can achieve a better, more sure change in our circumstances by worrying than we can by trusting in and waiting on our Father God (Matthew 6:27).

Often we worry our self right out of faith in God. We get discouraged and we cry our self to sleep, if we can sleep at all with all of the stress hormones ravaging our body. We look to people, places and things to make us happy, when all along the King of the Universe dwells right in our heart (Ephesians 3:17).

In Christ, we have an antidote to worry. Someone said, “Don’t sweat the small stuff. Everything is small stuff.” In other words, “Don’t worry. Be happy.” God is capable of perfecting orchestrating both the large and small details of our life. He daily cares for the birds and flowers; and we are even more important to Him than they are (Matthew 10:29-31).

God’s Spirit will give us the mind of Christ if we totally surrender our life to Him (1 Corinthians 2:16). Only God can save and provide for us in body, soul and spirit. We can live by faith in His faithfulness, because He never lets us down (Hebrews 13:5). We often forget that there is a seed for a miracle in each and every trial we experience.

Prayer:

Father God, the more trials we experience in this life, the more we fear we will have to go through. We insult You by limiting Your resources, power and love for us. Remind us that we can cast all of our cares on You, because You always care about us and what we need (1 Peter 5:7). Help us to depend only on You as our Savior, Lord and King.

Thought for the Day:

If we live in fear of the future, we forfeit the blessings of today.

Let God Be God

 Read: Titus 3:3-7

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will wait for Him." The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good to hope silently for the salvation of the Lord. - Lamentations 3:24-26

We all adopt survival techniques from birth, which we carry with us into adulthood. Even though our caretakers did their best in most cases, they were not always available to make sure that we had what we needed at the time that we needed it. This caused us to grow up relying on and protecting our self.

Therefore, we try, by the sheer power of our will, to hold everything together. We think that we have to handle our problems on our own. We search, often in vain, for any sense of security in life. We use all of our might to hang on, to fix it, to change it, to manage it or to try to make it right. God wants us to LET GO and to admit that we are powerless and that we need His power in our life.

One reason that people are reluctant to trust God is that they blame God for the bad things that happen in life. This launches us into a lifestyle of controlling. Controlling life puts a tremendous amount of stress on us. We suffer mentally, emotionally and physically because we try to hold everything together. We carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. We think that keeping our self and our loved ones safe is up to us.

We forget that God created paradise as His will for our lives. Actually, sin in our life and the lives of everyone around us causes negative situations to occur. The key to remember is that when we surrender to God, He always works everything out for our good, even the negative things (Romans 8:28).

God knows everything from the beginning to the end of our life. He sees the pitfalls and He knows the joys, which He prepared for each of us. Only as we surrender our will to His can we know the true riches of life on this earth (Romans 8: 28; Jeremiah 29:11). Admitting we are powerless and that we need Him is the first step toward serenity and healing. Let God be God in your life.

God wants us to completely surrender our will to His and to stand defenseless before Him. To surrender means to cease resistance and to submit to authority. That may sound like walking into bondage, but surrender is actually the doorway to freedom. This is called “dying to self.” Pride will not surrender. Self-righteousness will not surrender. Fear will not surrender. Only those who are totally broken are ready to surrender and to live with total dependence upon God. God does not take our free will away from us. He simply asks us to surrender our will to His.

When we surrender to God, we say, “Go ahead, Lord, and have Your way with me.” We allow Him to humble our pride and to stop our reliance on our self as we put our life into His capable hands. He will then restore us to the person He intends for us to be, free of mental and emotional pain and guilt and equipped to serve Him in His chosen ministry for us.

Trying to control our life usually produces the OPPOSITE effect of what we want. Our dependency on anything other than God - addictions, people, places, jobs, things, animals - puts us into bondage to them. Only God’s love produces true freedom.

WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG (2 Corinthians 12:10). When we stop trying to control life and give our control over to God, we allow Him to provide for and to protect us. His mighty power starts working in us and through us. When we surrender our life to Him, He accomplishes infinitely more in and through our life than we could ever ask or think (Ephesians 3: 20).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to get off the throne of my life and relinquish control of my life to You. Life is chaotic when I am on the throne. Life is peaceful and calm when You are on the throne, and only then can I live and walk in true serenity.

Thought for the Day:

Surrender each moment of your day to the Lord and rejoice evermore.



(Many thanks to Donny Roberston for his photo.)