God Meets Our Needs

 

Life's challenges often isolate us and cause us to understand loneliness like we never experienced it before now. We feel abandoned, neglected and even ignored.

Our friends surround us during the funeral of our loved one; but then they forget to call, come over to visit, invite us to their home or on an outing in the ensuing weeks.

This loneliness causes us to look inward and we find a void there as well. God seems distant and we either panic or get angry with Him for forsaking us.

There is no Biblical evidence that God ever leaves His children. We leave Him, but He never leaves or forsakes us, and He always stays closer to us than a brother (Hebrews 13:5; Proverbs 18:24).

We often develop expectations and requirements, which we imagine God fulfilling. We have our own timetable and we are devastated when God does not meet our demands.

We seek blessings, which He knows are not for our good at this time in our life. He has other plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), but we often have no patience to wait on God's timing to meet our needs.

God knows everything about our life from beginning to end (Proverbs 5:21). He promises to meet all of our needs through His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19).

Rather than stewing in the juices of our loneliness, we can take up a hobby, join a civic organization or exercise at the local health club. Getting more involved with our church family is the best use of our unscheduled time.

Prayer:

Father God, teach us that rather than focusing on our desires, we can view the needs of others around us and pray about You using us to meet their needs. Allow Your Spirit to guide us to the exact person You want us to help. Otherwise, we may not be in Your will and we may thwart the plans You have for that person.

Open our eyes and allow us to meet new people, which we can invite to join us at our church or our local Bible study. Remind us to look for people sitting alone, so we can greet them and allow them to see Your peace and joy in us to bring them a smile to encourage their day.

Thought for the Day:

Sometimes we accuse God of not caring; however, hindsight always reveals the effort of God's Spirit behind the scenes, working out all things for our eventual good.

- Romans 8:28; 1 Peter 5:7

 

Come to My Funeral

 

 

As we habitually die to our self-nature, we continually live in God’s presence, following the leading of His Spirit and walking in His will. Even if we live in the most perverse of circumstances, His life in us sustains us through it all. We focus on the spiritual, eternal aspects, which no one and no circumstance can steal from us. We have His guarantee that the world will pass away, but that if we live according to His will, we live with Him now and forever (1 John 2:17).

How many of us are truly willing to lay down our life every single day? John 13:38) The Good News is that Christ in us enables us to die to sin and to refuse to fulfill the deeds of our flesh, which rise up within us (Romans 8:13). All authority is givento Jesus, and He continually lives within every Born Again Believer (Matthew 28:18). He is our victory, and we live victoriously as we follow the leading of His Spirit moment by moment throughout our day.

Dying to our self is not a very popular concept today (1 Corinthians 15:31). We live for our self, and we wallow in the desires of the flesh. Therefore, to crucify our flesh is a foreign concept to most Christians today. We can expect nothing less from a society that purports the concept of, “If it feels good, do it.” There is every type of degradation and deprivation known to man permeating every facet of our society. It constantly bombards us.

Are you willing to join me at my funeral? We simply need to decide that we are willing to no longer promote our self, and instead to promote Christ and His Kingdom in the earth. His Word and His Spirit reveal to us His will for our life. His Spirit conforms us into His image (Romans 8:29). By His loving care for us, He proves to us that He is worthy of our trust and praise. He calls us to live joyfully, prayerfully and thankfully in ever situation (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Prayer:

Father God, once we separate our self from this world, and live for You, we learn to be content because You are always in us and with us (Philippians 4:12). We willingly lay down our life for You, just as You freely laid down Your life for us. Keep us in the center of Your will. Do not allow us to wander to the left or the right. Teach us to have faith in Your faithfulness and to empty our self of our own abilities and effort, so that we can enter into Your rest (Hebrews 4:10). Show us the works You established for us to accomplish before the foundation of the world, and help us to walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

Thought for the Day:

God is in control; and He is working out all things, even the most perverse and negative circumstance, for our ultimate good. – Romans 8:28