True Contentment

When life is free from stress and trials, we tend to forget God, to take credit for our successes and to change our focus from Christ-centered to self-centered.

God gives us room to follow our carnal desires and to experiment with our own plans and goals (Romans 1:24); so that when we fail or get the wind knocked out of us, we will run back to Him.

A trial brings us to our knees and reminds us that only as we are weak can we be truly strong in Him (2 Corinthians 12:9-11). We no longer find fulfillment in a sinful lifestyle. God is our exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4, 149:4).

When God delivers us from various trials and temptations, our faith increases and we grow spiritually. We realize that we are now dead to sin and alive in Christ (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:4).

Regardless of our circumstances, our soul finds true contentment, which comes from God alone. We gradually stop depending on our self and depend only on God. He becomes the very air we breathe.

Christ is our whole life (Colossians 3:3-4). We realize our utter dependence on His Spirit to guide us, comfort us and give us strength for each new day (Lamentations 3:22-23).

As we decrease, He increases (John 3:30-35) and draws us into a deeper walk with Him. We devour His Word, and this life-giving source fills us with faith and wisdom for living in this insecure world.

Prayer:

Father God, help us to find serenity, joy and contentment of soul in You alone. Nothing that this world offers to us equals to what You give us through Your mercy and grace. Through our total dependence on You, we find Your strength for each moment of the day as we rise up to meet the challenges life throws at us.

We can rest in You, because You have all things under Your control. We want to tell the world what you mean to us. Give us daily opportunities to be a friend in order to win a soul to Your love. Take pleasure in us as we hope in Your steadfast love (Psalm 147:11).

Thought for the Day:

Our delight is always in the Lord, because we find our true contentment and fulfillment in God alone. - Psalm 37:4

The God of Hope

Read: Proverbs 3: 5-6

“We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.” – Psalm 33:20

There is so much suffering in the world. From birth to death, life inflicts some of us with atrocities that are hard to fathom. This terrifying devastation is often more than we can bear. In spite of what we suffer, the God of Hope has a purpose for our life.

 

 

When our heart is sad, we can look to God for deliverance. We can praise Him again and again, because He is our God and Savior (Psalm 42:11). God collects every single tear that we ever shed in His bottle and records them all in His book (Psalm 56:8). Just imagine the size of that bottle and scroll! He cares about us so much that He sent His son to die in our place and to pay the penalty of our sins.

Life on this earth is merely temporal. After our last breath on earth, our next breath will be in eternity. Whether we go to Heaven or hell, we will spend eternity there. Remembering that Heaven is our eternal home gives Believers a new perspective on the heart-break, stress, confusion, loneliness, irritations and desolation we experience in this secular world. We face the consequences of discrimination, environmental disasters, false accusations, violence, lies, hatred, war, unfaithfulness and every immoral decision. However, God lives within us through every negative experience, and will help us to endure to the end with a song in our heart and victory in our walk (Matthew 24:12-13; Psalm 108:1; 1 Corinthians 15:57).

God also cares about every negative emotion, which infects our soul. He desires to replace it with the fruit of His Spirit. At times we are so wounded that we cannot hold up our head or take one step. Our lips have not smiled in years. However, the goodness of God is just waiting to fill our hearts and sustain us with His love. There is no need to turn away from God, entertain bitterness in our soul or plan a strategy of revenge against a sinful world that often overwhelms us (Proverbs 13:12). Through each trial, God gives us hope that provides a trustworthy anchor for our soul (Hebrews 6:18-20).

We come out of the circumstance stronger and more secure in God’s love. The Lord is our Helper, and there is no need for fear (Hebrews 13:6). He is the God of hope and He fills us with joy and peace, as we trust in Him (Romans 15:13). Paul and James both believed that it is actually possible to rejoice in our suffering (Romans 5:3; James 1:2). They knew the secret of growing through our tribulation. Through suffering, we have more empathy and grace for others, as well as humility in spirit and gratitude for everything that God does for us each day. Jesus Himself taught us that we learn obedience through the things that we suffer (Hebrews 5:8).

Even if the circumstances do not turn out as we hoped they would, we have the example of Biblical Saints who clung to their trust in the faithfulness of God (Hebrews 11:13). God prepared a home in Heaven for Believers, and we will live with Him there for eternity (Hebrews 11:15-16). When life attempts to pull us from God’s everlasting arms, we only need to snuggle deeper. He will never allow anyone or anything to rip us from His embrace. As we walk by faith, God uses us as a lift boat for others who suffer persecution or difficulties. We impart to them the hope that God gave us in similar circumstances. Their faith increases when we share our testimony with them.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, our hearts rejoice in You, because we trust in Your holy name. Your unfailing love rests upon us and we put our hope in You (Psalm 33:21-22). Our soul waits silently for You, because You are our hope. You are our Rock and Salvation, our Stronghold. Therefore, we will never be shaken (Psalm 62:5-6). We may have dreams and goals for our life, but You direct our steps (Proverbs 16:9). You maneuver us through the treacherous waters of life to put us in the right place at the right time to accomplish Your will. 

Thought for the Day:

God is with the broken-hearted and carries us through our troubles. – Psalm 147:3

I Give Up!

Trying to control life puts a tremendous amount of pressure on us. We strive for perfection and insist on everyone around us doing so as well. We suffer mentally, emotionally and physically because we try to hold everything together by our own self-effort. We carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. We think that it is up to us to keep us and our loved ones safe.

This launches us into a lifestyle of controlling.

Our dependency on anything other than God - addictions, people, places, jobs, things, pets, etc - puts us into bondage to them. When we are overly attached to these things, we give them permission to brandish inordinate power over our life. Every person who ever lived has some form of dysfunction. There are no perfect human beings; that also means that there are no perfect parents and no perfect children. Jesus Christ holds the patent on perfection.

Trying to control people and events usually produces the opposite effect of what we want. Chaos reigns, because people rebel against our need to control. God’s love produces freedom. It is only as we surrender the complete control of our life to Him that we can walk in freedom, peace and joy. Admitting that we are powerless and that we need a Savior is the first step toward healing. The Bible pleads with us to LET GOD BE GOD in our life.

When we are Born Again, God does not take away our free will. He simply asks us to surrender our will to His. God knew all about our life before the foundation of the world (Jeremiah 1:5). He sees the pitfalls and He knows the joys 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). God wants us to completely surrender our will and to be vulnerable before Him so that He can provide us with abundant blessings.

Surrender is the doorway to freedom. It is a state of brokenness, of total dependence upon God, of receiving God’s forgiveness and of having a personal, daily relationship with our living Lord Jesus Christ. When we surrender to God, we say, “Go ahead, Lord, and have Your way with me.” We allow Him to break our pride and our self-reliance. We put our life into His capable hands. Then, He recreates us into the person He intends for us to be, free of emotional pain and shame and equipped to serve Him in His chosen ministry for us. 

We cannot change people or circumstances, but God can. The key to surrender is to believe that the power of God can truly overcome any person or circumstance in our life. We also give His Spirit permission to replace our negative characteristics with His Fruit during the process of Sanctification (Galatians 5:22-23). Then, He reveals our faulty beliefs to us one at a time and produces in us both the desire and the ability to do what pleases Him (Philippians 2:13).

“Dying to self” (Matthew 16:24) does not mean to diminish our God given identity, personality, needs or giftedness. It is simply allowing God to replace our old, carnal sinful nature with His Godly nature. We surrender our will to God, in order for Him to direct us according to His will (Titus 3:3-7; Romans 6:6; Galatians 2: 20; 2 Corinthians 12: 9). We echo Jesus’ prayer, "Father, …not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we are the strongest when we are weak (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). When we stop trying to control life and give You control of our life instead, we allow You to provide for and to protect us. Your mighty power starts working in and through us, and You accomplish infinitely more than we could ever ask or think (Ephesians 3: 20). Life is chaotic when “self” is on the throne, directing us. However, our life is peaceful and calm when You are on the throne. Help us to daily take up our cross and surrender our life to You.

Thought for the Day:

We live and walk in true serenity, if Jesus is on the throne of our life.