Current events have, for me anyway, highlighted evil doers. And not only that, it can seem that they’re winning.
Too often I focus on bad times, horrible events, evil deeds.
It is easy for me to fret about it.
Do not fret
But God tells me not to fret.
Do not fret because of evildoers. (Psalm 37:1)
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. (Psalm 37:8)
God will deal with evil
God tells me He will deal with evil.
For evildoers will be cut off. (Psalm 37:9)
What to do instead
Focus on God instead of looking at troubling people and events.
Trust. Do good. Cultivate faithfulness. (Psalm 37:3)
Delight in the Lord. (Psalm 37:4)
Wait. (Psalm 37:7)
Listen to what God says. (Psalm 73:17-19)
Remember God’s promises to the righteous.
Wait! Give God time!
Praise His faithfulness!
Time’s Up!
Many activities have time limits
I remember teachers saying: “Time’s up. Close your booklets. Put down your pen. Hand in your exam.”
Fans watch the clock count down to the end of the game.
People watch the ball marking the time left to the new year.
Spiritual time limits
Salvation
Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. (Hebrews 3:7-8)
When people die, the time is up to come to belief in Jesus Christ. If someone doesn’t believe, they die in their sins. Period. The time is up.
Unless you believe that I Am, you will die in your sins. (John 8:24)
For unbelievers, time is running out. Jesus said the fields are ripe for harvest. We need to feel urgency for those who aren’t in God’s kingdom.
Beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest. (Matthew 9:38)
And we ourselves must go as directed, and speak as prompted.
Christian Walk
During our lives, there are also time limits.
For us, if we hear His voice calling us to repent of some sin or directing us to some action, we need to hear Him and obey. We can harden our hearts against our Lord’s call, which is sin.
Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)
Let’s don’t become dull of hearing. (Hebrews 5:11)
Pray
Father, please make us sensitive to Your voice. Please help us listen. Please help us know the right thing to do, and do it!
~~~
See also The Last Knock.
Give us grateful hearts, our Father, for Your many blessings. Make us mindful of the needs of others. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What are you thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day?
It is a good exercise to stop and count our blessings, both spiritual and temporal. There are many!
Today, though, I am giving thanks that God is trustworthy.
I am thankful that God is the one in whom I trust.
I don’t/can’t/shouldn’t put my trust in the US President, or Congress, or the courts, or my retirement plan. If I put my trust in anything other than God, my peace is gone and my anxiety soars.
I praise God that He is sovereign, and faithful. I praise Him that He is worthy of trust.
As Christians we should, no matter what:
Choose to trust God
Resolve to trust God
Determine to walk in that trust
Let’s be thankful!
~~~
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:7)
See also Praise our Faithful God
God Keeps His Promises
God, through His word, has made many promises. Some of His promises are for the whole world, some are for Israel, some are for the nations, some are specific for those who reject Him, some are specific for those who believe.
All, ALL, of His promises have been or will be fulfilled.
We rejoice that Almighty God has made promises we rely on.
When we praise God that His promises will be realized, those promises include hard times and judgment.
I see in my own life that rejoicing about His judgment is harder than rejoicing about His blessings.
Yet, both judgment and blessing are part of His glorious plan to sanctify us, and to have Jesus Christ reign over all.
I am determined to praise Him no matter what.
He is worthy to be praised. (Psalm 18:3)
God’s Light in a Dark World
The world is increasingly dark. We rejoice that the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that His light shines in the darkness. We rejoice that we, believers, have been rescued from darkness to receive light and life in Him, and to walk in His light.
God is Light and Life
God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)
I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life. (John 8:12)
It is the Spirit who gives life. (John 6:63)
Believers, Christ-followers, are light
He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. (Colossians 1:13)
You are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14)
God gives us light
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)
You light my lamp; The Lord my God illumines my darkness. (Psalm 18:28)
In Your light we see light. (Psalm 36:9)
Children of Light have responsibilities
You are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth). (Ephesians 5:8–9)
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
Press on!
The darker it gets, the more it matters that we walk as children of light.
Remember we are God’s beloved children, walking in His light and with His resources.
Press on!
Prepare to Praise!
You may—or may not—be pleased with the election results at federal, state, or local levels.
Either way, praise God!
Determine now to praise Him, He who is worthy of all praise.
God is Sovereign
Remember, God is sovereign over the affairs of men.
The Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes. (Daniel 4:25)
He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ (Daniel 4:35)
Determine Now to Praise Him
God told Habakkuk He was bringing the Chaldeans to judge Israel. In advance, Habakkuk reviewed the upcoming invasion and vowed to praise Almighty God in the wake of the disaster.
Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:18)
If you’re happy with the election outcome, praise God. If you are devastated, praise God.
Aids to Praise
You might recite one or more of the Psalms that focus on praise, such as Psalm 8, 65, 75, 100, 111, or 146.
You might pick one or more posts from the two Praise series on this site. (Praise A to Z, Volume 1 and Volume 2).
We are responsible
Now, even more than ever, we have opportunities and responsibilities to honor God. Decide to live as God’s beloved children.
Prayer
Almighty God, You are all-wise, all-holy, all-powerful. We praise You that You are at work in this world, fulfilling Your righteous plan. Help us walk in a manner worthy of You.
Second Wind
We are exhorted to keep going, press on, finish the race.
We have a calling, a purpose in this world. We have a course God set for us.
We are not to grow weary.
This is challenging!
But, think about it. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He has a purpose for our lives. God ordained the work He has for us. What we do, or don’t do, matters.
And! He accomplishes His purpose in our lives.
How to Get a Second Wind
How do we get a second wind in our lives? How do we get renewed energy to finish our race?
Remember whose we are and who we are
Almighty God, Creator and Ruler of everything, chose us, justified us, is sanctifying us, and will bring us to glory.
We are God’s beloved.
Sovereign God is in control and promises to bring good out of everything in our lives.
Determine
Determine to finish the course God set out for us, setting our faces like flint to reach our God-given goals.
Determine in each day, each moment, to please God.
Determine to live this life in hope, in joy, in the light of guaranteed eternal life.
Pray
Father, things are hard. And the problems we are facing have gone on a long time. Please renew our energy and our determination to live with joy and faithfulness.
My Favorite Place
Beyond the roaring river there was a magical place with fresh, fir-scented air, enriched oxygen, and a forest separate from the world.
It was so magical the Forest Service didn’t have it on their maps.
My mother’s first husband, Laban, fished that river and found a location where the raucous river bent around a point. When he asked the Forest Service about a lease for that spot, they could not identify it. He bet them: If they could pinpoint it, they would give him a 99-year lease.
And so it was.
When the surveyors had worked that stretch of the river, they stopped where a creek flowed into the river. When they started their work again, they began where a creek flowed into the river. But they weren’t the same creek. One creek was upstream, and the other creek was downstream. That entire beautiful stretch was missing from their map.
Years later, after Laban’s death, Mom’s remarriage, and my arrival, Dinner Bell Cottage became my favorite place on earth.
We arrived on a dusty dirt road to a pull off by a footbridge formed over two big, long tree trunks spanning the river. On the far side was a path leading to Dinner Bell Cottage, which got its name from a dinner bell brought to Oregon by Laban’s pioneer family.
The cabin didn’t have electricity or running water. Heat came from a wood stove and the river rock fireplace. Light came from the sun, or oil lanterns, or Coleman lanterns. Water came from the river. Noise from the little traffic on the road was drowned by the river’s voice. Dust from the dirt road didn’t dare enter.
I would often return to the footbridge and just stand there, watching and listening and feeling the water crash on the rocks.
When I went to bed, I soaked in the sounds: the roar of the river, the hiss of the Coleman lantern, the crackle of the fire, and the murmur of my parents talking.
All was well.
Increasing Trust
God has individual learning plans for each of His children. We, believers, know that He is working on us and in us, and that He will keep causing our growth until the day of Christ.
God … is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)
He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
These are promises from Almighty God who cannot lie.
His development plan for me
The focus of His (current) development plan for me has been trusting Him in this difficult time.
He made me aware that my trust in Him wasn’t sufficient for today.
The symptoms of my lack of trust were my agitation, stress, anxiety, and sleep issues. I would pray for the outcomes I wanted. I would pray: “Yet not my will, but Yours be done.” But then, pray for what I longed for.
I needed to trust more. I needed to choose to trust Him.
So—I declare that:
I believe God is faithful to His word; I believe God can be believed.
I trust in Almighty, Sovereign God who is in total control. Even though it looks like a total mess to me, I am persuaded that God is ruling over all.
I trust that He has a glorious, holy plan and that He is working to fulfill that plan. I am confident that He is bringing about an eternal, blessed end.
I trust Him to be doing what is right in this dark time and always.
I trust that He has work for me to do.
I trust that, at the right time, He will bring me home to heaven.
And repeat!
I know I haven’t arrived, but I am making progress, thanks to God.
Prayer
Father, thank You for testing my trust and showing me my need. Thank You that You are continually working in me to make me more like Your beloved Son. Thank You for hope, for joy in the midst of these issues. Thank You for giving me the desire to trust You more and more.
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When Storms Come: Will You Be Ready?
When Storms Come: Will You Be Ready? helps Christians not fear bad news, shows them how to handle current trouble, and helps them emerge stronger on the other side.
About me
I'm a Christian, wife, retiree, and author.
I love studying and putting knowledge into action. I'll share what I'm learning, encourage you, and urge all of us to press on to become more like Christ.
Pressing On Together
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