The world is in a mess. Horrible terrorism in Europe. Violence in the USA. Division. 2016 politics.
Closer to home: We’re all dealing with something: Illness, aging, financial woes.
What is coming? Eek!
Ok, now STOP!
STOP!
God knows the future. God knows your future.
He loves His children, and will bring us into His kingdom holy and blameless.
His promises never fail.
He is preparing us, through trials, through whatever our situations are, to handle what is to come.
Remember:
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24–25)
He is all-powerful. He is able to keep us from stumbling. He promises to bring us home.
Trust:
We are told not to fear. We have good reasons to trust Him and face the future with hope and peace.
Lord, help us believe You. Help us rely on You. Help us trust You have us safe in Your arms.
God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—defends God’s children. We are not defenseless against the world, the flesh, or the devil, but have infinitely wise, powerful, and loving protectors.
Yahweh
Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? (Job 1:10)
The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. (Psalm 121:7)
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread? (Psalm 27:1)
The battle is the Lord’s … (1 Samuel 17:47)
Father
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3–5)
Jesus Christ
But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:3)
Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 john 2:1)
Holy Spirit
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. (Ephesians 1:13)
The Spirit also helps our weakness, … [for] the Spirit Himself intercedes for us… according to the will of God. (Romans 8: 26-27)
The Spirit of God dwells in [His children]. (1 Corinthians 3:16)
Praise Our Defender
Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, I praise You for being our defender. Father, You have built a hedge around Your children and only what You allow or cause gets through Your hedge into our lives. And when You have allowed something hard to touch us, You defend us against it, and use it for good. Lord Jesus Christ, You strengthen and protect us from Satan, and You continually intercede for us before the throne of God, defending us from the evil one’s accusations. Holy Spirit, You dwell in us, have sealed us for the day of redemption, and pray for us according to the will of God.
God, because You are the defender of Your Children, we truly have nothing to fear. Forgive us for forgetting. Help us walk in Your way, knowing You are with us. Help us be grateful.
This is the fourth in a series on praising our God. See previous months for A, B, and C!
As He entered a village [between Samaria and Galilee], ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:12–18)
Self-evaluation
Do you—do I—always thank and glorify God for His blessings?
Or are you—am I—more likely to be one of the nine who didn’t thank Christ, didn’t glorify God for cleansing?
Do you—do I—pray for specific things, and, when we get them, just go on our way?
Do you—do I—know we’ve had something nice happen, wonderful even, and be glad it happened. But then fail to thank Him? Fail to glorify God?
Do you—do I—focus on the Giver, or on His gifts?
Do you—do I—accept His blessings, but fail to worship Him?
Are you—am I—a taker?
Are you—am I—more like the nine or the one?
Attitude of Gratitude
I want to be the one, not one of the nine.
I want to have a permanent “attitude of gratitude,” alert to God’s many blessings, and thanking and glorifying Him.
One way to increase gratitude is to develop a habit of listing three things that happened during the day for which you’re grateful. This helps me be more alert to His many blessings, and then thank Him for them. There is a lot of secular research that this works.
Lord, Have Mercy
Have mercy on us, Father. Help us continually give thanks to You, and glorify Your holy name.
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13:5–6)
Do you trust God? Do you trust Him for your salvation? Do you trust that He will bring you to heaven?
I sure hope so, because, for the child of God, those who have repented, believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and have put their faith (trust) in Him, those are sure things.
Day to day, though, do you trust Him during good times and bad? Do you trust Him in your trials?
Trials are God’s strength-training courses. We get the opportunity to exercise our trust. Trials make us stronger. (But, of course, pray about what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be passive.)
Here’s how to trust during trials
Remember: Look Back
- You are God’s child, declared righteous, raised up with Christ, and seated with God in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6)
- He loves you with an everlasting love. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can take you out of His love. He loves you so much that He gave His Son to die for you that you might live with Him in heaven forever. (Romans 8:38-39)
- Your loving Father is sovereign over everything and everybody all the time. There are no exceptions. Nothing happens without God’s action or permission. Whatever touches you—good, bad, evil—is controlled by Him. (See, just for example, Ephesians 1:11 and Psalm 115:3)
Consider: His presence in the present
- While He sometimes allows bad things to happen to His children, He promises to bring good out of it. He promises to make you into the image of His Son. (Romans 8:28-29)
Look ahead: His future promises will not fail
- Trials benefit you. Paul says suffering produces endurance, then character, then hope (Romans 5:3-4). James says trials produce steadfastness, so that we may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:3-4). Peter says trials test the genuineness of our faith, resulting in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7).
- One day Christ will present you to the Father holy and blameless! (Ephesians 1:4, Colossians 1:22)
When you are in the midst of a trial
When you are in the midst of a trial, you, of course, need to ask the Lord what He wants you to do. Perhaps there is a solution for your problem. Perhaps you need to ask for help. But, perhaps, you need to endure.
In any case, determine to remember the five points. If you practice during the “easy” trials, it will be easier to fall into His arms when life is really tough.
We are not alone in bad times—or good times.
Practice. Exercise your “trust” muscles.
Pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19
This world is in chaos, and getting more evil as the very last days approach.
But we, as God’s children, can see God’s lamp shining in a dark place, and must pay attention.
The day will dawn, and the morning star will arise in our hearts.
That is the prophetic word made sure.
We can’t ignore the awful things around us. But we can, we must, pay attention to God’s shining lamp.
We must, as Christ taught us, “to straighten up and lift up [our] heads, because [our] redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28
There is hope. Don’t despair.
Can. Must. Will.
“To Know Him is to Love Him.” That song, referring to an earthly love, was a number one hit in the late 1950s and has been sung by many famous artists. Better knowing your earthly love may or may not cause you to love him or her more. But, with God, the better you know Him, the more you love and trust Him.
“Knowing” God is an intimate term, implying a love relationship with a personal God, a supreme being who lives, loves, plans, and acts. The Bible is full of personal and emotional descriptions of our Father, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. “Head knowledge” is beneficial, but we are called to develop “heart knowledge” as well.
You get to know the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by studying God’s self-revelation, the Bible, and following Him. His Word says as we obey, we grow in knowledge. A wonderful cycle is one of the blessings of obedience.
Blessing of Obedience
Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord
Which leads to
Pleasing Him in all respects
Which leads to
Bearing fruit in every good work
Which leads to
Increasing in the knowledge of God. (See Colossians 1:10)
Then
We know Him better
and because we know Him better,
We love Him more,
So we keep His commandments better, walking in a manner worthy of the Lord.
Questions for you:
Are you regularly reading the Bible?
Are you striving better to know our Almighty God?
Are you striving to follow Him more closely?
From When Storms Come: Will You Be Ready? pp. 15-16.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the Creator.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)
All things came into being through [Christ]. And apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. (John 1:3)
For by [Christ] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:16)
What God says about Himself
When the LORD answered Job, His rant focused on Himself as the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”
“Have you ever commanded the morning?”
And on and on for more than 100 verses! (See Job 38-41)
Fundamental to Everything
Belief in God as the Creator, our Creator, fundamentally affects everything.
When we see Him as Creator, we come to know something about His infinite power, knowledge, wisdom, and immorality.
When we see Him as Creator, we see His right over us, and how we should live our lives. We see our failure, our need for salvation, and His provision.
When we see Him as Creator, it affects our total worldview.
When we see Him as Creator, we see ourselves as created beings, and align ourselves under Him.
When we see Him as Creator, we know we owe Him everything.
When we see Him as Creator, and we are His children, Christ-followers, we know He is our help and our hope.
Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:8)
Declare the Glory of God
Many of the statements of praise and worship through both the Old and New Testaments refer to God the Creator.
Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. (Isaiah 40:26)
Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created. (Revelation 4:11)
Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it… (Revelation 10:5-6)
The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. (Psalm 19:1)
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so. (Psalm 107:2)
Praise the Creator—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Praise the Creator, who made everything from nothing, revealing His presence and His glory. You, Almighty God, demonstrated Your absolute power, infinite knowledge and wisdom. As Your created being, I praise You with relief and joy that You are in charge of it all. I am Yours.
Pay now or later?
Pay now and receive blessings later.
OR
Pleasure now and pay later.
Those are crucial differences between obeying the Lord, and choosing sin.
We often talk about the blessings of obedience. There are many blessings, thrilling results of following our Lord. That will be a topic for another time.
Cost of Obedience
We shouldn’t discount that there are costs to obedience. In order to obey Him, we have to deny ourselves, refusing to do what we ourselves want to do, and we have to take up our cross, engaging in something we would not have chosen.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)
Your will be done. (Matthew 6:10)
Whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:35)
The cost of following Christ happens first, with blessings coming later.
Cost of Disobedience
With sin, however, it is reversed. When we sin, there is immediate pleasure. We’ve gotten our own way. We’ve gotten whatever it is that looked great. But, following that, are the consequences of our sins, sometimes significant, and sometimes lasting for a lifetime.
But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. (Matthew 6:2, 23:5)
Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled. (Matthew 23:12)
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation. (Matthew 23:14)
To get to the blessings, you have to pay the cost
That is true in the secular world, too. My beloved grandmother used to say: “You have to suffer to be beautiful.” That was probably a retort to my complaints about sleeping in hair rollers (Yes, I’m that old!). But you can see it everywhere: Athletes who push their bodies over years in order to win the gold; People studying day after day to master a subject; Dieters who regulate their intake to get to the proper weight.
Be Alert
Remember, the cost of obedience is always less, always, than the cost of disobedience. (See Chapters 13 and 24 in When Storms Come: Will You Be Ready?)
Do you ever think someone else’s life is better than yours? That they have been given a better ministry? Better talents? Better goodies? Do they have green grass? Are you sure?
How about better problems? Do you think their problems are easier than yours?
As humans, we are prone to compare ourselves to others, leading, often, to envy or covetness.
We are more apt to compare what we see as blessings, though, than compare our problems to the problems of others.
Do you really want his or her physical problems rather than your own? Do you know the family, financial, or other problems they face? Do you want those problems?
God has given us our own grass for a reason
We have been given our blessings, including our problems, for a reason. God is at work in us—right now—to want to do His will, and to perform His will. He will continue His work in us until we are presented by Christ to the Father, holy and blameless.
It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)
I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
[Christ will] present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— (Colossians 1:22)
Our Green Grass
You and I have been given work to do in this life. In our own fields. However much green grass we have.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
Whether or not my grass seems green to me, it is my grass. It is the field my Father has given me. I have work to do, given to me by the Father. Lord, help me get with it.
Have you ever hated someone you love?
Has someone you loved ever hated you?
I bet we all have hated or been hated.
Well, except God.
Unconditional Love
God loves His children. Period. He loves us even when we sin. He loves us enough to discipline us when we sin and bring us back to full fellowship with Himself.
This is so unlike human beings that we often think God must no longer love us after we’ve done something wrong. That is a lie. God loves those who have received Christ as Lord and Savior without reservation, without limit. And He loves us enough to not leave us in the mess we’ve made. Not only does He not leave us, it may feel that He moves closer.
Conditional Love
Human beings, however, tend to magnify the wrong, the hurt, the misconception, and withdraw.
In a novel I recently finished, the two main characters had secret vows prior to their wedding. One of them was: “I will love you even when I don’t like you.”
So, what should we do?
FIRST. Determine to believe God and His love for us. Even when we, as His children, think He shouldn’t love us, He does love us. He loves us, those in Christ, with an everlasting, unlimited love.
SECOND. Be holy as God is holy. That includes loving as He loves.
The problem, with our own attitude, or someone else’s, gives us an opportunity to love as God loves.
So, when you hate someone you love, remind yourself that you really do love him or her. Behave based on the love you don’t feel, continuing to act in love towards them.
THIRD. When someone you love doesn’t seem to love you based on some event, keep loving them regardless. (But, if you’ve done something wrong, confess and strive to make things right.)
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:1–2)
We are to love others as Christ loved us.
FOURTH. Keep praying. Lord, help me love x. Lord, help me say and do everything with Your love, regardless how I feel.
FIFTH. Thank Him.
Thank You, Father, that You always love me, even when my loved one doesn’t seem to. Thank You that You allow problems to help make me into the image of Your Son.
SIXTH. Remember. Loving may feel like work in hard times. But remember:
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
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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.