It’s only God Who makes it well with our soul… when it’s anything but well with our circumstances. This Scripture in Jeremiah calls us to seek after eternal God-given righteousness in order to obtain peace, security, and spiritual wellbeing under God’s protection. Jesus reiterated on this in Matthew 11:28-30, when He promised that we could find rest in faith through an intimate relationship with Him. Therefore, by embracing His teachings and following His example, we too can experience a profound sense of peace and fulfillment that transcends all worldly troubles.
Hebrews 13:6 ” The Lord is my helper.”
Courage doesn’t always roar. Being brave doesn’t always need to be loud attention-seeking clamor. Sometimes it simply is whispering in a quiet hush, “God is with me.” …and that’s enough to persevere for another day. Hebrews 3:14 encourages the saints of God to patiently persist in spite of the difficulties before them. That’s because every time we venture out in our life of faith, we’ll find situations that, from a commonsense standpoint, contradict our faith. Couple that with fear, exhaustion, and anxiety… and courage can melt away. (Psalm 107:26) But if we trust God and doggedly run the race set before us…fixing our eyes ever on Jesus…we will be victorious in the end. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Psalm 44:21 ” For He knows the secrets of the heart.”
We don’t pray to inform God, we pray to involve Him. God is Omniscience, (John 2:25)…He already knows what’s going on in your life. He is simply waiting for you to ask for His help. We may think we’ve got some deep dark secret…but remember, God understands and know you, (Jeremiah 9:24) He knows your thoughts, (Psalm 94:11) and you can’t hide anything from Him. (Hebrews 4:13) So there’s no need to “enlighten” God…just draw Him in as an active participant…for He knows exactly what you need. (Matthew 6:8)
Deuteronomy 31:6 ” Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”
As Jesus reassured and encouraged His disciples in Matthew 28:20, “And surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.” He is with us today and forever…for even His Name, Immanuel, is God with us. (Matthew 1:23) So in those times when we feel everything is out of our control…when our body isn’t doing what we want it to, when we stand powerless as a natural disaster devastates everything we own, or when we’re hit with the sudden loss of a loved one…we can cling to the greatest assurance we have- the Presence of God – which is at the very heart of our covenant relationship with Him. So today you may feel powerless and lacking control over the situation at hand…but remember, God is there with you, and has everything under control.
“God never uses anyone greatly until He tests them deeply.” A.W.Tozer
Temporal human character and wisdom cannot survive under the testing fires of God. (I Corinthians 3:13) And until we place our full trust and confidence in Him…submitting to His correction and direction…He can’t fully use us. It would be like allowing a person with one day’s worth of pilot training to command a Jumbo Jet full of commuters. God uses trials and tests for the sole purpose of refining us as of gold…eliminating the dross of self for the pure gold of God’s Presence. He uses those tests to build our faith…so that we develop and mature into vessels worthy of carrying His Name.
Ecclesiastes 5:19 ” When God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work – this is a gift of God.”
So both wealth and the capacity to enjoy it with contentment, gratitude, and joy in one’s work are both gifts from God. “All good gifts come from God”, (Deuteronomy 8:18 & James 1:17) but so does the ability to enjoy what we have with thankfulness, not with feelings of drudgery, emptiness, and the need for more. God sovereignly distributes wealth and the ability to enjoy the fruits of our labor…not from our own strength, but from the gift of His grace. So today, steward what you have well. Thank Him for it. But most of all, enjoy it.
Psalm 30:12 ” May I sing Your praise and not be silent.”
The enemy expects your pain to silence your praise. Instead, allow it to teach you how to worship from a much deeper place. Affliction of any kind can be a divine instrument for learning God’s ways. But too often, pain, misery, and suffering humbles us into silence…and that’s just where Satan wants us to stay… mute and numb. Stripped of everything and vulnerable, we sit in painful quiet. But God can turn our pain into purpose…serving as a powerful testimony to others, demonstrating the sustaining power of your faith in God. But first we must allow Him to teach us how to worship in the darkened midst of our anguish…taking us into a much deeper place of communion with Him.
Jeremiah 4:3 ” Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns.”
It’s not that we intentionally stifle our relationship with God. It only takes living in the world today with all its distractions, anxieties, worries, and preoccupations that can divert our attention away from God. And as this happens, our heart becomes fallow ground as we neglect the things of God that were once important. And just like uncultivated land can’t yield a harvest, our heart left unattended cannot bear spiritual fruit. Jesus taught on this in Mark 4:18-19, warning us that complacency, the deceitfulness of wealth, and other worldly desires can choke the Word of God, preventing spiritual growth and fruitfulness. It then takes discipline and self-control to keep our relationship with God vital and growing…for the only way to get a harvest is to sow seed in good ground. (Hosea 10:12)
Psalm 130:7 ” “Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love.”
None of us can go back and rewrite the past, but with God, we can start right where we are today and allow His common grace to write a new ending. As Lamentations 3:22 tells us, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.” For without God’s common grace nothing would continue to exist here on earth. (Job 34:14-15) So today, put your hope in the Lord to rewrite your life’s story in ways you could never start to imagine. (Psalm 103:11)
John 15:18-19 ” If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.”
Sure, we have the free will to choose Jesus Christ or not…but Mark 1:17 & 2:14 reminds us that the first initiative, the original and saving choice was His, and not ours to make. So if we take the Name of Jesus as our own, it will come with the same hatred, rejection, and persecution from the same corrupted world-view of selfishness, greed, power, ambition, and self-glory. But always remember this…the world’s hatred isn’t due to what we’ve done wrong, but rather what we do right…namely our allegiance to Jesus.
