The Question

He who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:6

Just recently, Thomas (the disciple that doubted Jesus' death and resurrection) became a topic of conversation among friends.  I can only imagine that God wanted me to read about him or better yet, wanted to reassure me to trust Him at all costs, despite some recent difficulties I have faced as of late.

People without solid faith are at the mercy of the winds when they face the storms of life.  They have a difficult time learning where God is leading them because their faith is not strong enough to discern God's voice and will for their lives.  When your faith is weakened, it's hard to see all that Jesus is doing to protect you and in the midst of a storm, this is a major problem.

We (myself-definitely included) need to expect God to answer our prayers, petitions, and needs, without doubting Him.  God desires to be in fellowship with us, to speak to us, and to meet with us.  Doubt makes us wonder whether interaction with God is even a possibility.

Open your heart and mind and trust God without doubt...if you want it you've got to believe.

Rock

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  Philippians 4:6

I recently read a fantastic devotional on the topic of trust-more specifically, trusting God.  The good Lord delivered that message in His perfect timing as I found myself on my knees, praying, and trying my best to trust Him with my current circumstances before the end of the work day on Monday.

The best way to overcome worry in your life is to have a greater awareness of God’s presence.  I like to look in the past at all that God has done for me over the course of my lifetime to know that He isn’t going to stop now because of my present circumstances.  I have faced all sorts of trials and circumstances during my lifetime, but no matter how big they were, God has always been and will always be bigger!

We must let God know that we do sincerely trust Him, with all of our being.  We must also continue to praise Him for all that He has done, all He is doing, and all He is going to do!  Doing so will give us greater calm to face the day with the confidence that we are loved by the King of all Kings, our Savior, our Provider, our Deliverer, and our Rock.

I'm Not Alone

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;  that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.  John 14: 16-17

The only time I have to exercise, with a family and career, is typically early in the morning, before work and school begin, often while it’s still dark outside.  We live in a newer subdivision, and while we have streetlights, some parts of the subdivision are dark and a little creepy while I'm on my morning jog.  Most of us don’t like to be alone for any length of time, but all of those mornings jogging by myself, I have never felt like I was alone, because I guess I always know that God is always with me.

All believers have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them once they accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, so none of us are ever alone.  The Holy Spirit is vastly different than our human companions because only He can meet our every need.  When no one else will seem to listen, He is always there and wants to hear more.  He knows what the future holds for us, so only He is equipped to guide our every step along the way.

We are all created with a void that can only be filled by the Holy Spirit and with Him, we can rest assured that we are never alone!

His glory, mercy, goodness, and love are constant and new with every sunrise!

No One Is To Blame

The Lord’s loyal kindness never ceases; His compassions never end.  They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!  “My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in Him.  Lamentations 3:13

On occasion, we all are guilty of placing the blame for our mistakes on someone or something else.  This behavior is particularly easy to pinpoint especially with two young boys.  The other morning a toy flew across our den and hit our youngest son in the head, causing him to cry.   When confronted about the mysterious ‘flying toy,’ our oldest said, “Daddy, I didn't do it.  The toy just lifted off of the ground on its own and flew across the room and hit Elijah in the head.”  I must say even though I didn't buy it, that was a pretty creative excuse…

Sometimes I struggle with wrongly placing the blame on God for some of my own problems.  I often accuse God of being unfaithful or punishing me when I am the one who is making careless mistakes.   The truth is, God provides for us each and every day, regardless of us being aware of it or not.  God’s grace, mercy, kindness, and love are always with each of us during the good times and the bad times, but when faced with trouble, it is easy to feel like God doesn't care about us.

Many things change in this world, but you can rest assured that God never changes…His grace, mercy, kindness, and love are constant and new with every new morning!

Help!

Whenever they were in trouble and turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought Him out, they found Him.  2 Chronicles 15:4

Simply stated, there just aren't too many people you depend on for help these days.  I am guilty of this to a degree.  Sometimes our life can become so overwhelmingly busy, we cannot afford the time to lend a helping hand to a family member, friend, or neighbor in need.

Thankfully, our awesome God works in drastically different ways.  God helps us by always being available.  He is always ready and willing to help us and to listen to us, whenever we call out to Him; any time, any day, any place, regardless of the situation.

Prayer is our lifeline and it connects us to our Father.  Knowing this, we should pray daily and receive the help that we truly need.

Free Somehow

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, emancipation from bondage, freedom.  2 Corinthians 3:17

Jesus came to this earth for one reason, to set us free.  This freedom is sometimes misunderstood.  Being free doesn't mean that we are free to do whatever we feel like doing, instead it means that we have been set free from legalism so that we can follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. 

The legalistic mentality is what plagues our current society and it says that everybody has to do exactly the same things, the same way, all of the time.  This conflicts with the Spirit of God who leads us as individuals in unique and creative ways.

Jesus wants us to be free-free from sin, free from being manipulated and controlled, free from trying to be better than others, free from addictions and dependencies, and last but not least, free to be who you are!

Good Times, Bad Times

Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him.  God is a refuge for us-a fortress and a high tower. Psalm 62:8

If I can be perfectly honest with my Daily DEVO readers for a moment, the last few weeks have been tough and  got  me  asking God a lot of questions.  

 

To say that it's 'been busy' at work simply cannot begin to describe how the past few weeks have been for me and my team. There was a span of days this past month that I didn't make it home before the sun went down.  Trying to assist my clients and insureds and keep them up to speed on Health Care Reform has been one of the single greatest challenges in my 18 years working as insurance broker.   Add family, travel, weddings, and other commitments and functions into the mix and you will start to come unraveled if you are not careful.

Like I have been known to do before, I have worked myself into a‘funk’ now that I have been in for the past several days.  Regardless, I am feeling better now things really are going well at work, we have been blessed, just wish there was more time in a day. 

There are many things that just don't make sense to me right now, but I am convinced that I must rely on and trust God.  We cannot just trust God when things are going well, we must also learn to trust Him during bad times. I also believe that along the way on our journey with God, we will encounter many different trust tests with our loving Father.

We may never have all of the answers, but we must learn to live in our faith, trusting God in all circumstances.