Thursday Devotion and Prayer. April 20, 2023

                                 “Confident Hope in the Storms of Life”

“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.” – Hebrews 10:35

There are days when it seems we’re in a storm at sea without any way to navigate our way out of it. Riding it out is the only way through. The Apostle Paul survived storms and shipwrecks and did not lose his way even though it took three ships to get him from Caesarea to Rome. In those days sailors used the stars for guidance, but on this journey by ship, a fierce storm blew up. The strong gale force winds forced them to use strong ropes to tie the ship together. Dark clouds covered the sun, moon, and stars for fourteen days. They threw away their cargo, which is like going to the bank to withdraw a large sum of money, ripping it up, and throwing it into the wind. The sailors did everything they could think of to survive but lost hope.

Storms of life often cause our hearts to quake with fear and disappointment. At times we see them on the horizon and other times they hit suddenly. These storms may be social, financial, physical, emotional, or spiritual. They place great pressure on us, and we often question our faith. But faith in God is the only thing that helps a believer during great troubles. The Apostle Paul is a great example for us. He faced imprisonment, shipwrecks, death threats, poverty, and great emotional distress. Yet, he had immense faith and knew with confidence God would provide rescue. God is with us. He doesn’t leave us to flounder. He makes a way possible when we face impossible situations. At times, he calms the storms, and other times, he calms us.

There was a time when we plunged into a deep season of sadness where life brought no joy, and everything seemed dark. We struggled with disappointment over the way God answered a prayer. Our expectations of His promises didn’t match what we experienced. We expected God to line up with our wishes and when He didn’t, we tumbled into a thorn bush of anger, cynicism, and doubt. The storm raged inward while we struggled in the darkness. The storyline of my life did not match the typical happy ending of my favorite movies. In my storm, I did the only thing I could think of—I read God’s word, but when I closed my Bible, I forgot what I read. So, I wrote Scripture verses on cards. I knew the only way to navigate my internal storm was to fix my eyes on the Word of God because I couldn’t trust my feelings to guide me. My feelings were like the storm raging across the sea of the ship Paul found himself on.

Like Paul in Acts 27:25, we can say, “Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.” Our confident hope is found in a faith planted deep in knowing God. To know him is to trust his promises stand even when our expectations fail. We can hold onto confident hope in the storms of life when we plant our confidence in who he is. He is our Bread of Life, Living Water, and the Great I Am. He is our anchor in the storm, our waymaker, and our shepherd. We can stand the storms of life if we do not throw away our confidence in him.

Heavenly Father,
Thank you for being with me. You are great and mighty, full of compassion. You see me in my hurt. I’m sorry for doubting your goodness to me in the middle of my storm. Please forgive me for turning away from hope in you because I can’t see you. Today, I choose to hold onto confident hope in you because you promise to never leave me or forsake me. I’m going to believe and live like it’s true. I trust you to guide me through this storm and fill me with hope. In Your son Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

                            Monday Devotion and Prayer. April 17, 2023

                                                         “Resilience”

“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) [24] And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: [25] Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” – Hebrews 10:23-25,

When bad news hits, we can feel shaken. We may equate God’s love with peaceful, pleasant lives, but hard times allow us to experience his love in a new way. Trust and hope grow side by side, finding roots in God’s love. As we trust God in the bad times, our hope grows too. We grow resilient when we stand firm in faith in God and his love for us.

Resiliency can be defined as the ability of a person to adjust to or recover readily from an illness, adversity, or a major life change. If a change is unwanted, like the death of a loved one or a surprise diagnosis, we can resist this change. Denial, anger, and grief are normal and healthy responses, but when we get stuck in them, they create problems with resiliency. Resiliency creates two pathways: to adjust or recover. Or as I like to say, to pivot.
Pivoting keeps the ball of one foot connected to the ground while rotating it to face a different direction. At times, God uses our unwanted experiences to get us to pivot. Often, we spend so much time wishing for what was, we miss the new direction He wants us to go or the new insight into His loving nature He wants us to know. Standing stuck means we view God’s love through the lens of our broken hearts, which creates an imperfect view of God’s love. Our new situation creates cracks, like a broken watch face, and we can’t see him clearly because of them.

But when we view God’s love through the lens of the Word of God, we see a perfect love that casts out fear. We see a love that watched his son, Jesus, suffer a violent death so we might know him intimately as Father. It’s a love that gave all so we might know a hope that defies all human explanation.

When we base our understanding of God’s love on what we think he has done or not done for us, we will struggle with resilience. But when we base our understanding of God’s love on his character and his Word, we develop the ability to pivot, adjust, and recover from the difficulties we face. He is faithful, immovable, unwavering, steadfast, and devoted. Let us hold fast to hope by turning down the voice in our heads telling us things are hopeless because of how they look. When we focus on God’s faithfulness, we build resilience. As we do so, we can encourage others.

Everyone faces circumstances they would rather not walk through. We build resiliency in ourselves and others when we remind each other about God’s faithfulness to us. We can speak encouragement about God to one another and resiliency spreads when we embrace a faith-filled life.

We draw near to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith sincerely believes in God and entrusts our life to his care for us. He helps us and gives us strength. The resiliency we so desperately need comes through this drawing near to him. God is faithful to meet us in our every need. He is big enough to handle our toughest problems. He is gracious enough to walk with us through the problems we face. An absence of difficulties doesn’t prove God’s love, and the overwhelming number of hardships we face doesn’t disprove His love. In the Gospel of John, Jesus told us that in this world we will have many troubles, but to take heart because he has overcome the world. There are times when my heart shakes. The world’s brokenness weighs heavy, and when I add my troubles to my list of concerns, it becomes heavy enough to make me crumble under the burdens and walk away from God. I know what life is like without God in it. It’s harder, lonelier, and more chaotic. We can choose resilience instead, to trust God and place our hope in who he is and his promise to never leave nor forsake us.

Heavenly Father,
Thank you for who you are. Thank you that you make a way when there seems to be no way. Thank you for holding me close to your heart. Build in me resiliency of faith, joy, and hope. Set my feet on you, my solid rock. Let me not be shaken, but grow in me, faith and hope that sustains me when my world falls apart. I trust you through it all. In Your son Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

                                Friday Devotion and Prayer. April 14, 2023

                                         “Turn Your Work into Worship”

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” – Romans 12:1

Like Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief”. I often treat my daily tasks as an interruption rather than a holy opportunity to worship God. But what would it feel like to intentionally remind ourselves before we set about our daily tasks that this is our worship? I wonder what we might notice if we looked for how God may be using our work to teach and talk to others about His love.

We get overwhelmed and frustrated with work because we live in a fallen world. But let’s not stay there. Let’s let our frustration serve as a reminder that our daily lives matter in eternity. Our whole life serves as a reminder to the world of all that God has done for us. What if God really does use all things to work together for our good and His purposes even the dirty dishes piled in the sink (Romans 8:28). Let’s not miss out on this, thinking we would be of better use elsewhere. As we look at another day full of tasks, may we view the duties as opportunities to present ourselves as an acceptable living sacrifice to God, who deserves our worship.

Heavenly Father, 
Thank you for not wasting anything. You really are using all things for our good and your glory. You use our everyday acts as opportunities to build up and edify the body of Christ and point others to you (1 Thessalonians 5:11). We so easily fall prey to the lie that the things that take up our days don’t matter to you. But Lord, they do! We are living sacrifices meant to produce a pleasing aroma to those around us of your triumphal procession (2 Corinthians 2:14). And we get to do that by completing our to-do lists as offerings to you.

God, forgive us when we forget. Lord, we will forget. We allow our feelings to lead us to despise these opportunities, which will feel like chores rather than divine opportunities or answers to prayer. Thank you for being patient and forgiving us when we do this, God. Remind us through your Spirit, and through the encouragement and example of others, that what we do matters to you. God, teach us how to live this out in our everyday lives. Let our lives be holy and set apart and acceptable to you. In Your son Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.