“And the king said, “All this misery is from the LORD! Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
2 Kings 6:33 NLT
Waiting can be so hard. It really isn’t for the faint of heart.
But we wait even though it’s hard because the LORD is faithful and good.
He doesn’t make us wait for nothing!
He doesn’t make YOU wait for nothing!
He will never waste your wait.
The Israelite king was frustrated and was in despair. His people were under siege and the food ran out.
People were desperate and he blamed Elisha. So he sent a messenger to take off Elisha’s head but he also sent him with a message,
“Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
At times it feels like that. It’s hard to see the benefit of waiting when nothing seems to be happening or when things are actually getting worse.
But I want to encourage you to continue holding on and waiting on the LORD. He knows exactly where you are. He will breakthrough for you very soon. He will answer your prayers shortly.
You just need not to give up. I read a quote that I love that I want to share with you,
Good things come to those who Believe,
Better things come to those who are patient
and the best things come to those who Don’t Give Up.
– unknown
I love that.
DON’T GIVE UP friends.
God will never fail you. He cares about you and knows what you are going through.
No matter how bad you have messed up know that His plan for your life is still on.
He has so much in store for you.
He is so much bigger than the mistakes you have made.
I think about Moses who messed up. Instead of speaking to the rock he struck it three times and because of his disobedience he never went with the Israelites into the promise land. And that’s where we all stop. But there is more to Moses story. It didn’t finish there.
“About eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus. They were glorious to see. And they were speaking about his exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem.”
Luke 9: 28-31 NLT
Moses appeared with Elijah to talk to Jesus about what He was about to do in Jerusalem. I don’t think its a mistake that Moses was one of the men speaking to Jesus. God had a bigger plan for his life than he even could imagine.
That encouraged me a lot today.
No matter how bad we have messed up, it’s comforting to know that God is not finished with us. The mistakes we make don’t determine what God’s plan for our lives will be. God in His mercy and grace gives us a second chance. He extends grace and mercy to us.
So as I come to the end of the post I want to encourage you with the truth that God is not finished with you. Be expectant for Him to move in your life. Be expectant for Him to do some incredible things in your life because He loves you and cares for you.
Don’t let the devil lie to you that your sins are too much for God to handle. Don’t let him tell you that you are beyond saving. It’s not true.
God is bigger and greater than your biggest sins.
“Some were fools; they rebelled and suffered for their sins. They couldn’t stand the thought of food, and they were knocking on death’s door. “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them, snatching them from the door of death.”
Psalms 107:17-20 NLT
We will sin and fall, that’s a definite but there is grace, mercy and forgiveness available to us. God is ready to forgive us and all we need to do is go ask Him.
When his people cried to Him, He saved them from their distresses even though they were the cause of thepain they experienced, even when they made the mistakes.
The other thing the devil will try to lie to you about is your past. He will try to tell you that there is no hope for you and God is not going to forgive your past but that too is a lie. He will use condemnation, guilt and shame to try to stop you.
But the Word of God is very clear in Romans 8:1 when it says,
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
God is greater than the sins you have committed. Grace, mercy and a second chance are available to you today so receive it.
In the past few weeks God has been teaching me to stop eating what the devil is dishing out.
Because the devil has a lot of crazy stuff he would like you and me to believe. And I was just there eating what ever he was dishing out which caused fear, anxiety, and hopelessness in me. I would cry out to God to help me in the midst of the attack because it was intense but God began to show me that I was not filtering the thoughts I was getting.
Our filter is the Word of God and that’s how we need to be measuring up everything that comes our way.
So He showed me that I need to reject the lies instead of entertaining them. And that’s what we tend to do right? Instead of taking the lies to God immediately we start thinking about what ifs, and project possible outcomes that are totally not according to God’s will for us. We let the fear shut us down.
But if we are going to hold on to the promises God has for us we need to stop doing this. We need to stop eating everything the devil is dishing out.
IT’S ALL LIES…
IT’S ALL LIES…
Resist and reject all of it. It’s not going to be easy I understand but God is with you and He will help you as you cry out to Him. The thoughts will come but they don’t have to pitch their tents in your mind. Cast them out with the authority Jesus has given you.
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV
So as I come to the end of this post I want to encourage you with one more scripture,
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
Philippians 4:8 NLT
Change what you think about. Stop thinking about the negative things the devil keeps trying to remind you about but instead think on the things God is doing in your life, the words He has spoken to you, on His beauty, on His grace, on the amazing things He has in store for you, His promises and so much more.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
Psalm 107:1 NLT
If there is something we as sons and daughters of God need to always remember is that God is good. At His core of who He is, He is good. And it’s important to have that truth secured in your heart because the devil will try to challenge that truth by using the painful things we have been through, the heartbreak, the rejection, the loss, the unanswered prayers and so many other things. And we need to be careful to not listen to the lies he tries to tell us as he reminds us of the painful things that happened to us. A good example of that is with the people of Israel. God delivered them from 400 years of slavery but destroying Pharoah and his people but even on their journey to the promise land they doubted God. Their trust in him failed numerous times. Let’s look at what happened when they reached their destination.
“Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness! they complained. Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”
Numbers 14:1-3 NLT
God in His goodness had led them to the promise land to give them what He had promised but the people didn’t understand that. Instead they thought God wanted to kill them and their children!! And this kind of talk happens a few times in the desert.
The enemy wants us to believe God is a cruel God, he wants us to believe God is evil, unforgiving, mean, hateful, uncaring, unloving and so many other negative things but we can’t let him convince us because at the core of who God is He is good. He loves us so much.
So let me ask you this.
What do you believe about God in the difficult times, when your prayers haven’t been answered, when things are not going your way? Or let me ask it in this way. Do you believe God has got you in the midst of all the terrible things you have been through? Do you believe there will be a turnaround in your situation because He is good? Look at some of the people in the bible. Job went through some terrible trials but God showed him His goodness by revealing Himself to him and restoring double what he lost. Then there is Hannah who was barren. God gave her a son eventually. He showed his goodness to Abraham and Sarah by giving them a child in their old age and fulfilling the promise he made to them. And then David. Even though he sinned numerous times God in his goodness extended his grace and mercy to him. He called him a “man after his own heart”
God at His core is so so good. Hold on to that truth no matter what comes at you. As I close I want to share one more scripture;
He who diligently seeks good seeks [God’s] favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come upon him.”
Proverbs 11:27 AMPC
So because God is good we need change our expectations. We need to expect good. The Word says we must SEEK good because when we do that we seek God’s favor! We go through so many tough things that at times we just expect bad things to happen. “No good things happen for me” is what we tell ourselves but that’s contrary to God’s word. We need to expect and seek His goodness to show up in our lives. Expect Him to answer your prayers. Expect the breakthrough to come. Expect the door to open for you. If I could sum it all up I would say,
Expect Him to be good to you! Period.
So with that I have come to the end of the post.
God is good all the time and all the time God is good!
This is a popular piece of advise especially when you talk about investing. And all it means is that someone should not concentrate all efforts and resources in one area as one could lose everything. But I read a quote recently that brought my faith walk in perspective. It said,
“Faith is putting all your eggs in God’s basket”
And I love that. That’s the attitude we should have when it comes to faith in God. It’s either we trust Him completely or we live in doubt of his ability. Now I am not talking about being reckless but I am talking about having an attitude of, “I will trust God and I am not looking to so and so or I have another plan just in case”
The word of God says that the just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
So as you trust God today, do you have a back up plan, for just in case he doesn’t come through or are you all in with your faith? Do you know He will come through for you? Do you know He will never let you down? He has got your back even when it seems like things are going horribly.
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Psalm 56:3
There are a million reasons to be fearful today. Global pandemics, war, sickness, starvation, debt and so many other things can easily thrust anyone in a state of panic and fear. But amidst the fear there is a way through for you and me. In Psalm 56:3 the writer states,
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”
The answer to fear is trust in Jesus. He defeated fear a long time ago and because of that we have somewhere to look to when fear is banging on the door of our hearts and minds threating to take permanent residence. When we are paralyzed by all the terror filled news around us, we have Someone to run to and take shelter. The Lord is our Strong Tower of Refuge. He is a trillion times a trillion stronger than fear. Fear is a defeated foe.
But fear wants us to believe it is stronger. It wants us to forget that God is on our side. It wants us to forget God in the midst of the chaos but we must not give in to fear because the Lord is with us through the darkest of times.
The answer to fear is looking to Jesus and knowing beyond a doubt that He is with you.
As I end this post I came across a painting of Daniel that encouraged me so much. I hope it encourages you like it did me.
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