Friday, June 24, 2011

Are You Fainting??


~And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.  Galatians 6:9~

I want to share a devotion with you about what to do when you THINK you are fainting.  

Has there ever been a time where you wanted to throw in the towel, give it all up, just up and quit on God?  I know at times I have been there.  Times where I have cried in the depths of my heart, "Lord, help me I'm fainting!"  

There is a 4 letter word that I would like to share with you that is a simple 4 letter word to this crisis.  It isn't a deep nor is it unreachable.  This is what I can tell you to do......to P~R~A~Y!!  Just pray!
Let's break the word pray down and put it into an acrostic form with 4 short points.

P= Pause & Wait on the Lord:  When you think you are going to faint because of circumstances beyond your control, just pause and wait on the Lord.  Waiting on the Lord is expecting His strength to help us rise above the difficulty we are enduring.  When we pause and wait on the Lord, He will give us new strength each day so we don't faint.
~Casting all your care upon Him for he careth for you.  1 Peter 5:7~
~But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.  Isaiah 40:31~

R= Refuse to Give Up:  If we choose to faint or quit then our strength is small.  How we handle the small challenges that is brought our way is preparing for the big ones that will come our way.  Our character is developed more and more with each challenge we face.  Think about it....how you handle the challenges you face tells a lot about you.  You might not realize it, but you are being watched not only by other Christians, but also the ones that do not know Christ as their Savior.  How strong is your faith when the challenges come your way?  How can we ever face the big challenges (that will come one day) if the small ones make us weary?  Don't give up, refuse to quit and commit!  Commit to God even when the going gets tough and when God's answers to our prayers don't bring immediate relief or the answer we are looking for.   When we continue to pray, we will grow in character, faith and hope.  Refuse to give up, give in, or give out!  In other words, faint not!

~If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.  Proverbs 24:10~
~...men ought always to pray, and not to faint.  Luke 18:1~
~I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.  Philippians 4:13~
~...joy cometh in the morning.  Psalms 30:5~
~His mercies are new every day.  Lamentations 3:22-23~

A= Acknowledge Your Weakness:  ...lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds, Hebrews 12:3.  When we are facing difficulties, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture or goal that we are working towards.  Our suffering is training ground for the Christian maturity.  As we suffer, keep this in mind :  For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing, 1 Peter 3:17.  We need to acknowledge our weakness and remember the words of Jesus, ...for my strength is made perfect in weakness,  2 Corinthians 12:9.  When we admit our weakness, we then affirm God's strength, ...The flesh is weak, Matthew 26:41

Y= Yield Yourself to God:  If you faint and don't yield yourself to God, you will never see His goodness come from your challenges.  

   ~I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait on the Lord: be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say on the Lord.  Psalm 27:13-14~

Don't be hungry and thirsty and allow your soul to faint.   ~Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.  Psalm 107:5-6

So, as we:    Pause and wait.
                   Refuse to give up.
                  Acknowledge our weakness and
                 Yield to God,
We will reap God's goodness and faint not!  ~Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out fo their distresses.  Psalm 107:6~

~Behold, we count them happy which endure.  James 5:11~
~Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.  1 Peter 5:7

REMEMBER:  Greater is HE that is in YOU than he that is in the world!!








 
 

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Unconditional Love & Forgiveness


  ~~Love has its source in God, for love is the very essence of His being. ~~ Kay Arthur

~~Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  1 John 4:10~~

I have been sitting here thinking of God's love for us.  How undeserving we are of His love.  I think of Him hanging on the cross, the ones that put Him there and asking God to forgive them for they know not what they do.  What kind of love is that?  To me, that shows his unconditional love toward us, before we are saved and after we accept him as our Savior.  He loved us first.  We didn't love Him first.  We love Him because He first loved us.  That just amazes me--that before I accepted Him as my personal Savior, He loved me.  He didn't love me because of my sin, He loved me for me.  He loves the sinner, not the sin.

~But God commendeth his love toward us, int hat, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8~

~And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.  God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in  God, and God in him.  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.  He that feareth is not made perfect in love.  We love him because he first loved us.  1 John 4;16-19~



God loved us so much that He wanted us reunited back to Him.  He didn't created some for heaven and some for hell.  And he surely doesn't take pleasure sending anyone to hell.  That isn't unconditional love or forgiving love.  If  he created some for heaven and some for hell, what would be the purpose to share that love if that person wasn't created to be saved, but was created for hell.  That would be giving that person false hope.  God isn't in the business of giving people false hope.  He doesn't lie.  He said he sent his Son for the whole world, and that is what he means.  Like Jesus said:

~ Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  John 14:6~

~For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him  should not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16~ 

~And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2~ 



~If the wounds of millions are to be healed, what other way is there except through forgiveness?  Catherine Marshall~
~For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upont thee.  Psalm 86:5~

~And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.  Ephesians 4:32~

I am amazed that no matter how much I mess up, He is always there ready to forgive me all I have to do is ask.   He doesn't just forgive me one time and then no more.  He forgives me of ALL my sin, past, present and future!  Not only am I undeserving of His love, I am also undeserving of his forgiveness.  

So, now to the point.  If Christ loves us unconditionally and forgives no matter what we do, then why don't we do the same?  Are we not called Christians after Christ?  Is it hard to love someone unconditionally and forgive them when they hurt you?  Of course it is.  No one said it was going to be easy, but through Christ we can do anything.  May we love others as Christ loved us and forgive them as he has forgiven us.  When others hurt you ask God to help you extend to them the same forgiveness that He granted you.  The forgiven forgive.

~And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.  Mark 11:25-26~

~Take heed to yourselves:  If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.  And if he trespass against the seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to the, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.  Luke 17:3-4~