God Is Faithful

Some days, we need the assurance that it is awesome and expected of us to have great hope and extravagant dreams. God is so faithful to our needs in the now. It may not always feel like it, but this quote by Andy Mason says it all, “God is faithful to fulfill His promises. Keep walking. Steward the testimony. Keep your heart aligned with thanksgiving.”

It’s so easy to doubt this assurance in the middle of a storm and ask why His provision doesn’t look like a grand rescue from the midst of trouble – a surprise check in the mail, an immediate healing from disease or whatever your desire is? In moments like those, I have to keep reminding myself that I would always rather walk through the valley with Him, than on a mountaintop without Him. It’s counter-intuitive to think in the valley moments, that those days are meant not to crush you, but to draw you closer and to teach you a reliance you wouldn’t be able to experience otherwise.

God doesn’t need to toss you in the middle of a valley to teach you to love Him. He’s not manipulative like that. He said that even as we walk through the valley, He will be with us. Though darkness surrounds us, the Light will overcome the darkness.

In these moments, I have learnt to have a big yes. Have a big yes in your heart because a strong yes is your best no. I can’t be in 2 places at the same time. In saying yes and agreeing with the promises of God, I have no room for doubt and fear.

Have a big yes in your heart because a strong yes is your best no. CLICK TO TWEET

Realize that there is a process involved and God’s promise will be fulfilled. When? That’s up to Him. It may be tomorrow, or it might be like Abraham, who’s been dead for thousands of years but his promise is still being fulfilled today! We don’t know. All we know is that He is good and He is true. All we can do is be faithful with what’s in our hands right now. As much as we’re longing for God’s faithfulness, we have the responsibility to carry faithfulness within us as well.

Sometimes we pray for an oak tree but kill the acorn not realizing that God is less about… CLICK TO TWEET

Hope isn’t ignoring the situation or having blinders on. You have to stay on top of things and be aware of what’s going on. Peter was aware He was in the middle of the sea when he stepped out of the boat. The problem was when his awareness of the sea became bigger than his awareness of Jesus standing in front of him. The more I focus on God, who owns it all in the first place, the better and more focused I am, and the more confident I am that He will come through for me in His Jireh ways.

Sometimes, you just have to be stubborn. You just have to fight for it. You have to put up a fight for your own heart. We all know the truth, we all know in our heads what we should believe. We need to fight to get that truth down to our hearts.

Boldly declare it, roar it out, punch a pillow, pray in tongues, hit some golf balls over a lake, whatever you need to do to get the frustration of doubt out and break down those walls, do it. Personally, I may or may not have, once, taken a tennis racket to my bed and whacked it screaming bloody murder “I HAVE TO SEE JESUS!”…but hey, it worked.

I have to make a statement to myself and to heaven and to all of creation that I believe with a violent force that my God comes through and will come through for me!

We would love to pray for you, so if you’re struggling with doubt or you’re in a valley season, please leave a comment down below. We always respond!

What The Bible Says About Gossip

Two things that I know now about life: one, not everybody in this world will be your biggest fan. Two, I get to choose how I respond to them.

In your life right now, more than likely there is someone who absolutely doesn’t like you. You don’t know why, they probably don’t really know either. All that matters is, at the end of the day, they just don’t like you. So what do you do about it? Do your walls come tumbling down at their harsh words of criticism, or disdain. Do you give into anxiety every time they walk into the room or look your way, or even say hello because you know their every word is marked with passive aggression or hidden meaning? Do you cry after every report of the mean spirited things they say about you?

We read in Matthew 7, that we are to deal with the log in our own eye before we take out the splinter in someone else’s. What comes to mind when I read that is, how can I do better? Maybe that looks like changing the look I give to the mom with the unruly children at the grocery store, because her kids may be way more behaved than mine are 95% of the time, and I simply just caught them in a bad moment.

Maybe it’s changing the words I use to speak about that lady I know who lives down the street when in my limited view, it seems like she’s not making the right decisions for her family – the truth is, I have no idea what journey she’s on. People looked down on the woman who gave her last copper coins as an offering, but Yeshua exalted it above those who gave more because only He knew what was going on within her heart.

It looks like never, under any circumstances speaking ill of another person, or saying things behind their back that I wouldn’t say to their face. You should never be more comfortable talking about a person than you are talking to them. More than that, you shouldn’t let people talk about another person in your presence. Believe me when I say this, the same people that talk to you about someone, will soon be talking about you to someone else.

“You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people…” | Leviticus 19:16

“Talebearer” is translated from the Hebrew râkìyl, which refers to spreading rumors or falsities about someone. It is always used in a negative manner.

“An ungodly man digs up evil, and it is on his lips like a burning fire” | Proverbs 16:27

Gossip hurts. There’s a Swahili proverb that says, there’s no such thing as a secret between two people. So, as you speak ill about someone, a small part of you must know that it will somehow get back to them, and that your words will hurt them. So ask yourself, what is it that’s lingering in your heart that is leading you to inflict pain on another person.

“The words of a talebearer [a gossiper] are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly” | Proverbs 18:8

Leviticus 19:16: “Do not go about spreading slander among your people.” In the New Testament, we read: “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless” (James 1:26). These are strong words, but according to this verse, the religion of those who slander is worthless!

Let’s follow the words in Ephesians, where Paul tells us how to use our words for the benefit of others.

“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” | Ephesians 4:29-32

So instead of a thinly veiled, “Let’s pray for sister Mary Beth, I hear she had to use food stamps at the grocery store last week,” how about you take Mary Beth out to coffee, or bake her a casserole and offer to give her a shoulder to lean on and a listening ear. How about instead of stealthily asking, “Do you think brother Jackson has been gambling again, I saw him driving towards the race track last week,”you pray for brother Jackson in your prayer closet, for him be a better man.

If you’ve been on the wrong end of a gossiping tongue, keep your head up. You are not who people say you are, you are who God says you are. Let’s be kind to one another, in this world, we are all each other has.

Dear Lord, I’m so grateful I don’t have to walk around all day trying to figure out who likes me and who doesn’t. I can simply rest in the truth that I am completely and perfectly loved by You. Help me simply live loved today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
– Lysa TerKeurst