25 Woods Lake Road, Building 8, Greenville, SC
What do you do when some traumatic event has left you shaken, broken, and filled with worry? What do you do when the future looks so overwhelming that fear paralyzes you from moving forward? The same help that God gave to Joshua is available to you right now. Yes, you can continue following God, even in days of uncertainty!
If you’ve ever been caught in a blinding rain storm while driving, the first thing you want to do is find shelter. Mountain climbers trapped by blizzards stand very little chance of surviving in sub-zero temperatures unless they can locate a place of safety and warmth. But where do you go when the storms of life overtake you? Do you have a place of refuge you can run to where you will always find strength and hope?
Imagine a married couple saying how committed they are to each other, but then asking if they can still date other people. How disturbing that would be! Yet we often do the same thing as followers of Christ. We declare our total allegiance to Him while our hearts pursue idols of every kind. He has made it clear that He will not accept anything less than our total commitment. Are there any areas of your life that you still have not surrendered completely to Him?
As a follower of Christ, there will be times in your life when evil forces will be plotting against you, but you will be completely unaware of it. Even now, Satan could be quietly planning attacks on you. But you do not need to be afraid, because the great news is that God is fully aware of Satan’s schemes, and He is already working behind the scenes to protect you and defeat the enemy. The plans of God cannot be destroyed by the evil one, and neither can you!
Most of us would not feel comfortable being dropped in the middle of a forest at night with no flashlight. There is nothing fun about being lost in the dark! But this is even more true spiritually speaking. The Bible says we are either walking in darkness or we are walking in the light. Where are you?
Life in this world can be difficult. Jesus knew this better than anyone, and he did not try to paint an unrealistic picture for His followers. But He also puts these difficulties in proper perspective. When trials and sorrows come our way, we should remember what He says! Listen and be encouraged by the hope Jesus brings to those who remain in Him.
It has been said that we will never truly know how to live until we have learned how to die. This simply means, unless our faith for what happens to us after death is firmly anchored in the truth of God’s promises, we will live our entire life filled with uncertainty and fear. So what are you counting on to get you through death? Your accomplishments, your money, your friends won’t do you any good when that time comes. There is only one thing you can trust in completely when life is over, and you either have it right now, or you don’t!
At times in life we tend to go our own way instead of walking with God. In fact, sometimes we don’t just walk away from Him, we actually run! But if we truly belong to Him, He will not let us run forever. Often He will have to break us, wound us, in order to keep us from going astray and forgetting our dependence upon Him. These wounds might be painful, but they are really the marks of grace. They are proof that He knows us and loves us enough to keep us close to His side.
We cringe when we hear about the heir who inherited a fortune and squandered it all, or the person who was entrusted to carry on a famous legacy, only to soil the family name in disgrace. Sometimes people can literally be surrounded by things that others only dream of, yet fail to do anything worthwhile with them. Today we see a young man who grew up in the presence of God’s covenant promises, but he chose to mock it and walk away from it all.
Waiting. It is no one’s favorite thing to do. We wait in traffic, in stores, at doctor’s offices. We wait for our vacation days to get here, children wait eagerly for Christmas morning… it seems we spend a lot of our life waiting. But have you ever waited 24 years for anything? God promised that He would do certain things for Abram, but 24 years later, Abram was still waiting! Today we discover some things Abram learned through this experience that can help us in our own waiting.
Have you ever stepped out to follow God, only to discover when you got to where you were going, that it didn’t look anything like you thought it would? Has your obedience ever been followed by trials and testing? This is exactly what happened to Abram after he obeyed God’s call. It all started out very different than he must have imagined, but at just the right time, God fulfilled every one of His promises. If you are faithfully following God, but your life isn’t what you hoped for, keep trusting Him. He will not steer you wrong.
Growing up we were all taught the importance of finishing what we started. This is certainly good advice to live by, but it is even more important in our walk with God. Sometimes we leave things undone that God’s Word has already told us to do, simply because we don’t want to deal with them. We follow where God calls us, but only as long as we’re comfortable. A life lived this way will never see all that God has in store, but will, instead, have to be content with hearing the stories of great faith from those who chose not to settle for less.
