Do you ever look back and see where you used to be? I am thousands of miles away from where I was before thanks to the Lord. I have leaped and landed in a much better place thanks to the Lord. I keep on leaping. I keep on jumping and faith is making the leaps possible. I am nowhere close to where I used to be and I have to give God the glory. I am not saying that I have arrived and I am done. I am far from the finish line and I still have a lot of maturing to do but praise God I am not where I was 10 years ago or 5 years ago. I think we should all give God credit for helping us grow and for the changes in our lives. Does God do all the work and drags us along on a cloud of success? First of all He is not up in the sky on a distant cloud and second of all, He expects us to do a lot of the work. We have to work on our faith and we have to keep walking. Sometimes we don’t realize that the hardships and the obstacles are helping us grow. When faced with a problem, we can either face it head on with faith or we can collapse and give up. Every trial and every tribulation is an opportunity to grow. Once you adopt that mindset, you will see your problems in a different light and you will see God’s light.
I used to wonder why so many negative things were happening to me. Bad things happen to all of us and our reaction to those negative events is more important than the events themselves. It’s not fun to be going through tough times. There is no doubt about it but our faith can benefit from those circumstances. It can be painful and it can be exhausting but in the long run it is very much worth it. Jesus told a woman, “Your faith healed you.” It takes blind or solid faith to be able to get to that place where your faith heals you. Your faith in Jesus can create miracles and can change your life. Imagine having that kind of faith all the time. It is very much possible. The more difficulties you go through and stay in faith, the closer you are to having a faith that cannot be shaken. If nothing bad ever happened to you, your faith would not develop. It would stop growing. Then if something bad happened, you would not have much to go on. Your faith is only as strong as your reliance and dependence on Jesus. The more you rely on Him and the better you react to life events. The more you rely on Him and the less you look for answers in the world. If you run to the world first when things are not going your way and save Jesus for later, you need to hit the “faith reset” button.
I have had to reset my faith many times. I thought I trusted the Lord with all my heart and then some bad circumstances showed me that I had more faith in myself than I did in Him and I wasn’t enough. I am not enough. The world is not enough. Jesus is more than enough. He is the author of our faith or at least He should be. He should be the cornerstone of our hope and the foundation of our faith. We should always start and finish with Jesus when it comes to faith. We should react with Jesus to all life events from beginning to end. It’s easy to get intimidated by the opposition and run to people but Jesus should be our first resort. He should be our reflex like I wrote years ago. He is the reason why we have faith in the first place and we should continue with Him instead of substituting Him with the world. Today’s trials are building your faith, friend, if you see them as stepping stones. They are meant to break you but in Jesus’ name you can use them to build you. Don’t fall under pressure. Walk with faith. Stand your ground. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. The Lord is with you and you are gaining some amazing muscles of faith. Keep going! Stay encouraged. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!
Suggested reading: Hebrews 11:1; Hebrews 12:2-3; Ephesians 16:17
Words of hope for today 