Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Daily Digest #167

He shall dwell between His shoulders. —Deuteronomy 33:12

It gives me great comfort to claim that God is my Redeemer and my Savior. Many times have I grown weak, but He always made sure that He was with me all along. Whenever I feel alone, He has ways of reminding me that He will never forsake me. He makes sure that not a day passes without showing Himself to me in the faces of people I meet. He brings peace and comfort in times of prayer, and security in my personal battles. He assures me of forgiveness for every sin that I have done, and gives me a fresh start every day. He reminds me to take my life one day at a time, for the task is just enough so I need not worry about tomorrow, nor what has already come to pass.

For this, I invite you to join me in prayer. May we keep looking up to Him, whatever the circumstance is. May we delight in His presence and never fail to count our blessings. May we learn to speak to Him openly, and listen to what He has to say. May we keep His Spirit alive in our hearts. Pray always.

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2008/10/21

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay.” Hebrews 10:36-37 (NIV)

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If you’re discouraged because of God’s delay in answering your prayers, understand the delay is NOT a denial. Just because the answer or the miracle hasn’t come – yet – that doesn’t mean God isn’t going to answer or that he’s forgotten you or that he doesn’t care about you. It simply means “not yet!”

Spiritual maturity is knowing the difference between “no” and “not yet,” between a denial and a delay. The Bible tells us, “He who is coming will come and will not delay” (Hebrews 10:37 NIV).

The delay may be a test of your patience. Anybody can be patient once. And, anybody can be patient twice. And, just about anybody can be patient three times. So God tests you patience over and over and over.

Why? To see how patient you are?

No, he does it to show you how patient you are. So you’ll know what’s inside of you, and you’ll be able to know your level of commitment. God tests you so that you can know he is faithful, even if the answers you seek are delayed.

If you’re discouraged, turn it around by remembering God teaches you patience during delay. Ask him to transform your discouragement into patience.

You may be going through difficult times right now and feel like dropping off the planet. You’re discouraged because the situation you face seems unmanageable, unreasonable, or unfair.

It may seem unbearable and inside you’re basically saying, “God, I can’t take it anymore. I just can’t take it anymore!”

But you can.

You can stay with it longer because God is with you. He’ll enable you to press on. Remember, you are never a failure until you quit.

Don’t quit. Resist discouragement and finish the race God has set before you.

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