When
life don’t come easy and its’ challenges seem to get heavier and heavier – do
you sit on your hands or do you fight for faith like never before?
I was raised in a Christian household and family with strong women
of God. They demonstrated daily a relentless faith in God through our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and life didn’t always come easy. They dealt
with some heavy-duty challenges. At a time when child-support wasn’t enforced
and in some places wasn’t even thought about, some of them raised their
children alone. Their example of strength left an indelible mark on my life,
because these women didn’t ever appear to me to be deterred or discouraged.
They kept it moving and created for all of us a safe and loving haven. They
couldn't have done this had they not known that God's love is real, and we can
depend on it come what may.
In 2Corinthians 5:7(NIV), God tells us, “For we live by faith,
not by sight.” This verse doesn’t mean that we walk around with our
physical eyes covered, but God is telling us that we can’t limit His power and
blessing based on what our eyes see. The conditions and circumstances may look
bleak to our eyes, but God sees what the situation will become through our
faith and prayers. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that our faith is evidence of what we
can’t yet see. Even though our prayer request has not yet manifested in our
physical world, it is a done deal in the spiritual world. In this way, faith is
the title deed to what we’ve prayed to receive. In the realm of God, He’s
already released the blessing, and it’s our responsibility to continue
believing, trusting, and doing what we’ve been called to do until it manifests.
When it comes to dealing with adversity, sometimes we interpret
having strength as maintaining a certain amount of control over things. We
think we have to know all the facts or know what’s going to happen before we
can trust. Well, God tells us to trust first! He wants us to depend on Him to
lead, guide, and direct our steps.
Ephesians 3:20(NLT) tells us, "Now all glory to God, who
is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely
more than we might ask or think." How many times have people told us
that we couldn’t do this, or couldn’t accomplish that? How often have people
tried to put us down, or to influence us to quit pushing when the odds were
stacked against us? We serve a God who has no barriers! His power is limitless!
Our Heavenly Father is in the business of blessing His people beyond anything
we could ever ask or think. He far exceeds our expectations, but you and I
are not left out of the equation when it comes to this verse. God tells us that
His mighty power is working on the inside of us. He wants us to know that some
important spiritual work is happening deep in our souls through His Holy Spirit
who dwells within. Even though we may not sense it, we are commanded to trust
God’s perfect work. Our responsibility is to bring what He's placed on the
inside of us out in the open, by trusting His love and walking in it.
We serve such a loving Father. He grants us grace and mercy, and
He forgives us for our sins, stubbornness, and unwillingness to abandon our
worries and trust faithfully in Him. Many single parents face tremendous
challenges, and it can seem at times that they come from every direction. You
can feel like all hope is lost when you have mouths to feed and not enough
finances to take care of your obligations. The enemy wants to use these trials
to zap your strength by convincing you that God's not going to handle the
situation, but this is not the truth. God is working in you! To see His power
flourish in us, we need to turn our thoughts and feelings to what Christ is
doing, not on what the devil is doing.
Hebrews 11:27(NLT) tells us,“It was by faith that Moses left
the land of Egypt, not fearing the king's anger. He kept right on going because
he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.” This is precisely what you
and I must do! We can never make the mistake of drifting away from God's truth,
not when the struggle is heavy, not when the blessing is on the way, and not
when we receive the victory we’ve been waiting on. Our eyes must continually be
on God and our faith must be rooted in His promises.
Psalm 95:7(NLT) assures us, “for he is our God. We are the
people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to
his voice today!” Don't just seek God when your life starts to unravel, or
when tragedy knocks at your door, and don’t just seek Him for His blessings.
Seek Him because you understand who God is. He is our Protector, our
Refuge...our Everything! This is the way we must see Him all the time. He tells
us to listen to His voice and never take our eyes off of Him, and we can be
assured that He never takes His eyes off of us. He watches over us, and He will
reward us as we place our trust in Him. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living
Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers,
Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“God is Our Protector, Our Refuge, Our
Everything”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com©
2021. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior.
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