Month: February 2017

“God is Forever Faithful!”

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“It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness,”

Lamentations 3:22-23

There seems to be news every day of more and more people experiencing hardships in their lives. There are stories of loved ones that didn’t return home. There are stories of weather disasters wiping out cities. There are stories of our young people and teenagers struggling. There are stories of corrupt politics; a crippling economy, job layoffs and firings, and more.

You name it and it’s out there. The daily news is littered with the truth of the sorrow that can penetrate into anyone’s life on any given day; stories that cause one to just shake their head and feel the pang of sympathy for those going through. Nobody wants to experience hardships and nobody wants to see anybody else having to suffer with it either.

It is during these times when we have to fight the most to remember the sovereignty of God. When we have to continually pound it into our heads that He is in control and “His compassions fail not.” Life may seem very, very bleak at times but God is still on His throne and “great is Thy faithfulness!”

Going through the hardships and the disappointments of life are hard enough, but when we start attributing the human characteristics of short-comings to a divine God, we rob ourselves of an unfailing assurance.

It’s hard to keep one’s head above water during times of crisis. It is at that time when we need our safety float the most. Then is when we need to remember that God has never failed and He is not about to start failing today. He is forever faithful!

Even in the book of Lamentations after the people went into captivity and Jerusalem became desolate, Jeremiah penned words that still inspire to this generation. They became words that have resonated God’s faithfulness in song; words that recognize that God is still there with His people.

“This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope,” (Lamentations 3:20), Jeremiah writes. This is a made up mind focused on all that God has done through you and for you; seeing how He has moved in times past in your life. Looking back and remembering the prayers that He has already answered brings to the forefront of your mind all the successes He has allowed you to experience. Let that store up for you an arsenal of truth that fights for you and will declare “He is faithful!”

Don’t measure God faithfulness by your present circumstances.  God never promised the absence of hardship or adversity in our Christian walk. But, what He did promise, in His faithfulness, to be in it all the way with you (Matthew 28:20). Therefore, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised),” Hebrews 10:23.  The pathway we have walked may not have been all peaches and cream, but God was there with us and brought us through to this day because He is faithful.

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“Forget, and Be Fruitful!”

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While every day we have is a gift, admittedly some days are harder to move past than others.  Hurts, disappointments, pain and confusion can work against you trying to hold you back.  All the negatives of yesterday’s can seem like an insurmountable mountain you are struggling to climb.  I pray today’s devotion would help to lighten your path today and encourage your heart to keep moving forward in faith:

 

One Bible character who can really teach us on how to overcome unfair treatment and affliction is Joseph.  He suffered much at the hands of his brothers: ridicule, not believing in his dreams and supporting him, and treating him as if he didn’t matter; if they got rid of him then all of their problems will be solved (the enemy fails to realize that  you are not the one who is the problem).

Eventually, their hatred caused them to do the unthinkable and cast him away as if he wasn’t a member of the family by selling him into slavery.  Have you ever been unsupported and tossed aside as if you didn’t matter?  The sting of their betrayal was with Joseph as his new life began as a slave in Egypt.  Torn from all that he knew, he was ushered into a world of unknowing.  What would life be like for him now?

Though in his land of affliction he found favor, he also was lied on and mistreated, adding salt to the open wounds he already suffered at the hand of his own family.  How much more was one man to put up with?

In prison, alone and yet willing to still help others, he was once again forgotten and left to deal with life on his own.  The awesome thing about his story, as many of us know, Joseph was not alone.  God had a great plan for his life.  Many of us are familiar with how God elevated Joseph out of his affliction and blessed him with a position of great honor in the palace.  Eventually, becoming governor over all Egypt where everyone bowed to him except Pharaoh.  What a change of position!

Joseph, after coming to power married and had two sons: “And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.  And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction,” Genesis 41:51-52. 

I don’t know about you, but sometimes stepping into a new day there are other things I want to forget about; things I want to leave behind.  I am ready to move on.  No longer do I want to dwell on what was.  I want to be fruitful in the here and now. 

Every day God has opened up a world of opportunity for us to forget the past and move on into something greater.  We may not be governor of Egypt, but I don’t believe God has allowed us to see this new day for naught.  I believe that we were designed to be fruitful!

Fruitfulness is a desire of God for His people: “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper,” Psalm 1:3, KJV.  Therefore, I am declaring today as the time for us to move forward in faith and be fruitful.  I want us to produce a great harvest of good things in this brand new day we have been given!  I want us to be abundant right where God has us planted!

Don’t carry the negatives of yesterday; they don’t belong here. They’re in the past for a reason.   We have been afforded this great gift of a new start so let’s take advantage of it and work what God has given us to “Forget, and Be Fruitful!”  Joseph taught us a simple, yet powerful lesson.  Let’s grab hold of it and step into what God has for us.

Be blessed!!!!