Oh no!  I would never want that said of me and yet I know there have been times throughout my life when I haven’t had the faith and trust I should have.  They missed out on so much because of it and we also miss out when we don’t trust Him and have the faith we should have!  It says that He couldn’t do any miracles there, only lay hands on a few of the sick people and heal them.

Too often we base our faith on what we see and think and that’s where we make the mistake.  What He can do is not based on what we may know or think, it is solely based on who He is!  He is God!  Creator of all, Holy, Just, Faithful, all-powerful, the God who sees, who knows and nothing is difficult for Him!  Nothing!  

Another mistake we make is thinking that if what He does is different than what we thought should be done or it isn’t done in our timing then He somehow missed it!  He always knows what is best and when He doesn’t do things the way we think they should be done or in our timing, we need to remind ourselves that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not ours ~ His thoughts and ways are beyond our comprehension and we can trust Him!  Stop and think for a moment about how a child thinks compared to a good parent.  They don’t understand why their parents may not allow them to eat sweets all day and stay up as late as they want, or maybe why they can’t listen to the same music, read the same books, or watch the same movies as their friends, but the parent is overseeing their best interest for who they will become, not just what they want in the moment.  God is Sovereign and He does that so much better for us than even the best of parents does for their children and we can trust Him with it all!  (This is one reason the whole name it and claim its concept is so far off). God loves to bless His children and He knows what will help and what will hinder and what the best timing is for both blessings as well as struggles that may come that He allows to make us stronger and more mature in our walk with Him!

God is faithful and He loves you more than words can say!  Don’t lose hope because you don’t understand what He is doing or it seems as though nothing is happening ~ trust Him!  Dig in and spend time alone with Him.  Pour your heart out in prayer and trust Him!  Have faith that He will do what needs to be done when it needs to be done according to His perfect plan!  He has your best interest in mind as well as those you love and even when we don’t understand we can trust Him!  Don’t look around ~ Keep your eyes fixed on Him!

How much different would the world be if no one could see, or if maybe our ability to see didn’t include skin color or the ability to discern between attractive and not?  Would we choose different people to marry or be friends with?  Would we hire different people or vote differently?  Would we treat more people with the respect they deserve?  How often do you think companies miss out on the best employee?  How many people who think that they are “less than” for one reason or another would excel?

Our eyesight is a wonderful thing, but when it comes to people we shouldn’t judge by what we see.  You don’t know what storms they have faced, where they have been, or even where God is going to lead them.  We need to be very careful that we don’t get in the way of God using someone because of our own bias.  As Christians that is one area we should be so much different than people who don’t know Him, we are known for it!  There’s no room for prejudice in a heart filled with Jesus! Every single person out there was created by God in the image of God and He is the ONLY judge.

We need to be so focused on what we need to work on ourselves that we don’t have time to judge every person who crosses our path, whether it’s their clothes, shoes, hair, skin color… and I am speaking in both directions.  The Bible is also very clear that we are not to give preferential treatment to someone because of their status, and that’s a tough one for a lot of people because it is all around us.  Even some churches are guilty of doing that.  I have seen pastors lay out the red carpet for people because of their financial status and that isn’t right.  God is our provider and He can do it with rich and poor and many or few and when we start catering to someone because we think it may benefit us we have forgotten who our source is.  It’s all about giving God glory so that could be why there are so many times when He will take a small group of people and do a mighty work.  When you are focused on God, nothing is impossible.  When you focus on anyone else for any other reason than God bringing them to you then you may miss His best!  What if Samuel ignored God and anointed Eliab instead of David?  What sort of mess might that have been?

Ask God to give you discernment and wisdom.  Ask Him to help you see other people the way He sees them and with His heart for them.  The only way to make a difference in the world is to let go of what we think we see and follow Him!  He alone is The Way, The Truth, and The Life ~ there’s no other so if you want His best stick close by His side!

whose hearts are set on pilgrimage,

As they pass through the Valley of Baka,

they make it a place of springs; 

the autumn rains also cover it with pools.

They go from strength to strength,

till each appears before God in Zion.

“The Valley of Baka” otherwise known as the “Valley of Tears”.  Have you been there?  I have had seasons in my life where I wasn’t sure there was much hope of it ever ending. Maybe that isn’t you right now, but maybe there is someone you know who is in that valley!  The Valley of Tears can seem like a very lonely place, but there is hope!

You are not in that valley alone!  There are times when we are walking through a “valley” in life and it seems as though we are alone even though we may have people who care deeply.  There are just some “hurts” in life that no earthly person can console!  Now, that doesn’t mean that if you know someone who is struggling or hurting you can’t be there.  There are times when your friend is hurting that just being there, just having coffee together or praying together, or allowing her to get it off her heart without offering a “religious” cliche is healing.  Don’t feel as though you necessarily have to have an answer, pray with her, pray for her!  Let her know even via a simple text, “I am praying for you” and then for heaven’s sake Pray for her!  Don’t say it if you don’t mean it because when you are in that valley you count on every prayer that is offered on your behalf!  If you are the one walking through that valley, you can know that you are never alone!  He is right by your side and He wants to give you every ounce of strength you need to get through to the other side!

Notice in verse 5, “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on ‘pilgrimage,’ (or Holiness).  You don’t have to come up with the strength on your own and you don’t need to find the path through this valley!  Grab onto His hand and allow His strength to get you through each day!  Cling to Him!  Ask Him to show you all that He wants to teach you through this so you can be more like Him when you walk out of that valley!  Allow Him to use your story to help others and to make something beautiful out of it all!  What satan has meant for your harm, God will use for your good if you will just give it all to Him!

Now, don’t listen to sad songs!  Whether they are Christian or mainstream, don’t listen to sad songs that take your focus off Him and put them back on your storm!  You need to focus on Him and praise Him!  There’s no time for sad songs that will drag you into self-pity.  I am speaking here from experience!  There are times when we seem to feel as though it is our right and somehow our “vindication” to wallow in our sorrow and self-pity, but there’s victory when we praise Him!  There’s victory when we give it all to Him and we hold on to the fact that Nothing is too difficult for Him!  Hold on to who He is!  Hold on to His character and the fact that He has a plan for your life and this thing you are dealing with may not be by His design, it may be from Hell but He can handle it!  He created you to be an overcomer!  

If you read those verses again you will see that the person who finds their strength in The Lord makes the valley a better place for their having been there!  Wow!  Now that is a challenge!  Don’t focus on the raging storm around you or the heartache, focus today on Him and ask Him what His dreams are for your life.  What does He have for you to do today?  How can you have victory in your life today?  Notice it says in verse 7 that their strength grows day by day until they appear before God in Zion!  Little by little as you learn to give it all to Him, your strength in Him will grow.  Trust Him today with it all.  Spend time alone praying and praising Him!  Go pray with that friend who needs some encouragement.  Allow God to fill you with all that He has for you today knowing that His best is yet to come!

Since we know this promise of God to work even the most difficult of things out for good why do we scratch and kick, and try to fix it?  Especially when it comes to someone we love.  When something upsets or hurts my children even as adults my “Mom” mode kicks in and I want to hurry up and try to fix it so they aren’t hurting but in the process I have to wonder how many times my “bandaids” get in God’s way.  It’s not just with those we love though.  Have you ever vindicated yourself instead of allowing God to?  We live in an instant gratification world where we rarely have to wait on so many things people used to have to wait for and our minds have become conditioned to think that’s how it is supposed to work.  God doesn’t “microwave” our problems because we want them taken care of immediately.  He knows what is best and the end result is not always the most important part of the equation.  God often allows situations in our lives to position and grow us for what is next.  

When we quote Jeremiah 29:11 we must keep in mind that prospering is not always financial, sometimes God is growing wisdom, discernment, self-discipline, or patience, and the list goes on and on, but the point is that without difficulties or situations that stretch our beliefs and faith, we wouldn’t grow.  Think about Job 23:10, “But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”  Job had no idea why all of a sudden he lost everything but He knew that God had allowed it and that God trusted Job to stand firm in his faith so that when all was said and done, Job would withstand the fire to come out more pure for having been through it.  God rewarded Job for his faithfulness with double everything he lost but most importantly I am sure Job was even closer to God than he had been before.  When satan attacked, there was nothing Job could do!  Within minutes he lost everything and he sat down overwhelmed and grieving the loss of all of his children and praised God.  Instead of shaking his fist at God or throwing a fit he just paused.  How much better would things turn out in every area of our lives if we paused like Job and instead of jumping to fix things we took the time to go to God and wait on Him?  Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”   Sometimes He does direct us to do something and sometimes He just wants us to wait and He will step in and fight for us when the time is right.

I would like to encourage all of us to slow down and take those things to God before we just jump in thinking we know what is best.  Pray and wait for His answer.  Trust Him that He is in the process of working things out for good and He always knows what is best.

Even though we all know that God knows everything, nothing escapes His notice and He also knows every detail of what will happen in the future.  Absolutely nothing takes God by surprise!  That makes some people irritated because they wonder why God doesn’t stop all of the bad things in life, but that would mean that there would be no free will to make choices in life. We would be more like robots. God gave us free will to choose Him or not to choose Him. There is no love when there is no choice. Since there are people in the world who don’t choose Him and since none of us are perfect and we make mistakes life is a struggle at times, to say the least. 

God created every one of us for His glory.  He, as it says in verse 16 had already written out all of your days in His book.  He sees you, He has known you and has seen you since before you were born and He has a plan for your life.  It is your choice to seek Him and pursue His plan or not and let’s face it, we all make mistakes at times and mess things up, but God is faithful and He promises that He will use all of that for His glory if we just give it all to Him and seek Him!  Don’t let anyone discount your story.  No matter how great or how awful your life has been we serve a mighty God and He has a plan that is bigger than us!  Bigger than what we can comprehend!  Don’t let anyone tell you that your story is too much or too little for God to use! I have found myself asking God, “So….. which storm or battle in my life do you want to use?”  I kept hearing “All of it!”  I don’t know how, when, or where, but He is the author and finisher of our faith so if He has allowed something in your life and if you are open to being used by God He will show you what He will use to glorify Him! Don’t put limits on God and what He can do in and through your life and by all means don’t allow anyone else to either! He may use a part here to help this person and part there to help someone else or He may use it all to blow people away so they will say, “What a mighty God we serve that could bring them through all of that and just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego they don’t smell like smoke even though they have been through the fire!  He is the author!  No one else can determine how God wants to use you and your story for His Glory!  You just follow Him and keep your “Yes” on that table and allow Him to work!

The world gets crazier by the day and we need to live lives that honor God.  Be the light!  Ask Him how you can serve Him!  Ask Him today what His dreams are for your life!  There are lost people out there who need your testimony to help draw them to God!  It matters!  You matter and your story matters!  No one is more important than you are to Him, He wrote out your story just like He did everyone else’s and He wants to lead you into all He has planned.  Seek Him and His direction for your life ~ this is not something to blow off or take lightly!  He wants to use you to help those around you to see that they can have His best in their lives too if they will give their hearts and lives to Him!!  

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

   He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

   He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

   For His names’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 

   I will fear no evil,

For you are with me;

   Your rod and your staff,

   They comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

   In the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

   My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

   All the days of my life,

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever.

This is probably the most familiar Psalm to everyone and there’s so much packed in it.  It says so much about David and his walk with God.  He knew that even though there were great times in life there would also be times that would overwhelm so he learned to listen closely to God through both.  David learned to rely on God for his strength if he had relied on other people we wouldn’t see that strong king we know and love. He made mistakes and he owned them, repented, accepted God’s discipline, and trusted God with His whole heart. Regardless of what was going on around him he still chose to praise God through the good times and the bad!

During those times when you are on your mountaintop do you pick up your pace in life or do you take the time to refresh yourself in your walk with God?  Do you get intentional about spending more time with Him or do you go at breakneck speed trying not to miss out on anything?  For example, when you go on vacation do you spend it packing so much in that you are going from morning to night or do you take some of that time and opportunity to get alone with God?  Is He a priority or do you leave Him at church?  God wants to take those times when you are not overwhelmed by struggles in life to continue to help you grow in your walk with Him and He wants to use you to help those who are struggling in their walk as well.  That may not seem convenient, but sometimes when you are on the mountaintop, God may be asking you to reach out to those who are hurting and show them His love.  Don’t miss out because you feel as though you are going through a time when you aren’t desperate for His help!

If you feel as though you are walking through the “shadow of death” I would like to encourage you that not only will He vindicate you but He will do His best to keep you on the right path (rod and staff) so you will make it to those “green pastures” of rest again.  Whatever you are facing, it didn’t come to stay ~ it came to pass and He will walk with you through that valley and or raging storm if you will allow Him to.  He doesn’t want you to be fearful, He wants to comfort you and give you His confidence.  He has a plan (Jeremiah 29:11-13) and you must seek His face and His plan and He will get you through to the other side of this!  Trust Him!  Seek His face! Wherever you are in life today, allow Him to guide you and to be your strength.  Trust Him with absolutely every detail of your life. 

No matter where you are today in life I would encourage you to pray.  Your relationship with God, just like any other relationship requires communication and the only way for that to happen is for you to spend time in His Word and in prayer.  So, whether you don’t know what to do in your situation or you believe you do know what to do ~ Pray!  

Too often when times are good it’s easy to get to a point where you feel as though you are on a roll and you just know what you believe you need to do next, but I would still like to encourage you to take it to God and just discuss it with Him.  Don’t become so self-sufficient that you leave Him out until one day you realize that you should have run those decisions past the Lord way back there and now…. God sees, He knows, and He cares so why wouldn’t you run everything past Him?  He is the God of details and He wants to be involved on every level of your life.  He wants to guide you in all that you do.  Don’t just wait for the seemingly big stuff to come along, make Him a part of your everyday choices and decisions.  

I know some days can also be so overwhelming that it is tough to even know what to pray and that is when you pray exactly that!  “Lord, I don’t even know what to pray!”  He knows what you have need of before you even ask, so ask Him to just do what you need Him to do today and to give you the strength and peace you need to face the day.  He sees, He knows the truth and He cares and loves you beyond anything you can comprehend.  You can trust Him with it all!  Draw closer to Him, don’t push Him away.  Ask Him to help you guard your mind against the lies that satan or other people may be trying to tell you because satan wants you to feel alone and he wants you to believe that God doesn’t really care.  Those are all lies from Hell.  Pray for God to fill you with hope!  Write down Romans 15:13 and carry it with you, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”   God wants to fill you with hope and His joy so ask Him for it!  You don’t have to face anything in life alone!

Don’t miss a day of communicating with God ~ He loves you and wants to hear from you!  If you have prayed and prayed and yet you are not seeing anything happen ~ pray some more!  Don’t give up and don’t give in!  Keep praying and believing!

There are so many people who have rejected God for so long that we must pray for God to draw them to Him, to give them tender hearts once again to hear and receive the Gospel, so they will be saved.  Satan is fighting with everything he’s got to take as many as he can down with him.  Whether or not you like someone or not should not be the deciding factor for praying for them.  Since it is not God’s will for any to die in sin without accepting Him as their Savior, we need to pray for His heart for them as well.  It’s too easy to allow our emotions to get in the way, but we need to focus on eternity, not just ours but theirs as well.  

I am horrified at how blatant the attacks are and yet there are people who seem totally unaware.  People get angry with God instead of the sin that is causing destruction and pain.  The world needs Jesus.  I was reading one of the Narnia books, (The Magician’s Nephew) and the animals had brought Uncle Andrew to Aslan to figure out what he was and they were hoping that He would allow them to keep him as a pet. (Some parts of this book crack me up). When they dropped him at the lion’s feet, Uncle Andrew was terrified and wouldn’t move so Polly asked if Aslan might say something to him to comfort him and Aslan’s response was, “He thinks great folly, child,” said Aslan.  “This world is bursting with life for these few days because the song with which I called it into life still hangs in the air and rumbles in the ground.  It will not be so for long.  But I cannot tell that to this old sinner, and I cannot comfort him either; he has made himself unable to hear my voice.  If I spoke to him, he would hear only growling and roarings.  Oh, Adam’s sons, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good!” *  Unfortunately that seems to be where so many are today.  They have gone their own way. They do what they think will make them happy and bring them pleasure and they are so far from the truth and that mindset will only bring destruction and pain.  That should break our hearts.  Satan is fighting for them and we need to be on our knees fighting for them.  Witchcraft is rampant, it’s not fun and games or some fairy tale.  It is not make believe and neither is spiritual warfare.  Don’t be blinded by something you choose to not see!  If the thought of spiritual warfare makes you uncomfortable then pray for God to give you more confidence in Him and His Spirit that dwells within you if you are saved!  “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world!” 1 John 4:4  

Prayer is our greatest weapon because it brings God into the situation!  You’re not alone!  Pray for His strength, confidence and direction!  Realize that with Him you can make a difference!  Think about this; even if you were able to help one person escape hell how amazing is that?  What if someone else has that mindset and they are able to reach out to your loved one and they get saved!?  Ask God for one person to influence.  Ask for His words and His leading!  Don’t get in the way by trying to force situations, allow God to guide you and to open doors.  Pray for those you know need to accept Him and pray for God to bring people into their lives if that door hasn’t been open for you.  Be bold when He calls you to be bold and be gracious.  Pray for discernment.  If your heart is truly open to God’s leading He will guide you, He will open doors and He will give you the words to say!  There is hope ~ with God there is always hope!  Don’t give up on them ~ fight for them on your knees and ask God to prepare you for all He has for you to do!  His best is yet to come and we wouldn’t want anyone we know to miss it!

* C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia (New York, NY: HarperCollins Children’s Books, 1982), 98

Faith and trust are probably often the greatest challenge Christians have in their walk with God, which if you really think about that it doesn’t really make sense that we wouldn’t trust Him but we don’t always, do we?  I see people who get frustrated and angry with God because he doesn’t answer in their timing or they want someone else to change but they don’t because God didn’t “make” them change, or maybe they prayed and didn’t get the answer they wanted. Sometimes answers to prayer can also be dependent on other people being obedient so if that person chooses not to be, God may be working on someone else to do it so your answer is delayed. God is Sovereign and while we get impatient we need to remind ourselves of Who He is and His love for everyone.  He can always be trusted.  The outcome could depend on your faith and trust…

Remember Peter when Jesus was walking on the water and Peter said, “If it’s really you then tell me to walk to you.”  Of course, my logical brain looked at that and thought, silly Peter ~ anyone could say, “Yes, it’s ME ~ Come on!”, but Peter knew His voice!  He wanted to hear Jesus say it because Peter had spent time with Him and he knew His voice!  So, as we all know, Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water ~ Wow!  How amazing would that be?  But then, he took a look around and Jesus hadn’t calmed the storm, the waves were still high as the storm raged on and his faith wavered and he started to sink.  Jesus didn’t just let him sink but he did say, “Oh you of little faith…”. Peter started out great but as the storm continued he began to doubt.  No matter how big the storm and no matter how long it may be lasting, trust Him!  He isn’t going to let you sink.  As James said in the above verses, “The testing of your faith produces patience” and it is patience that matures us in our walk with Him.  When you wait, and you wait, and you wait, but you continue to cling to Him and His promises you grow in faith and trust.  Tell satan to get off your back!  He has nothing to say about your situation because, at the end of the day, only God’s Word matters!  He alone has the final say so be strong in the Lord and the Power of His might!  It’s not easy, sometimes you can feel as though you haven’t gotten through that last storm yet, and here comes a hurricane, oh believe me, I know!  God who has called you is faithful and you can trust Him!  

Now here’s something to ask yourself; in those seasons of sunshine and no storms in sight, how can you walk in faith?  You spend time in His Word and ask Him to show you opportunities to be His hands and feet.  Be a Prayer Warrior!  Be intentional in growing closer to Him!  Get to know Him more so, like Peter, you will know His voice when storms do come your way.  Don’t wait for the storm to come!

If you are following the Lord and you are allowing Him to guide you in all that you do then trust me, there are going to be many times when you wonder, “What on earth?”.  There is just no way we can possibly understand the mind and heart of God, but the one thing we always need to keep in mind is His character and His love for us and everyone else in the world.  

There are times in life when you may take a job and then wonder why you are doing what you are doing and why are you working with the people you are working with, but there’s a reason for everything.  Maybe you love your job and you are feeling God call you away to something else and you just can’t understand why He would want you to do that when humanly speaking, it just doesn’t make sense to do that.  Trust Him!  If you will allow Him to lead you even when it doesn’t make any sense in the natural, you will find that one day you will look back and it will all make sense.  God has a plan and one of the greatest parts of that plan is His desire to walk with you through life.  He wants you to pursue Him and know Him.  He loves you!  I know I use Jeremiah 29:11-13 a lot, but when you really start to understand that He has a plan and that plan includes you. Even when that plan doesn’t make sense to you at the moment while storms are raging all around you in life, you can know that if you seek Him with your whole heart and cling to His promises, and trust Him, He will guide you into all He created you for.  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your  heart.”  Even when you don’t understand, you can trust that He sees, He knows, and if you are following Him He will fulfill the promises He has made to you.  He will provide!

Another thing to consider in this verse too is that, if God has a plan all set and you choose to go your own way and do your own thing, just how do you think that is going to turn out?  God knows what is best.   You don’t have to hope that you are doing the right thing if you follow Him, you can know that you are, even when struggles come and things don’t seem to be working out right, at least not in your timing, you can know that He’s got this and He will guide you through.  Part of having faith is knowing that you are following Him ~ I am not sure how you can have faith that God will do the right thing if you are doing your own.  That would be like trying to teach a toddler how to tie their shoes and they decide that 2 laces would be too much to manage in tying them so they are only going to use one.  That wouldn’t quite work right, would it?  And then how would you feel or what would you say if they got mad at you because their shoes wouldn’t stay tied?  Hmmm….  Have you ever done that to God?  

If today you aren’t sure whose path you are on ~ yours or God’s, ask Him to show you.  Just because things don’t look right doesn’t necessarily mean you missed it and on the other side of that, just because things look good doesn’t mean that you are doing what you should.  I am not trying to discourage you with that, I am trying to encourage you that God has a plan for you!  You don’t have to figure everything out on your own when you follow Him, He will show you.  Put your “yes” on the table and ask Him to guide you in all that you do.  Ask Him for a hunger to know Him more.  If you know you are following Him and you are frustrated with where things are ask Him what you can learn from this to help you grow and move forward.  This too shall pass and as you look back over it all you will see how He has orchestrated it all to move you forward into more that He is calling you to.