Ephesians 3: 16-17 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may stregthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
When I first read the heading of this devotion (Worry and Faith) I thought to myself "hmmm, that sounds strange". Fear and faith are diametrically opposed. When we worry about things in our life we are taking our trust and faith away from God and placing it in ourselves. It's as if we're saying, "I love you God, and I know you're amazing, I mean you are the one who breathed life into me, but I'm gonna try to work this problem out on my own because I think I can do it just as well as you could". How crazy does that sound!?! Despite the fact of how crazy it is I find myself saying this all the time. I'm sure we all worry about similar things...money, work, friends, family, school, etc.. Instead of worrying about these things and allowing them to pull us away from God, why not let them draw us closer to him? Seeking His will in our lives and remaining in constant conversation with Him about our worries and fears will eliminate them and cause our faith to grow. This week I have felt so overwhelmed with class, the end of school, and things going on in my personal life. Just when I thought I couldn't possibly take anymore stress and worry, because if I did I was going to get an ulcer, I read this devotion. WOW! I love it when God winks at me! I think we've all had a time in our lives when we've felt this way, and it's as if He's speaking right to you! I hope that this week we will all turn our worries over to Him!
One of my favorite verses is Philippians 4:6-7 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
I pray that He will strengthen our faith so that we may experience His peace, which is greater than all else.
I hope you have a WONDERFUL week!
Jessi!!!! Thank you so much for that devotion. There is so much worry in my life right now and you are truly right when you say that this is the time that we need to draw closer to Him. I think that is how I get through each day without tears... His grace and peace towards me and my family. Thank you for reminding me to lean on Him. :)
ReplyDeleteJessi, This is the perfect time of year for this devotional! We just finished PASS (worry big time), we are finishing up the school year, and I am taking 2 classes. I am a born worrier, so this devotion really was needed. I like how you remind us that turning things over to "God means saying, "I trust you to take care of me." Worrying means that I have a lack of trust in God. I will be reminding myself of that in the future. You are right - God sends us what we need, and I needed this message.
ReplyDeleteJessi,
ReplyDeleteThis devotional is absolutely perfect for this time of year! As educators we are very stessed at this time of year and having 2 classess on top of that adds more to it. It does put things in perspective. We need to trust the Lord for he will get us through it all. I think I am going to send a link to two of my friends. I think they could definately benefit from reading this. This past week, they chose to get into an argurment over something so rediculous. This argument began over worry about end of the year procedures. That worry has hurt their relationship with the Lord and their peers. We need to have faith in him and trust things will work out. It is not worth the consequences of worrying.