An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
We humans are so fickle. God did great and mighty miracles for the Israelites and days later when their circumstances weren't ideal they forgot and doubted and didn't trust God anymore.
I have to admit that over the last couple weeks I find myself wanting to doubt. Especially with reading little of God's word and spending little time in prayer with him, I feel disconnected. I find myself looking at some of the hard circumstances around me and beginning to doubt and question God and his goodness. It is easy to focus on the bad, focus on all that is wrong in the world and want to blame God.
But I am forgetting all that I have experienced myself and seen others experience! Forgetting all that I have read in his word. Amazing that even in a fleeting moment I could ever forget how he saved my heart and my soul and my mind from such despair.
How he put a new song in my mouth and gave me a firm place to stand.
He is my savior. In more ways than one. And people can scoff at him and make sarcastic baby Jesus comments about him on Facebook all day long. They haven't experienced or invited his power or his peace in their lives.
He is everything we need in every situation. He is the greatest of all gifts!
Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
The most obvious reason to rejoice is he has paid the penalty for all we've done wrong and secured us eternal life.
But there's so much more. My pastor went over this list (much more in detail) on Sunday:
He shapes our days.
He secures our future.
He stands by his promises.
He satisfies our longings.
He stays by our side.
He strengthens us in our weakness.
He supplies our needs.
He shepherds us in every circumstance.
He sympathizes with us in our difficulties.
He saves us from our failures.
Amen!
I am so grateful for Him. For His birth. For His death. And for him raising up from it.
He has defeated our worst fear and will help us through all the others.
Merry CHRISTmas! : )
"I have to admit that over the last couple weeks I find myself wanting to doubt. Especially with reading little of God's word and spending little time in prayer with him, I feel disconnected. I find myself looking at some of the hard circumstances around me and beginning to doubt and question God and his goodness. It is easy to focus on the bad, focus on all that is wrong in the world and want to blame God."
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what I have been going through the past few weeks. My husband and I have been going through some tough times over the past couple years. I've tried just about everything to fix what's wrong. Finally, I told him we were going to read the bible and he was on board. Well, things got busy and we didn't stick to it. And two nights ago, I heard evil whispered in my ear...LITERALLY. I had gotten to the point where I didn't want to read your blogs, didn't want to read my Encouragements for the Day, didn't want to look at the literature my mother-in-law had gotten me. Funny how things work out the way they do. I finally read the last 4 of your posts and I feel a bit renewed. :) I'm going to start again, but this time on my own. I can't control what my husband does but I can certainly take responsibility for what I do. And like you said in one of your other posts; because you were filled with happiness, you treated your husband better, and in turn he treated you better. So there you go. That's my plan. I'm also going to concentrate more on The Love Dare, something I've been sort of doing but not 100% like I should be.
So thank you my friend. :) God Bless YOU and Merry CHRISTmas!