964 posts
God-is-sovereign - God Is Sovereign - Tumblr Blog
‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Jesus?’ Romans 8:35
Shall troubles separate us? Never, no outward trouble can separate us from His love. We are never deserted. Jesus is ever at hand. When we call upon His name He intervenes, sometimes taking away the trouble, and at other times giving us the grace and strength to bear it, and at all times consoling us through His Spirit.
Paul mentions famine, hunger and all forms of deprivation that may hurt considerably, and test us sorely, but Christ will place His divine arms around us. Nakedness, poverty, peril, great dangers, war, disasters, the sword, violence , none of these things can possibly separate us from the love of Christ.
‘Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.’ No created being or power or force, angelic, demonic, earthly, animate or inanimate, have the power to separate us from the immeasurable love of God. This love is the inseparable bond between God and His people.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Philippians 4:4
Yesterday I told you that contentment comes when we rejoice in the Lord.
You may ask, “How can I rejoice when everything is going against me, and I have been waiting endlessly for my situation to change?"
Paul writes these words from a Roman dungeon. He learnt from personal experience that our joy in the Lord does not depend on having things go our way, or on having everything we want, but on whether or not we are "in the Lord." He understood that God is the source of His joy and in Him is his sufficiency. Whether in lack or fullness he knew his Lord was enough for him.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, sometimes it seems almost impossible for me to rejoice. Help me to understand that only in and through your Holy Spirit can I rejoice in You. Amen.
Have you ever wondered if God has forgotten you? . Life comes with seasons of uncertainty. Perhaps you are facing a season of crisis that never seems to end.
In seasons of uncertainty, it can be hard to know what the Lord is doing or why He has allowed you to face what you're going through. God doesn't seem to notice your tears. He doesn't seem to be doing anything. You may ask, "How can I go on like this?"
The enemy of our soul wants us to doubt that God even cares. Know this, God is always working, and He is always in control.
Hold tight to the promises of God. His plans for your life will not and cannot be thwarted (Job 42:1-2). And even if we are faithless, He still remains faithful! (2 Timothy 2:13). No situation we face in this life will ever be too hard for God.
The Christian life is supposed to be one of death to self in order to live a life by faith. Paul told the Galatians “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Being crucified with Christ means that our old nature has been nailed to the cross and has been replaced by a new nature which is Christ’s (1 Corinthians 5:17). He who loved us and died for us now lives in us and the life we live is by faith in Him. It means sacrificing our own desires, ambitions, and glories and replacing them with those of Christ. We can only do this by His power through the faith that He gives us by His grace.
For several months, I coped with intense workplace politics and intrigues. Worrying is second nature to me, so I was surprised to find myself at peace. Instead of feeling anxious, I was able to respond with a calm mind and heart. I knew that this peace could come only from God.
In contrast, there was another period in my life when everything was going well—and yet I felt a deep unrest in my heart. I knew it was because I was trusting in my own abilities instead of trusting God and His leading. Looking back, I’ve realized that true peace—God’s peace—isn’t defined by our circumstances, but by our trust in Him.
God’s peace comes to us when our minds are steadfast (Isaiah 26:3). In Hebrew, the word for steadfast means “to lean upon.” As we lean on Him, we’ll experience His calming presence. We can trust in God, remembering that He’ll humble the proud and wicked and smooth the paths of those who love Him (vv. 5–7).
When I experienced peace in a season of difficulty rather than ease, I discovered that God’s peace isn’t an absence of conflict, but a profound sense of security even in distress. It’s a peace that surpasses human understanding and guards our hearts and minds in the midst of the most difficult of circumstances (Philippians 4:6−7).
—karen huang
In the Old Testament book of Joel, God called His people to true repentance for their sins as He welcomed them to return to Him wholeheartedly (2:12). God didn’t seek outward acts of remorse, but rather that they would soften their hard attitudes: “Rend your heart and not your garments.” Joel reminded the Israelites that God is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love” (v. 13).
We might find confessing our wrongdoing difficult, for in our pride we don’t want to admit our sins. Perhaps we’ve fudged the truth, and we justify our actions by saying it was only “a little white lie.” But when we heed God’s gentle yet firm prompting to repent, He’ll forgive us and cleanse us from all our sins (1 John 1:9). We can be free of guilt and shame, knowing we’re forgiven.
—amy boucher pye
Proverbs 20:27
The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord,
Searching all the inner depths of his heart.
