Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ. Philippians 4:6-7
I remember the first day I met my husband it was love at first sight! He was just adorable! And right off I knew something not of this world had a hand in having our paths cross. To make a long story short as time went on we went through the dating process, got engaged, moved in together, and got married. I know…I know that living together should have been eliminated. But at that time we were young and had no idea the depths of the sin we were committing. But our relationship was a work in progress and it was not easy! It took a lot of dedication getting to know one another, habits, becoming receptive of each other needs, dealing with problems not only his family but also mine. Whew! Those were some long years!!! This December will be 15 years and we are stronger than ever. I have been asked so many times how do you make it work? Simple I always say, “GOD” He is now front and center in our marriage. But it took a lot of work on both our parts. Now we both can stand strong on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and say we trust God with our marriage and our love we have for each other.
Can I trust God? This is a good question…..and when I hear people state this question to me now I always ask myself how can you when you do not know his promises? When my husband and I got engaged he made a commitment to me and when I accepted the ring I accepted the commitment. Then we stood before God and made it final with God front and center we made a covenant with God that we would love, honor, and obey. Having a relationship with God is the same thing we have to know what he has promised us, his character, and his love. The same as my husband would I have trusted him if I did not get to know him and what his intentions were with my life? I think not. I knew what my husband promised me and vice versa. We built our relationship on those promises. We have to understand that when we feel doubt over taking us what do we do? We take control of the situation ourselves and we start planning the situation in what we will say and do. This is a major mistake on our end. You have to surrender….okay how do we do that? I personally have my manual at arm’s length at all times which is the Holy Bible, why? Because I scour through it when an obstacle is in front of me something that is impossible to man. Which pretty much is everything in all our lives right? I search in his word and I pray. I find myself now not sitting and thinking day and night on how I am going to handle something. I search scripture so I can know what God has promised me and request it. I surrender to him the problem, I tell him God this is a situation that can hurt me and put me in a situation I know is not where you want me to be. So let us outline three things when you do this. Because the Bible is VERY clear about how you benefit when you fully surrender your life to God.
Peace:
“Stop quarreling with God! If you agree with him, you will have peace at last, and things will go well for you.” (Job 22:21)
Freedom:
“Offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits…. His commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!” (Romans 6:17).
Power:
You will experience God’s power in your life. Stubborn temptations and overwhelming problems can be defeated by Christ when given to him. Jesus knows our battles he lived them too. He knows the pain and struggles we endure. Think about this for a moment did Jesus come into this world as a King? NO! He came into this world the same as you and me. A lowly human being working with his hands as a carpenter he was poor in the eyes of the world. But he had something more valuable than anything we will ever gain in this world. Salvation for all mankind, God did not just give it to him. Jesus had to earn it he was beaten, whipped, spat on, crucified, and died on the cross. That is how he earned peace, freedom, and power for you and me!
Why? So you can have the privilege of this gift that is given to us. That is right Jesus earned it for you and me. All we have to do is believe that He can do the impossible. Just have faith…how hard can that be? After I was born again and learning the word and my Father it took a lot for me to step out on faith. It is not easy I was once in that place of living my life for the world and what the world thought more so bending over backwards to always earn the respect and love from my parents and others around me. It was never enough and my life was always in limbo and nothing was changing. I was never truly fulfilled. Till I came to the realization of what the cross means in the life of a Christian. In that moment when you not only read scripture and His promises but you actually believe it the Lord opens doors that you never dreamed were possible.
The seeds of a mustard plant.
Though a seed is very small, yet the height of the plant which grows from it is very great. Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed. Matt. 13: 31
If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can move mountains, Matt. 17: 20.
There RIGHT THERE!!!! He states it and I believe it! What does this scripture mean? It does not mean that you can actually stand in front of the Rocky Mountains and move them. It means that when you have faith and believe you are giving God the go ahead you are saying show me your glory! God is a show off and he wants the world to see Him through you. And if you continue to try and let the world see you, through you, all I can say is get use to disappointments and failures. Because our Savior NEVER fails man does! Just have faith of a mustard seed let it grow then you will allow Him to open those doors. God cannot act on doubt He cannot grant your blessings with doubt it is important that we know this, as his children we need to know this. We just do not want to admit that we’re creatures and not in charge. It is the oldest temptation: “You’ll be like God!” Satan promised Adam and Eve and look where that got them and all of mankind! Pride, selfishness, listening to the wrong people, and doing things our way always leads to destruction.
Though a seed is very small, yet the height of the plant which grows from it is very great. Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed. Matt. 13: 31
If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can move mountains, Matt. 17: 20.
There RIGHT THERE!!!! He states it and I believe it! What does this scripture mean? It does not mean that you can actually stand in front of the Rocky Mountains and move them. It means that when you have faith and believe you are giving God the go ahead you are saying show me your glory! God is a show off and he wants the world to see Him through you. And if you continue to try and let the world see you, through you, all I can say is get use to disappointments and failures. Because our Savior NEVER fails man does! Just have faith of a mustard seed let it grow then you will allow Him to open those doors. God cannot act on doubt He cannot grant your blessings with doubt it is important that we know this, as his children we need to know this. We just do not want to admit that we’re creatures and not in charge. It is the oldest temptation: “You’ll be like God!” Satan promised Adam and Eve and look where that got them and all of mankind! Pride, selfishness, listening to the wrong people, and doing things our way always leads to destruction.
Instead of looking for pity from others, and displaying your problems to the world, and how things are so tough for you and how it all seems so unfair. Stop pouting and take the responsibility that you are blocking your blessings and by doing this you will not see those doors open. It all starts with a relationship with God just like the day I met my husband it all started with a relationship and commitment. So what are you going to chose today? To live the life you have always lived in stress, worry, doubt and despair? Look all you have to do is start with the mustard seed, start your relationship with God learn his word, and when doubt starts coming over you recite his promises, recite his word over and over, learn it, believe it. Start that relationship today with God and watch him move mountains that no man on earth can budge!
Amen.
© Shannon Wendler – October 10, 2010