Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
I'm reminded of the distraught father in Les Misérables whose only plea comes in a powerful song about his son as he cries, "Bring him home!" Our Father, too, pleads with us to help guide His straying children back home to Him: "Bring them home!"
I've lived long enough to be convinced that suffering is not an enemy. It seems strange to put it this way, but the truth is, suffering is a friend. Not until we acknowledge that will we glean its benefits.
Since our God is sovereign, we must prepare ourselves for both blessing and adversity. Because He is God, He's unpredictable. My advice here? Don't be disillusioned. Because our God is sovereign, we must prepare ourselves for blessing and adversity.
Elijah had to get his eyes back on the Lord. That was absolutely essential. He had been used mightily, but it was the Lord who made him mighty. He stood strong against the enemy, but it was the Lord who had given him the strength.
James doesn't say, "Elijah was a mighty prophet of God." He doesn't say, "Elijah was a powerful worker of miracles." He doesn't say, "Elijah was a model no man can match." James says, "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours."
Do you live expectantly? Do the little things excite you? Do you imagine the improbable and expect the impossible? Life is full and running over with opportunities to see God's hand in little things. Only the most sensitive of His servants see them, smile, and live on tiptoe.
Nothing makes us more uncertain and insecure than not being sure we are in the will of God. And nothing is more encouraging than knowing for sure that we are. Then, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what happens, we can stand fast.
Let me ask you a straight-out question: Do you, personally, pray? Now notice that I didn't say, "Do you listen when the preacher prays or when your parents pray?" I didn't say, "Do you know a good Bible study on prayer?" I didn't even say, "Have you taught on prayer?" I asked, "Do you, personally, pray?"
There are so many strategic ways God can use you in your business, your profession, your school, your neighbourhood. You don't agree with the ungodly cultural drift that's happening around you? Say so! You sense an erosion of spirituality at your church, and you're serving in a leadership capacity? Address it! Neutrality in the hour of decision is a curse that invariably leads to tragic consequences.
It may seem silly, but that's the way God operates. In the final analysis, there was a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—one stone flew through the air, and that's all there was to it. Goliath fell like a sack full of sand. Got any more giants?
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