Tag Archives: hard times

June 12, 2024 · 5:43 AM

Remain Faithful

After having gone through a difficult season, I asked my son how he was feeling and what was he thinking about it. He immediately said he didn’t understand why things happened as they did because we had fasted and prayed for a different outcome. He then said, “It makes me question if God really exists.” I began to explain how trials and tests can cause us to question His existence at times because we don’t understand. It can also cause us to question if our prayers are heard and other things as well. What matters is we push through our feeling of the moment and grab onto the reality of who He is. I reminded him of the time God supernaturally answered our prayers and times He’s specifically showed up. I let him know we all go through moments like that at times when we’re going through trials. It’s important to refocus on what God has done so we can remain faithful.

In Luke 22:31, Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon! Listen! Satan has received permission to test all of you, to separate the good from the bad, as a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff” (GNT). What Peter didn’t know was his world was going to crumble that night. He would also deny knowing Jesus three times. Jesus then said, “But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you turn back to me, you must strengthen your brothers.” Jesus prayed for Peter, and He also intercedes for us in our moments of testing. Peter beat himself up pretty badly for failing in the test the way he did, but that wasn’t the end. He did turn back and remained faithful and led the Early Church. His failure in the test, like ours, is not the end.

James 1:12 says, “Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him.” Everyone will face tests because Satan wants to sift us and cause us to doubt our faith making us ineffective. He wants us to return to our old life, but Jesus is praying for you that your faith won’t fail. He’s waiting to restore you and strengthen you. It’s in times of testing we find out where we truly stand. Sometimes we pass with flying colors and other times we’re left questioning everything. It’s good to keep a journal of what all God has done so you can remind yourself of the faithfulness of God in those moments. When we remain faithful and make it through the trial, God will give us more of His abundant life He promised us and we will receive the crown of life.

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May 21, 2024 · 5:36 AM

Hurricane Harbor

Have you ever wondered where a cargo ship goes when a hurricane approaches it? I read an article where they interviewed a cargo ship captain and they asked him. He said they don’t always head for the nearest port because different ports offer different levels of protection. If he had the choice and the ability, he would look for a port known as a hurricane hole. They have good holding areas where the waves rocking the boat wont damage the ship. They also have high cliffs or mountains around the port that can protect the ship from high winds. Once the storm passes they can then get the ship and it’s cargo back on course. It got me to thinking how we respond to storms in our lives. Where do we port when circumstances threaten everything we hold dear.

In Acts 16, Paul had a vision from God where a person from Macedonia called out to him to come there. He and Silas boarded a ship for there at once and began preaching the Gospel. A young slave girl,who was possessed, followed them and mocked them until Paul cast out the spirit from her. The masters of the girl realized they lost their income and turned the town against Paul and Silas. They were beaten up, whipped and thrown into a dungeon of a cell. They could have complained to God because they were following His will when it happened. They could have sought sympathy from local believers because of their treatment. They could have found any number of these harbors to hide in, but instead they decided to sing praises to God in their pain in the darkest hour. They knew the Lord was their hurricane harbor.

Psalm 32:7 says, “For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory” (NLT). Where do you go when your problems overtake you? Do you look for sympathy from friends? Do you complain about how hard things are? Instead of crying out to others in your pain, try praising the one who can hide you in the storm. In turn He will surround you with songs of victory and deliverance. You will still have to ride out the storm, but His walls of protection will hold you together. Your hope in Him will be the anchor your life needs when everything is trying to pull you away from Him. When we learn to praise in the pain and in the dark, God will deliver us. We may lose some cargo He needs us to offload. We may be sent in a different direction afterwards, but when the winds are strongest, our faith in Him will hold true as we hide ourselves in Him.

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May 9, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Worship In The Valley

Two of the biggest lies we hear when we’re going through a difficult time is that no one else understands and that God doesn’t care. I remember hearing both and believing them. The first one tries to get you on a technicality because there is no one else with your exact situation. I’ve found that while our situations may be unique, the pain and the process we go through is very similar. While someone may not be able to fully understand my exact situation, they can identify with the pain. That leads us to the second lie that God doesn’t care. The lie wants you to think that if God cared, you wouldn’t be going through so much. The truth is that even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He’s there with you to guide you and comfort you. He makes all things work together for our good.

I don’t know anyone who went through as much as Paul or Job. Job lost everything including his wealth, his kids and property. He still was able to worship God in that moment. In Job 2:9, when his wife told him to curse God and die, he responded, “Shall we accept good from God and not the trouble?” (NIV) When Paul was thrown in prison with Silas after having been beat, he invited God’s presence into the deepest, darkest part of that prison in the middle of the night by singing praises. When both of these men felt abandoned by people and God, they worshipped knowing that God dwells in the praises of His people. They held to the truth that God cares for us no matter how bad things may seem.

Psalm 31:7 says, “I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul” (NLT). In the darkest nights of my life, the most painful times, I turned on praise and worship music to help me worship when I didn’t feel it. God is worthy of our praise no matter what it is we’re going through. He sees the anguish in our soul and He cares deeply for us. He knows that the pain, the hurt, the sadness and the darkness will only last for a little while. He never leaves us in those times though He may feel far away. He’s there leading us into a greater joy and life that often goes through the darkest valley. Don’t listen to the lies and despair. Listen to the truth and worship.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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May 6, 2024 · 5:40 AM

The Lesson Of Contentment

One of the hardest things to learn is contentment. Last week we watched the movie “Unsung Hero” about the Smallbone family. The father lost everything, including their house, when a concert tour he was promoting flopped. He was promised a job in the US, so he moved his family here only to find out it wasn’t a sure thing. The rented a house, but had no car, no food and no furniture. They made a chart of prayer requests for their needs and as God answered their prayers, they moved them over. The kids were content with nothing, but the dad struggled with it seeing their situation as a reflection of him. His discontentment led to depression and family arguments. Discontentment affects relationships horizontally with people and vertically with God.

Job in the Bible was one of the wealthiest people of his time. He had everything you could want. He had land, resources, a family that he loved and lots of employees. When Satan approached God to accuse people, God pointed out Job and his contentment. Satan said that he was only content because of God’s blessings and protection. When Satan took everything from Job in a day, we read how Job fell to the ground and worshipped. He prayed in Job 1:21, “Naked (without possessions) I came [into this world] from my mother’s womb, And naked I will return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord” (AMP). He had possessions, but they didn’t have him. Because he recognized that everything he had was from God, he was able to be content even with nothing.

Paul had learned a similar lesson. In Philippians 4:12, he explained, “I know how to get along and live humbly [in difficult times], and I also know how to enjoy abundance and live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret [of facing life], whether well-fed or going hungry, whether having an abundance or being in need.” That secret is contentment. Simply put, contentment is submitting to God’s plan even when your circumstances are not ideal. This doesn’t mean you don’t have ambition to improve your life or circumstances. It’s an attitude like Job’s that recognizes what you have has been entrusted to you by God for this moment. Are you stewarding it well? Are you content with what He’s given you? Or is your discontentment affecting your relationships? The secret to facing life in any circumstance is contentment.

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March 15, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Standing On The Promises

When I was growing up, we used to sing a hymn called “Standing on The Promises of God” by Russell Kelso Carter. My favorite part of the song is the second verse. It says, “Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.” I can’t count how many time the ground I was standing on fell out from underneath me, my life got flipped upside down or my well thought out plans failed. In those times when my mind wants to go to despair, I force it to think of God’s promises that cannot fail. They give my comfort, clarity and hope. Here are some of my favorite promises in the Bible that I stand on.

1. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31 NLT

2. Do not yield to fear, for I am always near. Never turn your gaze from me, for I am your faithful God. I will infuse you with my strength and help you in every situation. I will hold you firmly with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:10 TPT

3. Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light.

Matthew 11:28-30 GNT

4. Be determined and confident. Do not be afraid of them. Your God, the Lord himself, will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you.

Deuteronomy 31:6 GNT

5. But his answer was: “My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak.” I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ’s power over me. I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 GNT

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March 4, 2024 · 5:24 AM

Blown Off Course

Have you ever tried to accomplish something, but keep running into roadblocks? No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t keep things going in the right direction. If it could go wrong, it went wrong. In the end, you either gave up or finished nowhere near where you wanted to. You can either cry, complain or make the best of it. Things like this happen to me, especially when I’m trying to do what God has asked me to do. I’ll ask God why I’m going through so much trying to accomplish His will. I’ll even wonder if I heard Him correctly. In the end, I’ve learned to accept that God can make something good out of all my struggles. Even when it feels like I’ve failed or missed the objective, when I hand Him the reigns, He accomplishes more than I thought even in my perceived failures.

In Mark 6 Jesus had just fed the 5,000 families with the five loaves and two fish. Before He sent the crowd away, He sent the disciples across the lake and told them to go to Bethsaida on the northwest side. As they were on their way, they were hit with a sudden storm. The winds picked up and tossed the boat like it was going to be flipped over. The waves crashed against the boat threatening their lives. Verse 48 says they were straining with the oars trying to keep moving. Around three o’clock in the morning, Jesus came walking on the water to them in the middle of their struggle. When they choose to let Him in the boat, the winds stopped and they continued their journey landing at Gennesarat on the north east side. They missed their destination even with Jesus in the boat. However, the chapter ends with them ministering there and making a difference in the lives of the people in the wrong destination.

Psalm 37 is packed with wisdom, especially if your life feels like it’s been blown off course. Verse 5 says, “Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust him along the way, you’ll find he pulled it off perfectly!” (TPT) There are two hard things for anyone to do in this verse to receive this promise. We must give God the right to direct our life accepting His desires over our own. We must also trust Him along the way in the middle of the storms when everything feels like it is against us. We just have to keep straining at the oars to keep it moving. Let Him worry about the destination. He can accomplish great things through us even at the wrong destination. He can make something good out of the times in our life when everything seems to be working against us trying to blow us off course. He is the one who causes everything to work together for good no matter when you feel like you didn’t reach your destination.

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February 20, 2024 · 5:35 AM

Walking Through Fire

How do you react when you’re going through a difficult season? We all go through periods where we’re under attack and it feels like God has abandoned us. I’ve asked God where He was and if He really cared before. I felt isolated and began to withdraw. I started to think I was going through a period like Job. The difference was that when Job lost everything and he didn’t understand, he worshiped and his prayer life increased. When he was ,et with silence, he kept praying and trusting God. His faith was greater than the season he was in. His prayers may not have been that great, but he didn’t cut off communication with Heaven.

In Judges 6, Israel was living in the Promised Land. However, the generation that had seen God bring them through the wilderness and helped them conquer the land had passed away. They began to be overcome by enemies and God would raise up a judge to be a hero. In this occasion, the Midianites were harassing the people, taking their crops and starving them. Gideon was threshing some grain hidden away so that they wouldn’t steal it when God showed up. He called out to Gideon and said, “Mighty warrior, God is with you.” Gideon replied in verse 13, “If God is with us, why has all this happened?” God tells him to go and rescue Israel to which Gideon says he’s a nobody and not very strong. God then reminds him that He is with him and will give him victory. Gideon them sets Israel free.

In Isaiah 43:2 God says, “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you” (NLT). God didn’t say, “If you go through deep waters,” He said, “When”. Hard times are going to come for all of us. Seasons where we feel abandoned will happen, but God promises when it feel like we’re drowning or we’re being oppressed and going through the fire, He is with us. Because He is with you, He will give you victory. He will strengthen you. Neither Job nor Gideon felt strong enough for their situations, but God infused them with His grace and His strength and they were able to survive their season and be victorious in the end. If God did it for them, He’ll do it for you. He has not abandoned you. He’s calling a mighty warrior out of you and walking through the fire with you.

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February 1, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Barren Seasons

Have you been through a barren season? It’s those seasons where you have planted seeds and watered them, but nothing is growing or producing. It’s a little frustrating and a lot scary. To have followed God’s principles in the Bible and to not see Him move on your behalf can be worrisome. In those times, I’ve prayed, “God, where are you? Why haven’t you responded yet? I thought by now you would have shown up,” only to be answered by silence. Barren seasons show up out of no where and can last a while. They put your faith to the test, but what you can’t see, and what you have to remind yourself, is what God is doing with those planted seeds underground.

Habakkuk 3:17-18 gives us the prescription for these times. It says, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” (NLT) We must continue to praise God anyway and choose to honor Him. Our hope is not in the fruits of our labor, but in the Lord. We cannot allow what we see in our circumstances to dictate our relationship with God. Circumstances are fickle, but God remains the same yesterday, today and forever.

In those barren seasons, I recount the character of God. I look back on who He has always been, not on how I perceive Him in my current situation. Relationships dictated by emotions fail because emotions can be manipulated. They must be built on something deeper. You must choose to love, to rejoice in the Lord and to be joyful even in the dry seasons. God has not changed who He is, nor has He stopped working on your behalf. Choose to rejoice no matter what the fields of your life look like right now. Trust in Him to be who He always has been. He is Jehovah Jireh, your provider and source even in the barren seasons. Your trust needs to be in Him rather than in the fruit of your labor.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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January 31, 2024 · 5:36 AM

Leaving Crisis Mode

Stephen Covey says we typically spend our time in one of four quadrants, and the amount of time we spend in each matters to our growth and productivity. Quadrant 1 is where most people live. It’s urgent and important things. The problem with quadrant one is that we’re on a treadmill not going anywhere really. We’re just constantly putting out fires. Quadrant two is not urgent but important. Here is where we focus on the future, relationships and planning. Being in this quadrant brings growth, control and balance. The other two quadrants are urgent and not important (quadrant three) and not urgent and not important. These aren’t connected to your big picture goals and prevent you from doing what really matters. The more time we spend in quadrant two, the more fulfilled our life will be is his point.

David was a man living in crisis before he became king. Saul was constantly hunting him to kill him. He spent a lot of his time in the wilderness of the Negev. It’s a very dry climate there where there isn’t much water and the biggest body of water is undrinkable (Dead Sea). David could have spent all his time during this season in quadrant one handling all the urgent and important work of trying to find water, food, shelter and safety. He had to do those things, but David took time to live in quadrant two in the middle of all that. He focused on the future and on the One who could rescue him. He grew his relationship with God in the difficult times. He knew he didn’t just need a series of temporary solutions. He needed to know the One who could solve his problems and fulfill the anointing on his life. During this time, he wrote Psalm 63.

Psalm 63:1 says, ”O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water“ (NLT). Where do you spend your time when things aren’t going according to plan in your life? Do you jump on the treadmill in quadrant one or do you build your relationship with God who is more than able to help? Do you search for Him in your wilderness or for the solutions by yourself? If you find yourself spending all your time in response and survival mode, it will be hard to break free from the cycle. While you still have to spend time on those things because they’re urgent and important, make time to search for God, to seek His face and to study His Word. He is the One who gives peace, deliverance and wisdom. When we draw close to Him, He draws close to us.

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January 29, 2024 · 5:36 AM

The Rough Road

One of the things I hear a lot of people say when they go through a tough time is that they must not be in God’s will. God’s path for our lives isn’t always the easy one. Tough times doesn’t mean you have angered God or turned His wrath toward you. There are times He takes us through the sunless valley of the shadow of death. There are times when the road He takes you down is in the wilderness where you feel like you can’t feel Him or through waters that are too deep and it feels like you’re drowning. If He always took you through green pastures, your faith would never grow. The rough roads are where we learn to trust Him even when we can’t feel Him.

In the book of Exodus, God displays His mighty power for both the Egyptians and Israelites to see. He then set them free from their captor and immediately led them into the desert. Not long after, they felt cornered at the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army pinning them down. Were they out of God’s will? No. God protected them from the army and then parted the water. The road then

led them through the wilderness where they experienced hunger and thirst. Even though they experienced hardship, they were still in His will and on His path. Remember, He provided manna there, brought water from the rock, led them with a cloud by day and a fire by night. Their clothes and shoes also never wore out. In the wilderness, God was still providing for them as He led them to the Promised Land.

Psalm 77:19 says, ”Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen“ (ESV). God’s way is always the best way, but it’s not always the easy way or the quickest. He cares more about your growth than your comfort. When we go through deep waters where we can’t see His footprints to lead us, it causes our roots to grow deeper in Him. It causes us to spend more time in prayer and our faith finds a new level. The times in our lives when we draw closest to God are usually times where we feel like we’re going under and can’t breathe. You are not necessarily off His path or out of His will when you experience these things. Don’t look for blame in these moments. Instead, look for His presence. He is there leading you, guarding you and providing for you when the road gets rough. Your Promised Land is just ahead.

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