Read: Psalm 86:1-13

When life is moving along smoothly, it’s easy to say, “God answers prayer.” But a crisis can bring doubt, especially if the Lord is not responding as quickly as we might like. That’s when we may be tempted to bargain with God as if He could be manipulated into acting on our behalf. However, the goal of prayer is not to get God to do what we want but to bring our concerns to Him, trusting that He will answer in His own way and time.

Waiting on the Lord is fairly easy when we’re not facing anything urgent. But difficulties and suffering tend to make us impatient. We may even begin to find fault with God, thinking that if He truly loved us, He would intervene and bring relief.

As we seek the Lord for help, David’s prayers in the Psalms provide wonderful patterns for us to follow. He faced many dire situations and continued to turn to God. Today’s passage from Psalm 86 starts with an urgent cry for help, followed by a reminder to the heavenly Father that David belongs to Him. Then he recounts God’s character—gracious, good, ready to forgive, and abundant in loving kindness to all who call on Him (v. 3-5). These characteristics are the basis for trust.

Knowing who God is enables us to trust Him through the crises of life. Because He is faithful, we know that He will keep His promises. His holiness causes us to examine our life and repent of any sins that are hindering our prayers. And His mercy, grace, and love give us the comfort we need to endure hardship.

By Dr. Charles Stanley
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

Praying in Crisis part 2 by Charles Stanley

Praying in a Crisis part 3 by Charles Stanley

Find God in Your Crisis

The post Praying in a Crisis appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Beloved child of God, listen to your Father’s heart and his ways for you in Galatians 5:22-23,25.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control… Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Read Psalm 145:17 NASB.

“The Lord is…kind in all His deeds.”

Be blessed to know it is God’s kindness that is responsible for your belonging to his kingdom (Romans 2:4). He showed you his great kindness to you in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7). He adopted you as a son through Jesus, according to the kindness of his will (Ephesians 1:5-6).

The kindness and love of God your Savior saved you in his mercy. You are an heir of the hope of eternal life because of his kindness, which is God’s goodness in action. His kindness is your strength and comfort. He is a kind companion who shares your life. His kindness relieves your sense of aloneness. Because you have tasted his kindness, you hunger for more of him, so that you grow up to look more like him (1 Peter 2:2-3). Let the kindness of God prompt you when your heart needs changing.

King David ministered the kindness of God daily to the grandson of his enemy (2 Samuel 9:3). Jesus was kind to you when you were his enemy (Romans 5:8). He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, so be blessed to love your enemies, and do good to them, and expect nothing back from them, as Jesus did. Be blessed to prove yourself to be a son/daughter of the Most High, because his kindness lives in you to be a peacemaker at all times (Luke 6:35; Matthew 5:9).

His unfailing compassion toward you never runs out as the source of your kindness (Isaiah 54:8). Jesus is sympathetic, affectionate, displaying the mercy of his Father toward you. His kind heart saw sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:35). Because of his kindness, the hungry were fed, the blind saw, lepers were cleansed, and the ignorant and innocent were taught. He cares, he reaches out to touch you and others as he touched lepers and rejects of his day.

When you don’t feel kind, take your feelings to God to work forgiveness in you. Be blessed to live in his compassionate disposition. Pass on the kindness shown to you (Titus 3:6-8). The kindness and compassion of your Kinsman-Redeemer sees and restores. Let him respect, appreciate, and honor others through you in all relationships, circumstances, and decisions.

Be blessed with the nature of Jesus that does not cut others off or cut them short. Be blessed with his grace that pervades your whole being, softening all the rough edges. Be blessed with being mellowed in the sweet character of Jesus (Luke 5:39). Be blessed to reflect the nature of the dove of the Holy Spirit in you in acts and words of kindness.

Be blessed with the fruit of kindness that the Holy Spirit produces in you,
your grateful response to unmerited kindness (Galatians 5:22).

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

Fruit of the Spirit

The Fruit of Love

Blessing of the Fruit of the Spirit

The post Fruit of Kindness appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“The people who know their God will be strong and do great exploits” Daniel 11:32

When the Lord began to open my eyes to the importance of knowing God, I started to study His attributes and His names. I learned many great truths about God and was tremendously blessed. One of the things I learned was that according to the Westminster catechism, our main reason for being alive is to “glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

About that time in my spiritual journey, God sent a young man to live with us for several months. He talked a lot about enjoying God. Following his example, I began to make it a habit to enjoy my relationship with God. I invited Him into every part of my day, not just when I had my quiet time.

Gradually, I began to change. Instead of my relationship with God consisting of me just asking for things, I began to discuss everything with Him. I began thanking Him everywhere — while driving, walking, working, or shopping — anytime, anywhere. Talking to God all day long became a habit — a good habit.

 I now enjoy my relationship with God. How about you?

Father, what a privilege to know that You delight in our fellowship — that You are actually waiting for us to come to You. What deep, deep satisfaction You give. Thank You so much for the privilege of knowing You. Amen.

by Katherine Kehler
used by permission

Further Reading

How to Know God

Open My Eyes

Never too Old

I Want to Know Him

The Only Totally Fair Judge!

God is GOOD

The post Knowing God appeared first on Thoughts About God.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.   Ephesians 3.17b-18

I drew a weathervane in the margin of my Bible. You know, the kind that points East and West, North and South, and is decorated at the top with a rooster or barn. Exactly.

Except I added another arrow pointing up, and another down — a six-direction image like a Christmas-tree star.

I drew the weathervane on a page in Ephesians. The whole book is Paul’s account of God’s love for Gentile believers in Ephesus, people who were not Jews by birth but who were now “heirs together” with the Jews through faith. They had become his beloved people too.

To underscore their place in God, Paul writes “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” And then he adds the weathervane verse — that being rooted and established in love you may “grasp how wide (East to West!), and long (North to South!), and high and deep (Up and Down!) is the love of Christ.

This image of God’s weathervane love came to mind recently when I thought of a friend who is going through hard times. He is unemployed, struggles with mental health, and lives with a challenging friend. So I messaged him a video of musicians singing the song “The Blessing” – the words seemingly inspired from Ephesians 3:

May his presence,

go before you

And behind you

And beside you

All around you

And within you

He is with you

He is for you!

What a blessed truth. My friend thanked me.

But it makes me wonder what our weathervanes of God’s love look like. Is it six-starred? Or do we feel like one or more pointers are bent or even broken off? Perhaps we cannot feel or acknowledge God around us or in us.

Dear friend, I encourage us to rest in God’s love knowing that he is for us, in us, around us. We can rest in that knowledge even when we do not feel that way.

Dear God, thank you for your expansive love. You have rooted us in your love and given us power from your indwelling Holy Spirit. Help us slow down and rest in your great affection – you Love us! Wow, that’s hard to believe, but that is your plan for us today and always. Give us a full image of you for us, loving us from every direction, even from within.

by Bill Strom
used by permsion

FURTHER READING

An Unearthly Love

Marvelous Love

More than a Helper

The post Six-Direction Love appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.” James 3:5

The Chicago Fire of 1871 burned for three days, and destroyed thousands of buildings, killed an estimated 300 people and caused an estimated $200 million in damages. It all happened when Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern in a barn and started the fire.

Seemingly little things can lead to big things and not always good things. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Consider what great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it can set in motion great things, both good and bad. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.

Words, delivered at the right (or wrong) moment, can change the course of history.

Consider Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” oration on the eve of the American Revolution. This was the most influential speech in inspiring the war of independence against Britain.

General Eisenhower on the eve of the Normandy invasion turned to his staff and said to his staff “Let’s go,” and Operation Overlord was set in motion committing 156,000 troops.

But, it is not only the great and historical events which are guided by the tongue. It guides things like telling someone you love them or telling your children you are proud of them. As the tongue can change the course of history, it also can change the relationships in a family or fellowship in our churches.

We should use caution with how we use our tongue. Words from the mouth are like messages after we hit the send button. We can’t get them back. One kind or unkind word can change someone’s entire day. We should be careful with our words, because once they are said, they can be only forgiven, not forgotten. We can say something hurtful in ten seconds, but ten years later, the wounds are still there.

The tongue does a lot of physical things for our body, but I believe that the prime gift God gave us with our tongue is to edify the saints and spread the Word to the sinners.

Perhaps the greatest use of the tongue was given to us by Jesus:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
– Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:7

By John Grant
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

Words

The Words of Our Mouth

The Long Life of Words

The post The Tongue appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Kelly used to be burdened by fear and negative thinking. God had helped her overcome that stronghold in her life and she had been walking in new found hope and joy. She was learning to trust God with each fear that surfaced in her heart and mind.

Yet recently she recognized some of the old patterns creeping in. She found herself with an anxiousness she could not shake. That old feeling of fear was trying to put it’s stranglehold on her heart.

God is so gracious to us as we learn to trust Him. He understands that we are feeble and He sends help. His Word is a strong weapon for us as we seek to maintain the freedom we have found in our lives through trusting Jesus.

If you are struggling today with old patterns that threaten to drag you down take God’s Word to heart. He tells us what to do and He also tells us how to do it.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

What to do: Recognize and acknowledge what is happening in your heart and mind. Determine to stand firm in God’s ways. You have been freed from the old patterns of fear or whatever drags you down. Declare that you will not be burdened again by this slavery.

”…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2b)

How to do it: Allow your thinking to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Ask for the very concrete help He has promised in His Word.

Prayer & reflection:

Father God, Thank You that You have provided the freedom I need. Today I take my stand and by the power of Your Holy Spirit I will not be burdened again by this slavery.

Please be my strength where I am weak (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Please give me the power of Your Spirit to be self-controlled in my thinking and in my actions (Galatians 5:22 & 23).

Flood my heart with Your amazing peace (Philippians 4:7).

I praise You for supplying everything I need today to live a godly life for You
(2 Peter 1: 3 & 4).

Thank You that You are transforming me by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I trust You with my life.  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

By Gail Rodgers
Used by Permission

The post Stay Free appeared first on Thoughts About God.

ONE ACT OF LOVE

One act of love,
A kind word spoken
Brings hope to the wounded
Broken spirit,
Starved of love and affection,
And thought that love was
Only a dream.

One act of love,
A kind word spoken
Yes an act of forgiveness
Can change the course of one’s life!
Love so powerful yet so gentle
Reaching the one who knows only pain
And sorrow, rejuvenating, restoring
The heart to love again in spite of.
To love and appreciate the sunshine,
And the lilies that grow in the valleys.
To enjoy the fresh air and to sing
The sweet refrain and really believe!

One act of love,
A kind word spoken
Brings hope to the wounded
Broken spirit!
This act of love comes directly
From Abba Father’s heart of love
Reaching you and me,
For we really need each other!

Try it…..it really works….
One act of love!

By Margaret Mullings
Used by Permission

More Poems

A Poem of Hope …”I feel the arms of God around me”

I Testify that God is…. – by Wendy Patrick

A Morning Prayer by Malcolm Boyd

Seek – to seek God

The post One Act of Love appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“. . shall not perish but have eternal life . . ” John 3:16

On a trip to China, I rode past Tiananmen Square in a bus full of Westerners. We tried to recollect the causes and consequences of the revolt. Our knowledge of history was embarrassing. One gave one date; another gave a different one. One person remembered a certain death toll; someone else disagreed. All this time our translator remained silent.

Finally one of us asked her, ‘Do you remember anything about the Tiananmen Square revolt?’

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://www.maxlucado.cjesuom/about/

FURTHER READING

In Our Place

Substitute God

Jesus Talks About Jesus

The post He’s Been There appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?” Proverbs 20:24

Imagine you’ve signed up for a race, but when the day of the race arrives, you notice that there is no starting line. No map. No indication at all where to run, because the road forks off in many different directions. Before you can ask where you’re supposed to run, the starting gun fires, and people dash in all different directions. What would you think of such a race?

Without God’s guidance, that’s what life is like. Our lives become ones of abject freedom. That is, freedom of a terrible kind. Not godly freedom of being set free to become the kind of people God always meant us to be.

Rather, without God’s guidance, we have freedom in licentious lack of restraint. In other words, anarchy. The laws by which polite society functions are, without God’s guidance, actually just social constructs which can be torn down at any moment by forceful power of convincing personality. Unrestrained freedom is another word for anarchy. Paradoxically, the kind of “freedom” that anarchy provides will result in less real freedom, not more. The freedoms that we cherish, such as being treated fairly, the right to speak and vote, to treasured possessions, to worship our God freely … none of these are guaranteed when society attempts to build its foundations in mid-air, lacking the solid ground of God’s Word.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Psalm 119:105

Does God direct your steps? Or do you direct your own? Have you made a conscious decision to follow God’s light, as he lights the way for your steps? Or do you continue to stumble in darkness? Will you be able to honestly say along with the psalmist,

“My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not slipped.” Psalm 17:5

God’s wonderful truth is that it is never too late for anyone to turn and follow Him. Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection embodies enough forgiveness to cover any sin. If we are told to forgive our brothers & sisters “seventy times seven” times when they have wronged us (Matthew 18:22, ESV); essentially an unlimited number of times) how much more will our merciful Father in Heaven forgive us when we repent and ask Him to turn our steps back to His path?

God’s Word is our guide to the race of life. My prayer for you today is that you will be able to say along with the apostle Paul,

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7)

Father, forgive us when we ignore the necessary guidance your Word. Help us to gain full understanding of your truth. Guide us so that we will walk your paths and finish the race in simultaneous triumph and humility by the power of Your Spirit at work in us. In Jesus name, amen.

By Darren Hewer
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

• When God Interrupts
• The Christian and the Bible – do you believe it is the infallible truth?

Learn more about knowing Jesus at: https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/four-laws/

The post Our One and Only Guide appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

You probably know that the word “confession” means, “agreeing with God”. When we confess our sins we don’t do it to tell God what we’ve done. He already knows that. We confess to say, “Yes God, I agree that that was wrong” and then we can repent. But what God showed me recently was that there are two things God and I need to agree on, not just one.

So often in confession I’ve listed out my sins and sat there in quiet guilt. The list is always so long. This time God spoke to me. “We agree about what you’ve done, Claire.” He said. “Now can we agree about who you are?”

There in that private moment He brought to mind verses that spoke of God’s love for me. He reminded me how I am fearfully and wonderfully made, how I am chosen and precious and planned for. I sat there quietly until I could agree with God about that too. I sat there resting in God’s truth.

It is so easy to see our own flaws and shortcomings. But when God sees us He doesn’t only see what we’ve done, He sees who we are. There are two sides to confession. Agree with God about what you have done and repent, but don’t miss the other side. Agree with God about who you are: loved and wanted and precious and worth dying for.

In that moment of vulnerability that always comes with confession, let God love you. Walk out into the world forgiven.

Father, Thank you that because of Jesus I do not stand condemned. Help me to be quick to confess and quick to remember Your promises. Help me to understand what it means to be forgiven and keep my eyes fixed on You. Amen.

The next time you go to God in confession, take some time to think about how much He loves you. Pay attention to the story you tell yourself about who you are.

Sometimes accepting who we truly are in God is one of the hardest things to do.

By Claire Colvin
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•   God Programs Seashells
•  What a Friend we have in Jesus
•  Salvation Explained

The post The Other Side of Confession appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Lord, May I look to you daily for the filling of your Spirit as you empower me to do your will. 

“Be filled with the Spirit” Ephesians 5:18b

Whenever driving in Oregon, U.S.A, I sit in the car while the gas station attendant comes out to the car and asks, “Fill’er up?” Oregon is one of the few states that does not have a driver pump their own gas. I think it is a treat to have someone else fill up my gas tank.

Wouldn’t it be great if life were the same way? That when peace is needed, it could be poured in. When love is needed, it could be poured in. These are just two of the listed fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 – love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Interestingly, just before these fruit are listed there is a challenge to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  If God challenges us to do something, then we can know that this is his will and he will make it happen if we ask him.

I have to tell the gas attendant what I need and want at the gas station; the same is true for God. I need to tell him that I want and need him to fill me with his Spirit. What’s even greater is that God already knows exactly what we need and he is ready to give it to us in his perfect timing!

Other things in life will not give me the peace that I want. Not getting drunk with wine or trying to anesthetize from the pain of life. Solutions outside of Christ can only provide temporary relief to the deeper longings within me.

Ask God to fill you with the Spirit each day. As you reflect on the fruit of the Spirit, imagine what it would be like to have any or all of those particular characteristics true of you. Life is challenging, but God wants to fill you up with power from his Spirit.

Lord God, fill me with your Spirit today. I want to experience the power you give and all that you have to offer in life including freedom from the enemy and sin. May I look to you daily for the filling of your Spirit as you empower me to do your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Remember that your life is God’s, that he is filling you with his Spirit, and that he is faithful to direct you step-by-step as you obey his will in his strength.

By Jan Stewart
Used by Permission

Further Reading

• Understanding  the Holy Spirit

•  Spiritual Oxygen: Are You Getting Enough?

•  Salvation Explained

The post Fill’er Up appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon….”  (1 Kings 11:14).

Read:  1 Kings 11:9-14; Deuteronomy 28:47-50 and 31:15-18; Isaiah 54:11-17.

What is God Saying?

God gives us a choice.  Solomon, wise beyond all of his time, allowed himself to be drawn into folly.  He followed the importunate pleadings of His foreign wives and strayed far from God.  They made it easy but he made the choice.  And whenever we make a choice that interrupts our walk with God, He may send an adversary to bring us back.

How Does This Apply to Us?

When we recognize that all of God’s Providence is filtered through love, we know how to accept and face the adversary which He sends.  It would be sometimes unbearable and beyond explanation if we did not know that the hard times and the obstacles thrown in our path are all because He loves us.

God wants us to stay close to Him and true to Him.

We should remember that even our adversaries are under the control of God.  They can do us no harm.  They can only make us pause to think. They can only force us to remember that God has a better plan in which, over all enemies and against all opposition, we will be and even now are,

“…. more than conquerors through Him who loved us”. (Romans 8:37).

We are fortified as we pray with the knowledge that

‘no weapon that is formed against us shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17).

Pray With Me

Father, I am glad to own You as the Lord of the way I take.  You are also God over all the obstacles that seem to block that way.  For my good You can either removed the adversary or raise him up.  For Your own good reasons, You can either put him out of the way or in the way.

In love that cares so much and according to wisdom that knows all about me and all that is about me, You can give me freedom or friction, rest or wrestling, leisure or labor.  Help me to trust all the more in Your wise providence because I see it filtered through Your love.

When You raise up the adversary, may I recognize and submit to this as all-seeing love and not as a blind wrath. I ask that You will make the rough places smooth and the crooked paths straight.

I do not ask for steep and thorny ways, but when in Your wisdom I must be guided back to Your high purpose by pressures I would not gladly accept, may I recognize Your Lordship even over my adversaries.

When I find myself in the midst of events I can scarcely understand, may I recognize Your Lordship even over my adversaries.

When I am called upon to bear painful crosses I would never have chosen, may I recognize Your Lordship even over my adversaries.

Because I am saved for all eternity and because You have a perfect plan for my life, adversaries can do me no harm.  They can only turn me to the higher good that You have ordained.  I am a part of Your wholeness in which there can be neither mistake nor imperfection, neither fault nor flaw, neither blame nor blemish.

In the name of Him who has conquered my greatest adversary through His greatest victory, even Jesus Christ.  Amen!

Moving On In The Life Of Prayer

In prayer God prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. They may be meant to bring us back to God but they are powerless to do any harm if our trust is in the wisdom, the providence and the invincible power of God.

He is almighty and all-loving.

The power of prayer is to make us calm in the presence of every adversity and confident that all our adversaries are meant to bring us closer to God and to His ideal for our life.

Through all circumstances and in spite of all circumstances, prayer gives us quiet assurance that Christ is still on the throne.

by William S. Stoddard
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

• Brevity of Life
• Keeping Yourself in God’s Love – even during painful times in your life

Learn more about knowing Jesus at: https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/four-laws/

The post Sometimes the Lord Sends an Adversary appeared first on Thoughts About God.