December 27

“It would be of no use to inherit a fortune if you did not know it was yours.  Likewise, it is of no benefit to inherit everything necessary to become like Christ if you do not claim it...The key to all that God has made available to us is our faith.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 12/10

I think a lot of people exercise faith, but because they don’t know about their inheritance their faith is in the wrong thing.  Usually, it’s in themselves.  Sometimes it’s in the “system”.  Fortunately, they will be let down eventually; otherwise, if these other ways succeeded, they’d never search elsewhere to place their faith.  Then there are those who place their faith in God, but aren’t aware of their inheritance.  They never read their Bible and therefore are ignorant of all God wants to give them.  They walk around all the good things God has for them on their way to what they, with their limited imaginations, think is good for them.   But there is a third type of person.  They are the ones who exercise their faith in God and know what He desires to give them but refuse to take it, thinking they are being humble.  These people have been so absorbed into what the world thinks is humility that they can’t see past themselves.  They may say outwardly that they do not deserve all of God’s gifts, but what they are really doing is rejecting God.  Let us not be guilty of this effrontery to God.  We must walk in the way He has prepared for us, believing all His promises so that we won’t grow weary.

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature.”  2 Peter 1:3, 4  

December 20

“But the subtle forms of self-life that would ruin us, if left undiscovered and unchecked are often most vigorous in those whose outward life is all that could be desired; and it needs sometimes a very sharp discipline to uproot them.  In this fact lies hidden the secret of much that is mysterious in the dealings of the Lord with the souls of his servants.  He loves us too much to permit any evil to linger undiscovered and uncured in our natures.  This is not severity, but mercy.  For the great object of all the discipline of life here is character-building.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 12/9

If we think we are so good that we should never be troubled in this life, we’ve revealed a character flaw right there.  If we do not claim to be so good, but feel we do not deserve our troubles, we’ve also revealed our character flaw.  I’ve heard people claim they’ve done everything they know to do to rectify their situation, yet find no peace.  This tells me they have not yet reached the point of accepting God’s will for them.  Instead of focusing on the situation I think it is time for them (and me) to focus on what the Lord may be doing to build our character and leaving the solving of the situation to God.  When we get caught up in trying to help God do the work that only He can do we neglect what is within our power.  God has given us free will so that we can make choices for ourselves.  He does not dictate the details of our lives, but He does expect us to leave the outcome to Him.  It comes down to whether or not you believe there is a reason for everything that happens.  For me, this is God--the reason behind everything.

“But Jesus, aware of this, said, ‘O men of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive?”  Matthew 16:8, 9a (KJV)

December 1

“Biblically, waiting on the Lord is never passive; it is always active.  Waiting requires us to cease our own pursuits and give God our complete attention.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 11/10

I didn’t realize just how much I thought waiting for something was passive.  I’m so used to “doing”, as in forging ahead, that to be passive felt like sitting still with my hands folded in my lap.  I see now there is much to do while sitting there.  First of all, I can work on my thoughts about having to wait.  Then I can see if there is some old business I need to take care of before I can move forward.  For instance, I want to have more friends and relatives come to visit next year.  This desire is not based on reality.  Our families live all over the country and seldom visit.  We have no friends we regularly get together with now.   My plan is to invite everyone to whom I send my annual Christmas letter.  Whether or not they accept the invitation will be in God’s hands entirely.  Several things must happen, though, before that first visitor arrives.  I must be emotionally prepared to give up some of my privacy I’ve grown accustomed to.  I also must make sure any hard feelings I may have about their not coming to visit me in the past have been cleansed out of my heart.  Then the doing part can begin....getting my house cleaned and prepared to receive guests will take some time.  If I were to wait until that first visitor is due to arrive I could not possibly be ready to receive them.  As I wait upon the Lord to do His work in their hearts, I have to get busy!

“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God...”  2 Peter 3:11, 12a

November 29

“For nothing so gives victory over sin as to reckon one’s self to be dead to it, and nothing so enables the soul to walk in righteousness as to realize its resurrection life in Christ.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 11/7

As I read non-Christian books on spirituality I often see parallels to what I’ve read in scripture.  I believe part of the lack of appeal of Christianity today is because religious leaders often convey the concept that God is out there somewhere.  On the other hand, the non-Christian books on spirituality leave out the fact that we can only be restored to the “God within” by Jesus Christ’s payment for our sins.  Today’s spirituality has hit upon the truth that God never separated from us, but instead it’s our belief that we are separated from God that has caused us to live our lives without God.  They practice the belief that they are one with God better than many Christians, and because Jesus paid for their sin whether they know it or not they are enabled to reconnect with God because the Holy Spirit is in them bearing witness to His Presence (Romans 8:16).  I even believe that many of these people will arrive at the gate of Heaven and be admitted while many so-called Christians will not because God looks at our hearts.   I believe the work of Christ on the cross can be received into our hearts by acknowledging that God is our creator and Father and that without His life in us we are nothing.  It is in this dying to the self-life--that part of us that thinks of us as separate from God and from one another and thereby sins against God and others--that enables us to be one with God and He with us, just as Jesus prayed.

“That they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us...”  John 17:21a

November 4

“Faith in man and faith in God are precisely the same thing in their nature; the difference consists only in the different persons believed in.  Faith in man links us to and makes us one with mere humanity; faith in God links us to and makes us one with divinity.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 10/14

So whom do you trust?  I think we all want to trust in a higher being--at least until we start to feel uncomfortable because we can’t see what’s going on.  That’s when we climb up over the fence that’s blocking our view to take care of things ourselves.  Then when we take matters into our own hands we are trusting ourselves and anyone else we may need along the way to help us take care of the matter.  Meanwhile, we may delude ourselves into thinking we are still trusting God because we continue to pray about it and seek God’s will.  But you say, “Wait a minute here....are you saying I should just sit back and do nothing?!”  No, I’m not.  However, if you take a look at my example you will see where the first mistake is made:  what you do at the first sign of feeling uncomfortable.   Some of us run to the refrigerator to eat.  Some pick up the phone to garner sympathy from a friend or chew someone out.  Or we use our credit cards even though we know we can’t pay it off at the end of the month.  The list is endless.  Every one of those scenarios is a fence that we’re trusting to support us as we climb over feeling uncomfortable.  When will we realize that God puts those fences there so we’ll turn to Him?

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”  Proverbs 3: 5. 6  

November 1

“Faith is the vital principle of the spiritual life just as truly as breathing is the vital principle of the bodily life.  We can no more live spiritually without faith than we can live our bodily life without breathing.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 10/12

This is so obvious you wonder why we are so adept at forgetting it.  I’ve been a part of several different churches and I can say I often saw this principle violated in its leadership.  Every one of those churches had “faith statements”, but when it came to practicing actual faith--believing without seeing--they often rationalized their actions as “stewardship”.  The times when faith would be exercised, there always seemed to be some vocal person in the congregation that challenged the decision because it wasn’t practical or it was too risky.  In fact, I’m sure this is often the cause of splits in the church--what one group of people calls faith, another calls foolishness.  So, how do we know the difference?  This is why I believe, individually, our personal relationship with God is of the utmost importance before we try to live by faith as a group.  If we aren’t practicing this kind of life in our daily routine, how can we possibly expect to know what God would have the “church” to do?  This is also why it’s important for us to hold each other accountable.  This is the only kind of church that can know it is following God’s will.

“He [a bishop] must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way; for if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for God’s church?”  1 Timothy 3:5

October 25

“Our faith does not induce God to forgive us.  It is not in any sense the cause of our forgiveness.  Faith is only the hand by which we lay hold experimentally of the forgiveness that is already ours in Christ.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 10/7

I may have written about this already, but it’s worth repeating.  Too many people don’t believe they’re forgiven until they feel forgiven.  Because of this, they do not change their behavior because they do not feel worthy of having all the rewards of being a forgiven child of God.  Satan must really love this.  He knows he can’t snatch us out of God’s Hand, but he sure can make our existence miserable.  In fact, I think we are more miserable than when we were lost.  At least then we didn’t feel guilty all the time!  This is why this issue is so important.  It destroys our witness to unbelievers when we act as though our forgiveness is dependent on our feelings.  And the only reason our feelings are so bad is because we don’t believe we’re forgiven!  How do we get off this merry-go-round?!  First, if we find ourselves in this predicament we must constantly remind ourselves of the facts:  If we’ve acknowledged our need to be forgiven and then believe that we are because of Jesus Christ, then we can ignore any feelings we may have to the contrary.  These are just old feelings of unworthiness that come with being human.  Then we must “grow in Christ” which means we must allow the Holy Spirit to make us into the new creature that we are---old habits have to be dispensed with and new ones established.  This is what it means to live by faith.

“Submit ourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7

October 14

“Three instances are recorded in which our Lord rebuked his disciples for lacking faith.  Yet in each case the circumstances seemed to call for anxiety as the only natural and proper response.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 9/30

One of the things I love about Hannah Whitall Smith is her ability to see things from a common sense perspective.  Here she has highlighted how common sense can lead us into a lack of faith.  This points out the need to distinguish between human “common sense” and spiritual “common sense”.  Humanly-speaking the disciples reacted with common sense when the storm arose.  Their experience of being in a storm-tossed boat quite naturally caused them to fear for their safety.  When Peter began to realize that he was walking across the water it was very normal for him to sink below waves because common sense tells you it’s not possible to walk on water.  But it’s different once we have Jesus.  We must set aside our human common sense and instead see things through spiritual common sense.  Jesus was subject to the laws of nature only as He chose to be.  He ate when He was hungry and slept when He was tired, yet the winds were at His command.  We must keep this in mind whenever we are tempted to doubt just because it doesn’t make “sense” to our human senses.  Otherwise, when Christ comes again, “common sense” will tell us it’s not really Him.

“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.”  1 Thessalonians 4:16a

September 29

“Those souls who abandon the self-life and give themselves up to the Lord to be fully possessed by him do find that he takes possession of the inner springs of their being and works there to will and to do his good pleasure.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 9/18

As I read Hannah’s words I suddenly envisioned what it means  “to be fully possessed by him”.  In that moment I understood that in order to be “possessed by him” one must have already abandoned the self-life.  I realized in that moment that what I’ve been trying to do is to “abandon” after being “possessed”. This is not faith.  I can see myself inching my way along a balance beam with my arm outstretched, reaching for God’s Hand. Faith would be to do a cartwheel on that balance beam!  This is why faith is absolutely necessary in order to be possessed.  No person in his or her right mind would abandon something that’s seemingly working for them.  That’s also why you see so many people not abandoning their self-life until they’ve hit rock bottom because it’s only then that it’s no longer working for them.  I wonder if it would make a difference if people understood that faith was actually courage.  Too often people think faith is the same thing as hope, as in wishing for something to happen.  What would happen if, instead, we saw faith as courage?  Then when we read in scripture that we’re to encourage others we would know that we are to help people have courage--courage in the Lord and His ability to meet our every need.

“So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.  We are of good courage...2 Corinthians 5:6, 7a

September 28

“The ‘old self’ must be put off if the new self is to reign.  But both the putting off and the putting on must be done by faith.....I believe faith is the creative force of the universe.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 9/17

As I pondered Hannah’s words I imagined what would happen if every preacher in the world began preaching about faith until their congregations “got it”.  Every Sunday would be on the subject of faith---how to acquire it and how to use it. Every Bible study would be on putting off the old self and putting on the new self by faith.  Many churches do emphasize that salvation is by faith but then go on with works as their emphasis.  Why is this?  I think it’s because we still want some control over our lives and this is a way to have it and still look spiritual.  I say this not in judgment, but with compassion because this is my greatest struggle.  Mankind is so steeped in this it cannot see it even for a moment.  Every religion other than Christianity preaches man’s part in his salvation.  His righteousness is up to himself--he will be judged by his works.  Jesus Christ preached freedom from all this, yet so many of us reject this in the name of “doing good”.  Besides the need to be in control I think another element of this for some people is their need to fit in and to be liked.  We are so insecure because we have not traded in our old selves for the new self.  But glory be to God!  By faith alone we can experience the freedom that Jesus paid for with His life.  Are you ready to accept it?

“And without faith it is impossible to please him.  For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”  Hebrews 11:6

September 13

“Could [Job] have seen that this was to be the outcome, he would not have uttered a single complaint, but would have given triumphant thanks for the trials which were to bring him such glorious blessing.  And could we but see, in our heaviest trials, the end from the beginning, I am sure that thanksgiving would take the place of complaining in every case.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 9/9

But what if what we’ve lost is not going to be restored many times over as it was for Job?  Would we still not complain?  I think because this is man’s nature God won’t let us see.  He promises to bring good out of our difficulties, but He can only do this if we love Him.  This requires us to live by faith and not by sight.  I can think of several instances where I am content now even though things didn’t work out the way I wanted them to.  If I’d seen that from the start, however, my unhappiness about it would have prevented me from looking to God through it.  I would have been too focused on myself.  God uses our circumstances to build our characters--to conform us to His image.  If we knew in advance what was to be we would not have the benefit of all the little incidents that require us to turn to Him.  How much better that God keeps us in the dark and only trusts us with sight when He knows we are capable of handling it according to His ways. We must look to God with thanksgiving, trusting the outcome will be right.

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.”  Romans 5:3-5

August 27

“But faith laughed at all such prudential considerations, and, confidently resting on God’s word, gave a shout of victory, while yet to the eye of sense that victory seemed impossible.  Long centuries afterwards the Holy Spirit thus records this triumph of faith in Hebrews:  ‘By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days.’”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 8/27

As I read Hannah’s account of the Hebrews’ faith I thought about my porch swing.  When we moved into this house 22 years ago it had a front porch slab, but no roof covering it.  Because the house faced west the porch was too hot to sit on in the afternoon.  It was my hope to one day cover the porch, but because it was shaped like a trapezoid we wondered if that would ever be possible.  I knew, however, if we were successful I’d have to have a porch swing just like my grandmother’s house had.  So after a few years of struggling to make house payments and no hope of ever being able to pay for a porch roof I gave up on the idea until I saw a porch swing drastically marked down.  I immediately bought it and brought it home.  Within the year my husband’s sales job produced an unexpected windfall.  We found a builder who figured out how to attach a roof to that odd-shaped porch, and we not only built that porch roof but also enlarged a bedroom to accommodate our growing family.  As I am reminded this morning of the faith that built that porch roof I realize there are several more “porch swings” waiting for me to go out and “purchase” so that the Lord can fulfill the desires of my heart.

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Psalm 37:4

August 25

“Many Christians love God’s will in the abstract but carry great burdens in connection with it.  From this there is deliverance in the wonderful life of faith, for in this life no burdens are carried, no anxieties felt.  The Lord is our Burden-bearer, and on Him we must lay every care.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 8/25

We must lay every care.....for me this means I must even lay the burden of my continual attempt to lay my burdens at Jesus’ feet!  This may sound strange to some of you, but for me it is a real burden.  You’d think it would just be a matter of setting something down--but this is a burden in itself if it does not come easily.  I guess that is the burden of an overly responsible person.  Just when I think I’ve given everything over to the Lord the responsible side of me begins to question my decision with very logical statements.  The last thing a responsible person wants to be is irresponsible and how can I be sure that’s not what I’m being if I give the responsibility to someone else!  I see now how I’ve been fighting God all along.  But now He’s grabbed both my hands, crossing my arms upon my chest, and has spun me around to look fully into His wonderful face, as He hugs me close to Him.

“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”   Psalm 55:22

August 20

“Jesus told His disciples that faith could move mountains and that whatever they asked in His name in faith would be done.  These astounding assertions from the lips of our Lord himself contain a deeper truth than the church has yet comprehended.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 8/19

And 100 years later we still do not comprehend it.  This is the scenario I’ve seen far too often in prayer groups.  We ask God to heal/protect/provide as though we don’t believe He would otherwise.  Then when we aren’t healed, protected, or provided for we think we either didn’t have enough faith or that God didn’t come through for us.  Then we read the verse Hannah speaks of and blithely chalk it up to symbolism rather than a literal interpretation.  This is very damaging to one’s spiritual life.  We carry around seeds of doubt that keep sprouting at inopportune times wreaking havoc in our emotional life.  How much better it would be to take God’s word at face value.  I believe Jesus when He says we have not because we ask not or that we ask amiss.  Rather than asking for something that God has already promised which is to be with us always, we should be asking God for more faith to believe these promises and to live accordingly.  Then seeds of faith will be planted. 

“And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.”  1 John 5:14, 15

July 5

“Faith is the law of spiritual righteousness, and righteousness is to be attained in no other way.  No amount of works, however religious, can bring about true holiness....the essential difference between the righteousness of faith and the righteousness of works.  The last is a righteousness put on from the outside; the first springs up from within.  The one is works; the other is fruit.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 7/5

Righteousness is all it takes for us to be saved and Christ imputes it to us.  So what’s our problem, then, with works?  Why do we persist in works?  I really don’t think Christians try to work for their salvation like those who are not saved.  There are groups who do not believe in the assurance of salvation and therefore rely on their works to finish getting them into heaven.  I’m not talking about them.  I’m talking about the Christians who feel they have to look like a Christian by what they do.  These are the very people who often are the least loving because they’re so busy working.  They have no time to notice the lonely elderly widow or the neglected child because they are busy “working for the Lord”.  Or they may be putting in long hours on the job, to the neglect of their family, so their offerings are large every Sunday for “the Lord’s work”.  Hannah has reminded us that the works we do should be the fruit of our faith.  It is our faith that is counted as righteousness.  First, it is our faith in Christ’s work on the Cross, but then it is our faith that God is at work in our lives--making us righteous.  Our gratefulness for all that God is doing in our lives should be producing the fruit that shows we belong to Him.

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;” Galatians 5:22, 23a

May 25

“...we will begin to see that the law of faith is as absolute and as dependable as the law of gravity...‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.’  Sin is a down pull.  Gravity is a down pull toward the center of the earth.  Both are dependable.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 5/25

Both are dependable.  What Eugenia is saying is just as we can depend on the law of gravity to be in effect we can depend on the law of sin to be in effect. The Good News is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is greater than the law of sin. Habakkuk 2:4 says, “Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”  This is one of those cause and effect verses that is packed with a truth which can set us free--a truth that allows the law of the Spirit to take precedence over the law of sin.  It’s not in being righteous that we are enabled to live by faith, but rather it’s the other way around.  It’s in the living by faith that we become righteous....“the righteous shall live by”....It is like saying “so and so lived by his wits.”   It’s his “wits”, his ability to improvise, that enables him to accomplish what he set out to do.  So when scripture says the righteous are enabled, we have to look at the cause--“living by faith”.  The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the same principle.  It’s in living our new life of faith that the law of sin becomes nullified in us.  You can depend on this.


“Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4

May 16

“When Jesus told His disciples to love their enemies, was He being realistic?.....Do you treat commands like [this] as implausible?...When God gives an assignment, it is no longer an impossibility, but rather it is an absolute certainty.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 5/16

This is a whole new way for me to think, but I must be catching on because the other day I told a friend that God gives me my needs.  And if that’s the case, then He’s planning to meet them.  What I’ve come to realize is that God is All.  Everything originates with Him.  The question I’m hearing someone ask is, “Are you saying that evil originates with God?”  God is love so it doesn’t fit at all to make such a blanket statement.  But the essence of the whole matter is that the absence of God, Who is Love, is evil.  So, if you look at it that way even evil is the result of God’s love.  It’s the same with dark and light.  You can’t have more dark.  Dark is merely the absence of light.  Light doesn’t actually cause dark, but if it’s not there, then it is in a sense causing darkness.  So I must apply this same kind of thinking to God’s commands.  He’s not going to make a request of me that I’m not capable of fulfilling.  So why do I get so bent out of shape when I feel I’m being asked to do something I don’t think I can do?  It’s obvious I’m looking at my own strength and capabilities.  I must never stop trusting God to be Who He says He is.

“But who am I [David], and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly?  For all things comes from thee, and of thy own have we given thee.”  1 Chronicles 19:14

May 12

“When a friend is under deep conviction by the Holy Spirit, do you try to give comfort?  Don’t ever try to ease the discomfort of someone whom the Holy Spirit is making uncomfortable!  Be careful not to communicate to your friends that you find their lack of faith acceptable.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 5/12

Yesterday Blackaby wrote about being careful not to focus attention on people’s behavior but rather to focus on the activity of God, otherwise we could easily become frustrated.  Ever since my friend reacted badly to my confrontation of her inability to trust God in her illness I’ve tried to honestly examine my motives to make sure I wasn’t confronting her out of my own frustration.  Today, however, I know that I was right to confront her even if my motive was not pure because I had been communicating to her by my silence that her lack of faith was acceptable.  We are no longer in each other’s lives and I mourn that some days.  Other days I feel I was right to confront her, but wonder if God wanted me to remain her friend so that I could continue to have some influence on her life.  For now, though, I will trust that God is using my absence.  My job is to keep my heart open to her in case God brings her back into my life.  I realize, too, that this applies to some other people in my life with whom I feel an unspoken estrangement.  I mustn’t let their absence create bitterness in my heart.  I can continue to love them in my heart until the Lord brings them back into my life.

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”  Proverbs 27:6

May 10

“...God does not promise to keep us in perfect peace because we have done Him the honor of trusting Him.  It isn’t a reward.  It is an inevitable result.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 5/10

I think people often think in terms of reward and punishment when they speak of God.  That’s why they are devastated when trials come. They feel they are being punished and find no peace in their situation.  They may even become angry with God. By the same token when good fortune comes their way they may be quick to give God the credit, but inwardly feel they are being rewarded for being good. Both are arrogant because Self is really who is getting the credit.

On the news today when a victim of the many tornadoes that have hit the Midwest in recent days was asked why he thought this had happened to him he responded, “Why not me?”  The Bible says, “God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45b).  We must never presume that our good fortune is a reward and our misfortune a punishment.  God and all that He is is unimaginable to our finite minds.  Instead we are to trust Him, and in doing so, we will receive all that we need--whether it is good fortune so that we have something to share with others, or misfortune as a means of bringing us to the end of our self sufficiency.

“Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trust in thee.”  Isaiah 26:3

May 9

“If your heart longs, He has answered.  All along He has known your longing and He has known just when you would call.  He has been waiting for you to voice your longing.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 59

This is, indeed, reassuring.  Eugenia is paraphrasing Isaiah 65:24 here.  We know that everything comes from God--even our desire to know Him.  This is why we must examine our longings carefully to make sure they aren’t influenced by Self since the big ME often confuses us into thinking God wants us to have this thing or that.  What I’m beginning to understand is that all our longings are from God, but all are not meant to be fulfilled in the way we think they should.  The longings that are influenced by Self can be used by God as sandpaper so that we’ll become less and less rough in our personalities.  We become sweeter and more beautiful to the Lord as we submit these longings to His care.  If they are born of Him they will be fulfilled in due time.  If they are born of our Selves, they will teach us our need to submit ourselves to God for all our needs so that the disquiet within us can be healed.  So the next time I realize I have a longing for something I will remind myself to pray like this:  Lord, if this is from You may I receive it with humbleness and if it is not from you may the desire leave me so that I am not tempted to strike out on my own.  I will pray for protection from the Tempter and for a way out of the temptation.  In both cases I will have glorified God as the pioneer and perfecter of my faith.

“...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith...” Hebrews 12:1b, 2a