We think

Instead of taking God at His Word, we think. We think that there are things God says that we can and should do, that we really can’t do.

God says, “Go out and preach the Gospel.” We think that’s not for us, it’s only for certain, chosen people.

God says, Lay hands on the sick and they shall be healed.” We think that was for the Bible times, we have doctors and medication.

God says, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” We think we’re too busy and God doesn’t hear us anyway.

God says a lot of things in His Word that he expects us to take heed of, but that we are afraid of. We think that we will be ridiculed and embarrassed and we will make fools of ourselves. We don’t want to offend people. We have a long list of “What if’s”.

What if God physically turns up one day while we are chilling in our living room watching a soapie? What will we think then?

God says He will never leave us or forsake us and He also says He will never let us be ashamed. So, today try doing just one thing that God says and see what happens.

Your mercies are new

Renovations at our shop have been going on now for almost 2 months. It feels like two months going on for two years. The pressure of working in less space has been getting to me. My desk has been shoved behind a Coca-Cola fridge in the back corner of the shop. The seating has been moved out to accommodate the equipment that has come from the part that’s being worked on. The whole shop is going to receive a facelift and a lot of much needed TLC. It’s going to be really awesome when it’s done, but right now everything is a mess. At the end of last week I thought I couldn’t take another week of building!

Lamentations 3:17 says, “You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.” We feel like that sometimes. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of believing things are never going to change.
Then I realized that I was living under the circumstances and not above them. Psalm 121 says, ‘I lift my eyes to the hills…” Obviously help doesn’t come from the hills, it comes from God. But if we don’t lift our eyes off of the circumstances we aren’t going anywhere. We will never see the forest if we keep staring at the trees. We need to step back and realize that everything is temporary and leads to the next thing. We don’t need to know what the next thing is, only that there is a next thing. Lamentations 3:22 – 23: “Through the Lord ’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.”
His mercies are new every morning. We just need to remember that. Every new day brings new challenges but it also brings new mercy, new grace, new opportunities.
I undertake not to live under my circumstances but to look above them, to lift my eyes and see what the Lord has for me. To see the mercies that every new morning brings.