Devotion | Trust Sometimes we talk about how good the Lord is to us. We tell others that God has done so many wonder things in our lives and the lives of others. It is always good to hear these testimonies of God's greatness and love. It is easy to talk about how good God is when things are comfortable. It isn't always easy to praise God when things are unsure. When the pressures of life are heavy, and when uncertainty is a constant companion, those are the times we need to make sure that we are giving glory to God by praising His goodness and faithfulness, in spite of our circumstances. I have met Christians who are going through and have gone through incredible adversity (failing marriage, rape, loss of children through accident or murder, loss of a job, loss of a spouse, etc.) and yet they have praised God. I know of one woman whose child was murdered in her front yard -- yet she continues to trust and praise God. Another man, a pastor, lost his teenage child in an auto accident -- yet he continues to trust and praise God. A woman has discovered her husband is abandoning the faith and is into drugs -- yet she continues to trust and praise God. When I meet these people and they testify of their faithfulness to God, I am humbled. They exemplify trust in God that is independent of circumstances. Our trials and difficulties are great opportunities. First of all, they help us to see ourselves by showing us where our hope is, how deep our faith is, and what exactly we are relying on. Second, they are opportunities to trust God in order to see Him work. We need to have such periodic times in our lives in order to refine our faith. It isn't fun, but it is good. Difficult times do two things: They show us ourselves and they show us God. The Psalmist says, "But as for me, I trust in Thee, O Lord, I say, 'Thou art my God,'" (Psalm 31:14). If God is God, and if He has saved us from our sins by giving Himself (God in flesh) whose plan of salvation has been from eternity (Heb. 13:20), will He now forsake us through our trials? Never, for God says, "...I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you," (Heb. 13:5). This doesn't mean that our trials won't be difficult -- otherwise we couldn't call them trials. But, God won't forsake us. This means that through our lives, through the good and bad, the Lord has not and will not forsake us. He will be with us always (Matt. 28:20). Therefore, we need to praise Him no matter what. He is good and faithful. We may not fully understand the reasons or scope of the trial, but we can trust Him through it. Ask yourself what is the reason for your faith? Why do you trust God and how much do you trust Him? We need to know the answers to those questions so we might better glorify God as He sanctifies us through His son Jesus. God is faithful. Faith is only as good as who you put it in. What are you trusting in? |
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From Matt Slick |
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From Ryan Turner |
These past two weeks have certainly been eventful. I spend about a week and a half in Charlotte, North Carolina visiting my family and attending the National Conference on Christian Apologetics. The Conference was extremely interesting with well known speakers such as James Dobson, Chuck Colson, Josh McDowell, William Dembski, and many others. There were approximately four thousand people in attendance. It is encouraging to see that there is interest in the Christian community to better understand and defend the Christian faith. During my time in Charlotte, I spent Halloween night sharing the gospel with trick or treaters who came to my family’s house. My family and I would give them candy, but also include a tract with the candy that we handed out. We had the opportunity to witness not just to the kids, but also to some of the parents who were trekking the neighborhood with their children. We probably gave out around three dozen tracts. I also had the privilege of going with Matt down to Weston, Florida as he spoke at numerous events at First Baptist Church of Weston, an Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship meeting at Nova Southeastern University, and a local public high school. The most interesting speaking engagement that he had was with these secular high school kids. It was truly amazing that when Matt spoke about logical and ethical absolutes, many of the kids denied that either one of them existed. They would reply, “Well, it is true for you, but not for me.” Matt demonstrated the absurdity of their statements by showing that no human would actually live this philosophy out in the real world. Eventually some of the kids started to see the fallacies in their thinking. The most striking thing about the public high school experience was the fact that so many of these kids are buying into the cancerous philosophy of relativism. When one shares the gospel with the relativist, the response quite often is “Well, that is true for you, but not for me.” It is amazing that many people in our culture have bought into a relativist worldview which will constantly be a barrier to the presentation of the gospel. May we seek to educate our kids and friends regarding the true worldview. |
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Love and Hate Mail
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