Prodigal: Those who have tact have less to retract.
Me: Yes, very true.
To our most bitter opponents we say:”….Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws because non cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. Throw us in jail and we shall still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall win freedom but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process and our victory will be a double victory.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 1 Corinthians 1:4 (KJV)
This is from Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders
The spiritual leader will be alert to the most effective way to influence people. Hudson Taylor is well known for his expression, “It is possible to move men, through God, by prayer alone.” During his missionary career he demonstrated the truth of his claim a thousand times.
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. Matthew 18:16 (KJV)
Me: I can tell that you are not having the best day.
Prodigal: Maybe this devotion will happen.
I AM HERE
Trials, testing, refiner’s fire, struggles, tribulations, and God’s plan. They can all mean the same thing when we speak those words to others. The emotional struggle we feel is very personal during those times. We hear the words of comfort and wisdom from our Christian sisters which bring a relief for a moment. The testing does not stop though. With that you are unsure of what the plan is.
If this is your first trial as a Christian, or the first one of the day, this will help remind you of what God’s plan is.
The first step is:
I am here by God’s Plan
Job 1:7-12 NKJV
And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you to Your face!” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
In my first major trial, I was in shock. I walked around saying “This can’t be happening.” “I have been growing in the Lord.” “I have been praying and reading the bible more than ever.” “Bad things don’t happen when you do good.”
I stayed there for a long time, thinking if I just said all this enough the trial would somehow go away. What the Lord was trying to say was I was here by His plan.
When we look at this scripture in Job it will help us with the first step in handling a trial. We acknowledge that I am here and God said this is good.
God watches us, but He is also watching what Satan is trying to do. We do not know how many plans of Satan that God has protected us from. We can think of it as colander. As we pour in the food from our pot, smaller items escape in the drain through the holes. We have the big items left in the colander that we can then work with.
What God has allowed to stay behind, He has a purpose for and has meaning. When the trial begins to surround your day, don’t try to figure it out. Follow the first step. Just say God has allowed and He sees what is happening. God loves me.
Lord help us to remember that we are where we are by God’s plan. Give us your wisdom and patience to help us today with what we have to face. We thank you for the ways you have protected us and we did not know. We thank you for how you will help us during this time of trial.
