How can we know in our hearts that God is enough?
Life is hard. It’s tough. And it’s not fair.
Life seems to be tearing so many of us apart inside. Somehow, we must learn that our God is enough for all our needs. I know in my own life, that God’s graces are the only thing that has brought me through. In recent years, I have been fighting auto-immune diseases that are causing me great pain. But through it all, God’s graces have been enough for me.
Certainly, there are times that I am discouraged
I wonder how much more I can bear, but then if I get my eyes back on Jesus and His graces, He carries me through. Just like the poem, “Footprints” says when things are the toughest, that is when Jesus carries me! Then when we look back, we can say as Jacob did, “God was here, and I didn’t even know it!” (Genesis 28)
One of the Best Gifts from God is Faith
One of God’s greatest graces to me has been the gift of faith. Thankfully, through every trial, my faith has pulled me through. I have been able to rest in his sheltering arms to get to the other side of the mountain.
You can take a test to find your spiritual gifts and find that faith is not your strongest gift, but we all have a bit of faith.
To begin with, we have enough faith to believe that God exists.
Secondly, we took the step of faith to believe He sent His Son to pay our debts.
And now we just have to grow that faith until we have a victorious life. Just as the hymn by John H. Yates says… “Faith is the Victory that Overcomes the World!”
The Apostle Paul told Timothy that his mother and grandmother had the gift of faith and that he (Timothy) had the same gift and he needed to “fan the flames of that gift“. (2 Tim 1:6). We need to work at building our faith. When God gives us a gift, He plants the seeds in our lives and we must do our part to make them grow. He often places us in situations that make our faith grow IF we take the right actions.
Let’s consider some actions that will grow our faith.
F – Fear Not
(or worry not, or fret not, or doubt not, you fill in the blank) (2 Timothy 1:5-14)
Paul continued in verse 7, “God has not given us the spirit of fear and timidity, but the spirit of power, love and self-discipline.” We have to use that self-discipline to stop worrying and start believing the God can work it out. God saved us and he has brought us through so many things already. We need to lean on those facts, rather than worrying about the future (which, by the way, we have very little control of).
So take on the Australian attitude .. “No worries!” or
maybe the Bahamian idea “No Problem, Mon!” or
the retro theme “Don’t Worry, Be Happy!”
Choose what you may, just STOP WORRYING!
There is likely nothing you can do about it anyway! Leave it in God’s hands.
A – Acknowledge our Concern & Ask God for help.
Have you ever noticed that the base word for “confidence” is “confide”? So … maybe to have confidence, we should confide in the Lord about our fears and concerns. God wants to know about our worries. 1 Peter 5:7 And we can have confidence that God will help us!
Matthew 11 says “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
It’s true, you know, He really does care. #confidence #Godisenough Share on XI – Invoke Your Heart to Praise
Invoke seems a hard word. Maybe indicating the forcing of something. But isn’t that what we must do? Sometimes praise is hard. Hebrews 13:14-15 says “let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God“.
Continual Praise .. that means, at times we must praise the Lord, even when it’s hard.
Even when we don’t want to.
I am reminded of a time in college. Easter break was coming and I was so ready to get home for a few days. We woke to snow on the ground that Friday and I received a phone call from my father saying I should not come home because the roads between us were too dangerous. I was heart-broken. I went to my final class that morning with a heavy heart. We began class each day with prayer, and guess who the professor called on to pray… ME!
I didn’t want to pray.
What could I say to God at this moment?
I was bummed.
We bowed our heads and the words came from my mouth. “Thank you for the beautiful snow.” Wow! I really couldn’t believe the words were coming out of my mouth! Where did that come from? But guess what … staying at school brought new opportunities and a wonderful Easter weekend.
I think if we can muster up a bit of praise and singing, we’ll soon have forgotten the worries and find the joy.
T – Trust His Promises
We’ll never understand what’s going on in the world, but God knows. He sees the whole picture and He knows best. When you feel worries and struggles coming your way. Get into the Word.
Better yet, live in The Word always.
Memorize His promises and lean on them.
Sadly, too many of us never pick up our Bible, open its pages and read. And those of us who do, do it way too little. There are so many ways to get the Word into your mind.
- You don’t have to sit down and read it anymore; now it’s available on a CD or MP3.
- Carry a little scripture card in your pocket.
- Tape verses to your mirror or your computer monitor.
We need to memorize it. Hide God’s Word in our hearts.
We can’t trust His promises if we don’t know what they are.
H – Hide in the Shelter of His Arms
After we do the aforementioned things, we can then rest in his arms. No Worries.
God’s got our back.
He’s got our future.
He is in control!
I love the illustration we were given in the Online Bible Study, A Confident Heart by Renee Swope; we’re in a God Sandwich! The Psalmist said, “You go before me and follow me. You place Your hand of blessing on my head.” (Psalm 139:5)
That’s when we know that GOD IS ENOUGH.
Rest in this truth today. We can rest knowing that God is all around us taking care of the details.
So How About it? Let’s Start Living By Faith!
This post was inspired by the book, A Confident Heart” by Renee Swope
Follow my Journey with Chronic Pain
Pastor’s Wife (retired) & Chronic Pain Warrior blogs about how to make it through anything by relating her own life experiences to her writing. She is passionate about her love for the Lord and desires to spread that passion to others. She has a great desire to encourage women who are following behind her.
Such good points! I like that connection between confidence an confide. Thanks for the encouragement.
Yeah, that connection to confide was a new thought for me. Thanks for coming by!
I love this! I particularly loved the “A” part on the acronym… Admitting or acknowledging our concerns is so good… (So often we can think having Faith means denying reality… I love that this point corrects that misguided assumption!)
This is beautiful Mandy! Thank you for sharing this.
Karrileea, Acknowledgment is the first step to anything, I believe. Repressing the truth is never good.
Thanks for dropping by and God bless.
Thank you, Jolene, thanks for visiting. Be blessed!
What a wonderful acronym for faith! Invoke means to call on or to petition. So it’s the perfect work for praise! We don’t always feel like praising God, but we can call on our hearts to praise him through the storms.
Yes! King David did it often in the Psalms. He spoke to his soul and invoked it to praise! thanks for dropping by!
Thanks so much for sharing your post with us at the Exploring World Religions Linkup 7 so that we can better understand each other through our religion, faith, and beliefs. Pinned!
I recently read that worry also meant choked, I will research it. Isaiah 53 and John 14:27 are go to passages, for all kinds of pain, and I am reading the Bible itself keeping it in my eyes and ears, and it is important to write it too. With all the ways to study, going back to the book is a must also.
indeed. I have found my hope in HIm since the pain arrived!
I so appreciate your acronym on FAITH, Mandy. And I appreciate your insights. Thanks for sharing this on Grammy’s Grid so I could find you.
So glad you found me. Did you sign up for notifications or the newsletter?
Memorizing scripture has been one of my favorite spiritual disciplines the past several years to build up my faith!
It makes a lot of difference to hide God’s Word in your heart! Thanks for coming by