Hope – Page 2 – Steps 2 Success with Spiritual Solutions

Trusting in the God of Completion

Trusting in the God of Completion – Devotional – January 8, 2024

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” —Jeremiah 29:11

When studying the Bible, we learn about God’s Divine character. God is consistent and dependable, He always gives definitive instructions that result in victory. Believers are instructed to “Wait on the Lord, ” and “Do not trust your own understanding.” We are never told to follow our thoughts, develop strategies, or move forward unless directed by God. We know that the Holy Spirit is directing us because the outcome always brings glory and honor to God.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” —Hebrews 4:16

Always pray and take your burdens, trials, and hardships to the throne of Grace first. Be very cautious when sharing your dilemma with others. Do not ask for answers or recommendations. When asking for prayer only disclose that you are facing a hard trial. An anointed prayer warrior will never ask you for additional information. Sometimes God uses a man or woman of God to relay His answer, but the person He uses is completely unaware of your circumstances.

Free will of Choice: Completion or Consequences

If we desire Divine intervention, God requires a prayer of faith asking for His help. Yet, there is a time of waiting. During the wait, either we will acknowledge [honor and reverence] God demonstrated through faith, trust, obedience, and patience, or, we will despise the waiting that we perceive as God’s silence and inactivity and follow our inclinations which results in suffering consequences.

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” —Psalm 37:7

The righteous do not have to suffer consequences! Only when we choose to disobey God can we reap sorrow and regret. There is a well-kept secret in the Christian community regarding, “I did it my way.” Many believers fail to share their true testimony—from their act of disobedience [following their thoughts and strategies] it appeared that all was well for a long time, yet, the consequences came to fruition many years later.

God’s Way: Completion and a Victorious Outcome!

“Our soul waits for the Lord, He is our help and our shield.” Psalm 33:20

Based on the miracles of the parting of the Red Sea, Naaman being healed of leprosy, Kings Asa and Hezekiah winning impossible battles, and Hannah, Sarah, and Elizabeth having babies after years of infertility, we witness the love and power of a God who gives victory to those who obey and wait.

Yes, it is a struggle to patiently wait. During the wait, pray without ceasing, study the Scriptures, and use your power of a sound mind to stand down all wayward thoughts and feelings of impatience. Ask for help! The Holy Spirit empowers us to exercise self-control and resist our thoughts.

Obedience to God is always rewarded! When you experience the blessings [spiritual, material, healing…] pouring down from the windows of heaven because of the decision to be a faithful follower of Christ, your perception of God and relationship with Christ deepens. You will have a testimony to share that focuses on the goodness of God!

We have a loving Heavenly Father who desires the best for us and deserves our faith, trust, and obedience. Who else can we trust with our lives? The righteous who wait on the Lord stay in His perfect will and live peaceful and abundant lives without suffering consequences. It’s time that we trust in the God of completion and experience His victorious outcomes. Amen.

Prayer: Thank You God for providing stability in our lives. We desire to put our faith and trust in You because we love You. In Jesus’ Name, we pray, Amen.

Surrendering to God Saves Our Lives

Surrendering to God Saves Our Lives – Today’s Devotional – December 4, 2023

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.’ ” —Matthew 16:24, NLT

Taking up our cross is defined by surrendering our will to God and trusting His thoughts, ways, and plans for our lives. It is not a middle-of-the-road life filled with compromises based on our heart’s desires. As Christ prayed daily to receive the revelation of God’s will for His life, we also pray a daily prayer of surrender asking God to reveal His will through the Holy Spirit.

Surrender is a righteous character trait that requires a sacrificial love for God and the humility of a little child. Surrender determines whether or not you are in the right standing with God. Our willingness to surrender and obey God is demonstrated through the type of prayers we pray and the lifestyle we live.

Never Underrate the Importance of Surrender! Anything outside of relinquishing our desires to God breaches one’s relationship with Christ. Disobedience always separates us from God.

Reflection: How do your character, habits, and lifestyles compare with God’s great moral standard of righteousness?

“Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous.” —1 John 3:7, ESV

The inheritance of a carnal heart places us at a disadvantage—we cannot judge ourselves. There must be diligent searching of the Scriptures which identify our sins that have been offensive to God, which have dishonored His name, quenched the power of the Holy Spirit, and separated us from our first love for Christ.

We rate our sins on a scale of little to big to great. Yet, to God, all sin is the transgression of His laws of righteousness and disobedience against Him. Yes, God takes it personally when we sin against Him. And rightfully so, God gave us His only Son, Jesus Christ to fulfill the Plan of Salvation. Jesus surrendered fully to the will of His Father by sacrificing His life and suffering an agonizing death on Calvary’s cross to redeem us from the second death which is the penalty of sin.

Our refusal to surrender has its roots in the sin of unbelief—we do not trust God. The heart void of love and trust can never surrender. The internal conflict we face results in contempt for God’s Truth, succumbing to the temptations of worldliness, self-reliance, over-indulgence, pride, selfishness, false doctrines, and immorality. Our lifestyles reveal the true status of our faith in God.

We cannot save ourselves. The work of overcoming is the work of a lifetime which requires human effort and Divine Intervention. Victory is assured through our love, humility, surrender, faith, and obedience. We must put forth the effort to cooperate with the Power of the Holy Spirit to receive the conviction and Divine instructions needed for a daily spiritual transformation.

Our appreciation of Christ’s gift is demonstrated by giving Him our love and loyalty as we strive to live holy and acceptable lives. We separate ourselves from the worldviews by studying the Scriptures and embracing God’s Biblical views. Through daily surrender, we are preparing our earthly lives for the promise of eternal life.

How will we stand before God, the Righteous Judge? The choice is ours to make. God has given us the free will to decide our final destiny. Yes, God indeed is a Loving, Fair, and Righteous Judge.

Prayer: God, we ask forgiveness for our failure to surrender. We admit that we have an issue with our hearts, we do not love You as we should. We make a covenant from this day forward to surrender all to You. We ask this prayer in Jesus’ Holy Name, Amen.

The God Who Knows

God is Omniscient–all knowing. Nothing that happens in our lives comes as a surprise to Him. Did you know that God is aware of every trial and sorrow that we will face [present and future]? He also knows how we will react to each challenge. It is by faith that we can grasp His promise to never leave or forsake us. And it by faith, that we can have the reassurance that He will bring us through as victorious overcomers.

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Prayer: God, we thank you for loving us. We are overwhelmed by the hardships that we are going through and ask you to give us peace while we endure suffering. God, our confidence is in you. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

This is Faith!

Our Compassionate God

God’s Answer: Yes or No

Growing up in a home with a Mother who was an ordained minister was not easy. “Mommy, can I do…?” Minister Johnson measured our every request with God’s ruler. Did it meet the standards of righteousness? The King James version says: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6. But due to the varied modern methods of training children, the Contemporary English version makes God’s command plain-spoken for 21st-century parents: Teach your children right from wrong, and when they are grown, they will still do right. Proverbs 22:6. As I matured, I finally realized that if there were any possibilities of suffering negative consequences, then the answer would be an automatic “no.” My mother fulfilled the requirements of raising her children according to God’s truth.

What about us? Can we accept when God says, “No?”

Because our desires have a strong influence on us, often it is difficult to know what is acceptable to God when we pray for an answer of yes. Let’s say that you need a vehicle. You begin to do research and find a dealership that is offering a special with “zero down and 60 payments of $485 a month.” You pray and ask God for His blessing, and the next day, you decide to stop by the dealer, just to look. After speaking to the sales rep, he or she bypasses the vehicle that you are interested in and shows you an upgraded version. You readily agree to the offer for a test drive, and now you’re caught up in the bait and switch tactic. After the test drive, the offer is extended with the same criteria, only the monthly payment is $575, which will begin in 45 days, and this deal is only available for 24 hours. The offer is not from God.

As unbelievable as this sounds, we place ourselves into predicaments all of the time. The other day, I was asked, “How do you know if what is presented is a blessing from God or a gift from Satan?” Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17. Because Satan cannot give good gifts, nor can he offer a perfect situation, there is always an “if, and, only, or but” that we have to fulfill, which leads us into the journey of suffering negative consequences.

“Watch the stealthy approach of Satan, watch against old habits and natural inclinations lest they exert themselves; force them back if need be a hundred times. Watch the thoughts, watch the plans, lest they become selfish and self-centered. Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” TMK 351. Ellen G. White

Back to our vehicle dilemma: Purchasing a vehicle includes the additional expenses of full-coverage insurance with deductibles, registration fees, new vehicle tax, and operating expenses. Also included are the routine maintenance expenses and the unexpected, which may or may not be covered in the warranty. Working within our financial budget includes developing an alternate plan if a loss of income occurs. Will you have the means to pay these expenses if you are laid off or permanently lose your job? Vehicle payment+ insurance + routine/uncovered warranty maintenance + operating expenses = Total cost of the purchased vehicle.

God is already aware that you need a vehicle, and He promises, “I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!” Isaiah 65:24. So when you do your part (Human Effort) through financial planning of the monetary resources that God has blessed you with, then God acts (Divine Intervention) and presents the perfect vehicle within your budget. And even if you lose your job, God has plans to provide for your monthly payment until you are employed again. “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says. 2 Corinthians 1:19

God never wavers between yes and no—he’s completely affirmative in all his dealings with us. All of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Jesus. Because of Jesus, all God’s answers are yes, as you pray in his name and Spirit. Are you waiting for a “Yes” from God but secretly afraid he’ll say “No”? If what you want is his will, you can be sure his answer will be “Yes.” Wait for the Yes to work itself into your life, in God’s timing.
—Diane Eble, author of Abundant Gifts: A Daybook of Grace-Filled Devotions

Faith, trust, and obedience are always required to serve God.

And without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 NIV
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:6
Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD. Psalm 27:14

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2

God, please teach us how to seek your will. Many times we have placed ourselves into situations with negative consequences due to disobedience. And for this, we ask forgiveness. We desire to bring our petitions to you and to wait and accept your answer, even if it is no. Thank you for hearing and answering our prayer that we ask in the Worthy Name of Jesus. Amen.