When God closes a door, it can be quite painful. It’s kind of like getting your hand shut in a door, only the pain is figurative and it targets the heart. Yes, oftentimes I have prayed that God will open the doors he wants me to enter and close the ones he doesn’t. Yet, when the door comes closing shut, I find myself somewhat surprised…and a bit hurt. Perhaps I have convinced myself that it was the right door and that entering through it would be the best thing for me. Or maybe because of my pride and need to please others, I feel I would get a stamp of approval by walking through that door. Either Read More
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Strength in Uncertain Times
The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Psalm 33:10-11 (NIV) We may be living in a time of political chaos and utter uncertainty about the future of our country, but there is one truth we can stand solidly upon: “the plans of the Lord stand firm forever.” We may be tempted to cling to fear or discouragement instead of this truth, but the God who created this world and loves us with a “love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19) wants us to remember that he is in control. He wants us to know with absolute certainty that no matter Read More
Lead Me to You
Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. Psalm 43:3-4 Enlighten my mind to your will, O Lord, and wrap it in your loving kindness. Let me receive it with joy, as a treasure of endless worth, designed specifically by you to shape me into who you have called me to be. May the desire of my heart be to walk upon the path that you have prepared for me, so that I may accomplish your purposes and glorify you in all I do. Remove the stubbornness of my own selfish Read More
A Prayer to the One I Trust
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Isaiah 26:3 NLT Keep me in your perfect peace, O Lord! Keep my thoughts fixed on you in all I do. I trust in you! Do not let me turn away to trust in the ways of man or in the idols of money or personal success, which promise so much yet deliver so little. Instead, let the instinct of my heart be to run to you to find peace and rest in the “shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). May I always say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust” (Psalm 91:2)! Keep me abiding in your will, Read More
Joy in the Wilderness
Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. Mark 1:12-13 Sometimes the Spirit of God sends us out into the wilderness so that a time of true testing will come. After soaring on the heights of a spiritual awakening, God can drive us to a dry and barren land where we must rely completely on him to sustain us, for everything else has been stripped away. He takes us far from all things comfortable and secure, and leads us to a place of emptiness where there is nothing to lean on but him. In this parched land, we become distinctly aware of two crucial things: first, that we are desperately needy, and second, that Read More