I've been teaching the Word of God for more than 45 years now, and one of the most life-changing things I've learned is that God is always right. No matter what I think, how I feel, or what my circumstances look like, His wisdom and His way of doing things are always the answer to my problems. One message we see throughout the Bible is, "Do what's right in God's eyes and you'll have a life you enjoy that's worth living. Don't obey God, and you'll have a miserable life."
Have you ever been busy all day long but when you got to the end of it, you found you hadn't accomplished anything that you wanted or needed to do? It's so frustrating when this happens. I'm usually a very goal-oriented person and can stay focused on the things I really want to do. But there was a time recently when I found myself struggling to finish things that I started because I was getting distracted by other things that needed to be accomplished as well. So, I ended up with a lot of loose ends, feeling overwhelmed by everything that needed to be done.
Have you ever been stuck? Have you ever hit a place in life that seemed like a dead end....like you no longer had any options? I've been there many times, and I'm sure most people have. But I am so grateful that over the years God has taught me that even when we get stuck, there is no situation too difficult for Him to handle! Let's start by looking at the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis, chapters 37 through 50. The Bible says he was the favorite of his father's 12 sons, and his brothers were very jealous of him because of it.
For many years, I was an extremely negative person. I could walk into a room and pick out the one small detail that was wrong, like the wallpaper in the corner that was slightly peeling. I saw what was wrong with everything! The reason for this attitude was that I had been abused for many years throughout my childhood, and I'd experienced a lot of disappointment. When Dave and I got married, I was 23 years old and couldn't remember a time I had ever been really happy.
Over the years, I've made it a priority to study the topic of love in the Word of God. Getting a revelation about just how much God loves me and learning to receive His love has been life changing. It's also the key to truly enjoying life. Because when we know how much God loves us, it melts away our insecurities, gives us confidence, and helps us to love ourselves. We can then give God's love away to other people. In fact, I've discovered the best way (and the only way) to have a happy, powerful life is to get our minds off ourselves and do something for someone else. Helping people, being a blessing and adding value to other people's lives, is what it means to walk in love and follow the example of Jesus.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we are joint heirs with Him. This means that everything that is His also belongs to us, and every promise God gives in His Word is for us (Romans 8:17). But I've learned that it's one thing to claim God's promises by faith and another to actually experience them. The story of the Israelites in the wilderness is a good example for us regarding this principle. They were slaves in Egypt when God sent Moses to deliver them from Pharaoh and lead them to the Promised Land, He had for them.
God has a good plan for your life, and He doesn't want you to be tormented by fear or let it hold you back from your destiny. His will is for you to walk forward, confident in His love, trusting Him to take care of you all along the way. We also have an enemy, Satan, who will do everything he can to stop us from walking in God's good plan. Anytime we are making progress and moving forward in God's will for our lives, the devil will try to come against us with fear to drive us backward. This is one of the enemy's greatest tactics-to bring fear and try to prevent us from making progress. He wants us to fear our circumstances and what other people will think. He wants us to focus on the "what ifs."
Do you want to be happy - I mean, really happy? I believe that deep down we all want to be happy and enjoy our lives. We can spend a lot of time and energy trying to do things that will make us happy, but our own efforts will never truly satisfy us. That's because God doesn't want our minds to be on ourselves all the time. He wants us to look past the things that are happening in our own lives and reach out to others and bless them. Because when our focus is on ourselves, we usually end up feeling sorry for ourselves and get caught up in self-pity.
Everyone has a race to run. That just means we all have a life to live. The apostle Paul says in Hebrews 12:1 (NIV) "Therefore ... let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Part of what that means is to keep going even in the midst of the difficulties in life. Hard times happen to us all, but it's how we handle them that matters most. And when the time comes, I want to be able to say, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7).
For many years, I carried around a heavy burden of anger and unforgiveness because of the abuse I suffered as a child. Instead of moving beyond my feelings, I chose to stay locked up in a prison of my own negative emotions, living in a spiritual pity party. However, one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is the willingness to forgive. In fact, learning to forgive quickly and generously is the cornerstone for all emotional health and a powerful key to controlling our emotions. Forgiveness spoils the enemy's plan to destroy your relationships. It disarms the sting of bitterness, invites the peace of God, and brings healing power to your soul.
