The Courage To Trust

"Lord, You are the light of the world, and I declare You to be Lord over every nation of the earth. I know Your light will always prevail. Establish Your kingdom on earth and help us, Your children, to be a people through whom Your light shines and through whom You touch the world for Your glory. Amen."


COURAGE:
After a long and terrifying captivity, Iranian hostage Gary lee was home. It was a Sunday morning in February 1981, and I joined with others in his father's church to welcome him. Celebration filled the air as joyful voices sang "Amazing Grace." From my seat I noticed the bearded young man smile and shake his head as though in wonder at the miracle of his safe return.

Months earlier, however, he had experienced another miracle. Shortly after his capture, he was allowed to have a Bible and one day he read Isaiah 43:5 "Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west."

"When I read those words," he told his father later, "I felt God was making me a promise. Somehow I knew I would reach home safely. The whole experience became a lot easier after that."

How much lighter trials become when we realize God's grace is twofold. It is not only the happy ending. It is also the peace we can feel during a painful journey, when we trust in God all the way. Amen.

Matt 5:14, 16 - You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden ... Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven

The Source Of Joy

"Oh Lord, You are the light of my life. You illiminate my path, and I will follow wherever You lead. Protect me from being blinded by the light that confuses. Help me to always identify the counterfeit. I depend on You to lift up the light of Your countenance upon me like what You said in Psalms 4:6. Thank You, Lord, that because You never change, Your light is constant in my life no matter what is going on around me. Shine Your light through me as I walk with my hand in Yours. I give this day to You and trust that the light You give me is just the amount I need for the step I'm on. Amen."

JOY:
We find that our joy is greatly affected by circumstances. When everything goes smoothly, we radiate a joyful spirit. But what happens when everything goes wrong, when our world seems to fall apart around us? Our joy seems to "fly out of the window".

The source of true joy is the Lord himself. There is a difference between the joy that comes from peaceful circumstances and the joy of the Lord which is constant and enduring day after day regardless of the circumstances about us.

We most probably are familiar with the 9 fruits of the Spirit: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Gal 5:22-23). Let's illustrate this in the following way to understand it better. A flower has a number of petals, and each petal is an essential part of the complete flower. Joy is one of the "petals" in the fruit of the Spirit, and without it we are not complete Christians.

The joy of the Lord transforms us and gives a cheerfulness and joyousness that is not dependent upon our outward circumstances but comes from the presence of Christ in our hearts. It has been aptly sai, "Joy is the flag which is flown from the castle of the heart when the King is in residence there." Amen.

-Prov 4:18 "The path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day."

"Oh Lord, hear my cry to the people of this nation Lord. Touch their lives so that they may be transformed into the beauty of Your holiness. I thank You Lord for Your multiple blessings on to each and every child You have. I love You Lord. Thank You once again. Amen!"

FAITH:
God is ever seeking to teach us they way of faith, and in our training in the faith life there must be room for the trial for faith, the discipline of faith, the patience of faith, the courage of faith; and often many stages are passed before we really realize what is the end of faith, namely, the victory of faith.

Real moral fiber is developed through discipline of faith. You may have made a request to God, but the answer does not come. What are you to do?

The answer is to keep on believing God's Word; never be moved away from it by what you see or feel, and thus as you stand steady, enlarged power and experience is being developed. Often God delays purposely, and the delay is just as much an answer to your prayer as is the fulfillment when it comes.

Abraham, Moses and Elijah were not great in the beginning, but were made great through the discipline of faith, and only thus were they fitted for the positions to which God had called them.

When God has spoken of His purpose to do, and yet the days go on and he does not do it, that is truky hard; but it is a discipline of faith that will bring us into a knowledge of God which would otherwise be impossible.

-Thank you Lord for Your word to me.