"Imagine standing on a battlefield all alone facing an angry army of 1,000 men, each breathing torturous threats. Suddenly you feel the earth pound beneath your feet like the hoofbeats of 10,000 horsemen. Your heart nearly melts with fear as you prepare yourself for the ever-mounting foe. Then you realize it wasn't 10,000 horsemen after all. It was one. Your gaze lifts higher and higher as you try to focus on His face with the sun in your eyes. He looks 100 feet tall atop His stallion, and His very presence emanates authority. He is stunningly beautiful. Staggeringly powerful. His horse gallops onto the battlefield, kicking up the earth. The rider firmly pulls the reins and brings His horse to a halt right beside you. The horseman then looks down at you and says, "Proceed into battle, mighty warrior. I am on your side."
I just love the way she writes. God has really gifted her in such a way to help you to really picture what she is saying. Oh, how I pray that daily as we step onto the battlefield we Know that God is on our side.
She continues...
"When we call upon His name, God promises NT believers that same kind of power and victory in the far more terrifying battles of the spiritual realm. He didn't just promise we'd be conquerors. He promised we'd be more than conquerors. Why aren't we living with that kind of confidence?"
"Regardless of how long we've been Christians and how deeply we've studied God's Word, most of us don't really believe down in the marrow of our bones that God is entirely, wholeheartedly, and unwaveringly on our side."
"We live most of our lives unconvinced that God is really for us. We have little trouble picturing ourselves on God's side, but for the life of us we can't picture God stooping down enough to be on ours. Even though we'll say things and sing things to the contrary, we live as if we believe down in the hidden places of our hearts and minds that God at best tolerates us.
We may rarely admit it, but our actions, anxietes, fears, and insecurities suggest something else. Perhaps some of us don't so much feel as if God is against us as we just don't necessarily feel as if He's for us.
I'm hammering the point because I'd like to suggest that in our humanity we tend to determine whether God is against us, for us, or tolerating us based on how He appers to act in our circumstances. In other words, our litmus test for whether we think God is really for us is circumstantial evidence. If I don't get the promotion, God was for the other guy. If the relationship doesn't work out, God didn't root for me. If the cancer treatment doesn't take, I'm not a big priority to Him.
God knows when something glorious in the future necessitates something difficult in the present. Because He knows the glory will be worth it, God will risk being misunderstood. Yes, God wants us to have joyful, satisfying lives, but He also wants us to have crowns to cast. Rewards to receive. Character to develop. Compassion to give. Testimonies to tell. In the midst of those painful processes, God makes bold promises.
Read Romans 8:28-39
These are promises Dear One. Promises God made straight to you. He is not against you. He does not just tolerate you. He doesn't stick around because He feels obligated to you. God is on your side because He chooses to be."
I don't know about you but this sounds like good stuff to me. I am amazed at how much God loves each one of us! We are surrounded by people who are like this. Prayerfully, they will see Jesus in us as we minister in this country. Pray that as we teach, witness, and love that God would reveal Himself to the Zambian people and that they would know down in the marrow of their bones that God is entirely, wholeheartedly, and unwaveringly on their side.
We may rarely admit it, but our actions, anxietes, fears, and insecurities suggest something else. Perhaps some of us don't so much feel as if God is against us as we just don't necessarily feel as if He's for us.
I'm hammering the point because I'd like to suggest that in our humanity we tend to determine whether God is against us, for us, or tolerating us based on how He appers to act in our circumstances. In other words, our litmus test for whether we think God is really for us is circumstantial evidence. If I don't get the promotion, God was for the other guy. If the relationship doesn't work out, God didn't root for me. If the cancer treatment doesn't take, I'm not a big priority to Him.
God knows when something glorious in the future necessitates something difficult in the present. Because He knows the glory will be worth it, God will risk being misunderstood. Yes, God wants us to have joyful, satisfying lives, but He also wants us to have crowns to cast. Rewards to receive. Character to develop. Compassion to give. Testimonies to tell. In the midst of those painful processes, God makes bold promises.
Read Romans 8:28-39
These are promises Dear One. Promises God made straight to you. He is not against you. He does not just tolerate you. He doesn't stick around because He feels obligated to you. God is on your side because He chooses to be."
I don't know about you but this sounds like good stuff to me. I am amazed at how much God loves each one of us! We are surrounded by people who are like this. Prayerfully, they will see Jesus in us as we minister in this country. Pray that as we teach, witness, and love that God would reveal Himself to the Zambian people and that they would know down in the marrow of their bones that God is entirely, wholeheartedly, and unwaveringly on their side.
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