Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions (12 page)

The third thing that helps me forgive others is to remember that
if I stay angry, I am giving Satan a foothold in my life
(see Eph. 4:26–27). When I forgive, I am keeping Satan from gaining an advantage over me (see 2 Cor. 2:10–11). If I don’t forgive, I am poisoning my own soul with bitterness that will surely work its way out in some kind of bad behavior or attitude. One of the most valuable things I have learned is that I am doing myself a favor when I forgive.

W
hen we make a decision to forgive, we probably won’t feel like forgiving. After all, we have been treated unjustly, and it hurts. But doing the right thing while we feel wronged is extremely important to our overall spiritual growth. It also glorifies God.

For many years I tried to forgive people when they hurt or offended me, but since I still had negative feelings toward them, I assumed I wasn’t successful in the forgiveness journey. Now I realize that no matter how I feel, if I keep praying for the person who injured me and bless rather than curse him or her, I am on my way to freedom from destructive emotion. To curse means to speak evil of, and to bless means to speak well of. When someone has hurt us, we can refuse to speak evil of them, even if we’re tempted to do so. We can also bless them by talking about their good qualities and the good things they have done. If we look only at the mistakes people make, we won’t be able to like them. But looking at their whole lives gives us a more balanced picture of them.

You cannot wait to forgive someone who hurt you until you feel warm and loving toward that person. You’ll probably have to do it while you are still hurting—when forgiving is the last thing you feel like
doing—but doing it puts you in the “God league.” It puts you squarely on the road that is “narrow (contracted by pressure),” but leads to the way of life (see Matt. 7:14). It puts you on the road that Jesus Himself traveled on. Don’t forget that one of the last things He did was forgive someone who didn’t deserve forgiveness, and He did it while hanging on a cross being crucified (see Luke 23:43). I think some of the last things that Jesus did were specially designed to help us remember how important those things are.

I
know people who have been sick for an extended period of time and have the most beautiful attitudes. They never complain, are not grouchy, don’t act as if the world owes them something, and they don’t blame God or even feel sorry for themselves. But I also know people with the same circumstances who talk only about their illnesses, medical appointments, and how hard it all is for them. They are easily offended, bitter, and resentful. Every situation in life requires making a decision about how we are going to respond, and if we respond the way God would, then our trials will be much easier to handle.

Perhaps you have never thought about how important it is to manage your emotions during times of crisis. Most of us think,
I can’t help how I act right now; I am having a hard time, and that is all there is to it
. That is a
normal human reaction, but with God on our side helping us, we don’t have to behave the way a “normal” person would. Satan is our enemy, and his goal is to get us so emotionally rattled that we say things that will provide him with an opening into our lives. Or he hopes we will make unwise decisions during painful times and create messes that we will have to deal with for a long, long time afterward.

I have believed for years that if I can hold my tongue and remain emotionally stable during times of difficulty, then I am honoring God and letting the devil know he is not going to control me. I’m not always successful, but I’m certainly a lot better than I once was. As I often say,
“I am not where I need to be, but thank God I am not where I used to be.”
I am still growing, but at least I’ve learned the importance of managing my emotions. There is no doubt it is more difficult to manage your emotions when you’re sick or going through a crisis, but hopefully you are learning it is possible.

N
othing harms us emotionally the way stress does. We might say that anxiety is emotions out of control. When someone experiences anxiety,
most of the time it’s because their emotions have been stressed to the point that they are no longer functioning healthily. There are many situations that cause anxiety. The death of a spouse or child, divorce, and job loss are major events; however, not all the reasons are that serious. A lot of anxiety is caused simply by taking on more than we can handle.

I used to feel constantly overwhelmed due to stress, but it was because my schedule was unreasonable. And—even worse—I thought I was doing it for God. It is amazing to me now when I look back at how deceived I was. Always remember that if Satan cannot get you to
not
work for God, then he will try to get you to
overwork
for God. He really doesn’t care which end of being out of balance we are on, because either one causes trouble.

The simple answer to living a life you can enjoy is to learn God’s ways and follow them. Jesus said, “I am the Way” (John 14:6), and that means He will show us how to live properly. The answers we need are in God’s Word, and we should make a decision that we will not only read the Bible, but we will obey it. If we refuse to make that decision and follow through, we will keep feeling stressed until we break.

Start asking God what you can eliminate from your life that is not producing good fruit. It may even be some good things that are just not the best things for you. Something can be right for us in one season of our lives and not right at all in another season. Follow your heart, and you will accomplish a lot of fruitful things and still have energy left over to enjoy the fruit of your labor.

W
hat do you do that makes you really happy? People go on vacations, buy things, get married, get divorced, have kids, and change jobs searching for happiness. We even do things we don’t like doing, just so we can be happy with the end result. A woman may not like to clean house, but she looks at her clean house and feels happy, so week after week she cleans it. Actually, I cannot think of anything we do that does not have happiness as a motivator.

There are many things that make me happy, but I have found obeying God is the number one thing that makes me happy—maybe not right away, but always in the end. When I am flowing with God I have a deep contentment that nothing else compares to. I may not always like what He asks me to do or not to do, but if I resist and rebel, I will not be happy deep down in my soul.

I think some people have a perception that Christianity is cold, impersonal, and joyless. That’s because many who call themselves Christians have sour attitudes and sad faces. They are critical of others and quick to judge. Those of us who love and serve God and His Son, Jesus Christ, should be the happiest people on earth. We should be able to enjoy everything we do, simply because we know that God is present. It was a great day for me when I finally discovered through studying the Bible that God wants us to enjoy our lives (see John 10:10).

Be happy and enjoy all that you do through your relationship with Jesus. Since everyone simply wants to be happy, when they see you enjoying your life even in difficult circumstances, they will be open to learning about and receiving Jesus themselves.

I
make a point of trying to be excited about each day that God gives me. The psalmist David said this: “This is the day which the Lord has brought about; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24). The “we will” says it all. David made a decision that produced the feelings he wanted rather than waiting to see how he felt. For years I got up each day and waited to see how I felt, then I let those feelings dictate the course of my day. Now, I set my mind in the right direction and make decisions that I know will produce emotions I can enjoy.

Most of our days are rather ordinary. We all have moments in life that are amazing, but a lot of life is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and back to Monday all over again. Recently I stood in front of 225,000 people in Zimbabwe preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching the Word of God. It was my birthday, and 225,000 people sang “Happy Birthday” to me, and that was rather cool. Yesterday I went to Target to buy new kitchen rugs and then to the grocery store, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed Zimbabwe and the grocery store equally. Zimbabwe was a once-in-a-lifetime event that was exciting, and one I will never forget, but having another day to enjoy God is also exciting, even if the day is spent doing errands.

Everything we do is sacred if we do it unto the Lord and we believe
He is with us. Ask yourself right now if you truly believe God is with you. If your answer is yes, just think about how amazing that is, and my guess is that your enjoyment will increase immediately.

B
eing relaxed feels wonderful. Being nervous, tense, and worried are not so wonderful. Why aren’t more people relaxed? Jesus said if we are weary and overburdened, we should go to Him and He will give us rest, relaxation, and ease (see Matt. 11:28–29). Jesus wants to teach us the right way to live, which is different from the way most of the world lives.

It would be putting it mildly to say that I was an uptight woman for the first half of my life. I simply did not know how to relax, and it was due to me not being willing to completely trust God. I trusted God
for
things, but not
in
things. I kept trying to be the one in control. Even though God was in the driver’s seat of my life, I kept one hand on the wheel just in case He took a wrong turn. Relaxation is impossible without trust!

If you know you can’t fix the problem you have, then why not relax while God is working on it? It sounds easy, but it took many years for me to be able to do this. I know from experience that the ability to relax and go with the flow in life is dependent upon our willingness to trust God completely. If things don’t go your way, instead of being
upset, you can believe that getting your way was not what you needed. God knew that, so He gave you what was best for you, instead of what you wanted.

If you are waiting much longer than you had hoped to, you can get frustrated, angry, and upset, or you can say, “God’s timing is perfect; He is never late. And my steps are ordered by the Lord.” Now you can relax and simply go with the flow of what is happening in your life. When it comes to things that are out of our control, we can either ruin the day or relax and enjoy it while God is working on the situation. As long as we believe, God keeps working!

T
his Scripture means a lot to me because I was a hard-hearted person due to the abuse I had suffered in the earlier years of my life. This Bible verse gave me hope that I could change. God gives us things in seed form and we must work with the Holy Spirit to bring them to full maturity. This is much like the fruit of the Spirit, which is in us but needs to be watered with God’s Word and developed through use.