Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions (52 page)

M
any places in the Bible say that though we are
in
the world, we do not have to be
of
the world. As believers, we don’t belong to this world, but we are to be a light in it. Our standards as Christians should be much higher than the world’s.

Ask yourself some of these questions:

• Would you rob a bank?
  
• Would you speak ugly gossip about a brother or sister in the Lord?
  
• Would you lie to your children or to your friends?
  
• Do you ever sign up to work in the church nursery and not show up?
  
• Do you exaggerate to make a story sound better?
  

Did you answer “yes” to any of these inquiries? Granted, most of us wouldn’t even think of robbing a bank. But how many of us do compromise on things that we consider to be of lesser or minimal importance—things that Jesus, our standard of integrity, wouldn’t do? We must not drift toward the ways of the world.

Integrity is being committed to a life of excellence. Our God is excellent. We must be committed to excellence if we are to represent Him to the world. Matthew 5:41 says to go the extra mile—don’t just do what you have to do. I believe the Lord has caused me to know that real excellence is to do the more excellent thing even when nobody is looking—even when nobody is around to reward us, notice us, or recognize us as exceptional people.

Be a person of excellence. Make integrity a habit. Proverb 20:7 says, “The righteous man (or woman) walks in his integrity; blessed (happy, fortunate, enviable) are his children after him.”

I
am convinced that most people have potential for greatness, but just having potential is not enough unless you are willing to take a risk, step out, and let God go to work in your life. The word
potential
is defined as “existing in possibility but not in actuality; powerful but not in use.”

Having potential doesn’t necessarily mean that it is absolutely going to happen. It just means that it can happen if we add the other right “ingredients” along with it. For instance, if I have a cake mix on the shelf in my kitchen, then I have the potential of having a cake. But just because that cake mix is on my shelf doesn’t guarantee that I am going to have cake. There are some things I must do to get it from a mix on the shelf to a cake on the table.

It’s the same with us. Many people today are wasting their potential because they are not developing what God has placed in them. Instead of developing what they have, they worry about what they don’t have, and their potential is wasted. They could have done something great, but they let the opportunity pass them by. You can make a difference in the world if you will develop what you have. But it takes time, determination, and hard work to develop potential into action or a result.

We are never fulfilled until we become all we can be. Each of us has a destiny, and unless we are pressing toward fulfilling it, we will be frustrated in life. Moving up to the next level requires a decision to press on, to let go of what lies behind, and refuse to be mediocre. I believe God wants to do more with your life than you ever imagined.
I also believe God is looking for people to promote. You can be one of them. There is potential for greatness in you!

I
once heard the story of a little boy attending church with his mother, and he kept standing up at the wrong times. His mother repeatedly told him to sit down, and finally she got pretty harsh with him about it, telling him emphatically,
“Sit down now, or you will be in trouble when we get home!”
The little boy looked at her and said,
“I’ll sit down, but I’m still going to be standing up on the inside.”

Have you ever noticed that there is always someone in life trying to get us to sit down? Through the years, many people tried to hold me back from the call on my life. There were those who did not understand what I was doing or why I was doing it, so they judged me falsely. At times their criticism and judgment made me want to “sit down” and forget about my vision from God. There were others who were embarrassed by having a “lady preacher” for a friend or relative; they wanted me to “sit down” so their reputations would not be adversely affected.

Many rejected me, and the pain of their rejection tempted me to “sit down.” But God was standing tall inside of me, and “sitting down” wasn’t an option for me. He caused me to stand up on the inside and be determined to go forward no matter what others thought, said, or
did. It was not always easy, but I learned from my experience that being frustrated and unfulfilled due to being out of the will of God is much more difficult than pressing through all the opposition of other people.

Standing up on the inside doesn’t mean being rebellious or having an angry attitude toward those who don’t understand us. It means having a quiet, inner confidence that takes us through to the finish line. Confidence means knowing that despite what is happening outside, everything is going to be all right because God is with you, and when He is present nothing is impossible.

D
o you realize how important hope is to your mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health? People without hope in their lives are destined to be miserable and depressed, feeling as if they are locked in the prison of their past. To get out of that prison and be free to move ahead into a more promising future, they need a key—and that key is hope.

Many years ago, I had an extremely negative attitude about my life because of the devastating abuse that had taken place in my past. The result was that I
expected
people to hurt me… and so they did. I
expected
people to be dishonest… and so they were. I was afraid to believe anything good might happen in my life. I had given up hope. I
actually thought I was protecting myself from being hurt by not expecting anything good to happen.

When I really began to study the Bible and trust God to restore me, I realized my negative attitudes had to go. I needed to let go of my past and move into the future with hope, faith, and trust in God. I had to get rid of the heaviness of despair and discouragement.

And I did. Once I dug into the truth of what the Bible says about me and about my attitudes toward life, I began to turn my negative thoughts and words into positive ones!

We can practice being positive in every situation that arises. Even if what is taking place in our lives at the moment seems negative, expect God to bring good out of it, just as He has promised in His Word. You must understand that before your life can change, your attitude must change.

No matter how hopeless your situation seems to be or how long it has been that way, I know that you can change—because I did. It took time and a strong commitment to maintaining a healthy, positive attitude, but it was worth it. And it will be worth it to you, too.

I
t seems that many people struggle to be real. We act one way on the outside, when really, on the inside, we are someone else. Because we
have weaknesses, faults, or fears—things about ourselves that we think make us less likable or desirable—we’d rather hide from other people.

The danger of wearing these masks, of course, is that it misrepresents us. What other people see is a lie. It’s not who we are… who we were born to be. By the time we reach adulthood, we’ve spent so many years hiding we’ve forgotten those things about ourselves that make us different and special.

What a shame! What a waste! Each of us—you, me, and every person—is uniquely created by a loving Father who rejoices in our individuality. In fact, it is those distinctive things about us, not our “sameness,” that make us special to Him. The little girl with freckles, the young lady with the dimples, the beloved gray-headed grandmother with the sweet smile—they all stand out… they’re special! And you’re special, too!

Sure, we all have flaws. We’re all less than perfect and wish we were better. But you need to know that God loves you just the way you are right now, and His love for you will never diminish.

God desires that we walk in truth, because only the truth will set us free (see John 8:32). He will help us to let down the defenses we’ve had up for so long. God knows how badly we want to fit in and be accepted. Trust Him to give you favor with people, instead of feeling that you must hide the real you. Learn to live truly by being genuine and real.

G
od is always present in our lives—waiting to take over the heavy burdens we have if we will release them to Him. Like any loving father, He wants to help us handle our affairs just because He loves and cares for us. If we want to experience the peace that God desires for each of us, we must learn to cast ourselves and our cares completely into His hands…
permanently
.

Instead of giving our cares and burdens over to God completely and letting them remain with Him, many of us go to God in prayer just to get some temporary relief. After a while, we wander away and soon find ourselves struggling under the weight of the same old familiar burdens and cares—trying all the while to be more independent. The only way to really get rid of these burdens is to overcome the temptation to be independent people, placing ourselves totally in God’s hands.

We must not allow ourselves to reach back and re-grab those things that we’ve already given over to Him. It’s not our job to give guidance, counsel, or direction to God. Our job is to simply trust God with what is going on in our lives, having faith that He will let us know what is best for us.

God is God—and we aren’t. As easy as that is to understand, it’s hard for people who have been independent to walk it out in their daily lives. If we will yield ourselves and our burdens to Him and give up trying to be so independent, He will teach us His ways and care for us much better than we could ever care for ourselves.

M
any people have asked me,
“Why can’t I sense God’s presence in my life?”
At times I have asked myself that same question. Some people may wonder if they’ve done something that caused God to leave them, but that is not the case.

In Hebrews 13:5, God Himself said, “I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support… [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down…” This verse makes it pretty clear that God does not abandon us. He is committed to sticking with us and helping us work through our problems.

While it is true that God never leaves us, He does sometimes “hide” for a while. I like to say that sometimes He plays hide-and-seek with His children. Sometimes He hides from us until eventually, when we miss Him enough, we begin to seek Him.