Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions (54 page)

I
believe thoughts work in the spiritual realm. That means that although they cannot be seen with the naked eye, our thoughts can be felt by other people. We think countless thoughts about other people, but we should do so responsibly.

What we think about people not only affects them, it also affects the way we treat them when we are around them. For example, one day I was shopping with my daughter, who was a teenager at the time. She had lots of pimples on her face that day and her hair was a mess. I remember thinking each time I looked at her,
“You sure don’t look very good today
.” I noticed as the day wore on that she seemed to be depressed, so I asked her what was wrong. She replied,
“I just feel really ugly today.”

God taught me a lesson that day about the power of thoughts. We can help people with good, loving, and positive thoughts, but we can hurt them with evil, unloving, negative thoughts.

I encourage you to take a person a day as a prayer project and practice thinking good things about them on purpose. Throughout the day, have some think-sessions where you meditate on the strengths of
the person—every good quality you can think of that they have, every favor they have ever done you, and any complimentary thing you can think of about their appearance. The next day, practice on another person, and keep rotating the important people in your life until you have formed a habit of thinking good things.

E
verything we have came from God, and in reality it all belongs to Him. We are merely stewards of His property, not owners.

Too often we grasp onto things too tightly. We should hold them loosely, so if God needs them, they are not difficult for us to let go of.

Paul told the Corinthians that their gifts to the poor would go on and endure forever throughout eternity (see 2 Cor. 9:9). Let’s keep reminding ourselves that possessions have no eternal value. What lasts is what we do for others.

God wants us to enjoy our possessions, but He does not want our possessions to possess us. Perhaps a good question to ask ourselves regularly is:
“Do I possess my possessions or do my possessions possess me?”

Sometimes I go on what I call a
“giving rampage.”
I have a desire to be a blessing and want to use my possessions as a tangible way to show love, so I go through my house, my drawers, my closet, and my jewelry
chest to find things I can give away. I never fail to find things. But it amazes me how I am tempted to hang on to them even though I may not have used an item for two or three years. We just like to own stuff! But how much better is it to use our possessions to be a blessing for someone else and make them feel loved and valuable?

If you are having difficulty seeing what you have to give, ask God to help you, and you will quickly find that you have a wealth of things that can be used to show love to hurting people.

I
went to church for thirty years without ever hearing one sermon on my biblical responsibility to care for orphans, widows, the poor, and the oppressed. I was shocked when I finally realized how much of the Bible is about helping other people. I spent most of my Christian life thinking the Bible was about how God could help me. It’s no wonder I was unhappy.

The key to happiness isn’t only in being loved; it is also in having someone to love. If you really want to be happy, find somebody to love. If you want to put a smile on God’s face, then find a person who is hurting and help them.

Be determined to help someone. Be creative! Lead a revolt against living in a religious rut where you go to church and go home and go back to church, but you’re not really helping anybody. Don’t just sit in church pews and sing hymns. Get involved in helping people who are hurting.

Remember the words of Jesus:

S
atan relentlessly attempts to steal everything God has provided for His children through Jesus Christ. Peace is one of the biggies; it is one of the things he works extra hard to prevent us from enjoying.
Remember, we have peace—Jesus provided it—but we must
appropriate
it. That means to take it and use it for our own use. Satan does everything he can to keep us from doing so, beginning with deception; he wants us to think that peace is not possible, that it is not even an option.

When we have a challenging situation, Satan says,
“What are you going to do? What are you going to do?”
We frequently don’t know what to do; nevertheless, Satan pressures us for answers that we don’t have. He tries to make us believe it is our responsibility to solve our problems when the Word of God clearly states that our job as believers is to believe—not solve our problems. We believe, and God works on our behalves to bring answers that meet our needs.

A good example appears in Exodus 14. The Egyptians were pursuing the Israelites; all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen, and army were in pursuit of God’s people. When the Israelites found themselves stuck between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army, it seemed hopeless. They could see no way out, so naturally, they became fearful and upset. They began to complain and make accusations against their leader, Moses.

“Moses told the people, Fear not; stand still (firm, confident, undismayed) and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest” (Exod. 14:13–14).

It may have sounded foolish to the Israelites to stand still, hold their peace, and remain at rest, but that was God’s instruction to them—it was their way to deliverance. When we remain peaceful in tumultuous circumstances, it clearly shows that we are trusting God.

T
o enjoy a life of peace, you will need to examine your own life to learn what is stealing your peace. Satan uses some of the same things on everyone, but we also have things that are specific to each one of us. We are all different, and we must learn to know ourselves.

I can endure things better when I am not tired, and the devil knows this, so he waits to attack until I am worn out. I learned by pursuing peace what Satan already knew about me, and now I try to not get overly tired, because I know I am opening a door for Satan when I do.

Keep a list of each time you get upset. Ask yourself what caused the problem, and write it down. Be honest with yourself, or you will never break free. You may have things on your list like this:

• I didn’t get my way.
  
• I had to hurry.
  
• I became impatient and got angry.
  
• Financial pressure upset me.
  
• I was too tired to deal with anything.
  
• I had to deal with a certain person who always frustrates me.
  
• A friend embarrassed me.
  
• I had to wait on a very slow clerk.
  
• A friend disappointed me.
  

You will have a lot of different things on your list, but it will help you to realize what bothers you. Remember, we cannot do anything about things we don’t recognize.

W
e seem to look at the way we do things as the standard for everyone. Instead, we should see that God created us all differently, but equally. We are not alike, and we all have the right to be who we are.

I talk a lot; Dave is quiet. I make decisions really fast, and he wants to think about things for a while. Dave loves all kinds of sports, and I don’t really like any of them—at least not enough to put much time into them. Dave wants each item in a room to stand out, and I want everything to blend. I am sure you could tell similar stories about personal differences you have in your relationships with others.

Why does God make us all different and then put us together and tell us to get along? I am convinced that it is through the struggle of life that we grow spiritually. God purposely does not make everything easy for us. He wants us to exercise our
“faith muscles”
and release the fruit of the Spirit, including love, patience, peace, and self-control.

If everyone pleased us all the time, if our faith was never stretched and our fruit never squeezed, we would not grow spiritually. We would remain the same, which is a frightful thought. There are two kinds of pains in life: the pain of change, and the pain of remaining the way we are. I am more fearful of remaining the same than I am of changing.

Instead of rejecting others for their differences, see these unique
qualities for what they are—gifts from God. Tell people the good qualities you recognize in them; don’t point out what you think they need to improve. Compliment; don’t fault-find. Accept; don’t reject. Be positive, not negative. Be encouraging, not discouraging. You and I will never lack for friends if we will practice giving people the freedom to be themselves.

I
love to be around people who are really happy for me when I am blessed or have something wonderful happen in my life. But not everyone is like that.

I received a very special gift a while back, and it was interesting to see how differently people responded. Some said,
“Joyce, I am so happy for you. It really blesses me to see you blessed.”
I knew they were sincere, and it increased my joy. It also made me want to pray that God would do something awesome for them, too.

Another friend said,
“I wish someone would do something like that for me.”
Actually, this particular person almost always responds in a similar fashion when I receive nice things. Even when my husband does lovely things for me, this individual will say,
“My husband just doesn’t seem to know how to do things like that.”

These responses indicate a spirit of jealousy or some deep-seated feeling that she believes she is not getting what she deserves in life. It prevents me from wanting to share what God is doing in my life
because I know she cannot be truly happy for me. I also believe it prevents her from being blessed.

At one time I was like that: I pretended happiness for people when God blessed them in some special way, but inside I didn’t really feel it. At that time in my life, I compared myself to others and always competed with them, because the only way I could feel good about myself was if I was ahead of or at least equal to others in possessions, talents, opportunities, and literally anything else you can think of.

I am grateful that God has worked in my life, and now I can be genuinely happy for others when He blesses them. I am not responding perfectly yet, but at least I have made progress.