“But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning; for thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.” Psalm 59:16
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
Our weekly Christian devotional
The traffic on the I 90 wasn’t budging; for the last half an hour it had only moved about three feet!
Jackie felt like screaming, but she held back. Instead, she turned the air conditioning off and rolled down her windows, craning her long neck to see what the hold up was.
“Can’t this day be done already?”
Anxiously, the young professional dug through her purse desperate to find a stick of gum. It was a sad substitute for the frozen margaritas her coworkers were enjoying at the office party. But, at least it was something.
Nervously, Jackie drummed on the car wheel.
“What I’d do for a cigarette right now…” She imagined the feel of smoke curling up from her lips. That magic little puff was a strange cocktail of relief, comfort and guilt all at the same time. Popping another piece of Stride, she inched her car along with the rest of traffic.
“Shake like you’ve been changed!” The driver in the car beside Jackie was blasting his radio and loudly singing along. The I 90 lock-down hadn’t affected his mood at all. This jovial commuter had a captive audience and was relishing every moment of it! The off-key praise made Jackie laugh out loud and a wave of peace transferred from his car into hers.
“That’s what I need!” Flipping on her radio, Jackie searched for the same station.
When she found it, the nervous blonde forgot herself for a moment and belted right along with the stranger in the next car. The two exchanged smiles like comrades. Their peace and joy intensified.
Life is hard. It can be so difficult to maintain our focus on God when we’re overwhelmed–especially when making so many sacrifices in His name! During times like these, it’s even more important to remember that God is your rock.
He truly is your strength when you feel you’ve got nothing left. Discouragement, strife and anxiety won’t magically disappear as soon as you make a commitment to follow Christ. In fact, life may begin to challenge those promises even more!
When you become a follower of Christ, God desires to change you in ways you’ve never dreamed possible! But this can only happen if you rely on Him instead of every other thing you’ve grown accustomed to leaning on. He wants to be the motivation for change and the power behind it, too!
It’s a totally supernatural way of looking at life when you begin to see God’s possibilities thrown into the mix.When times of stress hit, do the opposite of what you probably want to do–start singing praises to God. It will take the attention off your current situation, pulling your focus back onto The One who is powerful enough to change it all in a heartbeat. Unlike the temporary substitutes this world offers, leaning on God will give you hope, peace and the kind of wisdom that’s so good you simply can’t take the credit for it!
Finding strength in anything less then Him is never God’s idea of what’s best for us. So, be encouraged to keep looking up and at The One who brought you out of the fires of your past. He can do the same thing for you today.
2 Corinthians 3:18 reminds us that every Believer will be in some stage of spiritual development until we go home to meet the one who saved us from ourselves. None of us will ever achieve perfection, but we’re all in the hands of our perfect Father. And, that sounds pretty good to me!
“Dear Heavenly Father,
It’s weird for me to start turning to you for answers to my everyday problems. I’ve been relying on myself for so long!
But, I’m beyond frustrated. Things haven’t changed for me because I haven’t changed! I haven’t been taking the time to understand your ways or seek your heart.
Lord, I don’t want to be one of those people that has a cross on my neck but no obvious shift in my life.
I came to you out of desperation. You were there for me. But, my stubbornness has stopped me from going deeper in my walk with you.
I don’t want to make changes that only look good on the outside, but have no lasting truth or proof.
I repent for my rebellion, for trying to do things my way and for not submitting to you with my whole heart.
In Jesus’ name, if I have any chance to be the kind of person I want to be, you’ve got to be the one who does it.
I promise to study your word with the intention of following what you say. I will go deeper, Lord. I trust that you won’t let me drown. Amen.”
Thank you for reading our weekly Christian devotional on verses: Psalm 59:16, 2 Corinthians 3:18
Please check back and see what we have for you next week!
Author: Julia Shalom Jordan