BELIEVE

I love my Sunday posts and from a lot of your comments, I think you like them also. There are Sundays that the comments say that the post was meant just for them. That is exactly how I felt the other morning when I opened my daily devotional. It was almost like a smack in the face.

I have said since the start of the year that my word for the year was going to be BELIEVE. That was what the devotional said too. I sat there reading and wondering how the author of this devotional had gotten inside my head. How did she know that even though I “believed” in the Lord that I sometimes didn’t believe?

You might have to read that last sentence over a time or two before it makes sense. Yes, I do believe that Jesus is the son of God. Yes, I do believe that He came to earth to save us from our sins. Yes, I do believe that He intervenes on our behalf. But, there are times when I simply forget to believe.

I pray for the healing power of the Lord on family and friends but honestly, I sometimes think that I am praying in vain. I have been guilty of starting those prayers with, “Thy will be done.” That way if my friend is not healed then it was not because the Lord didn’t answer my prayer, it was because it wasn’t His will.

Jeremiah 17:14 –

Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. 

I pray for the economy in our area. It is a very depressed area and I see a lot of suffering in our community. I pray for the local government that they make smart decisions in bringing industries into our area. But then I find myself saying things that show that I don’t think the Lord “will” help us.

James 1:5 –

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

When I lay awake at night tossing and turning and worrying about how or why then I am basically telling the Lord that I don’t really “Believe.” I don’t “believe” that He can, I don’t “Believe” that He will, I don’t “believe!”

Jeremiah 33:3

Knowing that I have a problem is the start to fixing the problem. If I want my word of the year to be BELIEVE then I actually need to start believing. When I pray for my friends and family I need to pray with the belief that the Lord is healing them. When I pray for our community then I need to have the belief that He is working toward a solution. And when I wake up in the middle of the night with an anxious thought on my mind then I need to thank the Lord for all He is doing and that He alone knows the reason for what is happening. My job is simply to believe and be thankful.

Mark 11:24