Your Daily Crossroad
09
Sep '19
God Wants Our Sadness
09
Sep '19
Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. (Ecclesiastes 7:3)
Ever since I can remember, I’ve been an outgoing, optimistic person. I am positive by nature and see the glass half full. Naturally I gravitate to Bible verses about joy. “Shout with joy to the Lord” in Psalm 100 and “Always be joyful” in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 were some of my favorites.
But as sorrow hit my life over and over, I was at a loss for how to pray. If I’d been taught to be joyful always and never stop praying (1 Thess. 5:17), what was I supposed to do with my sadness? How would I pray as an unhappy, not-joyful, lamenting Christian? Can we still pray when life is not going our way?
Yes, God wants our happiness, but he is also genuinely interested in our sadness. Throughout the Bible, God lets us into his grief. Jesus modeled grief, and the Holy Spirit can be grieved (Eph. 4:30). If all creation is groaning (Rom. 8:22), what makes us think we humans can get away without experiencing deep sadness?
As Ecclesiastes 7:3 tells us, sorrow has a refining influence on us. Not only that, but in sorrow we can be made glad—not a gladness due to our circumstances, but a gladness that comes from knowing we have a God who hears us.
Read Ecclesiastes 7:3. Do you let God into every emotion inside of your heart, or do you try to suck it up or pray the pain away? How are you challenged by the idea that God wants your sadness as well as your joy?
Try praying differently today. Rather than praising or making requests, focus specifically on expressing to God sorrow, grief, or hurts that are lingering in your heart.
When I read this devotion it blessed me so very much! God wants all of us, our joy, our sorrow, our stress and even our grief. Today, let God into every emotion inside your heart. You don’t have to be someone else before God, He already knows you. Don’t try and “suck it up” as today’s devotion mentions. Go to God completely broken, He wants all of you. He knows just how to mend your brokenness. God wants your sadness.
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Titus 2:2
06
Sep '19
Surrender Your Stress
06
Sep '19
My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. (Psalm 62:5)
WHEN YOU ARE feeling overwhelmed and exhausted like David in the above verse, know that you do not have to face your problems alone. Take a few deep breaths and exhale your tension. Turn to God. Surrender your anxiety to Him. Pray and ask God to fill you with His perfect peace.
Heavenly Father, my hope comes from You. Amen.
As I was seeking out a devotion for today and I came across this one I thought to myself, wow, that’s possibly the shortest devotion to have ever been posted on here. As I started to move past it I felt a nudge in my spirit to post it. Sometimes in life we have moments just like this devotion, we don’t need something lengthy, just enough, little is much when God is in it. Don’t be discouraged today if your feeling one step behind life, just keep stepping forward one small step at a time and when you least expect it, you will be standing in victory. Remember, surrender your stress today, your hope is in Him! It’s truly that simple.
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is John 14:23
05
Sep '19
Be Happy Now
05
Sep '19
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:11-13)
“I’m not happy with my job. I’m not happy with my body. I’m not happy with my life.”
It seems that at some point in our lives, we each struggle with unhappiness, a spirit of discontentment, with wanting more. I remember a couple of years ago being frustrated as I sat in my comfy living room chair, Bible open, listening to the Lord. Well, maybe it was more like talking at Him, telling Him what I wanted.
What I wanted was to be happily married and have a family of my own. At 38, my “clock” was ticking, and I was still faithfully believing God for marriage and family.
If God would just give me the desires of my heart, I knew I could be happy. That’s when this thought came to me: Be happy now. If you don’t learn to be happy while you’re waiting for what you want, you’ll never be happy when you get what you want.
To be clear, happiness cannot be the sole aim of our existence. Living out my purpose by serving and loving others as Christ does is my ultimate goal. When I stop focusing so much on what I want, and focus my gaze on what God wants to do in and through me, contentment follows.
In fact, happiness is an external indication of internal contentment.
This realization stopped me in my tracks. The list of things I felt I needed to check off my list for me to be happy was tiring. The idea that I could choose happiness was refreshing. The first step was to embrace life exactly as it was; in other words, to be content. I counted my blessings more, started traveling, and did things that being single uniquely afforded me. Most importantly, I decided to wholeheartedly trust God.
When Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, the word he used for “content” actually means to be contented with one’s lot in life. We can spend so much energy pushing against our reality when life doesn’t turn out the way we planned it. But resisting what is, and trying to control what is beyond our control, can cause anxiety. Frustration takes over. Anger prevails.
Instead of making the most of our circumstances, it’s easy to lament the fact that things are not where we believe they should be.
What if we stopped pushing against what is and learned to embrace our present circumstances?
When that shift is made, it feels like a heavy burden is released from our shoulders. It can also feel scary at first. But truly accepting where we are helps us relax and see the good God has in our present circumstances. We cast our cares, content in trusting that all things indeed will work together for our good.
When I embraced what is, I discovered happiness greater than any I’d experienced before. Just like Paul tells us to do in Philippians 4, I made intentional choices to be content with my present circumstances—and in the lot God had given me for that season. I stopped making happiness a destination and began making it my way of journeying through life.
Lord, help me embrace what is and live each day with thankfulness for the life I’ve been given. Give me the grace to be happy while I wait for what I want, rather than insist that I cannot be happy until I attain it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
This devotion blessed me, I needed this reminder today. I pray this devotion gives you a different perspective with regards to your current circumstances and you see the importance of choosing to be happy while you wait. Don’t allow your current circumstances do dictate your happiness. Be happy now. There are so many beautiful reasons to be happy. He holds your future, trust Him.
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Matthew 28:19-20
04
Sep '19
Breaking Free of the Comparison Trap
04
Sep '19
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. (Psalm 139:13-14)
Can I tell you a secret? For way too much of my life, I fell into the trap of comparing myself with others. When I did, I always came up short. I felt I wasn’t smart enough, strong enough or spiritual enough … just not enough, period. And because of that, I stayed stuck in a mediocre faith.
Through the years I’ve learned one valuable truth: The measuring stick will get you stuck. Comparison is the devil’s tool that’s kept many of us from stepping into our God-given destinies.
For about a year, I hung out with Moses by the burning bush. I listened to Moses argue with God about his insecurities and pondered God’s responses to all his questions and quandaries.
When I met up with Moses in Exodus 3, he was an insecure, stuttering recluse. Yep, we were kindred spirits. He complained he was not good enough and begged God to pick someone else to address the Pharaoh and lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. Specifically, he whined he was not a good speaker, even though centuries later in the New Testament, Stephen recorded Moses was “mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts 7:22).
So how do you think Moses came up with the idea he was not a good speaker? Here’s what I think. I think it happened because Moses compared himself to other people he thought were good speakers.
Comparison opens the door for sabotaging lies to steal our confidence and stymie our courage. Comparison puts up roadblocks along the path to fulfilling our God-given calling by setting an undefined standard of approval and acceptance.
We fear the REJECT stamp will come crashing down with wet ink that mars all of life. We fear that perhaps we’re fatally flawed … as confidence seeps through the holes of insecurity, punctured and punctuated by comparison.
We compare our abilities to someone else’s and come to this conclusion: I could never do it like she does it. And you know what? We were never meant to! God doesn’t need two people just alike. He has uniquely and precisely created you and me with specific gifts and talents to do exactly what He’s called us to do.
David wrote: “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:13-14).
David wasn’t praising God for the way He flung the stars in the night sky, set the spinning earth on its axis or stocked the oceans with sea creatures of every kind. David was marveling at the magnificent masterpiece called David. Me. You. He knew that full well.
You are God’s workmanship. His masterpiece — His grand finale of all creation. Do you know that full well?
God knows our inadequacies and insecurities. He knows what caused them and who caused them. He saw you and me before we even had them. Yet God chose us before we were born for a purpose — to fulfill a plan in a predetermined point in time (Acts 17:26).
It’s time we stop comparing ourselves with others. I know it’s hard … Boy, is it hard! But the measuring stick will get you stuck.
God made you to be you! He thinks you’re amazing. And so do I.
Heavenly Father, please forgive me for comparing myself with others rather than praising You for the way You’ve knit me together and gifted me. I know I’m Your workmanship — Your handiwork. Today, I let go of the measuring stick of comparison, and take hold of the way You’ve uniquely fashioned me for Your purposes. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
I love this devotion! I pray it inspires you to see yourself differently and to truly realize that you were never meant to do it like someone else. Stop comparing yourself with others and remember, as today’s devotion says, God made you to be you! He thinks you’re amazing.
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is 2 Timothy 1:13-14