You’re wondering when something might come, if it even will, or what that something may turn out to be. And it isn’t easy to be there for a long time. Most of us know at least a little of what that’s like, and the longer you’re in the waiting room, the more it seems that the something you’re waiting for will never happen. You watch the clock, your mind on the deadline, but your miracle and answered prayer doesn’t appear to be any closer to becoming reality.
But our God is the God of the eleventh hour. He is the God of the midnight hour.
I know a little bit about waiting.
I waited and waited and waited for a full-time job for over a year. I desperately applied at countless places. When I finally snagged an interview for my dream job, I believed the deal was sealed, and my miracle was in the bag. After all, it was what I’d been praying for and what I was hoping would happen for months.
I didn’t get the job.
When it seemed like I had no other options and all hope was lost, God granted me a midnight-hour miracle. And it was greater than what I had expected all because if I had gotten the other job, I may have thought that it was partly because of my “qualifications,” my “experience,” my “perfect” interview. God blessed me with a job I desperately needed, and He did so in a way that proved that it was only because of Him, not me.
Sometimes, we need to hang on to hope for a greater, midnight-hour miracle.
Lazarus was sick and dying, and Jesus could have healed him when he was just sick, but Jesus waited. And it was after Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days that Jesus arrived and raised Lazarus up (see John 11). Jesus performed an ever greater miracle.
When your miracle seems dead, He can resurrect the promise. He can bring back hope when it seems lost.
I love the line from the Elevation Worship song “Welcome Resurrection” (linked here) that goes, “He’s still the resurrection even when the tomb is sealed!”
This is why we can’t give up in the waiting room or even in the eleventh hour. And even as midnight passes, we must keep believing for a greater miracle than before. With greater miracles comes greater testimonies, greater praise, and greater faith. We are in need of a revival of greater miracles, but the good news is that our God is the God of greater. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think according to His power that works in us!
While you’re waiting, keep praying, keep living for God, keep fasting, keep giving, keep going to church, and keep giving Him your all.
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”
Most of us have lost loved ones or lost relationships once very valuable to us. Many have suffered financial hardship or emotional or physical pain. And there are those who are in a season of waiting for an answered prayer or who may be going through a spiritual valley. It’s hard to feel thankful sometimes when everything seems to be falling apart. When our thoughts and feelings dwell on our circumstances and on what seems impossible, we can lose a spirit of thankfulness. So, how do we maintain it or get it back?
Praise.
What is thanksgiving, after all? It is the expression of gratitude and showing appreciation. And what is praise? Showing admiration or great approval. When we offer praise to God, we tend to move into a spirit of thanksgiving. We praise Him for what He’s done. We praise Him for who He is. Praise and worship are the keys to maintaining a spirit of thanksgiving.
Job lost everything but still declared, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15a KJV). Job’s children were killed, and yet he could still bless the name of the Lord (see Job 1). In his season of loss, Job recognized the sovereignty of God.
When you focus on who God is instead of your circumstances, you will find that praise comes naturally. How can we not praise God for all He’s done, for who He is? Because no matter what we may go through, nothing changes that He is worthy, that He is faithful, that He loves us, and that He is good.
Our circumstances change; He does not. He remains.
There have been moments in my life in which I lost so much. Perhaps like many of you, I’ve lost loved ones and relationships. And I’ve dealt with anger, hurt, sadness, loneliness, and all the various emotions that accompany seasons of grief, depression, and waiting. The words “just be thankful for what you have” are not easy to hear or adapt to your life when you can hardly get out of bed in the morning and when grief muddles your thoughts and leaves you feeling sicker by the day. But as someone who’s gone through some of those seasons, I promise you that turning your focus from what you’re going through to who God is will bring some joy back into your life. It will allow you to feel more thankful because you’re no longer putting your focus on the natural but on the supernatural. You’re no longer putting your focus on the impossible but on the one who makes things possible.
And God is always a good God, no matter how trying times become. He’s never left me, and He never will.
I recently came across a song (linked here) that speaks so much to experiences I’ve had, and it demonstrates the faithfulness of God. Just look at the verses below:
“I have seen a lot of things, and I’ve been a lot of places. I’ve seen people come and go. I’ve been through a lot of changes. One thing I can always say, You’ve been here every step of the way. I have heard a lot said and sometimes believed the wrong things. I’ve made choices I regret, and I’ve doubted Your mercy. One thing I can always say, You’ve been here every step of the way. After all these years, You’re still good to me.”
After everything I’ve been through, God is still with me. After the things we’ve all endured these past few years, God is still present with us. When we remind ourselves of how good He is every day, we can maintain a spirit of praise and thanksgiving even through hard times.
The circumstances in your life may seem to grow worse or more complicated year after year, but hold to the promises in His Word. He will never leave us, He will never fail, He works all things for our good, His promises are “yes” and “amen,” He will provide for all our needs, and His mercies are new every morning.
We have much to be thankful for.
“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; And his truth endureth to all generations.”
You’re going to make mistakes. God doesn’t hate you for that.
This is what I should have told myself years ago when I was starting out in college.
It was the spring semester of 2016, and I was taking a mix of online and seated classes at a community college while working part-time as a tutor at the writing center. One of my online classes was a world history course with my history professor from the previous semester—Mr. Z we called him. He was the fun, quirky professor always eager to chat with his students. I met with him multiple times to discuss my papers and upcoming exams, and during one particular meeting, we discussed a paper I was writing for another history class that he was helping me perfect.
As I settled into my seat across from him, I gazed in horror at his marked-up version of my draft on his desk. How could I—I have made that many errors?! Mr. Z sensed my panic and quickly explained.
“Relax, it’s not terrible,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m pushing you harder because I know you’re at the level where you can handle it.”
It wasn’t much of a comfort. I wanted my work to be near-flawless, and he knew that. I always wanted to know all the answers, and if I didn’t, I didn’t want anyone else to know it. When I explained my (admittedly) flawed mindset, Mr. Z said something to me that I’ve never forgotten.
He said, “You don’t want people seeing the chinks in your armor.”
“No, I don’t!” I said (a bit surprised that he hit the nail dead center). You see, I believed that if people saw the chinks in my armor, it meant they would see me as weak, vulnerable, incapable—human.
Sometimes, you just don’t want to be that real with people. You’d rather just go through life with no one knowing anything about what you’re going through or how you feel deep down. That way, when you mess up, there’ll be no one to judge you and no one to know that you don’t always make the right choices.
Making mistakes is for weak people, I told myself, and weakness is wrong.
Yes, weak people make mistakes, but as humans, we are all weak by nature, having an imperfect and sinful nature by default. Weakness isn’t necessarily wrong. It’s just natural. That’s why we need God. Through Him, we receive strength to overcome our flaws. What I failed to understand then was that it is OKAY to admit that you’ve made a mistake. You are only human, and God doesn’t punish you for that.
Our sinful nature and inclination to make mistakes doesn’t give us license to make whatever mistakes we want just because, but it does mean that our mistakes should come as no surprise to ourselves. God isn’t surprised that we fall and fail and make bad choices, and He doesn’t expect us to be perfect. There is none perfect but Him. He doesn’t beat us up when we make a bad choice, and neither should we condemn ourselves.
No matter how many times we mess up, if we truly repent and seek forgiveness, then God is faithful to forgive us of our sins (see 1 John 1:9).
When you realize that God’s grace extends to you no matter how many mistakes you make, then you’ll be able to extend that same grace to others.
It was when I learned how to release the self-condemnation that I felt for the mistakes I’d made that it was easier to forgive others for the things they’d done wrong. They were only human like me, after all. I could see my own flaws, my own imperfection in others and knew that if God didn’t hold my mistakes against me, then I shouldn’t hold others’ mistakes against them.
If you don’t forgive yourself, how can you truly forgive others?
You are not perfect. You will continue to make mistakes. But guess what?
It’s not the end of the world if you do. God’s grace is sufficient to cover your sins (see 2 Corinthians 12:9), and His strength is more than enough to help you overcome your weaknesses.
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the tempation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV)
There is a way to escape the consequences of our weak nature—salvation in the name of Jesus and doing our absolute best to live as He has instructed us to live. God created us to be imperfect beings in need of our perfect Creator.
Lean into that.
Give your flaws, mistakes, and all your baggage up to Him.
It’s okay if you fail. Just remember that God never fails.
It’s okay that you’re not perfect and what you do isn’t perfect. Just remember that His love is perfect.
If you fully surrender to God and trust Him with all you have and all you’ve done, He will take care of you, and you’ll be closer to Him than you were before.
Things you tell yourself when the going gets tough and your resolve is wearing thin.
Sometimes, life can be just too much, you know? Your finances are tight, there’s not enough time in the day or the week to get things done, and your bones begin to ache from all the stress. Maybe you’re tired from work, family drama, or just life. Maybe you’re tired of hearing about all the negative things in the news. Maybe you’re tired of waiting for things to get better.
Sometimes, you just want to lie down, escape, forget about all the stress, struggles, and negative news. Sometimes, you wonder how you’ll get through this.
When will I get to the end of this situation? When will things finally get better? How does one endure to the end?
Whether it’s life issues you’re struggling with or anxiously awaiting the day when the Lord calls us home so we can finally be free from this sin-sick world, here are three keys that may help you in unlocking your ability to endure to the end.
1. Though you may be tired, maintain your walk with God every day.
When I was without a full-time job for over a year, the waiting was getting pretty tiresome. There’d be days where I’d feel more confident than others, but on the days where I felt the deadline getting closer and the fear of being jobless with no insurance setting in, I often just wanted to take a nap, watch or read something, or do ANYTHING to take my mind off my fears.
What I discovered was the only thing that gave me peace and strength to overcome that situation was when I met with God each day and dove deeper into the Word.
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7 (KJV)
Keeping up our prayer time then allows God to fill us with His peace that, in turn, keeps us going.
When you’re waiting for a blessing or just trying to get through a trial, perhaps the most important key to enduring that time is keeping up your relationship with God every day. It seems simple, but often our flesh needs simple reminders to get us back on the right track.
Often, my flesh wanted a quick and easy distraction, but those quick and easy distractions didn’t give me strength. They didn’t increase my faith in God. So, I studied Job. I read through the epistles. I made a point to set my phone aside and out of sight during my prayer time in order to get closer to God. And during that time, I grew. I developed my relationship with God.
Through prayer and reading the Word, we increase in the strength we need to endure.
2. Though you may feel overwhelmed, keep up your church attendance.
As my childhood pastor and lifelong spiritual leader Bishop Eddings has always said, “Church attendance is critical to survival.”
God never intended His church to be made up of scattered saints who never congregate together. It isn’t His Will for us to go to church only when we feel like it and to skip service and stay home when we “just can’t deal.”
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
Hebrews 10:25 (KJV)
As we get closer to Christ’s return, we must be committed to attending church even more.
Sure, we’re human. I’ve certainly woken up on Sunday mornings and wished I could sleep in and not have to dress up and go anywhere that day. For many people, when they have a lot on their plate, attending church is the first thing they bump off their list.
But as the song says, “I need you, you need me. We’re all a part of God’s body.” We need each other to survive. When we fellowship with the saints of God, when we worship together, pray together, and glean from the Word together, we increase in strength.
Instead of skipping church when life has you overwhelmed, get to church early to pray with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Sometimes, going to church and fellowshipping with your church family can be the healthy distraction you need to get through a difficult situation.
3. Though you may want to isolate yourself, confide in a friend or mentor.
Trying to endure financial, personal, or spiritual struggles alone will deplete your strength and wear thin whatever resolve you have left.
We must talk to God and read His Word, yes, but God doesn’t want us to be without His church. We must keep up our church attendance and fellowship with the saints, yes, but even that may not be quite enough to help us endure a trial.
Tell someone you trust what you’re going through and ask them to help pray for you about it.
This doesn’t come easy to introverted people like me who prefer to “suffer in silence,” as they say. The longer I was without a job and the more rejection emails I received, the more desperate and miserable I became. Though I was keeping up my devotional time and attending church, I needed a bit more help.
Finally, I mustered up the courage to reach out to a trusted mentor and spiritual leader whose advise and kind words and prayers encouraged me. Suddenly, I had a new confidence and assurance that everything was going to be all right. I believed again that I was going to make it. I would endure.
Find someone–a friend or mentor–to support you. If you have no one else, you should definetly always go to your pastor for guidance and prayer, and even if you do have someone, don’t forsake the importance of seeking wise counsel from your pastor.
So, if you’re reading this and feeling weary of an internal struggle or external pressures, you will endure if you do not give up.
Pray. Study the Word. Go to church. Talk to someone.
Endurance requires daily commitment to resisting distraction and defeat.
So, then, how committed are you to enduring until the end?
“But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
Tears slipped down my cheeks as I roared down that road in that little red car.
“Jesus, why am I so broken?” I uttered as I felt as though I couldn’t be put together again. I felt like I was damaged beyond repair.
But Jesus.
As I sobbed, I felt God’s comfort wrap around me, and I heard him say, “Yes, you may be broken, but you’re in the best place you can be. You’re broken, but you’re in my hands.”
Just these past few weeks, I have been broken. While life spun along around me, I stayed in the hands of the Potter, the very best place to be. When it feels as if everything in life is breaking us down, when life feels as though it’s completely and totally spinning out of control, you very well may be on the Potter’s Wheel.
Rest assured, dear friend, that even on the Potter’s Wheel, you are still in the hands of Jesus. Perhaps sufferings come not as a thing meant to break us, but to reshape us.
Sometimes, things that we have picked up in life, calloused wounds, and attributes that we are not meant to have are broken off of the jar known as “us.” We often misinterpret the surgical knife in the hands of the most knowledgeable surgeon as a knife murderously held at our throats. We mistake what was meant to reshape us for something that will break us.
Sometimes, some things come so that the glory of God might be revealed. As 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of power may be of God and not of us.”
Moving on to verses 8-9, we read this:
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (KJV)
Rest in this, dear friend.
“Perhaps sufferings come not as a thing meant to break us, but to reshape us.“
Camrie Houck
You may feel as though there is something wrong everywhere you look. You may be perplexed, persecuted, and cast down, BUT you are not destroyed, you are not in despair, you are not forsaken.
You ARE in the hands of the man who loves you the most. The God of the universe who desires to commune with us.
Remember, even in the breaking, even in the shaping, even on the Potter’s Wheel, you are in the hands of Jesus.
*****
From a young age, Camrie has loved to write. Starting a blog has been a long-time dream of hers, so she finally took the leap and started her blog, Camrie Writes, in September 2021. On any given day, you can find Camrie working on her first book, teaching, or talking with family and friends about teaching or writing. Camrie is also a full-time public school substitute teacher and is studying to teach middle school. Be sure to follow along with her blog on Facebook or Instagram (@camrie_writes)!
Recently, I came to understand the significance of persevering in prayer when God fulfilled a great need in my life. And with it, He increased my faith and gave me a testimony that I hope will bless and encourage whoever who reads it.
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Lately, I’ve been singing the song “Jireh” a lot, but it has taken on new meaning for me ever since August 23rd. On that Monday, God blessed me with the full-time job I’d been praying about for over a year.
You see, I graduated college in May of 2020 and still had not found a full-time job. God blessed me with a part-time job as an online writing tutor last summer, and in the meantime, I had applied for hundreds of jobs in writing, editing, teaching, marketing, communications, clerical work, and the like.
Until about spring of this year, I never had a call back. Zilch. Nada. Nothing but rejection emails. I desperately needed a job.
As a diabetic still on my mother’s insurance and who will soon turn 26, my mind kept going to worst-case scenarios in which I wouldn’t be able to afford insulin and would end up back in the hospital. I went through cycle after cycle of applying for a round of jobs, believing God would open the door, hearing nothing back, getting discouraged, and taking a week or two off of applying until the pang of fear motivated me to search and apply for more jobs.
2021 came, and I set a deadline. God would bless me with a job by June. Come late spring, promising opportunities started to arise. I got calls back and emails that said employers were interested. Come summer, I started getting interviews. Still, nothing worked out.
June passed.
Then, I landed an interview for my dream job as an editor for a Christian company. I was the only candidate, so I was SURE this was the job God had for me. The interview went very well. The lady and I talked for an hour. I knew I could handle every job responsibility we discussed. She seemed very pleased. The following Wednesday, I received the rejection email:
“Thank you for your interest. Mrs. __ is declining to extend an offer at this time, but she wishes you the very best.”
How thoughtful of her.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t crushed. The news hit me harder than I expected. The following day, I hardly left my bed.
What was I going to do? Where else could I apply? I’d tried everything else. All I could think was, God, help.
I sought counsel from trusted spiritual leaders, and when God helped me get back up again, I applied for more jobs the following week.
July passed.
The deadline to enroll in private insurance was getting closer. I needed a job right away, not in a couple of months, not by the end of the year. NOW. Unfortunately, my options were limited. It may sound picky to say, but I knew I wasn’t cut out to work in a customer-based role, and the thought of working a job that had nothing to do with my degree and that I wouldn’t be able to use my skills in nearly defeated me.
I knew what I’d prayed for so many times.
God, I need a full-time job with good pay, that I can use the skills I have in, and that will give me good insurance so I can keep my doctor.
I’d prayed that prayer since the beginning, and after all my worrying by the end of the day, I knew that God knew exactly what I needed. And He would supply. Somehow.
My sister put me onto an opening at an insurance company where she works. An associate underwriter job. I looked over the job description. Not exactly related to my degree, but unexpectedly, the description of the role and duties fit my experience as a writing tutor perfectly. Put very simply, I’d be working from a queue and reviewing documents for changes and accuracy. Nothing I wasn’t familiar with as a remote essay-writing tutor. My sister also checked the available doctors through the insurance the company offered and found all of my doctors were in-network, which was very important to me.
In that moment, I thought about my specific prayer for God to provide me with a job that would allow me to utilize the skills and experience I had and that would provide me with good insurance. Then, I applied. After a day or so, a recruiter contacted me to begin the process of interviewing me.
Take these tests. Set up a phone interview. Set up a video interview. Video interview went well. Oh, but you won’t hear from us for at least a couple of weeks while we interview others.
Great. And here I’d been praying that they’d call me the next day to hire me.
A week went by. The insurance deadline passed. All the while, I kept seeing posts on social media about a 12th hour miracle and that God was about to open doors for someone.
So, I claimed it and did everything I could to squelch fear.
God will provide, whether it’s with this job or another. He knows what I need, I kept reminding myself.
Sunday, August 22nd. I heard a minister in my church talk about speaking in faith in pre-service prayer. He told the story of a man who needed a job and prayed for one in a Sunday service. After the service, a woman came up to the man, offering him a job.
I wish that would happen to me, I thought.
That night, I prayed again in faith that the company would call me the next day to offer me the job. On Monday, I was out with my mother at Walmart when they called me.
Oh, no. This is it.
Worried, I let it go to voicemail.
Whatif it’s a rejection call? What if they just want another interview?
I’d been through so many interviews, I could hardly stand the stress of going through another.
I got home and called back right away, and the hiring manager said the words I’d been praying to hear for a long time:
“I’ve got an offer for you.”
I sat down on my bed and just listened as she detailed the job. Though I wouldn’t have expected it, it was exactly what I had prayed for all along.
This was taken the day before I got the good news, but this was 100% the face I made when I heard the recruiter say those wonderful words!
You see, even though there were many moments when I worried, doubted, and even feared that God might not fulfill my need on time, I did not quit praying for my miracle. As a wonderful mentor reminded me during a low point, we have to pray past our nothing—that moment when you’ve prayed until your body is limp, and yet nothing seems to change.
God is faithful. God will provide for you. He knows your needs, and He will never fail you. He knows your desires and wants to bless you with them if you will first delight in Him.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by feelings of disappointment in the waiting, but don’t let your emotions make you forget God’s neverending love for you. As a father loves to see the light in his child’s eyes when that child opens up gifts at Christmas, so does our Heavenly Father love to bless us with good desires that bring us joy.
David described an example of God’s endless love for us and of His goodness in Psalms:
“Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”
Psalms 37:3-5 (KJV)
David also said several verses later that, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalms 37:25, KJV).
If we are ever going to see a victory, we cannot give up in the waiting. Continue to pray. Don’t underestimate the power behind speaking in faith and declaring your victory in the Name of Jesus. Live for God according to His Word and Will and walk forward in righteousness.
He fights our battles for us and wins the victory. All we have to do is praise Him for it in advance. Our Jehovah Jireh is enough.
He has never failed me and never will. My God came through for me, and I know He will do it for you.
Don’t stop praying!
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
We’ve all heard the expression, “I’m at the end of my rope.” And we all get to the end of our rope at some point. How do we get there? Life, usually. Things happen. We get tired, worn out, burnt out. Or maybe we do it to ourselves. We let ourselves slip to the end of our rope. No matter how we get there, the end of our rope is a place where we have nothing left. If we get any lower, there’s no more rope to hold on to.
The end of our rope is not final, however, and I’ll tell you why. Here are 7 things to remember at the end of your rope:
1. Don’t let go.
This is very important to remember. Letting go at the end of your rope is definitely not the answer. As the old saying goes, “When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on!”
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Galatians 6:9 (KJV)
Don’t stop coming to church. Don’t stop praying. Don’t stop fasting. Don’t stop giving. Don’t stop seeking the face of God. Tie a knot in the Word of God and hold on! Letting go is not the answer to your problems.
2. Don’t blame God.
Too often, when people are at the end of their rope, whether life got them there or they got themselves there, they start to blame God.
“Why did God let me get here? God must not care about me anymore. God must have more important people to help. He must not have His hand on me anymore.”
All are lies that we can begin to tell ourselves if we aren’t careful and don’t keep our hearts right. Job’s wife told Job to curse God and die when he was at the end of his rope, but he would not curse God. The Bible says that in all this Job did not sin with his lips. The Bible also says it rains on the just and the unjust.
God tells us, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11, KJV).
“Don’t stop seeking the face of God. Tie a knot in the Word of God and hold on!”
Jake Walden
3. Forgive yourself.
We’ve got to learn to forgive ourselves. We will get nowhere if we cannot forgive ourselves. Maybe you condemn yourself because your decisions got you to the end of your rope. Or maybe you cannot forgive yourself because you simply feel that you were not strong enough, and now you’ve ended up at the end of your rope.
Whatever the case, you’ve got to forgive yourself. You’ve got to realize who you are to God. You’ve got to realize that He will not hold your shortcomings against you, and you shouldn’t hold them against yourself.
His mercy endures forever. He loves you. And it is not wrong to love yourself enough to forgive yourself.
4. Let go of the past.
Even if you have forgiven yourself, you’ve still got to let go of the past. What has happened has happened. Sometimes, we have the opportunity to make amends, and that’s good. But you’ve still got to let it go.
Stop dwelling on what got you to the end of your rope. Stop losing sleep over it. Stop worrying about it. The only way to ever escape it is to let it go and move forward. You can’t change what has happened, but you can control what you will do next!
5. Surround yourself with Godly influences.
When you are at the end of your rope, don’t go to the people that are going to fill your mind with a bunch of mess.
Don’t go to someone like Job’s wife who will tell you to blame God. Don’t go to someone who is going to turn you on your brothers and sisters. Don’t go to someone who will gossip about and trash talk other people or gossip about and trash talk your church. Don’t go to someone who will tell you to let go of what you believe in. Don’t go to anyone who will tell you to lash out at people.
Don’t go to someone who will tell you to do ANYTHING that contradicts the Word of God.
Like the Bible says, don’t be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Surround yourself with Godly, positive influences—someone who will pray for you and with you, someone who will encourage you and lift you up. Like the Bible says, seek WISE counsel.
6. Trust God.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:5 (KJV)
This is a very important step. Even when you don’t understand why you’re at the end of your rope, trust God. Like the Bible says, lean not unto thine own understanding. It also says right after that, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6, KJV).
God’s ways are higher than our ways. We do not know more than God. Sometimes, things happen, and we end up at the end of our rope, wondering, “Why am I here? This was not my intention.” But God knows right where you are, and He knows exactly what He’s doing. He isn’t punishing you. He won’t let us carry more than we can bear. Things just happen sometimes, and we end up at the end of our rope. But don’t ever stop trusting and believing that God has got you.
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
Romans 8:18 (KJV)
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.”
Psalms 121:1-3 (KJV)
Romans 8:28 says ALL things work together for the good of them that love God and are called according to His purpose.
7. Bless the Lord at all times!
Job said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21, KJV). One of the most important things you can always remember is to bless the Lord at ALL times.
David said, “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalms 34:1, KJV).
When you’re at the end of your rope, don’t stop praising. Don’t stop worshipping. Don’t stop giving God the honor and the glory. There is power in that, and it gives us authority over the voice and influence of the enemy.
Don’t stop saying, “Blessed be the Name of the Lord!”
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Jake Walden is a licensed minister with the United Pentecostal Church, the youth pastor at Restoration Apostolic Church in Winterville, Georgia, and the Section 3 youth director for the Georgia District Youth Ministries. He is also the host of the podcast What Was I Thinking? with Jake Walden in which he covers Biblical topics with an informal, easygoing demeanor. You can follow along with his ministry on Instagram (@jakewalden39). Be sure to check out his podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and subscribe today!
Tired of bad news? Social turmoil? Dealing with sickness? Struggling just to make it through the day?
This world seems to be getting further from Jesus with each passing day, but Romans 8 gives us many powerful truths about life on earth and beyond earth. Here are three brief reminders from Romans 8:20-39 to give you strength and hope in these trying times.
1. We have hope of an eternal reward.
No matter how messy things get on earth, believers have hope that someday soon, we will no longer be in this world but with our Savior forever in a world where sin, death, and pain no longer exist. Romans 8:20-23 describes the fall of Creation and the hope that we have:
“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
In a nutshell, this passage explains that God subjected mankind and nature to the curse of sin and death because of man’s fall in the Garden of Eden, but He did this in hope. No matter how much creation and we ourselves may groan in pain on this earth, we have hope that God will someday deliver us from the bondage of our corrupt, mortal bodies. When that happens, the adoption as God’s children will be complete and the body redeemed since sin and death will be no more. As verse 25 states, we have hope for that which we cannot physically see and wait for it with patience.
This is one of the greatest promises of God.
2. We also have hope of better things even here on earth.
Just because we hope for Christ’s coming and life with Him in eternal glory, that does not mean that we don’t have hope for good things here on earth even amidst turmoil and destruction. When we go through things and travail in prayer, the Spirit makes intercession for us (see Romans 8:26-27). This means that the Spirit goes beyond our limits and weaknesses in prayer and prays on our behalf when we don’t even know what to say or how to pray for our situation.
No matter how hopeless you may feel, you are not forsaken or without hope!
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28 (KJV)
All things—our trials and joys—work together for our good according to His plan for our lives. Notice that this verse states that this applies “to them that love God” and “to them who are the called.” When you love God, live for God according to His Word, and answer the calling He has placed on your life, then you can rest assured that God has a plan for every trial you will experience and for every period of your life.
God has given us hope on earth that He will help and guide us through life so that Romans 8:29-30 may be able to apply to us:
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
There’s a lot to unpack from these two verses, but my Apostolic Study Bible breaks it down into 5 concepts: 1) God’s plan includes the fact that He knew from the beginning that man would fall and need a Savior; 2) God planned in advance for the church to be formed in His likeness; 3) salvation extends to everyone, but everyone has the individual responsibility to answer God’s calling in order to be chosen; 4) God redeems us from our sins in justification; and 5) we will receive sinless bodies in eternal glory with Christ.
If we maintain a righteous lifestyle and faithful walk with God, then again we have hope of eternal life with our Savior.
3. It’s never a mistake to depend on Jesus for everything.
The last several verses of Romans 8 reveal that it is not only God who is the only one who can condemn or justify us but that it is also God who makes intercession for us and helps and loves us no matter what. It doesn’t matter what we may face or what may come against us, we are more than conquerors through Christ (see Romans 8:37).
His love extends far beyond the weight of our sins and powers of darkness!
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39 (KJV)
We can depend on Jesus for everything we need, for He is everything we need!
He is our Strength, our Helper, our Forgiver, our Savior, and the Lover of our souls.
This week’s post is just a little blog update for all my readers and subscribers. I’ll be at Missouri’s senior youth camp this week, so there will be no blog post this Friday. However, I’m working on a Bible study post for Friday of next week that I hope you’ll enjoy.
My family and I are back from our vacation to the east coast in South Carolina, and as we were driving back in the rain through Tennessee, I had a thought that I wanted to share with you.
How often do we shut the windows of our heart and soul when things get a little uncomfortable? It starts pouring, life gets hectic, or God moves us in a direction that shifts us out of our comfort zone, and sometimes, we decide that we can’t take it all at the moment, so we close the window.
God, I don’t like this. I just can’t deal with it right now.
We don’t want the discomfort that comes with getting wet. After all, who wants that uncomfortable feeling of being in wet clothes in the rain?
Sometimes, the rain of His Spirit is pouring down, but we still have that window closed. We don’t want the discomfort that can accompany spiritual growth. So, we keep the window closed and prevent more of His Spirit from flowing into our lives.
If we want more of Him, we’ve got to open the window in our hearts and let Him in to nourish us, clean us out, and help us grow.
Just as a plant needs water for growth, so do we need the living water of God’s Spirit to pour into our lives and transform us into who He wants us to be.
Transformation and spiritual growth aren’t necessarily comfortable, but they are necessary.
My prayer is that we succeed in resisting our fleshly desires for an “easy way out” and instead continue to grow in Christ no matter what may come our way.
Again, there will be no new blog postuntil next Friday the 18th, but I encourage you to go back through the Breathe Pray Repeat archive and read any post you may have missed!
Thank you to all the BPR readers and subscribers who are still here. I appreciate each of you and pray this blog has blessed or encouraged you in some way.
Ever feel like bad things always happen to you, or like you just aren’t as lucky as those other people on social media who are living the dream and have it all together?
Ever doubt that things will work out because it seems they never do?
Sometimes, we make things harder for ourselves when all we focus on is the negative. It interferes with our ability to trust God and give Him our cares. Doubt can be crippling.
As someone who’s teetered between pessimism and optimism, I know the back-and-forth can make you emotionally and physically exhausted.
“God, I just want something good to happen in my life for once!” I’ve said before.
Our doubt blinds us from seeing how God is working, and it keeps us from moving forward with determination.
After all, why bother embracing the future when you can’t see what’s ahead or when it seems bleak and uncomfortable? Why trust that things will work out when it seems nothing good ever happens?
You know, we often get stuck on patterns. If there’s a pattern of negative events in our lives, we come to expect negative things, and negativity becomes the lens through which we see life. As humans, we like patterns because they’re predictable. They give us a feeling of control. If we can predict what might happen, then we can prepare for the worst.
But God does not operate according to the predictions of man. His ways are higher.
When we learn to trust that God always has a plan for our lives, then we can turn our doubt into determination—the kind of determination that says, “I will trust in God no matter what happens.”
We say Thomas doubted that Jesus really had risen from the dead with a kind of disdain for Thomas’ attitude, but I’ve always found Thomas relatable here.
Think about it: Jesus Christ, whom the disciples had hoped would help them overthrow the government, was crucified three days prior. Their movement seemed hopeless and crushed. Bad things kept happening. And all of a sudden, a man stood in front of Thomas claiming to be the resurrected Christ. Perhaps many of us, if we had been Thomas in that moment, would feel it was too good to be true. After tragedy and disappointment, we might have responded to Jesus’ resurrection with hesitation and doubt.
Have you ever asked God for a sign if something really was Him?
God, if this is You moving, send me a sign!
Thomas declared that he would not believe until he had seen the scars in Jesus’ hands and touched His spear-pierced side. How did Jesus respond?
“Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.”
John 20:27-28 (KJV)
If we are to see Jesus, we must reach out and touch Him.
If we are to overcome our own doubt and pessimism, we must get closer to Him and believe.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God!
(See Romans 10:17.)
When we study His Word, we begin to hear His voice. When we hear Him, our faith in Him grows. As our faith grows, so does our trust and our confidence in Him.
The more we seek Jesus in determination, the more our doubt will diminish.
Breathe. Pray. Repeat. 