12 of 12 - November 2021

 Been a while since I've sat down to type anything - this will be a simple one... Trying to get back into #WordlessWednesday and #12of12...

God Makes a Way

Got this email today - one of the various devotional type emails I get... Since I've been so convicted about studying more, I stopped and read this one. WOW! Very well said! It's a great reminder that being a Christian is NOT always a rosy proposition here on earth. Our home is AFTER - we are pilgrims in this land - and this land is the land of the enemy! Satan has power over the earth, not Christians. 

Yes, God has the ultimate power over Satan, but that does't mean we won't be persecuted here. Actually it's just the opposite! We WILL be, and we should consider that a blessing!

In Matthew 5:10, Jesus himself says - Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And then he says - 11Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

Note the key thing here - "because of righteousness" and then "because of Me." So the point is that people making fun of us for some reason of our OWN? That's not what He is talking about... He is talking about being mistreated because we choose to stand up FOR Him, or FOR his teachings, regardless of what the WORLD thinks!

Grateful That God Makes a Way

by Mary A. Kassian, from Growing Grateful

In the classic Broadway musical and film The Sound of Music, the Reverend Mother sends Maria away from the convent to work as a nanny for the Von Trapp family. Maria is unsettled at the idea of leaving the abbey and giving up on her dream of becoming a nun. The Reverend Mother reassures her with the now-famous cliché, “When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” In other words, whenever one opportunity ends, another opportunity will come along — and it will probably be a better one. Sure enough, the closing abbey door leads to the opening of the window that ushers Fräulein Maria into the arms of the dashing Captain Von Trapp.

 

Though the cliché is meant to help people stay positive in the face of disappointment, it isn’t exactly true. God doesn’t promise that when something doesn’t work out, something better is waiting for us just around the corner. His pledge is far more substantive than that. He promises to sustain us amid life’s disappointments. When all the doors and windows remain shut, He helps us make our way through the dark room, and He sustains us. Our circumstances do not always change for the better. But we can be confident that He will use them to change us for the better.

 

‘I know the plans I have for you’ — this is the Lord’s declaration — ‘plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’. — Jeremiah 29:11