For You

“If God is for us, who can ever be against us?”  -  Romans 8:31b

 How often do we forget the power of God?   Sometimes it’s when we are in financial crisis... other times we get scared when the doctor tells us she found something on our X-rays.  Fear sets in.  Storm clouds gather.  Doubt makes us feel helpless, hopeless, and alone. I think some of the most common doubting takes place when it comes time to pray.   Is God listening to me?  Does He even care?  If He does hear me... what will his answer be?  What if He says for me to “wait”  or even  “No..”  What will I do then?  

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering the same thing when you pray, today’s verse has good news for you  Ready for it?  Here it is:  God is for you.  Hear that one more time...  God is for you.  He has your best interests in mind.  Even when we doubt His power... especially when we face challenges and stresses that seem to be beyond our ability to handle them.  God always knows what’s best for you.  He is FOR you.  There is nothing that can stand against you because He knows what you need and He knows when you’ll need it.  Stand strong against doubt today... knowing that even though we may not get the answer we’re expecting it will be the right one.... in the right time... and there is nothing on this Earth that will be able to stand against you when you lean on God.  

Front Page

On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made their first flight of an airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. On their 5th attempt, the plane under the control of Orville, embarked on a 12 second flight.

Wilbur rushed to the local telegraph office and sent the following message – WE HAVE FLOWN FOR 12 SECONDS - WE WILL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!

Upon receiving the telegram their sister, Katherine went to the newspaper office, told the editor of her brother’s new flying machine, and informed him, they would be home for Christmas, if he would like to set up an interview.  He told her that was nice, and he would be sure to put something in the paper regarding the boys.

On December 19th, the local paper placed the following headline on the 6th page of the paper: “WRIGHT BROTHERS HOME FOR CHRISTMAS”

It was the most important story of the year... and the editor of the paper missed it.

To him it was just another day... another news item... just another thing to live through.  He was focused on the wrong thing.  

If we’re not careful, and we take our eyes off what is important, the uncommon will become common...

God will cause hurting marriages to heal...
Weak hearts to beat stronger...
Stage four cancer to “go away”...
Unbelieving people to come to Christ...
Waters to be filled with those getting baptized...

And If we lose focus, we will highlight the wrong headline.

Instead of printing the words:  “GOD CHANGES LIVES”
We’ll push it to page 6 and write ... “Life happens...”

Without realizing it, God-sized things become ordinary.  normal.  standard.  typical.  

And if we’re not careful...

We’ll begin to think we’ve earned salvation.
Or we deserve His mercy.
Or His grace is automatic.

Everything God does for us is because He loves us and chooses to do it.   We don’t control Him by making deals with Him.  We don’t earn more favor because we’re not as bad as our neighbor.  We don’t get special privileges because we are nice to the people who are nice to us.

No... God is amazing.  His favor for us is unmerited and impossible to understand.  He does miracles... major ones and minor ones because we are His masterpiece and He chooses to do them.

He loves us so much...

Today... thank God for those miracles in your life... The first breath you took this morning.  The health of your children.  The job you have.   The successes of yesterday... or the growth that came through the challenges.

The enemy will tempt you to overlook the headlines of God’s goodness.  He’ll try to convince you that God gave up doing miracles long ago.  Don’t let him.  Our Heavenly Father is FAR from common... and what He does in our lives should always be on the front page of our hearts.