67. Faithful or Frustrated 02.12.20

Are you faithful or frustrated? Sometimes it’s hard to wait on the Lord with the smiling happy Christian face you’re expected to have. It’s hard to face the unknown without having a fleshly desire to worry, to be anxious or to try and control the situations you are in. It’s hard to sleep during the storm. When you’re a Christian, everyone is looking at you to be an example of the religion you preach. We are to be kind, loving, patient and to display the other fruits of the spirit as listed in scripture.

Galatians 5:22-23 New International Version (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

But, as sinners we all fall short of this. Every single one of us will fall short on one day or another. That’s the beauty of Christ. To have the loving, forgiving arms of the Lord to fall into when you are at your worst, at your best, or anywhere in between. To have the guidance from the Holy Spirit to keep you on the right path. Why is it so easy to have the faith that Jesus will return, to have faith that He died on the cross and rose again; yet it’s so difficult to have faith that the Lord will deliver you from your medical issues, your depression, your anxiety, or to have the faith that He understands your financial stresses and will take care of everything you need?

“As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.” – Isaiah 66:13

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” — Psalm 55:22

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” — Philippians 4:6

Well gee Ash, it’s easy to just spit scripture out and act like it will make everything all better, but how do you get this to relate to the things people are actually going through? How is this supposed to help anyone? Well Nay Sayer, I say to you that it helps because the Lord is in control of everything. There is no need to worry about pandemics, floods, plagues, a medical diagnosis, or where your next paycheck is coming from. It’s all under control. You’re going to wake up, deal with your daily life, feed yourself, or your family, and then go to sleep at night. You’re going to wake up tomorrow (God willing) and do it all over again. You’re going to put one foot in front of the other and get through the next day, and the day after that. Every step you take has already been planned out. You can’t surprise God. You just can’t. So, why take the joy from today by worrying about tomorrow? Why torture yourself all day with the thoughts from the enemy that bombard your mind, thoughts of how to figure everything out? Why get upset about the things you can’t control?

Matthew 6:34 New International Version (NIV)
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Luke 12:25-26 New International Version (NIV)
25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

It’s fleshly nature from the enemy to worry and to want to control situations. Look at the story in scripture when the disciples were all on the boat in the water. There was a terrible storm and they thought the boat would capsize and they would all drown. Where was Jesus? Sleeping peacefully. How did the story end? With all of them safe and sound. What was the difference? The disciples wasted their time and energy in panic, letting fear overtake their minds, letting worry and anxiety take the joy out of that time. All men ended up in the same destination with the same outcome safe and sound. The difference is that the enemy attacked the minds of the disciples with worry and anxiety and they bought into it hook, line, and sinker, losing their peace. Jesus remained calm, with the fruit of the spirit, and was able to rest during the storm.

Mark 4:37-40
37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Don’t let the enemy steal your joy from today by attacking your mind with worry. You can choose which thoughts you harbor in your mind and which ones you cast down. Have faith and know that everything will work out for the best. It may not work out the way you want it to, but it will work out the way you need it to. I’ll give you a short, kind of silly example. I went to eat at Bud Murphy’s with the kids. I ordered a Pepsi but they brought me a water. Nash started to get fussy waiting for food and being anxious. If I’d have had the Pepsi I ordered, I wouldn’t have been able to give him sips of it to distract him or let him stick his fingers in the cup playing with the ice until the food arrived. Was it what I ordered? No. Was it what the Lord knew I needed so my kid wasn’t that jerk kid freaking out in a restaurant, yes!

Trust the Lord and have faith. He knows what you need. Be faithful to the Word of God. Be faithful in prayer and fasting. If the Lord cares about something as small as keeping peace in a restaurant don’t you think He cares even more about the things going on in your life? Have faith.