Feed on His faithfulness

I’m not the type of person to look back, I like keeping my gaze ahead as opposed to dwelling on the past. What’s done is done and there’s no point getting hung up on it, but I do believe that sometimes looking back to the good parts is important. God is 100% in control of our lives and He weaves our lives together beautifully. We need to look back to see His golden thread running through our days, months and years. He knows the plans that He has for us and when we come to Him with a willing heart, He makes them happen and makes our paths straight.

I love this verse Psalm 37:3: “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.” My Bible has a little note at the verse and an explanation at the bottom which I love the most. “Befriend faithfulness” can also be translated as “feed on His faithfulness”. When we look back, we see all the wonderful things which He has done and we see His golden thread weaving together all things for good. We see His faithfulness in our lives and we can remind ourselves of who He is and how He is in control. We can then feed on this faithfulness of His and feed our spirits and our faith. By reminding (feeding) ourselves of His faithfulness, we build ourselves up and increase our faith in the situations that we are currently facing.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

We tend to use this scripture as comfort when people are facing difficult situations, which is appropriate, but this scripture is not limited to difficult situations, it also includes favourable situations. It is not that He only works the difficult things together for our good, but ALL things. Thus in every part of our lives and in every season, He is weaving our lives together, all for our good (and growth) and for His glory. Ultimately we do not just want to live for ourselves, but also to serve His purpose for our lives and serve the people around us in the ways which He intended for us.

Take some time today to look back and spot the golden thread weaving through your past. He took His time and put you on a journey to bring you to this place and for a time such as this. Be encouraged, strengthened, thankful and secure, because He KNOWS the plans He has for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Photo credit: Blog 

Letting go...

I like being in control. I’m a natural leader and I like managing situations. As a manger I manage people, clients and difficult situations every day and I often have to take control of situations to manage difficult problems. So managing and controlling became natural to me and I’m sure this spills over into my personal life. I always have to be aware of this and I can often put pressure on myself to manage all areas of my life perfectly.

God gives us tasks or puts us in situations beyond our control, because He knows that with Him we can do far more than on our own. God puts us in these situations because He knows that it is not humanly possible to cope on our own and that we have to hold on to Him. He does this so that at the end of the task or journey, when we obtain the victory, we can say “All the glory to God! There is no way that I could have done this on my own.” We say this not with false humility, but because we know how many times God had to carry us through. He is interested in His glory and making His name famous. He is God, is He not? And we have the privilege to be used in the process.

The problem comes in when He gives us a difficult situation or a large task and we start off trusting Him and it’s all going well and then one day we get busy, tired or stressed. We realise that we have lost some focus and even though the situation was perfectly fine in God’s hands, we start thinking that we have to DO something. Instead of receiving grace and leaving the task with God, we feel the need to jump in, manage and control, but it’s a lost case, because we can never cope with it all on our own. The task or situation wasn’t given to us to cope with on our own in the first place. It is a “you and God” team effort with God doing the directing and you following the lead. As soon as we take control we become overwhelmed and fear, doubt and anxiety takes over our lives. We start to feel inadequate, because the task is overwhelming and the lies start to tell us that we are unworthy, useless and failures.

Let’s look at the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. If you read the story you will realise that Jesus knew that Lazarus was ill and He chose to wait for Him to die, instead of going immediately to heal Him. After hearing of his death, Jesus returns to the tomb where Lazarus has been buried for 4 days and “Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that You always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent me.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”” John 11:40-44

Jesus waited for Lazarus to die and made the situation humanly impossible to save. It was hopeless as Lazarus has been dead for 4 days. He knew that God wanted to reveal His glory and He thus raised Lazarus from the dead revealing God's glory.

God is the only one who can raise impossible situations or tasks from the dead. He is the one that saves. “But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in (your) weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

God is committed to His plan, He will never ask us to do it alone and He always finishes that which He started. Let’s hand over our tasks, situations, fears and doubts to God today. He can do the impossible and give us the strength and courage to walk and finish the journey.

Song: Jesus Culture with Martin Smith - Show Me Your Glory / Majesty   (I love the words “Majesty, Your grace has found me just as I am, empty handed, but alive in your hands.”)

Photo credit: favim

In need of hope?



Photo credit: flickr.eweliyi



We will all sooner or later face difficult situations or even seasons in our lives. The time frame of these might vary radically from 1 day to many years. It is important that we, in these times, remain focussed on what God has said and not on how we feel. Emotions will fluctuate daily, but the word of God does not change and never lies. It is important therefore that we put our hope in God and in His word.

“To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27

Christ in you is a mystery, it is an endless supply of miracles, wonders and strength beyond our wildest imagination. We do not have to go far to find hope, we already have Hope and He lives in us. This hope is there in every trial and tribulation to bring us to a place of glory and victory. We actually are already victorious, before the end of our difficult situation even arrives, because of the Hope that is in us. Wow, I wish we can grasp this fully! God is so good!

He has put in us everything that we need today and will need in the future. God sees us today as past, present and future, He is not restricted by our rules of time and therefore He has already equipped us for every trial. It is here where faith comes into play as “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1

By faith we then activate what God has already put in us, claiming the glorious victory which we already have in Christ.

“Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:12-18

The veil is removed and the presence of God is in us, the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us and therefore “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” Rom 8:37 Next time when you face a difficult situation, know that you are equipped and more than capable to endure with patience and to finish victoriously.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:18

“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Romans 8:24-25

Refer back to the post Access with confidence for a more detailed explanation relating to the veil being removed.