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Have you learned the secret to being content in every circumstance?

Rely on God’s strength.

He demonstrated how expansive and unconditional His love is for you (John 3:16). He promised He would never leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Practically, you have to recite these scriptures continuously. Even when the situation overwhelms you and you find yourself crying out – confess the truth of those scriptures. Even when all your flesh wants to do is meditate on all of the negative thoughts, force yourself to audibly speak the scriptures.

And there will come the moment of clarity where you find yourself finally believing the Truth. That you can, in fact, do all things through Him Who continuously strengthens you. And then, when fear, doubt, and frustration attempt to take over again, you say to yourself, I’ve got this.

Philippians 4:11-13 “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

God’s got this.

Those were the three words my husband, Marvin (the one who provides most of the daily devotionals), said to my healthcare provider as he waited by himself in the emergency room following the car accident. He didn’t wait for the medical professionals to provide an outcome; he stood in faith in the midst of the unknown.

To stand in faith when trials arise, we have to feed our faith daily. So, read and re-read the Word of God, listen to those Word based sermons and worship songs, and your faith will move mountains.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

To read more about the accident, click the following link (no Facebook account needed): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10106518548179225&set=a.10100618670017355.2930794.23409184&type=3

Proverbs 3:3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.

Believers often refer to favor. They want favor on their lives, favor on their children, and favor on their jobs. Favor is God using people somewhere to use their power, their ability, and their influence to help us.

Favor is great and it’s available for anyone who can have faith for it, but how about being the favor? Favor works through people. It’s God inspiring people to be a blessing to someone else. Instead of always looking for favor, how about being the favor?

We can be that person who takes a friend out to eat, be that person to pay for the groceries of someone we don’t know, or help someone get a job where we work. All it takes is us listening and being sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. Our flesh will tell us we don’t have the time or the money to be the favor for someone else, but He wouldn’t tell us to do something we couldn’t do.

Just remember, as we’re led to be the favor for someone else, God promised to reward us.

Ephesians 6:8 knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord.

God desires good in the world. So much so until He has a promise of good being returned by Him, based on the good we do.

God didn’t limit the good we do only to the church or even to His Kingdom, but He desires goodness done in every arena in the world. Why is goodness so important to God? Because God is good (Mark 10:18).

Every time we spread goodness throughout the world, we spread God throughout the world. So give to that charity, volunteer at that shelter, help that friend who is behind on their bills, and spread God throughout the world.

Although Christmas is over, the goodness of God should continue throughout the year. 

Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

These are simple lessons from the Word of God that will assist us in life.

Faithful in Prayer: There are a lot of circumstances in our lives and in this world that need to change. The only way things will change is through prayer.

Prayer is permission for God to get involved in mankind’s affairs. If it’s a circumstance that needs changing in our lives or in the world, prayer is the first thing we must do. Once we’ve prayed, we don’t need to pray about the situation again. We transition into thanksgiving because we know God heard us and since He heard us, we know we have what we asked (1 John 5:15).

Our faithfulness in prayer is based on our consistency. From mass shootings, to cancer in people’s bodies, to an increase in finances, the amount of things we can pray about is endless. Watching the news for an hour will keep us praying for a week.

The problem occurs when we get prayer-lazy because we’re content with our life and how our life is going and we’re not compassionate for others or the condition of the world. If we can extend our prayer life outside of ourselves and our immediate circle, the world around us would be a better place.

Continue to be faithful in prayer because it’s the only way God can get involved.

Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

These are simple lessons from the Word of God that will assist us in life.

Patient in Affliction:
As we go through troubling times, our afflictions seem like they last forever. The pain won’t seem to go away, the chaos continues, and there’s one issue after the next.

It’s during these times we must have patience. Biblical patience is not inactivity as if we’re waiting on the signal light to change. Biblical patience is doing what we know to do until the situation changes for the good.

That means we’ll have to use our God-given authority to confess the Truth in God’s Word about the situation instead of feeding the negative situation with our speech (Prov. 18:21). We’ll have to find scriptures pertaining to that affliction and saturate our minds with the Word of God (Josh. 1:8). We’ll have to combat doubt by praising God knowing He’s already given us the victory over the circumstance (2 Cor. 2:14).

Just remember we go through our troubling times. We don’t stay there. So be patient in affliction

Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

These are simple lessons from the Word of God that will assist us in life.

Joyful in Hope:
When we hope to receive something from God, that thing has not appeared in our lives yet. From the time we pray, to the time we receive our desire, there is a season of delay. During delay, doubt and frustration has a tendency to set in. At that point, we must recognize that the enemy is attempting to distract us and we must choose to be joyful.

We’re joyful because every Godly desire has been paid for by the blood of Jesus and we know regardless of how long it takes, our promise will come to pass. In every season of delay, there is a lesson from God. As we successfully complete that lesson, that lesson helps us to become better people through maturity (James 1:4).

So as you hope for your promise, make an intentional decision to have joy.

Romans 12:11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Unfortunately, a lot of us get to a place where we get used to God’s goodness. There is no longer any excitement after being delivered from a situation, and now we just expect to be blessed. As a result of this commonality with God’s goodness, we tend to lose our zeal or intensity for the things of God.

Think back to when we first got saved, when everything would excite us. We would give God praise for the smallest things such as, when we found a scripture directly related to the situation we were facing, or praise and worship Him based on how far He had brought us, and we valued the importance of reading God’s Word.

It may take some effort, but some of us need to reflect on the goodness of God and all He’s done for us. We need to stop going through the motions of life and walk in the exciting purpose He has for us. When we reflect and walk in our purpose, we can maintain our zeal regarding the things of God.

We get a new job that we believed God for, however, the job pays us less than we desired. We can thank God for our job or wonder why He didn’t completely answer our prayer. We get into a car crash. God spared our lives, however, we received a broken arm. We can rejoice that God spared our lives or wonder why He allowed us to receive a broken arm instead of coming out of the accident injury free. We’re in a successful relationship, however, our best friend is in a relationship where money is not an object and they frequently travel. We can continue to enjoy our relationship or slowly begin to resent the relationship we’re in.

The enemy has a way of minimizing the blessings we receive. In spite of all the joy we may initially feel when we receive our blessing, he’ll show us what we’re missing out on. Sound familiar? It’s the same trick he used against Eve. Out of all the trees in the Garden of Eden, Satan magnified the tree that was off-limits. Instead of being grateful for ALL God provided, she was enticed by the one thing she couldn’t have, and sinned against God.

Never get deceived into minimizing what God has done. Receive, accept, and be grateful for all God has done and for the blessings coming into your life.

Genesis 3:5 Satan says…”For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

If it takes faith (believing the sacrifice Jesus paid on our behalf) to have peace with Almighty God, how much more should faith be applied to have peace in other areas of our lives?

This is the time of year where the phrase “peace on earth and goodwill toward men” is frequently used. Unfortunately, peace is not automatic. Faith must be applied to receive peace.

Many of us would prefer additional peace in our homes, our marriages, at our jobs, and in our minds. Peace is God’s will for our lives (John 14:27). In order to have God’s version of peace, we must use our God-given authority to declare peace in those areas. Once declared, we can’t be moved by what we see. In the face of chaos, calamity, and delay, we must continue to believe and declare peace. By keeping the faith, peace will materialize in our lives.

Receive the God kind of peace and enjoy more of life.

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

One definition of pride is a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements. The deceptive part of this definition is with the last three words “one’s own achievements.”

So many of us have been deceived into thinking we’ve accomplished goals and are successful based on our own efforts. We’ve had our friends, our family, but most importantly, God helping us along the way.

There is nothing we have that God didn’t graciously provide to us. We don’t deserve anything but a hellacious life and eternity in hell, however, God loved us enough to graciously send His Son to take our place.

The reason why pride is associated with destruction is because we’re magnifying our efforts above what God has done in our lives. We’re ignoring the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. Anytime we place our abilities above God, we fall into idolatry and eliminate grace, which is the same reason Lucifer got kicked out of heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15).

Eliminate pride from every area and receive what grace has provided.

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

The older generation would often tell the younger generation to have some pride in their appearance or pride when performing a certain task. Is pride really what we want to instill in the next generation when the Word of God clearly says, pride comes before destruction?  

Pride is a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements. By instilling the true definition of pride into the next generation, we contaminate the wisdom of God. If someone would tell a person to have pride in their appearance, that person may believe they have to always appear “successful.” They may feel like they need to have the nicest clothes, car, house, etc. This mentality could lead a person into bondage to people and at the same time, maintain a reputation for themselves. This goes against the wisdom of God because we’ve been freed from bondage; and Jesus, our example, instructed us to not make a reputation for ourselves (Philippians 2:7; Galatians 5:1). 

If someone told us to have pride in our tasks, once again, we may place ourselves in bondage to people, feeling we have to perform up to their standards. Secondly, we position ourselves to compare our efforts with someone else which is unwise according to 2 Corinthians 10:12.

The older generation should tell the younger generation to have some dignity. Dignity is the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect. When we look our best and perform our best with the mentality of dignity, then we honor God. Remove pride because it’s the prerequisite of all sorts of issues in our lives. 

God wants to lead us to a place where we trust Him in every way. Everything we do should be approved by God. By having God’s approval in all our decisions, we eliminate risks. Risks have the potential for negative consequences. However, with God there are no negative consequences. Even if it appears negative, the end result is it works out for good.

Instead of quitting or starting a job, consult God to determine if that’s what’s best. Instead of investing a certain amount of money into a certain stock, consult God to see if that’s wise. Instead of getting married, seek God to see if that person is the one. Even consulting God on which street to drive to get to our destination will do us some good.

Eliminate the risk factor by consulting and trusting God in everything. Allow Him to guide and direct because when He’s in the driver’s seat, our destination is always prosperity. Seek, listen, and react.

Genesis 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

Mark 11:22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.

When someone has a dream or goal they want to accomplish people, including unbelievers, may encourage that person to “have faith.” Other forms of encouragement may be “have faith in yourself” or “have faith in your dream.” These statements sound nice on the surface, but these statements are false or incomplete.

The only way we’re going to see our dreams and goals materialize is to have faith in God. Having faith in ourselves is good, but our talent, strength, and wisdom can only go so far. Having faith in our dream or goal sounds good, but our dreams or goals can change. The only One Whose wisdom and strength are limitless, Who remains the same, and Whose plan for our lives never changed, is God.

Let’s place our faith in the ONLY ONE who can make a difference. Let’s place our faith in God.

Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.

God is not in the habit of sharing His glory with anyone or anything. When something good happens in our lives, He wants and deserves the credit.

Some of us have the tendency to give glory to someone or something else. When people notice our skin cleared up, our first response should be glory to God not, “I began to drink more water.” When we have a better career opportunity, we should give glory to God not, magnify the fact that we have a Masters degree. Experience didn’t give us our promotion, God did it. Our credit score didn’t open the door for our house; God did.

Our credit score, experience, and degrees are tools that God can use to bless us but, glory shouldn’t be given to a tool. All the glory goes to God and nothing should take His place. 
Give glory to God.

God has success on His mind when thinking about us. However, He doesn’t want our success to be predicated on compromise.

When we do things that dishonor God to network with more influential people, that’s compromise. When we do deceitful things to increase our finances, especially during tax season, that’s compromise. When we choose to pay a bill instead of giving to God, that’s compromise.

We don’t need to do anything outside of the will of God to get ahead in life. God promised that HE will bless us and HE will make our names great. If we believe this promise and trust in His Word,  He will make us successful without compromising our beliefs, morals, or His Word.

Daniel 3:15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Psalms 119:11 “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.”
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In the day of trouble, we might not always have time to pull out our Bibles or search through our Bible app to find a specific scripture dealing with the situation we’re facing. 

That’s why it’s so important to study the Word of God and have it hidden in our hearts or stored in our memory. We need to know that if we lose our jobs, it doesn’t matter because God is our provider according to Deuteronomy 2:7. We need to believe when we get a negative report from our doctors that in spite of their report, we are healed according to Isaiah 53:4-5. We need to believe no matter how far our children appeared to have strayed from the plan of God, our children will eventually be delivered according to Proverbs 11:27.

Get in the Word of God, find out what belongs to you, and store it in your heart. 

Psalms 119:37 Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way.
 
The television and internet are full of worthless things. Those things are designed to appeal to our flesh. Worthless things simply mean things that have no value. 

Our souls are composed of our mind, will, imagination, emotion, and intellect. When we look at dramatic, lustful, or chaotic things, we’re putting worthless things into our souls. So, instead of knowing scripture that will help us in our day of adversity, we know who did what to who and instead of having compassion for a group of individuals we saw in need on TV, we know which celebrity cheated on their spouse. 

This is not to bring condemnation on anyone regarding the shows they’re watching or what’s being researched. This is an opportunity for us to reevaluate what we’re putting into our souls and determine if it’s beneficial to our lives, the lives of others, or the Kingdom of God. 

The Word of God instructs us to love one another at all times. The main reason why we don’t love each other is because of fear. People are afraid to love.

People don’t want to position themselves to get hurt in some way, shape, or form. It’s understandable why people don’t want to get hurt, but the concept of love is bigger than ourselves. 

God is love (1 John 4:16). Every time we extend love to one another, we give God to someone. By not loving, we’re behaving selfishly. WE don’t want to put forth the effort, to take time out of OUR day, to extend love to someone else, so that WE won’t get hurt. That’s not the spirit of God. 

The spirit of God is extending love on all occasions. A sign of maturity can be seen if we can love one another and not expect anything in return. 

While we’re still in the spirit of giving, let’s continue to give love. 

John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Psalms 118:2 Let Israel now say, “His mercy endures forever.” 3 Let the house of Aaron now say, “His mercy endures forever.” 4 Let those who fear the LORD now say, “His mercy endures forever.

God doesn’t want us to wait to speak about His love, grace, and mercy. He wants us to speak about it right now. Why now? Because people, who we don’t know that are listening, can benefit from our praise to God. If we wait, a person can miss out on an opportunity to learn about what God has done for us.

Once we truly believe God is responsible for every good and perfect gift, the Word of God instructs us to “say” something. It didn’t tell us to keep it to ourselves and it didn’t tell us to think about it. The Word instructs us to say something about the love, grace, and mercy of our God.

If God has done anything for you, right now and for the rest of your lives, say something.