“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. (Hebrews 13:15-16).

On this journey that we are called to take, we may experience setbacks. It’s not always easy to trust and not complain when the pressure is on us. If we didn’t have a relationship with the Lord we could try to handle every situation on our own, and even start making the situation bigger than our God. In Hebrews, we are reminded that we must learn to focus on the good things that we do have, and less on the things that we don’t have.

The Lord already knows what we need. We must trust him; he promises us that he will never leave us or forsake us. He will direct our steps and instructs us to “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:5-8).

At no time should I crumble when the enemy comes in like a flood, because Jesus promises that I can lift up a standard against the enemy. It is difficult to take a stand sometimes and our natural response to hurt is usually retreat. During the times of retreat we learn how to wait on God and to trust him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Being rejected isn’t easy to cope with, and living in the shadows tends to subdue our testimony and our effectiveness for the kingdom; but in God’s mercy we can be meek, and still be strong in character. It isn’t necessary to give up or give in to the world. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

It only took God’s spoken word to bring the world into existence. How great and mighty is the God we serve! I wonder why I limit God so when I struggle with the world? When will I begin to believe his word and act in faith without wavering?

Sometimes we place the greatest obstacles in our own paths without any help from those who would despitefully use us. Obstacles of doubt, unworthiness, fear, intimidation. Lord help us to get a picture of the great things that you have in store for us as a body of believers. Not one of us would be here today without faith.

To reap good fruit, we must sow good seeds, and to allow the word to work for us, we must act on the word and be in total obedience to the will of God. We can listen to God and stop his blessings from ever reaching us because we didn’t abide in his word. We could sometimes be identified as haphazard Christians: when everything is going our way, we don’t have time to read the word, and we enjoy the good life; on the other hand, when things fall apart in our lives, we turn to prayer and wonder why God allows things to happen to us while other Christians and the world in general are succeeding. In all fairness, I must ask what makes me so different than the next person down the road?

The Lord rains on the righteous and the unrighteous. He is no respecter of persons. He chose us to do his will, and we need to take a good long look at life from God’s perspective. We will see the mighty hand of God at work in our lives. Maybe not during the test designed to strengthen us, but after we have overcame the trial, and paused to reflect on the goodness and mercy of God. We shall see how God will arise and his enemies will be scattered. People may mean it for evil, but God is working all things out for our good. He cares about us for all eternity.

Take a leap of faith; make up your mind to trust God.

In this week’s Lattereign we are reminded that We are More than Conquerors.