“35While He was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?’ 36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ 37And He allowed no one to follow Him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39And when He had entered, He said to them, ‘Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ 40And they laughed at Him. But He put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. 41Taking her by the hand He said to her, ‘Talitha cumi,’ which means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.’ 42And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43And He strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.” ~ Mark 5:35-43
Did you notice what Jesus told the ruler of the synagogue?
He said in verse 36, “do not fear, only believe.” Do not fear only
believe. The opposite of fear is belief.
It’s faith. We have to trust God in order to
receive what we pray for. In order to
receive our requests.
Imagine if the ruler of the synagogue didn’t believe. The little girl wouldn’t have woken
up. Why? Because he would have limited Jesus’ power. Mark 6:5-6, “5 And He
could do no mighty work there, except that He laid his hands on a few sick
people and healed them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. And He
went about among the villages teaching.” God is limited by our fears, our
unbelief, our trust issues. We are the only ones who can limit God.
We don’t have to be Paul or Peter or John or any other of
the new testament prophets in order to
see the glory of God. We just have to have faith, and not allow fear to hold us
back. The fear that what we pray for
won’t come true. The fear that we will
look a fool when it doesn’t come true. The fear
that we don’t have the authority to do these miracles. The fear of absolute
failure. Don’t limit God because of your fear,
step out in faith and believe. That’s all you have to do is believe. Which is a lot easier said than done,
but it is possible. Romans 10:17 tells us, “So faith comes from hearing,
and hearing through the word of Christ.”
If we want faith, we
have to read our Bible daily. We have to have quiet time daily. We have to spend time with God daily.
Not just once a week when we go to church on Sunday, but every day. We should start and end our day in
God’s Word. Why? Because if we start our day with God, our mind starts out with
clarity. With purity. With love. With joy. With peace. With the Armor of God,
so that we can defend ourselves from the evil one when he attacks us during the
day. It needs to be the last thing we do at night
so that it seeps through our subconscious. Why? So that while we are asleep, our subconscious
is on guard. So that our Spirit Man is strong and ready to defend when the evil
one attacks us during our sleep, through our dreams. Our dreams are susceptible
to the evil one if we are not on guard.
If our Spirit Man is weak. We have to read our Bible so that we can grow our
Spirit Man. We have to grow our Spirit
Man so we can build our faith. We have to build
our faith so we can defend ourselves from
the evil one.
“Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.” ~ Exodus 7:20
Notice anything? Maybe the fact that God always had Aaron do something physical before a miracle could take place. See this anywhere else in the bible? Maybe when Jesus healed the blind, lame, etc. They all had to do something. It wasn’t enough for them to just have faith they had to tie it together with works. They had to do exactly what they were believing would happen. See we serve a willing and able God, but we lack something… faith.
See faith is broken up into two parts believing it will happen and living like it has happened. We got the first one down, we believe it is possible, but we refuse to live our lives like it is. We all suffer from a disease called doubt. We believe it’s possible, but we doubt it worked. We contradict ourselves. We’re or worst enemies most of the time because we’re the only one that can stop ourselves from receiving what the LORD has given to us. Stop doubting. Stop second guessing. Stop questioning. Imagine what would happen if you fully believed. How many more mountains would be moved? How many more prayers would be answered? Imagine the army we would have.
We, the church, is an army, but right now we’re like Saul, we kill a couple thousand, No Big Deal. We could be David and kill tens of thousands, which is pretty cool. But what if we’re meant for more? What if we’re meant to be like the angel who killed 185,000 soldiers… in one night. What if that’s our destiny to be great and destroy strongholds, addictions, principalities, etc. in one night. Jesus said we would do greater things than He did, what if we just need to stop just believing and start doing. Start living it instead of just speaking it.
“Esau said, ‘Is he not rightly named
Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and
behold, now he has taken away my blessing.’ Then he said, ‘Have you not
reserved a blessing for me?’”
Genesis 27:36
Isn’t this interesting?
Esau, two chapters earlier sold his birthright
for some stew, and the bible says he
despised his birthright, but now suddenly
he was cheated out of it? Doesn’t that sound like us today? We say the Devil stole this from us and that from us when the majority of the time we sold it to
him at a weak point in our life. But what we sell to him isn’t the full
birthright and blessing at once; instead,
we sell not only the keys to the door, but we also sell the rights to the room
which enables him to not only claim but take whatever he wants.
See, when we do something (considered a small thing), we’re now making a contract with the devil. For instance, if we
allow horror movies filled with demonic activity and spells and witchcraft, we
are now making a contract with those
things in the spiritual, so that they have the right to be in our house. They
have the right to torture us. To take away our sleep. Our peace of mind. Our
shalom, that was promised to us by Jesus.
What many of us don’t understand is that everything we do
has either a consequence or a reward, no matter how big or small it may seem.
Now we know this to be true, but the majority of us don’t fully understand what
that means. And because we don’t understand, we don’t take heed to this.
For instance, we will allow movies/books filled with
sexually explicit jokes, scenes, etc. and then get shocked and wonder why we
are struggling with lust. See just like Esau, we unknowingly sell our
birthright not realizing that it also takes away the blessings that Jesus
promised us. That God promised us. Instead of making side contracts with the
devil, why don’t you try to stay true to the contract
you have with Christ. I know this is easier said than done, but it isn’t
impossible. Jesus promised that we would be able to overcome because he overcame.
And if you think that there is any sin Jesus was not tempted by, you are wrong.
Because the writer of Hebrews ensures us that “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with
our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are-yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
There isn’t a sin that
Jesus hasn’t overcome or hasn’t dealt with himself, so there is no need to feel
too dirty to bring your struggles before Him because He understands and
empathizes with us.
Now, just because He has empathy, does not mean He will give any of us a free
pass. He expects us to strive for perfection. To strive for excellence not just
settle for mediocrity. Which is what the majority of us strive for. The
majority of us will overlook the sin, close their eyes and sign the contract,
so that they feel better. That’s what we do when we make excuses for our sins,
we close our eyes then sign the contract as if that makes everything okay.
Our goal shouldn’t be a mediocre or less life, where we are
slaves to Lust of the Eyes, Lust of the Flesh, and Pride of Life, but instead
where conquer each and every sin that falls under these categories. Ensuring us
not only happiness but joy. For happiness is affected by our situation, but joy
nothing can steal and nothing can shake.
But how do we get past
the mediocre lifestyle we’ve come to enjoy and feel comfortable in?
We have to start with cleaning our inside. We have to read our bibles daily, we
have to pray more than just bedtime prayers, or
before meals, we have to seek God during quiet time, we have to spend time in
worship, and we have to take every thought captive. Once we have strengthened
ourselves, we can start to break every sinful
contract we have made. We can lock and close doors we should have never opened.
We can cast out every evil spirit that torments us.
But we have to first start with cleaning ourselves from the inside. Because as Christ followers, we have to do better. We have to deny our flesh so that we can overcome. Because once we overcome, we can help another person overcome, and so on. Just remember to keep God first, deny your flesh, and take every thought captive.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” 5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.
6 Now the Lord God appointed a plantand made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” ~ Jonah 4:1-11
This amazes me that Jonah both fled and disobeyed God, and didn’t feel he would be punished, yet he wants the people of Nineveh to perish, he wants them to be punished but not him. He then goes on to say he is so angry that he would rather die than live because he didn’t want to see an entire race or nation of people be saved from destruction.
Then when he is uncomfortable, because God took away the plant, he would rather die than live. He is mad God killed the plant, but mad he wouldn’t kill the entire city of people, the entire city of souls… He would rather them go out into eternity unready than to have another chance? If these are the people God chooses to be His prophets and representatives of Him, it makes me feel like okay maybe I can be saved. Maybe I can stand as a representative of God and not feel ashamed of all of the stuff I have done.
It shows me who God really is. That God is truly a God of mercy, patience, love, and forgiveness; not a God of anger, vengeance, and hate as the world tries to make Him out to be. Sure, He punishes His children, but every GOOD parent punishes their child when they have done something wrong. Keep this in mind, when you feel too far gone or too dirty to be clean remember that God doesn’t choose people who are clean and perfect.
God chooses people who are dirty and are in need of cleansing. People who are in need of Him. Look at who He chose to be His prophet, a man that would rather save the life a simple, soulless tree than a city of people who had strayed because he didn’t have the same love and mercy God does. Jonah wasn’t perfect, and neither are you, so let God be the perfect one in the relationship. Let God slowly wash you clean until you see yourself the way he sees you, as His.
“Noah did this; he did all that God
commanded him.” Genesis 6:22
We always talk about having Faith like Abraham, but never Noah. Why? Let me put it into perspective. Never once had the Earth rained before the flood. Genesis 2:5-6 tells us a mist came up from the Earth and watered the Earth. “5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—” Now this explains why no one believed that rain would fall from Heaven to cause a flood to destroy all of mankind because they never saw a raindrop before.
Imagine the faith it took for Noah to not only believe that it would happen, but he spent the next 120 years building an ark. He had not only faith but patience. This is where he and Abraham differ, because Abraham slept with Hagar to try to produce the child God promised, but only caused a problem for the generations to come. Whereas Noah never strayed from God’s plan. He waited with faith, patience, and obedience for 120 years.
Then the ark was finished. The ark was finally complete, but
the rain still hadn’t started. Imagine the taunting he received. Imagine the
doubt that tried to fill his mind. He
just spent 120 years building an ark, but there’s no rain. Not a day after not
even two days after. It took seven days after the ark was built, for the rain to come.
Then when they got into the ark, he needed faith again.
Faith that when God shut that door, that door stayed shut. That door didn’t budge
so that no water would enter the ark.
Then he needed faith that the ark would be able to withstand
the aggression of the flood. He needed to have faith that the ark would not overturn
or have a crack or leak.
Noah had to trust God about so many things that could very
well put his life and the lives of the people he loved in danger. Imagine if we
had faith like Noah. Imagine if we expected the best instead of fearing the
worst. Imagine if we went out into our everyday life filled with the faith that God would shut us into our call and
keep us safe from the flood of sin that plague the Earth.
We tend to walk into things with fear and worry, whether it’s our past we are
afraid of coming back to haunt us or the
fear of racism or sexism. We go into things with fear, instead of faith.
We’re using the wrong f word. It’s not an easy thing to
change the way we think. We’re creatures of habit. But this isn’t an impossible
task either. Whenever those fears try to overwhelm us, we have to change that
thought. Whether we quote scripture or we pray, or
we speak confident/encouraging words, the thought
has to change.
“1Then Naomi, her
mother-in-law, said to her, ‘My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that
it may be well with you? 2Is, not
Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley
tonight at the threshing floor. 3Wash
therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the
threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has
finished eating and drinking. 4But when he lies down, observe the
place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will
tell you what to do.’ 5And she replied, ‘All that you say I will do.’
6So
she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had
commanded her. 7And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of
the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. 8At
midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his
feet!” ~
Ruth 3:1-8
Naomi told Ruth to go, once Boaz had finished eating and was
asleep, uncover Boaz’s feet and lay next to him as he was sleeping. Without
hesitation or questioning, Ruth went and
did as she was told. Imagine if we had the same obedience as Ruth did when God
tells us to do something. Imagine if we obeyed God no matter what today’s
culture or society tells us. Imagine if we obeyed
God and ignored our laziness, our shyness, our fear, our doubt, our flesh. What
type of miracles would we see happen? What
kind of breakthrough would we have?
What’s keeping you from absolute obedience? What’s hindering
your faith? Obedience is better than
sacrifice. If we could only obey… but our flesh is weak. How then can we strengthen
our flesh? We must strengthen our Spirit Man. How then can we strengthen our Spirit Man? Daily prayer and
meditation on God’s word. Not yoga meditation, but meditation on God’s Word. Sitting in His presence allowing Him to
speak to us through His written word. When we pray, meditate, and worship we strengthen
our Spirit Man. When we strengthen our Spirit
Man, we are able to crucify the evil
flesh and strengthen the good flesh.
Once our flesh is strengthened our actions will more so follow the gentle guidance of
Holy Spirit.
Just as Ruth believed Naomi knew better than she did, we
should believe that God knows better than
we do. When we believe in God’s goodness, faithfulness, and wisdom as Ruth believed
in Naomi’s, we reap harvests like never before. We see miracles take place. We
see prayers answered. We see blessings poured upon us, just as Ruth did. I
believe because of her obedience and faith, Ruth was blessed. For the Savior of
the entire world came through a non-Jew. The promise came through Ruth’s
descendants. Ruth was grafted into the promise because of her obedience and her
faith. How will God use you with your obedience?
Probably one of the most deceitful things we allow ourselves to believe. We’re saying as long as I try to get some things right I’m good, I don’t have to get everything right. But that’s not biblical at all. At this point, you actually begin to reach a state of lukewarm-ness because you’re trying to hold on to a piece of the world and still hold on to God. But who cares right? Like, at least you’re trying. At least you’re going to church. And you read along in your bible at church. You even know where the books of The Bible are, you don’t have to ask where the Psalms are, you just know. I mean you are on your ‘A’ game. You can name like 7 of the 12 disciples. You’re a good Christian. That should be enough, right? I mean at least you acknowledge God on Sundays, some people don’t even go to church. So you’re better than them, right? I think this is a good time to explain the picture for this devotion. It’s a girl underwater, who’s drowning. What’s significant about this? This is after she tried to swim but now has given up. She tried, but she in the end failed, which will cost her, her life. That is exactly what we are doing when we say “at least we try.” Because unless we actually succeed to keep afloat and swim, we will drown. And when we drown, we will die.
Revelation 3:15-16 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.’” So, in reality, you’re no better than anyone. Actually, you’re worse because you refuse to choose a side. You live in sin yet still call yourself saved and a Christian. Which many think is okay and just fine and dandy, but in reality, it is quite dangerous. But why? Why is it so dangerous? Proverbs 21:27 “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with evil intent.” Many will say they are not wicked, which is understandable according to our cultural definition of wicked. We have defined a wicked person as being a murderer, a rapist, a pedophile, etc., certainly not someone who is lukewarm. But the problem is this isn’t going based on our cultural definition, but God’s definition. Let’s just go through this verse and try to understand what it means according to God’s definition.
First is sacrifice. What is sacrifice? It is not bringing a lamb and killing it on a stone table. And no sacrifice is not done away with. Though Jesus was the final and ultimate sacrifice we still bring forth a sacrifice. A spiritual sacrifice. Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” So we do still bring sacrifices, we just do them a little differently. You bring yourself as a sacrifice. By fasting. By worshipping instead of doing what you want to do. By giving up false idols that have taken the place of God. By praying. These are acts of sacrifice. Therefore anyone who calls themselves saved brings forth a sacrifice. Some feel that this is enough. That all they have to do is bring a sacrifice every once in a while and then just keep on sinning. That’s not at all how it works. Hebrews 1:26-27 “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” When you continue to deliberately live in sin, but still continue to bring a sacrifice, that sacrifice loses meaning but instead becomes a judgment.
Second is the wicked. Who are the wicked? According to God, every man and woman’s heart is wicked from a young age. Genesis 8:21 “And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.’” So, every man and woman are evil without Jesus. Genesis 13:13 “Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.” So we can see that God defines someone who sins are great before Him as being wicked. We have all committed sin worthy of hell’s fire. 1 Corinthians 9-10 “9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Therefore, we are all wicked for we are all, at some point in time, great sinners before the LORD. Matthew 7:9-11 “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” They were evil because they were without Jesus. They were hypocrites without salvation.
And last is Abomination. What is an abomination? According to the Oxford Dictionary, an abomination is “a thing that causes disgust or hatred.” According to the Bible, the word abomination means “something abominable, something detestable, something despicable. Here’s an example of what an abomination is to the LORD. Proverbs 12:22 “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight.” Proverbs 3:32 “For the devious person is an abomination to the LORD, but the upright are in his confidence.” Proverbs 15:9 “The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but He loves him who pursues righteousness.” Those are just three of the countless verses that define an abomination before the LORD, and every one of us has committed or still commit at least one of them. So where do you think that those who commit abominations go? To the ghettos of Heaven? To a small little shack right outside the gates? No. They go to Hell. They are thrown into the eternal flame. Many will say “But I love Jesus,” but Jesus’ definition of love and our definition of love are two very different things. John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Matthew 7:21 “‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Don’t allow your sin to have power
over you and cause you to give up your salvation. Instead, take control of your sin,
deny your flesh daily. I’m not going to lie to you it will be difficult. It
will be painful. There may be tears, but each day slowly but surely it will
become easier. And you will have dominion over it. Mark 9:43“And if your hand
causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than
with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.” Let me clarify, Jesus does NOT want you to cut off
your hand, but he is speaking about cutting off things that cause you to sin.
That can be anything from a TV show to a person. Don’t allow anything to stop
you from the glory and blessings of God.
“And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” ~ 1 Samuel 30:6
This verse begins with saying David was greatly distressed. Like everyone else, even David has been distressed, overwhelmed, frightened, but he didn’t stop there. He didn’t stop at distressed. The majority of us, we stop at distressed. We stay there hurt and broken. It’s almost like we don’t want to get better. Like we don’t want to be comforted by God, but instead, we want to stay distressed. But no-one wants that… right? When something happens, the majority do one of two things, they go to a friend, and they complain about it, and then they rant about it, and then they freak out about it. Or they do absolutely nothing and keep it all bottled up. And they try to pretend it didn’t happen, but it keeps coming back to their thoughts until that’s their only thought then distressed becomes depressed and they just keep sinking lower and lower.
The majority usually chooses one of the two, but never chooses God. They never choose Jesus. See David knew he had to lead. David knew that leading was his calling. So, he didn’t want to be overcome by the distressing feeling he had, so he took it before the LORD. He didn’t take it to a friend, or keep it to himself, but instead, he went to God. It’s like that old hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” when the verse goes:
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer!
Imagine how much we would overcome if we took our troubles to God, instead of holding on to our pain and making it our ‘friend.’
Peace. Love. Go Forth and take your distress to God.
“But when he came to himself, he said,
‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I
perish here with hunger! ~ Luke 15:17 (Story
of the Prodigal Son)
Notice how it says, “when he came to himself,” it doesn’t say “something clicked.” It doesn’t say “he was enlightened.” It says, “when he came to himself.” Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.'” When the prodigal son remembered who he was, he knew there was better for him. When he saw that stamp that his father stamped him with when he was born, he remembered what his father had. He humbled himself and saw exactly who he was and where he came from. But how could he have seen all that, if he was going back to be a servant, not a son?
Because he didn’t deserve to be a son, he gave that up. He deserved to be a servant, but that’s where grace comes in. That’s where his father looked at him and saw his son. He didn’t see a servant, he didn’t see a slave, he saw his son. This is exactly how coming home to God is. When we realize who we are, when we realize where we come from and we humble ourselves and come home, God runs to us. He embraces us with open arms. We don’t deserve it. We know we don’t deserve it. But that’s what grace is, it’s this continuous, overwhelming flow of love that never ends. When we humble ourselves and remember who we are. When we see that stamp that God has put on every single one of His creations. When we remember that God took His time and formed us. That God took His time and counted every hair on our head. That God has given us the greatest gift of all, that’s when we run home. That’s when God opens His arms and runs towards us. When we come to ourselves, we will find exactly who were made to be.
4So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was 5and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. 6You know that I have served your father with all my strength, 7yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. 8If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. 9Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
10In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. 11Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ 12And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.'” ~ Genesis 31:4-13
No matter what the world does to you if you put your faith and trust in God, He will protect you. He will do what is best for you. See Jacob didn’t get mad at Laban or try to fight his sons, but instead, he allowed God to fight his battles. He didn’t take it up with Laban and argue over what he thought he deserved he left it in God’s hands. I wonder what would be different in our lives if we just allow God to fight for us if we allow “Vengeance to be His” and remember and live by the fact that “God will fight for us, we need only be still.”
Imagine how much more blessings we would inherit. How many more opportunities we would receive. How many more doors would be open to us, if we would just “be still and know that He is God.” I’m not saying life would be easy; I’m saying imagine how much more you would get out of it. You want favor in your workplace, school, even church, allow God to fight your battles instead of you taking things into your own hands.
