Testimony: A 10-Day Devotional By Gloria Gaynorنموونە

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Many of us can look back on our lives and see that we have been on a roller coaster ride. Many can say the ride does not seem to be over or even ending soon. It seems you barely make it past one crisis when another ensues. If it’s not the children having some unexpected ailment, it’s your spouse, or you. If it’s not the loss of an expected job promotion, it’s the company down-sizing. If it’s not a daughter wanting an expensive wedding, it’s another getting a divorce. My mom used to say, “people say, if it’s not one thing, it’s another." But I say, “If it’s not one thing, it’s a dozen.” 

The truth is the enemy is always looking for and finding ways to mess with us. (1 Pet. 5:8) But the Lord says, “they will fight against you, but they will not prevail, for I am with you. (Jer. 1:19) Still, we become insecure when we don’t feel close to the Lord. We become fearful when we know we are not in fellowship with the Lord. We can become ashamed to ask the Lord for help or protection. Some of us don’t want to ask the Lord for help because we don’t trust He will hear or answer us. The truth is we humans find it difficult to trust God because it is difficult to trust someone that we know cannot trust us. 

The remedy for that is to simply purpose in your heart to be trustworthy for the Lord. Purpose in your heart to walk in His will, Word and ways to the best of your ability. Hear and heed His commands. Examine not only your actions but your intentions. When you are in fellowship with the Lord and find yourself in the enemy’s cross hairs, you can call on the Lord without hesitation and trust that He will respond. I have often felt the most frustrating thing about our Lord is that He is never in a hurry. There will be times when the Lord will not send relief right away because He is using the situation to stretch you or mature you. It might seem like He doesn’t care or that He doesn’t fully appreciate how you feel or what you’re going through. 

But He knows exactly what you’re going through. Jesus suffered betrayal, jealousy, apprehension and emotional and physical pain beyond anything any of us have suffered. This is why He says He will perfect that which concerns you. (Ps. 138:8) 

There is nothing that will build your faith and trust in God more than when you have gone through a period of hardships and find that you can look back and see His unchanging hand has been on you, leading, guiding and protecting you through it all. Nothing is more encouraging than when you felt you were going down for the last time and the Lord pulled you out just when the enemy felt he had won. When you can see that His timing has been perfect and that He really does know exactly what He’s doing, you feel secure in His care and find it easier to trust Him the next time. We need never be afraid; and we should never be afraid because “the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” (2 Tim. 1:7 NIV) "No weapon formed against you shall prosper." (Isa. 54:17)