“It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27 NLT).
Your identity determines your destiny. That’s a pretty big statement. But in the life of Moses, we see that it’s true. Once Moses realized who he was, his life took a whole new direction. Hebrews 11:27 says, “It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible” (NLT). Learning your true identity does two things: It gives you the courage to let go of the past, and it gives you the courage to walk into the future. Moses “left the land of Egypt.” He had the courage to let go of his past. In the Bible, Egypt always represents slavery and bondage to something. So here’s the question: What’s your Egypt? What’s enslaving and controlling you? Do you have the courage to walk away from it? Knowing your true identity gives you courage. Next, “he kept right on going.” He had the courage to walk into his future, his destiny. Knowing your identity gives you the courage to walk into a new destiny. The Bible says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV). When you receive Jesus by faith and are baptized, God forgives your sins. He gives you a whole new identity in Christ. People sometimes call it being “born again.” It’s a fresh start, a clean slate, a new destiny. Once Moses discovered his true identity, he focused on his destiny. He was like an Olympic runner who doesn’t look to the right or left, but just looks ahead to the finish line. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in” (The Message). And Colossians 3:1-2 puts it this way: “Set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits . . . Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth” (NLT). When God has given you a new identity, you can focus on the long term—not on other people’s priorities or opinions but on the realities of heaven and the race God has given you to run. Know your identity. Walk away from your past. Move forward into your destiny.
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“With deep love I will take you back” (Isaiah 54:7 GNT).
Do you need a little refreshment in your life? Are you feeling a little dried up? Do you need some revival? Come back to God. You may say, “But you don’t know what I’ve done.” It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. God still wants you to come back to him. You may say, “Isn’t God going to scold me? I’ve been away from him for months, years, decades.” Here’s what the Bible says God will do if you come back to him: “With deep love I will take you back” (Isaiah 54:7 GNT). God isn’t mad at you. God is mad about you! No one will ever love you more than the Creator who made you. God the Father created you, Jesus the Son died for you, and God’s Spirit wants to live in you. Christmas is proof of God’s love for you. Many people can’t feel God’s love because they’re listening to the wrong voices. If you listen to what other people say about you, you’re going to get down. If you listen to what you tell yourself, you’re going to get down. Stop believing everything you tell yourself, because it’s not all true. You lie to yourself more than you lie to anybody else. You’re not the best judge of you, because your feelings lie all the time. (This is true for all of us!) You have to decide whom you’re going to believe. Are you going to build your life on what everybody else thinks about you? Are you going to listen to what the critics say about you on social media? Are you going to listen to your own feelings? Or are you going to listen to what God says about you, which is the truth? Acts 3:19 says, “Repent therefore, and turn back,that your sins may be blotted out” (ESV). You’re deeply flawed, but you are deeply loved, and you are infinitely valuable. You may have come to the end of yourself and feel like you don’t have anywhere to turn. But there is always Someone to turn to. With deep love, God will take you back. “I trust in you, LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands” (Psalm 31:14-15 NIV).
The opposite of fear is faith. When you fill your life with faith, fear goes out the back door. When things don’t happen on your timetable, the more you trust God, the less afraid you will be. In Mark 5:36, Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid. Just trust me” (TLB). This is such a big message in the Bible that the phrase “fear not” appears 365 times. God wants us to get the message that we don’t have to be afraid because we can trust his timing. Trusting God is the number one stress reliever in your life—an important truth to remember at Christmastime. The more you trust God, the more your stress is going to decrease. Another way to relieve your stress and demonstrate your trust in God is when you ask him for something in prayer. When you do, don’t try to set a time limit or deadline on God’s answer. Leave the timing up to God. To help your faith grow deeper, you need to pray a prayer like Psalm 31:14-15: “I trust in you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands” (NIV). Why not memorize that Scripture? When you get up every morning, read Psalm 31 as a prayer and tell God, “I trust you, Lord. You’re my God. My times are in your hands.” Practically, that means you probably have more to do today than you’ve got time to get done. So you ask God to help you sort it all out so that you can do what matters most and not worry about the rest. You say to him, “I surrender my schedule. I surrender my calendar. I surrender my agenda. My times are in your hand, and that means I’m not going to fear. I’m going to trust you.” “Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married, she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit. Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement quietly” (Matthew 1:18-19 GNT).
The Christmas story could have gone differently for Joseph. Think about it: God could have chosen to save Joseph a lot of confusion and pain by directly telling him about Baby Jesus. Instead, Joseph has to learn the news from Mary and possibly think his fiancée’s been unfaithful to him. What is God doing here? He is testing Joseph’s character. He wants to see if Joseph will be compassionate, forgiving, and loving. And instead of trying to get even or even getting angry, Joseph chooses to offer grace and let the pain go. Mary was struggling with fear at the first Christmas, and Joseph was struggling with anger. This happens today in marriage after marriage. Often, one spouse is dealing with fear and the other is dealing with anger at the same time. Joseph had every reason to be hurt and wounded, but he didn’t attack Mary in his hurt. He offered her grace. The Bible says in Matthew 1:18-19, “Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married, she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit. Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement quietly” (GNT). That’s a beautiful example of grace. Joseph doesn’t publicly embarrass her. He’s not trying to shame her. He just says, “Okay. We’re going to call off the wedding.” Joseph is put in a difficult situation, but he chooses to do what he thinks would honor God, not yet understanding that the Heavenly Father had a bigger plan for Joseph to be the earthly father of Jesus. Who has hurt you deeply? Are you still hanging on to that hurt? If you are, that’s one of the reasons you’re not joyful. You cannot be resentful and joyful at the same time. You’ve lost your joy because you’ve kept your resentment. You’re not going to change anything by holding on to your hurt. Don’t forgive because the other person deserves it. Forgive because it’s what God has done for you. Offer grace, and let the pain go. Do you want to be bitter, or do you want to be blessed? When you choose to show grace and let it go after people hurt you, you get God’s blessing on your life. “And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation” (1 Peter 1:5 NLT).
God is watching over you every moment of the day, just like a bodyguard would. Everything in life is Father-filtered — even the hard things caused by your sin or others’ sin — God can still use for his good. That means God’s power protects you: “And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation” (1 Peter 1:5 NLT). When you find yourself in a situation where you feel hopeless, helpless, or powerless — that’s all a lie. You’re not hopeless, helpless, or powerless when you have God in your life. Have you ever seen signs in front a house that says, “Protected by a security system”? Maybe we need a little sign to remind us, “Protected by God.” The word “protect” in 1 Peter 1:5 means garrison. It is a military term that refers to sending soldiers to a town in order to protect it. They garrison the town, staying there to guard it. In the same way, you are continuously guarded by God. All you have to do is, in faith, trust God is there with his protection. “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24 ESV).
If I gave you a check today for a thousand dollars, would you withhold your thanks until you knew it wouldn’t bounce? Anyone who knows me would think, “This is a pretty good guy. I’m sure he has enough in his account to cover it. I’ll thank him right now.” You’d thank me before you received the cash—and then you’d take the check to the bank. God’s promises are better than any of our promises. Before we even receive what he has promised, we can say, “Thank you, God, that what you said is going to happen, will happen.” There’s a great example of this in God’s “Hall of Fame” in Hebrews 11. Remember how Joshua led the Israelites around Jericho, where the walls fell down? How did they fall down? Hebrews 11:30 says, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days” (NIV). The people of Israel were going into the Promised Land, where the powerful city of Jericho was located. God promised he was going to let the Israelites into the city and then gave them his plan: “I want you to go and march around Jericho for seven days. Then on the seventh day, I want you to march around the city seven times, thanking me for the victory that’s going to come.” And when they did that, the walls just fell. God did what he’d promised! You may have thought, “What if I’d been one of those people marching around the walls for seven days?” Some of them must have been looking at the walls, getting more and more worried and wondering how God could ever bring the walls down. But a lot of those people had faith instead. And every day they looked at the wall and thought about what God could do and thanked him in advance. This is the kind of life that God wants you to live, the thanking-God-in-advance kind of life. Jesus talked about it in Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (ESV). When you ask God for something, if you don’t believe, why even ask? It’s an empty exercise. But Jesus said that if you pray and ask God for something, believe he’s going to do it. Thank him in advance for what only he can do. And then look for how he answers your prayer. “It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27 NLT).
There is a strong belief in our culture that influences every one of us, whether we want it to or not: If it feels good, do it. But when you allow yourself to be manipulated by your moods, you are living your life according to your feelings. God wants you to live a different kind of life. He wants you to live a life of faith, not a life of feelings. We don’t always feel like doing the right thing. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always feel like being nice to people. I don’t always feel like washing the dishes with my wife. I don’t always feel like stopping what I’m doing to help someone. But God wants us to respond in faith, not according to our feelings. Anybody who’s successful at anything ends up doing things they don’t feel like doing. An Olympic athlete exercises when she doesn’t feel like it. A great musician practices his craft, even when he’s tired. If you’re going to be a great salesperson, you make calls that other people don’t feel like making. If you want to deepen your relationship with God, you spend time with him even when you don’t feel like it. People who have a regular, consistent quiet time with God didn’t get there because every morning they woke up and wanted to spend time with God. They got there because they woke up and spent time reading the Bible and praying even if they were tired or didn’t feel like it. Faith includes pressing forward no matter how tired you are or how many other things you think you should or wish you could be doing. In the Bible, Moses is an example of how to respond in faith, regardless of your feelings. Hebrews 11:27 says, “It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible” (NLT). That’s how you keep going in faith. You begin to see the invisible. Only those who see God for who he really is can persist in the most difficult times of life. Only those who see the invisible can do the impossible. Believe in faith what God can do in your life, and thank him in advance for how he is going to it. “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials..." (1 Peter 1:6 ESV)
Do you ever have days when nothing seems to go right? There's a story about a guy whose apartment was flooded from a broken pipe in the upstairs apartment. His manager said to go rent a water vacuum, but he couldn’t—his car had a flat tire. He changed it and went inside again to phone a friend but got an electric shock from the phone. That startled him and he unintentionally ripped the phone off the wall. During that time, the water damage had jammed the door to his apartment, so a neighbor had to kick down the apartment door. While all this was going on, somebody stole the guy’s car—but it was almost out of gas. He found the car a few blocks away and had to push it to a gas station to fill up the tank. When he got back home, he discovered that four of his canaries had been crushed to death by falling plaster in his apartment. After slipping on the wet carpet and badly injuring his tailbone, this guy began to wonder if “God wanted me dead but kept missing.” Even if you’ve never had a day quite that bad, you’ve likely discovered that life is full of problems, pressures, and stresses. Did you know that the Bible says we shouldn’t be surprised by life’s problems? It says, “You are temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials and temptations. This is no accident—it happens to prove your faith” (1 Peter 1:6-7 PHILLIPS). If you are a believer, nothing comes into your life by accident. Everything is Father-filtered. The Bible doesn’t say everything’s good. But as Romans 8:28 says, “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (NLT)—even the difficulties, the irritations, and the interruptions. They all have a purpose. We don’t usually realize it when we’re in the situation and may not want to admit it afterward, but every problem has a greater purpose: God does it to prove our faith. So how does God want you to respond to difficulties? James 1:2-3 says, “Consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure” (GNT). God uses difficulties to test your faith, and you increase in faith when you rejoice continually and keep a positive attitude in spite of things not going right. When you remain grateful and positive and continue trusting God even in the middle of difficulties, your faith is stretched. “According to your faith let it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29 NIV).
There are two kinds of people: those that wake up and say, “Good morning, Lord!” and those that wake up and say, “Good Lord—it’s morning!” We tend to feel the way we expect to feel. We see what we expect to see. We hear what we expect to hear. We act the way we expect to act. We set ourselves up for failure or success—for fulfillment or frustration—depending on our level of faith. Living by faith means expecting the best. Matthew 9:29 says, “According to your faith let it be done to you” (NIV). Faith is positive expectation. You expect God to answer. You expect the solution to come through. You expect things to work out. You expect to succeed. You expect it all to fall into place. Expectations are faith. As Christians, we don’t believe that everything in life will turn out well, no matter how much faith we have. That’s just not a reality in a world full of sin. But we can be confident that God is working for our good. We can trust him with our future because he knows better than we do what is best for us—and he will help us become more like him. Living by faith does not mean you wear rose-colored glasses. It means you trust that God is always working, so you can expect things to work out just as he intends them to. That can give you great confidence. That truth can build your faith. To become a godly optimist, expect God to work in your life and in the world. Expect him to keep his promises. Expect that he wants to accomplish his will through you. And expect him to provide everything you need to do that. “A woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years . . . When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering” (Mark 5:25, 27-29 NIV).
The Bible tells a story in Mark 5 about a woman who had bled for 12 years. Her condition made her ceremonially unclean in Jewish culture, which meant she had no social life, no interaction with others. She had spent all her money trying to get well. Can you imagine how lonely and desperate she must have been? One day she hears that Jesus Christ is coming to town. She says, “If I can just touch his robe, I’ll be healed.” So she takes the initiative and makes a daring act, pushing her way through the crowd to come up behind Jesus and touch the back of his robe. She is instantly healed! Jesus recognizes the touch of faith. He asks, “Who touched me?” People are pressing all around Jesus in this crowd. The disciples are sometimes a bumbling group, so Peter asks him, “What do you mean, ‘Who touched me?’ Look—everybody’s around you and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus knows the difference. The woman comes to him in fear and trembling and says, “I did, Lord.” And he says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” This woman, desperate in life and bold in faith, took the initiative. She broke the rules. She went beyond the boundaries. She decided she was ready to begin again and committed herself to action. She pressed ahead and got through the crowd, and because she took the initiative, her act of faith led to her healing. Faith can lead to the same kind of miraculous outcome in your life. When you’re stuck in a rut, faith overcomes procrastination by helping you “get it in gear.” It gives you the power to take the initial step that will move you forward to where God wants you to be. No more being indecisive and waffling back and forth. No more sitting on the fence. When you grow in faith, you’ll learn to take the initiative and discover more of your purpose in life. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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