Trust God & Do Good

Many of us spend far too much time trying to figure out how we can get blessings for ourselves. People sometimes spend their entire lives trying to accomplish what they think is important, never trusting God or letting Him lead them. In the end, this leaves them depressed and unfulfilled.

Psalm 37:3 says, "Trust, in the Lord and do good, ." God didn't create us to worry about helping ourselves all the time. He wants us to sow good seed by reaching out to help others. And doing good brings great satisfaction because it feels great to make a difference. It also opens the door for God to bless you in a greater way.

You need to trust God to bring the right blessings into your life. While you're waiting for His perfect timing, get busy helping others. You'll actually feel relieved when you aren't thinking about yourself all the time.

Trust God and get busy doing the good things you know to do. He'll faithfully bless you and meet your needs.

Prayer Starter: God, I don't want to live a selfish, self-centered life. I trust You to bring the right blessings into my life while I'm busy doing good for everyone You've placed in my life.

source:
Day 364 of Joyce Meyer: Promises for Your Everyday Life - a Daily Devotional

Hope does not disappoint us

Today I am reading day 254 of Joyce Meyer: Promises for Your Everyday Life - a Daily Devotional:

When Progress Is Slow

It's important to renew our minds, but it's also important to realize that this process of reprogramming or renewing our minds will take place little by little. Don't be discouraged if progress seems slow. Don't get down when you have setbacks or bad days. Just get back up, dust yourself off and start again.

When a baby is learning to walk, he falls many, many times before he develops the ability to walk without falling; however, the baby is persistent. He may cry for a while after he falls down, but he always gets right back up and tries again.

Learning to change our thinking works the same way. We struggle and fall down, but God is always there to pick us up. Rather than get frustrated, you should, as the Bible says, "triumph" in your hardship, because the very fact that you're struggling means that you're fighting the good fight.

There will be days when we don't do everything right, days when our thinking is negative. But never stop trying. God is gradually bringing us around to His way of thinking. Just don't give up!

Romans 5:3-5 ESV
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Prayer Starter: Lord, thank You for picking me up when I fall down. I know that my struggles mean that You are helping me overcome my negative mindsets and bringing me more and more in line with Your way of thinking.

Too long in the wilderness

source: Joyce Meyer: Promises for your everyday life

Conquering the Wilderness Mentality

The Israelites wandered around in the wilderness for forty years to make what was actually an eleven-day journey. Why?

Once, as I pondered this situation, the Lord said to me, "The Israelites couldn't move on because they had a wilderness mentality." The Israelites had no positive vision for their lives, no dreams. They needed to let go of that mentality and trust God.

We really shouldn't view the Israelites with astonishment because most of us do the same things they did. We keep going around the same mountains instead of making progress, and it takes us years to experience victory over something that could have been dealt with quickly.

We need a new mindset. We need to start believing that God's Word is true. Matthew 19:26 tells us that with God all things are possible. All He needs is our faith in Him. He needs for us to believe, and He will do the rest.

The Lord is saying the same thing to you and me today that He said to the children of Israel: "You have dwelt long enough on this mountain." It's time for us to move on!

Prayer Starter: God, I've spent enough time going around the same old mountains in my life. With You, I know I can move on, so I put my faith in You and let go of my wilderness mentality!

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This summer I also was in a Beth Moore Deuteronomy study which had at its core "If I'd known then what I know now... but at least I know it now to move forward."

It's time to get unstuck.