Day #68

Begin this time praising God in song and talking with Him.  In fact, make it a goal to talk with Him throughout the day.  He is an amazing God.  Please click on the following song… You Are Amazing God.

In the last lesson, we learned how to be patient in times of suffering.  You may not be suffering at this time, I don’t know.  But, if you are, remember this… suffering gives us the strength to go on… that strength gives us Godly character… that Godly character produces a spring of hope within us… and that hope will never let us down.  Please read Romans 5: 3-5. 

As we begin today’s lesson, please remember that even if you are not going through suffering at the moment, there is still great learning to be had in this lesson.  Our last lesson taught us that we should always be preparing for hard times so that our reactions in times of testing can be a beautiful testimony to others of who God is.  Please see Day #67 to learn how to prepare.

God often times uses suffering to test us.  It stinks to go through, but we must always remember who we serve… an all-powerful, uncontainable, indescribable, loving, AMAZING God.  God does not test us to be cruel or to even kill us, but like the grapevine, He prunes our branches so that we can bear much fruit.  Please read by clicking on the following verses… John 15:1-11.

Please read James 5:9.

In times of suffering it is very easy to fall into some destructive behavior… complaining, grumbling, and tearing each other down.  James teaches us that we can’t let this happen!  We must fight to hold our tongue when we are tempted to lash out at people.  Why?  Because complaining and grumbling causes God’s people to divide and go against each other.

You see, when we complain and grumble about each other, we are placing ourselves as judge over those we are griping about.  Do we really want this role?  Check out the following verses.

Please read Matthew 7:1-2. 

Do we want to be looked at and measured in the same way we look at and measure others when we are aggravated?  I sure don’t.  God, please help me to hide this learning in my heart!

Please read 1 Corinthians 4:5.

We need to let God be the judge.  He is the one that can look at the heart and expose its purposes. 

TARGET of the DAY

Testing can often be described as being squeezed.  It is tough to be squeezed.  Think of a tube of toothpaste.  What happens when you squeeze the tube?  You are right… whatever is inside comes out.  That is what happens to us when we are squeezed… whatever is inside of our hearts will come out and be exposed for what it really is… good or bad.  “… for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45b).

Take time to talk to God about this.