Isn’t god good?
Those are the words that a friend of mine said to me the other day.
And let me tell you I was strengthened by this because this friend of mine, she’d been going through a very difficult patch in her life.
Her husband had been unwell, and he’d spent several weeks in the hospital.
Her teenage son was in a horrible accident just a few months after getting his first car.
Her job was very demanding.
It was stressful, especially since she had so many things happening, in her personal life.
So then for my dear friend to call me and begin to just speak about god’s goodness,
This minister to me, but
I had to ask her, how? How are you so joyful?
When there’s so much going on in your life. And this is what she said.
My husband was unwell, but god was covering him.
There’s nothing seriously wrong with him, and the lord is strengthening him day by day.
Then she said, I’ve seen the protective hand of god over our lives. My boy was in an accident.
He came out of it unharmed without a scratch. When it could have been so much worse.
And then she finally talked about the demanding nature of her job. And this is what she said.
I thank God every day.
For giving me the strength to work and the strength to handle the pressure I’m under. His grace is sufficient.
Now, why am I telling you this story?
Well, I’m telling you because it’s a case of perspective.
You see, I saw the difficulty in her life, and yet she saw the hand of god.
I saw weakness. She saw god’s faithfulness.
Where I thought she was in a tough place.
She was thanking god for the grace and the strength to be able to withstand.
So how’s that for perspective?
I once heard a testimony from a pastor about how he came to faith.
And he spoke of how when he was a teenager, his father was a pastor of a local assembly.
And from his perspective as a teenager, he assumed that his father prayed so much because well, it was his job.
He assumed that his father was always reading the Bible and making notes he had to preach on Sundays.
Now, 1 day his father was voted out
of the church, and it was
a very frac shirt and unexpected exit. The pastor had no scandal attached to him.
He had sound biblical doctrine, but for 1 reason or another.
He was no longer in the position he so loved.
But this teenage boy, He saw that regardless of his father no longer holding the title and duty of a pastor.
The father still prayed just as much as before.
The father spent even more time in the Bible.
The father had even more zeal to minister and to preach about Jesus to everyone from the mailman to the taxi driver.
And so these that were observed quietly by a teenage boy. They changed his perspective.
He saw that Christianity for his father was more than a position or a job.
It was truly a way of life. Now, I want you to
join me in prayer as we ask the lord to change our perspective in this line.
Dear heavenly father. Open
our eyes. Help us to see that you are in charge. You’re in control.
And if you have allowed us to face some kind of difficulty or some kind of challenge, then there is a reason
and a purpose to it. Change our perspective dear lord.
Help us not to always seek to understand.
But lord help us to trust you more and more.
Forgive us for being so focused on wanting to know what your plans are.
Instead of simply trusting and believing that you know us best. Change our perspective, dear God.
When life presents us with storms, give us strong faith that says, lord. If it
is your will, that I should face this storm, then strengthen me to overcome for your glory.
God help us to see your hand in every situation.
I look at your word o god, And I can see that you have been faithful to those who believe in you, and you’ve done it time and time again.
Your word in Isaiah 40 verses 29 through 31. It says he gives power to the weak.
And to those who have no might, he increases strength.
Even the youth shall faint and be weary. And the young men shall utterly fall.
But those who wait on the lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk. And not faint.
Father, I declare your word which tells me that greater is he who is in me.
Than he who was in the world. That means that you King Jesus have placed within me,
the strength to overcome adversity. The strength to overcome the devil. For that lord, I rejoice.
And god, I thank you. I thank you
for giving us your children, the power to walk in victory, the power to defeat sin.
It all comes from you. So we bow down today. We humble ourselves and surrender to you God.
We rely only on you. For you’re the god who liberates.
You’re the god who redeems and who makes people whole again.
God, I thank you for such love and mercy. Thank you for your kindness.
Because in your mercy, you have picked us up each time that we have fallen.
You give us grace upon grace. We stand on your word, dear God.
That says in Psalm 27 verses 13 and 14.
I remain confident of this. I will see the goodness of the lord.
In the land of the living. Wait for the lord. Be strong and take heart.
And wait for the lord.
Father, we bless your precious name.
My king, we thank you for hearing this prayer. It’s in Jesus’ name. We pray.
Amen.