#god'sgoodness

When I first heard about living a life of abundance, I was skeptical. Because I was taught that Heaven was the place of abundance. Until I saw that David, the man after God's own heart, believed that he would see the Goodness of The Creator IN THIS LIFE.

New Post has been published on http://www.jesusrevolution.church/feeling-trapped-in-despair-2/

Feeling Trapped in Despair?

“Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you indeed be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail and are uncertain? Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: ‘If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister”(Jeremiah 15:18-19a).

God gave the prophet Jeremiah a mission of proclaiming the truth to Israel in order to restore and bring them back to God’s love. But when Jeremiah gave God’s message to Israel, he was rejected, ill-treated, and abused. During the longevity of Jeremiah’s suffering, he lost hope, and moved into despair and a distrust of God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promise to bless the prophet.

Sometimes, like Jeremiah, we feel trapped by our circumstances, with no way out.  These negative feelings attach to our thoughts and create self- defeating beliefs in our lives. Beliefs that say; life is too hard- I’m afraid it won’t get better-I can’t do this anymore-this is all too much-it feels like God doesn’t care and has left me to struggle alone. But the truth is the Lord cares for us, and will always hear our cries! God told Jeremiah that his false belief was taking him in the wrong direction, away from the good things God had ultimately planned for his life. He told Jeremiah he must turn away from pessimism, cynicism, and negativity and return to God’s truth, where he would find a place of settled quiet and safety.

When Jeremiah was able to hear and listen to God’s proclamation of positive promise – He was able to turn away from the dark, slippery hole of walking in a negative funk of hopelessness, depression and self-pity. When Jeremiah turned towards the light and truth that God spoke to him, he was able to realize God wanted him to experience walking in God’s faithfulness, mercy, grace, and love.

When we find ourselves feeling trapped in despair, God understands our human struggles and wants us to know the truth about His unconditional love….we don’t need to distrust Him. He has promised to help, support, see us through the difficult, never leave us and work all things together for our good! As we begin to shake off our negative feelings and thoughts onto Jesus our Savior, and put our hope and trust in the Lord again, His grace will give us the power to let go of our mistaken tone of distrust and despair. Then, the Holy Spirit will fill us, give us courage, and give our hearts’ a settled place of quiet and safety. We can count on the Lord to lead us step-by-step out of despair, and into a positive place of peace and hope, as He fulfills the good plans and purposes He has for our lives.

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'His compassions...are new every morning...' Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV

Imagine you're a screenwriter invited to pitch to some Christian film studio boss. You open the door to his massive office. You stand awkwardly in front of his rich mahogany desk. He's expecting an inspiring new movie about God's love. You begin your pitch for Lamentations: The Movie: 'Er, it's a story about everything going wrong. A journey of people reaping bad times from all the sin they've sown. Most of them die.' Tough sell.

When you're going through tough times do you feel like letting your non-Christian friends know? Do you think it might sound like a bad pitch for God, so you keep your mouth shut instead? Well, in the midst of harsh reality in Lamentations, Jeremiah said this: 'Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.'

Does the pitch sound quite so bad now? While acknowledging times are tough, if we know deep in our souls God is at work, it changes everything. It's very powerful. Everyone has tough times. So be vulnerable. Don't be scared to be truthful with your friends. Your honesty in hard times could make their idea of who God is a lot more real for them. So think about a tough time where God really came through for you. Thank Him and pray for an opportunity to share your story with someone today.