Through the Valley

"Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are beside me." - Psalm 23:4

The moment that something bad is happening to me, I start to beg God to get me out of it. Whether it's my job or being stuck in bad traffic, I ask God to bring me out of the situation without even considering sticking through for a bit longer. But if you think about it, most of the times in life, we end up sticking through all the bad stuff until things get better. This psalm teaches us that for some reason, God leads us through these bad periods in our lives, but along the way, He is with us. We all want better things - a great new job, to get married, a new house - but with all of these things come great responsibilities. These bad periods build us and make us stronger so that when we finally reach the next level, we're ready for it! Instead of telling God to relieve you of a situation, ask for strength and endurance to make it through and you'll see how He walks with you along the way, building you for better things.

Today's Prayer:
Dear God, open my eyes of faith and allow me to see the good that You do in my life, even in the things that I don't like. You know my faith can be weak at times, but show me the power of Your hand and walk me through until I'm grown. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Expect Trials and Tribulations

"Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you like grain, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have recovered you shall strengthen your brothers." - Luke 22: 31-32

I have told you before that the devil surrounds us like a hungry lion, attacking us for our downfall. Attacking us so that we lose the grace of God. Many people think that when they are good and follow God, the devil stays away and things are great for us. But by following God, Satan's anger is set on fire and that's when he will really starts to try to bring trouble to us in every area of our life possible. When you follow God, expect the devil to come and destory your hope. The good news is that even the devil respects the power of God because when the devil tries to hurt us, he asks God for permission first. This is seen in this passage when Jesus tells Peter (Simon) that the devil has demanded to tempt him strongly, same as when the devil asked God permission to bring trouble to Job. God allows these things so that we can become stronger. We do not grow when all things are good and we're happy but we grow when we endure pain and suffering and come out of it renewed in the Lord. Jesus tells Peter that He has prayed for him so that his faith will not fail and God always does the same for you and I. We live on this earth and we must go through trials and tribulations so that we may be strengthened and from that new strength we go out and help others who have yet to weather the storm caused by the enemy.

But nothing will come out of our temptations if we do not pray. If we become lazy and don't hold on to prayer, we let Satan convince us to not pray as much or even that God does not exist and doesn't listen to us. Even that prayer doesn't do anything. We must hold on to prayer through all things or we'll never see the blessings down the road.

Today's Prayer:
My God and Savior, please help me weather the storm and keep me safe from the traps of the devil. Help me to remain strong and be able to withstand all attacks with my eyes fixed on You. In Your Name we pray, Amen.