In His Will

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. ³⁰And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Matthew 10:29-31

God loves you. Just read these verses again! See? Every time I read this verse, I am just amazed that I find it tucked within the words of my Bible. They can bring so much comfort to me when things are not going quite right. Or when things are just plain going bad, and I don't understand what is going on and why we're in a jam. Then I read verses like this, and I just know that God knows what is going on, and He'll see us through.

He doesn't always take away the problems- but you know what? Sometimes He does! Sometimes when we ask for help, the help comes, and the thing that was terrorizing us just vaporizes, and is almost like it never was. But in the instances where the problems don't go away, He gives us the tools we need to combat the problem- head on.

He gives us peace, so that we don't have to lie awake all night long, dwelling on the problem and losing precious sleep- which is vital to healthy living. The peace of God will also fill us so that we don't stray and think thoughts we aren't supposed to. You know how that is- a situation comes up, and someone specific is to blame. Our human selves want to curse that person, think bad thoughts of them, and make them go away. The peace of God stays our mind and our tongue. It keeps us from spreading rumor and gossip, and it keeps us from saying horrible things about people that we otherwise might say- and then regret later on.

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

God also gives us joy in times of trouble. There is nothing greater than that. You know, it used to be that when someone was going through a rough time, there were stereotypical things that one did during that time. I'll use the example of breaking up with a boyfriend, or losing a relationship. What did one do during that sad time? You would lie on the couch all day, crying from time to time, eating foods that will spike your blood sugar and cause a crash later on, and usually, watching sad movies was involved in that time as well. All that sadness would prolong the agony and if we only knew then what we knew now- that the joy of the Lord is our strength!

When we feel something sad coming upon is, we need to make an effort to get rid of that sadness. Instead of watching sad, weepy movies, we need to put in a comedy and watch something that will make us laugh and lift our spirits. When we're struggling with something in particular, we need to find other people who have been through the same thing and who can encourage us to get to the end- catch on to their joy for having made it through.

"for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

We are worth so much more than sparrows- God knows us so well, and He loves us so much, that He gave us the keys to getting through any trouble that could come our way. Those keys are hiding within our Bible, and only by picking it up and spending time in His Word will those keys be unlocked. When we uncover that verse that gives us such encouragement, we need to commit it to memory. We need to recite it over and over- almost like a mantra, and every time we recite it, we're building our spirits up just a little bit more, so that we, too, can overcome!

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Jesus IS peace. He told us troubles would be there, but He also told us how to get through them. When the devil tries to come after us- and he will, that's just his nature, we can laugh at him, and speak words of scripture to him, and he will flee. The devil will try to use just about any situation you can think of, and twist it to suit his purposes. But instead of using human instinct and fighting evil deeds with evil words and thoughts, we can use our spiritual instinct, and fight evil with good. We can pray, and speak life into that which the devil would use for evil purposes. Because he may use people and situations to try and get at us- to try and rob us of our peace and our joy. But Jesus is bigger. The love of Jesus surpasses all, and God still loves that person trying to rob us. We can love them the way Jesus would, and sometimes that means grace and mercy.

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21

Because in the end, when a situation comes at me, I don't want my first instinct to be to swell up with anger. I want to laugh at it. I want to be able to instantly rely on the joy of the Lord to help us take care of the problem. And the more the troubles come at us, the more we can practice that. There are a lot of times in the Bible where we see the words "Do not be afraid." Jesus said that more than once, and many of the angels in the Bible said that as well. It's there for a reason. Even if the only thing we can remember to say to ourselves is "Do not be afraid" it seems that would be well worth it to repeat over and over. God's got our backs. There is nothing that we could go through that He would desert us for. He will always be there- and will see us through to the other side. God loves His children- every single one of them.