Tag Archive for faith

God Is Always Working

2020-01-03 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

How many are your works, O Lord!
In wisdom you made them all.
(Psalm 104:24, NIV)

I sail through so many daily activities with
boredom or
indifference.
When tough experiences come, I greet them with
fear or
resentment.

Lord, I assume the meaninglessness of life as
You have allowed it to come to me.
I believe I’ll recognize the significant when I see it,
but much of the time, life seems either
mundane or
unkind.

But then, Lord,
I catch a glimpse of beauty, or
I see deep meaning in some common event
I’ve witnessed a thousand times.
I look back and realize
tremendous value in some trial about which
I complained so bitterly.

Lord, You are always working!
I will keep my faith awake and
my eyes fixed on You.

Despair of yourself as much as you want,
but do not despair of God.
He is always loving,
always powerful,
always wise, and
He will reward you according to your faith in Him.
(paraphrased from Francois Fenelon)

Hymn: God Is Working All Around You

ThinkSingPray

2019-12-30 ThinkSingPray No comments

ThinkSingPray
about
Trusting God 4

Monday –      Rejoice, Pray, Give Thanks
Hymn: Good Gifts (recording) (printed)

Tuesday –     Where God Wants Me
Hymn: I Leave It in Your Hands (recording) (printed)

Wednesday – Wait
Hymn: Wait on the Lord (recording) (printed)

Thursday –    A Single Step
Hymn: I Only Want to Walk in You (recording) (printed)

Friday –          Keep Walking
Hymn: Thank You for Your Perfect Will (recording) (printed)

Saturday –     An Adventure in Christ
Hymn: Immanuel’s Land (recording) (printed)

for more, visit
ThinkSingPray
at KenBible.com

ThinkSingPray

2019-12-23 ThinkSingPray No comments

ThinkSingPray
about
Trusting God 3

Monday –      If God Is for Us

Tuesday –     Hymn: Be Still (recording) (printed)

Wednesday – Learn a New Response to Need
Hymn: We Need You, Holy God (recording) (printed)

Thursday –    A Relationship of Trust
Hymn: Blind Faith (recording) (printed)

Friday –          Faith: The Greatest Bargain in the Universe
Hymn: If God Is on Our Side (recording) (printed)

Saturday –     Ask for Wisdom
Hymn: Lord, How Good to Rest in You (recording) (printed)

for more, visit
ThinkSingPray
at KenBible.com

ThinkSingPray

2019-12-16 ThinkSingPray No comments

ThinkSingPray
about
Trusting God 2

Monday –      Whom Should We Fear?

Tuesday –     Live with the End in View

Wednesday – Run with Endurance

Thursday –    Immersed in God
Hymn: Speak, I Am Listening (recording) (printed)

Friday –          Faith
Hymn: By Faith in Jesus Christ (recording) (printed)

Saturday –     Come to Me
Hymn: Come (recording) (printed)

for more, visit
ThinkSingPray
at KenBible.com

Worry

2019-12-13 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” (Luke 12:22-26, 31, NIV)

Our Creator offers us freedom from worry. He invites us to come to Him and trust Him with all our needs.

Yet we defend our right to worry. After all, isn’t it acceptable, even wise, to be “concerned” about some things?

But worry is no privilege. I think about what happens to me when I begin to worry. Peace of mind goes immediately. I get frightened about the future, and as I do, I focus on my own needs. Generosity, joy, and perspective are squeezed out. Selfishness, fear, and shortsightedness take over.

I have to be honest here: anxiety is not entirely a defeated foe for me. Work and family situations still gnaw at me occasionally. But the Creator has been patient and faithful in teaching me important lessons.

First, I’ve realized that anxiety is fear, pure and simple. Fear assumes a false reality. Fear assumes that God doesn’t exist, or that He has lost control of the situation. Fear forgets His power. It forgets His kindness and unchanging love.

Fear focuses on self, ignoring God. When I am anxious, my thoughts are on my own needs and my ability to meet them, not on God and His willingness to help me.

Second, I’ve learned through difficult experiences that I cannot make worry go away. I cannot will it away or reason it away (the Lord knows I’ve tried!). Even when I sincerely commit a problem to Him, it sometimes keeps coming back to mind.

But I’ve found that I can keep bringing the concern to Him, simply and honestly, each time it arises.

Further, I’ve found that when words and pretty promises don’t help, He himself is the greatest comfort. He is always with me, even when I forget Him. My Creator still holds my entire life in His hand. The One who made me is still working toward my good, even during the dark times.

When finances are tight, He reminds me, “I am your security, not money.”

When a long car trip is necessary in winter and I’m concerned about slick roads, He whispers, “I am your protection, not the weather.”

And when troubles sweep happiness out of my reach, He is still with me. He draws me to look into His face and say, “Jesus, You are my joy, now and forever.”

In the end, it is not some technique or memorized words that free me from anxiety. It is He himself, my Creator, my God. When He is with me, how can I help but rejoice? How can I help but thank Him, love Him, and trust Him with my life?

Creator, I know You love me. I come to You now with my needs and concerns.

Anxiety is self-centered.
Faith is God-centered.

Hymn: Lord, Why Am I Anxious?
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

ThinkSingPray

2019-12-09 ThinkSingPray No comments

ThinkSingPray
about
Trusting God 1

Monday –      Reflection on Psalm 23
Hymn: Psalm 23 (recording) (printed)

Tuesday –     Reflection on Psalm 27
Hymn: Psalm 27 (recording) (printed)

Wednesday – Reflection on Psalm 33
Hymn: Our Hope Is All in You (recording) (printed)

Thursday –    Reflection on Psalm 46
Hymn: Psalm 46 (recording) (printed)

Friday –          How Much of a God?

Saturday –     Illogical Faith

for more, visit
ThinkSingPray
at KenBible.com

Active Faith

2018-07-08 Devotional with Hymn No comments

The righteous will live by faith. (Romans 1:17, NIV)

One of the first benefits of practicing God’s presence is faith. As we nurture a constant, personal relationship with God, faith becomes more alive and active in every area of life. This is particularly true in times of need. As we turn to God immediately with every concern, He provides for us completely: strength in temptation; assurance in uncertainty; wisdom and patience for relationships; forgiveness for our failures. When we know that God is present, we call on Him freely and with confidence, and obtain from Him all that we need.

Listen and sing: Hymn: As I Trust You Recording Printed Music & Lyrics

by Brother Lawrence and Ken Bible

The Foolishness of Unbelief

2018-07-05 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A prayer response to Revelation 9:13-21,
the sixth trumpet

Father, uproot from my heart and life
all the foolishness of unbelief.

You created me.
You shared Yourself
with me and
through me.
You redeemed me.
When I didn’t know You and had
no inclination toward You whatsoever,
You poured out Your life for me.
Yet I still struggle to trust You completely with needs that are
right now,
in the real world.
When the pain is pressing and I feel no relief,
I still doubt.
When the answer doesn’t come when and how I expect,
I waver.
You know it’s true, Father.

You are the only Source and complete reservoir of all
love,
power, and
wisdom.
All that I see, touch, and know
came from You alone.
Yet it’s still not automatic to trust that
You and all Your promises are
absolutely real and
absolutely certain.

I trust material things and not You?
Money and not You?
Myself and not You?

Father, continue to uproot all this nonsense from my
thinking and
doing.
How many times do You have to prove Yourself to me?
I do believe in You.
I do know, from reason and experience, that You are
completely true,
always responsive, and
unfailingly faithful.
Infuse all I am with that simple faith.

You are the most real thing in all my world.
Help me to live like it.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Lord, Why Am I Anxious?
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Learn a New Response to Need

2016-09-18 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Whenever we feel a need, we want to eliminate it.
All our focus is on ridding ourselves of the source of our discomfort.

But realize that our neediness is permanent and pervasive.
We can never eliminate it.
Eliminate the need that obsesses you right now, and
another will soon replace it.

Instead, God is teaching us to rest in His sufficiency,
right there in the presence of the need.
We can find peace in Him,
even when the need continues for a time.

What needs are you feeling in your life right now?
God is using them to draw you to Himself.
Look past your normal solutions,
your usual sources of relief that never prove adequate.
Turn to Him.
Bring your concerns to Him, and rest in Him.
He is peace.
He is your sufficiency through every need.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Lord, How Good to Rest in You
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Strengthen Yourself in the Lord

2016-08-02 Devotional with Hymn No comments

1 Samuel 30:1-6

On February 20, 2015, our 38-year-old son, David, took his own life. During the terrible grief that followed, the Lord led me to a lesser-known story in 1 Samuel 30.

The biblical David had been anointed as the next king of Israel, and as a result, the current king, Saul, was pursuing him to kill him. To escape Saul, David and his men had settled among Israel’s enemies, the Philistines, and had been given the town of Ziklag as their home.

David and his men had traveled a great distance to fight for their Philistine hosts. But when they arrived, they were mistrusted and turned away. So they had to turn around and make the long, exhausting trip back home.

When they arrived, a foreign raiding party had struck their town. They had taken all their wives, children, and possessions and had burned everything else to the ground. They had absolutely nothing left. They all wept until they had no more strength to weep. I identified with that detail.

When it seemed things couldn’t possibly get any worse for David, his men blamed him for their loss and talked of stoning him.

But here comes the important part of the story. With all this facing him, “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:6b, NASB). That one sentence grabbed me.

We go through times when the darkness is so deep that we can’t see God acting. We can’t feel His presence. We can’t understand what He is doing or not doing. Sometimes He just seems gone.

We have to remind ourselves who He is. We have to remind ourselves what He has done in the past. He has repeatedly proven Himself to us to build our faith for times just like this.

When life is overwhelming, strengthen yourself in the Lord your God. Grab hold of the truth. Cling to it. Claim it as your own, and act on it.

The psalmists express that idea over and over. When trouble and pain settle in and seem to block everything else, remember, remember, remember. God hasn’t changed. He hasn’t moved. He hasn’t abandoned you, and He never will.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Blind Faith
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

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