30 Days of Encouragement - Day 1
We Woke Up Today!
The first blessing is that we woke up this morning. In 2017 the data of daily deaths by country held China at, 28, 036, followed by India at 25,270, the United States at 7,5064 of course density of population impacts these numbers. The country that has the largest death rate per capita is the country of Russia. But all of this data is pre- COVID19.
Who truly knows how the numbers changed for each country with the onset and continued barrage of COVID19 infections and deaths due to complications?
This Could Have Been Any of Us!
Many of us have lost loved ones to the pandemic or know of others who have. Some of us are in the ‘gap’ praying, believing, and hoping that a person we know will recover from the infection and its ravages.
It is reasonable to presume that before we began to sanitize and wear face masks and, even with taking these precautions any of us could have sucked into our lungs that microscopic monster that has sent the spirit of fear around the globe.
Last month, or last week or this morning could have been our last. You or I could have been counted among the dead. We could have family members, friends, and co-workers mourning over us… shaking their heads in disbelief and hoping that our final expenses and arrangements had been made. But we don’t.
It was promised that we would experience trouble all of the days of our life. (Job 14:1 – How frail is man, how few his days, how full of trouble.)
Those who have died, by whatever means, natural or disease are gone. But we are still here! We are here yet another day. What should we do! How best should we use our time?
Should our time be spent complaining, griping, in sadness, in self-absorption, in hopelessness? Certainly, every one of us faces difficult times and situations in life. Trouble is common to mankind. From the very beginning, or rather after the fall of mankind, trouble and difficulties were married to our lives. (Genesis 3:1-:19)
Getting the Right Understanding
The old church saying, “God won’t put more on you than you can bear.” Is partially right.
Everything that happens to us that is negative is not necessarily from God. We are generally spiritually ignorant of so many things that we can’t pin-point why anything is truly happening.
Our minds are not efficient enough to keep track of our every action, our every thought, and our every spoken word all of which may be contributing factors to our current situation.
The Devil is Real - But so is God!
Also, we remain in spiritual denial to the workings of the devil and evil spirits in our lives. It seems that technologically advanced nations are the most naive and the most deceived when it comes to understanding the workings of the spirit world.
Those medical professionals and others with academic credentials who may have first-hand experience or knowledge are reluctant to relegate any phenomenon to evil spirit beings. They fear losing their credibility, status, and reputations.
Super Encouragement!
But there is another promise. A promise of encouragement, A promise of hope, especially for those who trust in Jesus. That promise is this, no matter how dire or difficult our situations may be, we have to KNOW that God has equipped us with the mental, emotional, and physical tools, and stamina to successfully make it through--- to overcome.
We Gotta Regain Our Focus
The part of that saying, “God won’t put more on you than you can bear”, that is true relates to the fact that God is watching over us all. Saved and sinner alike. He will not allow us to be tempted, tried, or tested beyond the ability He has given us to overcome.
The problem is that we as people generally don’t go to God to help us understand our situation or to get the help, He wants to give us. We just stay caught up in the circumstances and the difficulties and we find it hard to see beyond them.
Ask the Right Question - Get the Right Answer!
Our minds are cluttered with the issues and why this is happening in our life. – The main question that we ask in difficult times is, “Why Me?!” Try replacing the question, "Why Me?" with the request, "Show Me...". Asking God to show us will cause us to tap right into the pathway our solution lies on.
Remember This
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation, [regardless of its source] has overtaken or enticed you that is not common to human experience [nor is any temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [to His word-He is compassionate and trustworthy]. And He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability [to resist], but along with the temptation [He has in the past and is now and will [always] provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy]
