Episode 623

TODAY’S READING

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

I say that with the most grace because I know what it feels like to be walking through a season and looking at others and praying and hoping that your life would have reflected a completely different picture. And so we look to other situations, and we wish for those cards, and we wish that our life was completely different. And I understand that because I’ve done that. But in that, what happens is that we play a victim mentality or we have this victimhood about us. And we look at the situations we’re in, and instead of praising God through it all and looking for his fingerprints, even in the messy and even in the lowest of lows, we look to others, and we envy their life. And so today, I wanted to speak a little bit more about that because, for instance, yesterday was not a good day for me. I was hoping for this opportunity to happen. And I got a phone call that I was not selected. And then, that afternoon, my grandfather gets intubated. And so I sat there for a quick second, and I said, Well, what’s going on? God, why is this continuing to happen? Why was today such a bad day? And for a second, I played the victim. And instead of saying or asking God to immediately send His angels to protect my grandfather, I questioned him, and instead of telling him to thank you for not forcing a door open that wasn’t meant for me, I questioned him. And that’s not the healthiest way to go about things. 

So if you suffer from that, my prayer for you today is that you surrender that and that today we let go of the bondage of being a victim and look to God as our sole provider. And no matter what happens in life, the good, the messy, the bad, the ugly, the happy. Whatever it is, it’s for good; it will be used for our good. And we remember that all of this is temporary because we have hope in the eternal. We have hope and faith in our God. And we know that these troubles they’re just achieving eternal glory for us. So it continues to strengthen our character. It continues to give us perseverance, and it continues to thicken our testimonies so that others may see Jesus through.

Prayer:

Father, God, thank You, Lord, for this beautiful one they got today. We bring to you all of the prayer requests we bring to you, Christian, and we ask that you continue to cover him and that you send your angels to protect them, Lord. We also pray for my grandfather. May you continue to monitor his health, and may your hand be beyond him, Lord; beyond that, we give you our bondages, Lord, the bondage of being a victim, the bondage of questioning your actions rather than praising you through them. And if we suffer from that, Lord, we asked for the strength in surrendering that today. And if we know someone like this, we pray for them just like we pray for ourselves. We thank you. We know that through it all, we give you honor, and through it, all the glory is for you. And no matter what happens to us here, we know that all it does is further strengthen our testimonies so that others may see your glory through us. We thank you for using us as vessels, and we pray this all in your son’s mighty name. Amen.