Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. -Ephesians 6:13 (NASB)

Ever had your hopes soar, only to be shot down?

Just when you see a glimpse of daylight in the that long, dark season you’ve been in, it disappears just as quickly as it came. Your heart gets frustrated after jumping at the even slender possibility of the end in sight. But take heart. Here’s why.

Those glimpses of light in the dark are not there to tease or torment you, but to encourage you. Just like when you’re swimming underwater, even coming up to get a small breath of air is better than none at all.

Take the blip of light as an encouragement to know that, yes, light still does exist, and it still can and will pierce the darkness you’re in. Just like the telltale drips of water that come long before a dam bursts, those momentary lights precede the flood of light to come.

Thank God for that flash of light as if it were a wink from Him to let you know that it’s not over yet, and that He is indeed with you. Don’t give up!

Today’s soundtrack

For King & Country’s “It’s Not Over Yet” encourages us to stick it out through our struggles, because God’s with us and ready to carry us past it!

Did this song move you? Get it on Amazon Music »

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. -‭‭I John‬ ‭4:4‬ (‭NKJV‬‬)

The ruler of this world has a way of attacking, dampening, and even crushing, our spirit, if we give him the opportunity. Not all of our spiritual battles are fought on some epic or prominent scale, but are fought right in our own minds and hearts.

My first tire blowout

On a Friday night in July 2015, I had my first tire blowout. I was on the the way home from work and tried taking the freeway, and the car juddered violently. So, I decided it would be wiser to get off as quickly as possible. I took the roads home, and about nine miles from home, my front driver’s side tire burst about 7 p.m.

As you would expect, it was no coincidence that my car was within limping distance of a church parking lot…and even though there was no service that night, the gated lot was open and empty!

Frustration

I thanked the Lord for this safe haven, and then surveyed the situation:

• I had a bottle jack in the trunk to lift the car…but because of the flat tire, the car was too low to fit the jack under it!
• The church was closed, so no one was around to help. I found some wood and bricks to roll the car into to get it high enough to lift, which I did…and then remembered my tire wrench was at home!
• I walked across the street to borrow another driver’s tire iron…and it didn’t fit.
• Some friends came by to take me to a nearby convenience store to get a tire wrench…and it didn’t fit.
• It was getting dark.
• I was missing out on a little birthday party we were hosting at our house for the same friends I asked to come take me to the convenience store. I sent them on their way to enjoy it without me, and specifically instructed them not to wait up.
• I surrendered my male stubbornness and called for a roadside assistance driver for a tire wrench. The operator said the driver would arrive in 15 minutes. They arrived an hour later.
• I hadn’t eaten in over six hours, and was sweaty and jittery.

With all of those things happening, I could feel my flesh rising up…frustration, impatience, indignation, self-pity.

But when I sensed them trying to rise up, I looked up instead of looking within and thanked the Lord for all the blessings he put before me:

• My family was home safe
• I was safe in this lot, even with bright lighting once the sun started going down
• I had friends who were able to go out of their way to a party for them and take me without a grumble to a nearby station
• I had my health!
• I had technology in the palm of my hand to reach others and be reached…and could even give me things to read while I waited
• I had a God whose Spirit in me could check me when I was getting in my own way!

The very verse I featured at the top of this post is the one that came across my phone’s screen as I waited for the roadside assistance driver. Of course.

Greater is the one living inside of me

The context of the verse at the top of this post is about false teachers in the world who can fool you into wrong thinking…godless thinking.

That’s exactly how the world wants you to think. It’s all about you, and you don’t deserve any difficulties or hardships or trials. No, you are entitled! You work hard!

But the Spirit in us, as believers, is greater and stronger than all the falsehoods and false feelings the enemy wants to penetrate our minds and hearts with. In every moment, situation, and season, let the Spirit help you discern all His blessings, so you can rise above your circumstances, just as God intended.

Today’s soundtrack

“Greater” by MercyMe is about the spiritual battle that goes on daily, but reminds us that the One within us is greater than anything or anyone the world has to offer.

I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. -Isaiah 45:2 (NIV)

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. -Mark 11:24 (NIV)

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. -Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV)

Oh, how quickly we can forget His promises in discouragement. As soon as the waves go from rough to violent, we lose sight of the Lord and what He’s been telling us for hundreds of generations.

This happened to me the other day: I’d been praying and praying for a victorious outcome to a family matter, but hit a major snag in discussion of it. It was like the players weren’t even speaking the same language. (And yes, it did remind me of the Tower of Babel, building up in the wrong direction!)

After the discussion, I felt like everything was going wrong, like I was lost at sea. I was frustrated and angry that we’d arrived at such a disharmonious point. I actually felt we were doomed and trapped in a bad place.

So I had to stop and back up. I knew I was getting wrapped up in emotion. I looked up from the pit I’d dug for myself and looked skyward, and asked:

What is it you want me to learn from this, Lord?

God is so good and gracious. He didn’t have to answer me, but He did. He said:

If you truly believe, per My Word, that what you pray for will come to pass, then why get upset over what is happening right now? To not believe that I will deliver on I have promised is an affront to Me.

And he reminded me that every faithful, obedient step you take—even a rocky, painful one—moves you closer to answered prayers.

It’s not over. Far from it. The steps you’re on are getting you there. Never mind the rough places or seemingly impassable bronze doors. He will shatter things in your way. All you have to do is walk by faith and in obedience. And part of that walk is believing that, just as He promised, what you pray for will come to pass.

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. -Galatians 6:9 (NLT)

Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. -Psalm 126:5-6 (NIV)

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 (NIV)

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. -1 John 4:4 (NIV)

Fellow agent and traveler,

This world and its leader, Satan, will grind you under the heels of their boots…but only as long as you believe their deception. The truth of the matter is, you are not under anyone’s authority but the Lord your God. Satan and this world will deceive and distract you enough to lose sight of it and live in the flesh…and your flesh is extremely vulnerable to their messages.

I can attest that it is very easy to trip up when you’re constantly being bombarded and worn down with lies, false accusations, and everything Satan has in his playbook to trip you up. He would love to cause you so much grief that you would give up…to take your eyes off of God and think, “why me?”

But what you’re doing when you walk in the face of a firestorm, which sizzles when it hits your tears, is sowing seeds that the Lord will use to grow an amazing harvest of blessings ahead. Each tear you sow, God collects and grows for you. Each tear sown is to His glory.

It’s a grueling trek. It’s painful. It would be easier to even doubt that this is the best way to go. Be assured that the more you walk with God, the more the deceiver will attack you. Take this as a sign that you’re on the right track.

Why?

Because this trek is a constant climb upward to God. The higher you go, the more the enemy will want to send you crashing down to where he rules. And he has your number: He knows your weaknesses, and prowls like a lion (1 Peter 5:8). So what do you do?

Be vigilant and shore up your weaknesses. If you feel tempted to lose your cool, or give up out of discouragement, or doubt God’s promises, stop and regroup. Satan is chiseling at your heart and mind. The longer you stray down these decoy alleys, the longer the enemy will chip away…and he will eventually crack you.

Don your armor. Learn where you weaken, and call on Jesus whenever you need to. There is power in His name, and the devil cannot dwell where you utter His name.

To God’s glory, never give up. The heat is on because you’re headed in the right direction. God will carry you through it, and you will stand stronger on the other side, in a field of His blessings.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. -2 Corinthians 4:8-9

There are days, and weeks, and seasons, when we feel shattered and smashed and decimated by life. It may be people or circumstances. It may be both that combine to make life seemingly unlivable.

But let me tell you, fellow agent, that as I write this, I am going through the toughest trial I have ever faced. One day I will share them as a testimony to His unrelenting mercy and steadfastness.

Till then, watch as I chronicle my journey in Christ here. The words I put to this blog are what He shows me each day as He carries me through the rockiest, darkest valleys and the highest, gleaming mountaintops. As you walk with me, you can witness His work in me. I take no credit for it. He has His reasons for our journeys, and we will look back and be stronger and more Christlike for it. All glory and credit go to the Lord!

So take heart, true believer. Each of us suffers in unique ways. We each carry burdens and face trials we never planned on. But I testify to you now that with the maker of Heaven and earth carrying us through it all, especially when we cannot breathe or walk on our own, we are uplifted by the mightiest force of all. Through all circumstances, our hearts are filled with joy and strength and courage and hope and wisdom, if only we let Him carry us.

Today’s soundtrack

For King & Country’s “Shoulders” powerfully illustrates how He carries us on His shoulders:

On persevering prayer: “I look at a stone cutter hammering away at a rock a hundred times without so much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the 101st blow it splits in two. I know it was not the one blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” -Unknown

Do you give up easily when you don’t see the answers to what you pray for? Does that cause you to doubt the effectiveness of prayer, or that maybe the Lord doesn’t want you to have what you pray for?

The more we pray, the more Satan will tremble…and the more he will work to instill doubt and confusion about the things you pray for. The longer you pray for something, the longer he will try to tell you to give up, because you don’t see a result. Don’t let him win.

That quote above about the stone cutter really connected with me. It’s so easy to get discouraged in our “I want it now” culture that we sometimes feel like giving up and moving on to something else because we don’t see a result.

Yet you do not have because you do not ask. -James 4:2

Pray without ceasing, as Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to do (1 Thess. 5:17). Jesus Himself explains, through the parable of the persistent widow, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1).

As agents, as believers, we must believe in our hearts that He hears the cries of His children, and is working in the background to lay things out for us. We must truly know in our hearts that if we don’t pray, we’re not laying down tracks for His power to come our way.

Don’t lose heart. Think of the stone cutter. Each prayer is laying the tracks and preparing that stone before you to crack…but not if you stop.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. -Hebrews 11:1 (NASB)

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. -John 15:7 (NASB)

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. -1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV)

When you drive, long, straight roads are easy to drive. You just modulate the gas pedal and keep the wheel fixed.

But when you arrive at curves and corners, you learn to make adjustments. You have to look far ahead. Your alertness is heightened. You have the chance to learn when and where to brake, when to apply gas, and even how traction, weight transfer, and suspension systems work.

In life, we go down snaking, winding roads, sprinkled with straightaways.

I like to think of waiting on prayers as negotiating a blind curve in a car: we can’t see the end of the curve, so we keep looking ahead and maintain our course to hold the curve. God knows just how long the curve is in time and distance. Will we be as steadfast in holding the curve in prayer and belief that what we pray for will come to pass? Or will we give up because we can’t see the end in our shortsightedness?

We all want long, smooth straightaways, but taking on curves teaches us endurance, patience, trust, faith, and to welcome Him fashioning us during this amazing drive.

He will get you past the curve in His perfect will and timing, when all is ready and laid out for you…and you will also be prepared for it once you leave the curve. While you’re in the curve, give Him thanks and praise for preparing you and your way ahead of you, and hold on to His promises.

Don’t give up and pull over discouraged because the road isn’t easy, or because we can’t see the destination. Enjoy what He’s teaching you as you are negotiating the curve.

Joyce Meyer has a great devotional on when you think God’s timing is taking too long. Here’s an excerpt:

We spend a lot of time in our lives waiting because change is a process. Many people want change, but they don’t want to go through the waiting process. But the truth is, waiting is a given—we are going to wait. The question is, are we going to wait the wrong or right way? If we wait the wrong way, we’ll be miserable; but if we decide to wait God’s way, we can become patient and enjoy the wait.

Read the whole devotional »