A youth ministry initiative by RBC Ministries
where you can find devotionals and resources for youth.
A youth ministry initiative by RBC Ministries
where you can find devotionals and resources for youth.
June 11, 2008
If you sense your faith is unraveling, go back to where you dropped the thread of obedience.
READ: Micah 6:6-8
What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? —Micah 6:8
I once heard interviews with survivors from World War II. The soldiers recalled how they spent a particular day. One sat in a foxhole; once or twice, a German tank drove by and he shot at it. Others played cards and frittered away the time. A few got involved in furious firefights. Mostly, the day passed like any other. Later, they learned they had just participated in one of the largest, most decisive engagements of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. It didn’t feel decisive at the time because none had the big picture.
Great victories are won when ordinary people execute their assigned tasks.
When followers of Ignatius (1491-1556) endured periods of futility, he always prescribed the same cure: “In times of desolation we must never make a change, but stand firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which we were the day before the desolations.” Spiritual battles must be fought with the very weapons hardest to wield at the time: prayer, meditation, self-examination, and repentance.
Perhaps you sense you’re in a spiritual rut. Stay at your assigned task! Obedience to God—and only obedience—offers the way out of our futility.
— Philip Yancey
Source: Our Daily Bread
Filed under Our Daily Bread and tagged with obedience, Perseverance.
My friend and I agreed that our relationship with God isn’t a constant “high” but like a Sine graph with peaks and troughs. After encountering Christ, there’s a “high” in our spiritual life. We’re in-tune with the Lord. We’re so excited. We’ve passion ignited in our hearts to do His will. But often there’s a “down” phase too. We face hardships spiritually and even feel distant from God. It’s easy to feel lost, wondering what God is doing in our lives. Having been through our own spiritual hard times, my friend and I concluded that these seemingly “down” seasons are intended by God. Our faithfulness to the Lord is tested, like the Israelites in the desert. Through it, we learn to trust God and persevere in seeking Him. At all times, trust God and press on! Take heart, His work will be accomplished!