This month, in appreciation for your end-of-year gift, Joel would like to send you the new Hopes & Dreams 2024 Planner as our way of saying thank you for supporting the message of hope.
Today's Word: DEC 09, 2023
To abide in Christ means you’re connected to Him, you’re trusting in Him for all that you need. When you’re abiding, it takes the pressure off. Instead of focusing on what you can do, you’re focused on what God can do. You’re depending on His goodness, His favor, His power. As long as you’re striving in your own strength, you’re limited to what you can accomplish. The problem is that we all face difficulties and situations that are too big. No matter how hard we try, our strength, our effort, and our talent will not be enough. That’s why God said you can’t bear fruit by yourself. You can’t overcome that challenge, break the addiction, or accomplish your dream just with your own will power, your own hard work. You need power from on high. When you’re abiding, there is a force that breathes in your direction, a favor that opens doors that you can’t open, breaks chains that are holding you back, releases healing, creativity, and increase that will catapult you into your destiny.
If you want to pray with more confidence, know how to pray and when to pray, and know that God is truly hearing your prayers, this month’s ministry thank you is going to bless you.
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Sometimes we think we’ll get to a place where there’s no pressure, no people getting on our nerves, no traffic delays. We’re looking for a season when everything falls into place, there’s plenty of money in our bank account, we’re healthier than ever, and our children are making A’s. If we can just endure, we hope we’ll get to this utopia, this perfect place where we don’t have any more pressure. But the truth is that not all pressure is bad. There is healthy pressure. If you were comfortable all the time, you couldn’t reach your potential. If you didn’t face opposition and things you don’t understand that are not changing, you would never develop endurance, trust, and character. That pressure is getting you prepared. You have to face resistance to get stronger.
God will allow situations where we’re over our head, it’s taking longer than we thought, and we don’t know how it’s going to work out. He’s not making your life miserable; He’s providing opportunities to grow. That’s when you have to rely on Him. When you’re pressured, you learn to stretch your faith, to pray bold prayers, and to believe for what looks impossible. The pressure is causing you to get stronger. Quit fighting it and learn to embrace it. God wouldn’t have allowed it if He wasn’t using it to serve His purpose.
The apostle Paul says, “Let us rejoice in our trials, knowing that the pressure is producing unswerving endurance. Endurance develops maturity of character, and character produces joyful and confident expectations of God’s goodness” (Romans 5:3–4). Paul is saying, “If you see the pressure, the difficulties, and the setbacks the right way, if you stay full of joy and don’t get bitter, then that pressure is making you stronger. It’s doing something inside, getting you prepared for what God has in store.” God knows how to put on just the right amount of pressure so we don’t get complacent, we don’t put our faith on autopilot, but we keep stretching and growing.
Here’s the key: Pressure is going to produce either faith, hope, and endurance; or it’s going to produce discouragement, weakness, and “can’t do it.” My question is, What is the pressure producing in your life? Are you seeing it as negative, not fair, letting it defeat you? Have a new perspective. See it as healthy pressure. It’s there to help you grow, to stay fresh, to build your faith, and to release your potential. Keep doing the right thing when it’s hard, being at peace in the pressure, staying calm in the conflict. That pressure is about to launch you into a new level of your destiny.
READ BLOG ENTRYThere are things God has preplanned for you that He’s not going to let you miss. Sometimes, we think, “I made too many mistakes. I got off course. It’s too late now.” No, what God has purposed for your life is still going to come to pass. He put treasure in you. He didn’t take the time to plan your days before you were born, to line up everything you would need, to put gifts and talents, programmed to open at the right time, He didn’t go to all that effort and then decide you can miss your purpose.
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