Monthly Archives: January 2014

In the Hard Times

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Hard-Times-Grey-Fisted1None of us like tough times or challenges.  None of us like times of trial, or times of worry, or times of stress.  These are all times that we turn away from, times we we don’t like, times we great, and yes, even times that will haunt us and stay with us for a long while.

There are times in our life that are so hard, that literally feel like days, months, or years of our lives are wasted and gone, time we will never get back, time that is gone for us.  These times trial can cause us to even think that God is not there, that we have failed, that our faith is crushed.

You may be going through a tough time right now, and that’s how you feel.  You may be going through a hard time right now, and you’re wondering, where is God, how is this going to get better, how is this going to change, how can I keep going?

Today, listen to the words of James 1: 2-4.  This time of trial may be a great blessing to you, believe it or not:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Count these times joy.  I know it doesn’t sound right. I know it doesn’t even make sense. But it’s true.  These tough times, they will make us strong. They will make us better.  We will grow.  We will find our way.  We will find that God is there.

See, that’s the thing that I’ve come to realize about times of trial.  We feel like God’s not there. We all feel that way. But what we come to find out, in time, is that it is God that is carrying us.  It is God that is giving us the strength to keep going.  It is God that is pulling us forward, holding us close, giving us strength.

No matter how hard the challenge is today, God is with you.  Know that. Remember that.  Don’t give up.  Don’t give up.  Don’t give up.

Even if you don’t feel it, God is there. Don’t give up.

For this time of trial, it will grow you.  It will change you.  It will make you better.  It will.  Believe that. Keep going.

Even in the hard times.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phone

Something New

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lets-try-something-new-daytobeyou-com1The Bible always tell us that God is doing something new. Something big.  Something that we probably won’t be able to even understand.

That’s what God does.  He always does something huge.

And so, as we stand, one foot in this new year, what new and big thing does He want to do in your life?  What resolution have you started, that day two into it, you are already a little wishy-wash on? What life changing thing do God want to start right now, this instant, this moment?  God is wanting to do something big.  Listen to the words that were said by John the Baptist when he saw Jesus for the first time in John 1:29-30:

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’

The Lamb of God that takes away the sins the world.  Takes away the sins of the world. Takes away the sins the world.

That is what God longs to do, not just for me and for you, but for the entire world.  Take away our sins. Start over. Start fresh. Begin again.  Begin a new.

God wants to take away your sins.  Do you really grasp that?  In a world that remembers and holds onto and lets go, never  forgives, God wants to take away your sins.  And the sins of the world.

What is that something new that you can start in this new year?  How about this?  Let go.  Let go.

Let Him do what He wants to do.  Let Him take away your sins.  Let Him let you start over.

Let’s try that

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phone

A Prayer for the New Year

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john-wesley-1Yesterday I shared with you a prayer from Rev. Billy Graham for New Year’s Eve. Today, I’d like to share a prayer with you from another of my spiritual heroes, John Wesley. While Wesley didn’t write this prayer, he did use it, and encouraged others to use it as a prayer and a covenant to begin each New Year.

It’s a prayer that I dearly love, and one that I try to read again, at the beginning of each New Year, as a reminder of what really counts and is important.

Please join me this year, in doing our very best to give all that we are, each day, the Gracious Lover of our Souls.

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.

My this covenant prayer be our desire each new day.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phone