Weekly Devotional

1 Peter 5:10  And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

As the Devotional from last week about prayer, I thought it would be good to talk about prayer and the way god may answer our prayers. We all tend to pray for God protection over those we love, for certain outcomes, some self-growth, and for guidance or help in certain situations. This is normal. So does this sound like a prayer you might’ve prayed: “Lord I pray for strength for…. Give me wisdom for…. Or even lord give me peace”. Now, think about how God has answered these prayers. I know for me sometimes it exactly how I expected him to answer and sometimes it is through a trial that I find what I was praying for. It seems that peace is easily given when I have asked for it. However, it is the more self-growth prayers that I am met with the trials. Once I make it through the trial, that is when I find what I was praying for.

            For wisdom prayers, he gives us a trial that teaches us the meaning of what wisdom is and how to obtain it for the future. Likewise, when we ask for the courage to face the fear of starting something new, he teaches us how to calm our soul though prayer and being close to him. Then, we are able to face the unknown with knowing through our faith that he is with us, and he never gives us more than we can handle. As we go through lent and get closer to easter, we can look at what Jesus had felt up to the point of his death. He felt fear, disappointment, sorrow, and many other human emotions. This is how he showed us what it meant to be human. As it got closer and the emotions got harder, he gave us the example to follow when we are faced with our trials, and that is to pray. Pray with cries of not wanting to go through the trial, but then pray for the wisdom to know that what we are going through is to be what he intended for us to go through, and lastly, pray for the peace and courage to overcome the fear to take the steps into the unknown knowing that God has a plan and a reason for putting the trial in your path. So, I will you with a quote that has helped me through overcoming fear.

 The greatest things in life are on the other side of Fear – Will Smith

So, the verse for the week as we go through our trial is to find peace from Jeremiah 29:11-13

Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”