Don't Lose Heart

Rushing through the airport, running and dodging people, hurrying to get to your gate before the plane departs, arriving only to find you missed it! Oh man!!! Or how about, driving in an unknown city, trying to find your destination. The GPS is giving directions, but somehow you miss the turn. Now all you hear is "Recalculating, make a u-turn!". Perhaps you've had to take detours because of road construction. No matter what type of dilemma you encounter when trying to reach your destination, anxiety and frustration can set in. Trying to get to a specific location, only to experience delays, mishaps, or plain and simple miscalculations is very challenging. This type of confrontation in daily activities can be disconcerting. Yet to have it occur in our spiritual life is even more exasperating. 

Being on a set path toward the plan or call of God for our life can get interrupted. We all know 'life happens'. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 3:8-9 of his 'encounters', "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed, we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed." His experiences in the face of danger didn't deter his completing the mission. It's easy to become distracted or off track in our course. Hurt feelings, troubling news, or pressure situations can deflect us, causing us to get sidetracked.

You or someone you know might be confronted with an intense dilemma. But the key to overcoming them, is to not lose heart or focus on your destination! 2 Cor. 4:16-17 the Apostle said, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."  Regardless of what's going on in our life, we CAN remain steady and secure, even in the midst of turmoil and trouble. This situation we're in, is temporary, what is happening is "helping us gain an eternal glory. That eternal glory is much greater than our troubles" (vs. 17 ERV). 

We must keep our eyes on Jesus and the Word! They are never changing, keeping us grounded and balanced.  2 Tim. 3:16 (ERV) "All Scripture is given by God. And all Scripture is useful for teaching and for showing people what is wrong in their lives. It is useful for correcting faults and teaching the right way to live."   Allowing feelings to influence us to make wrong choices only gets us deeper in darkness. Can you hear the Holy Spirit saying, "Recalculating, make a u-turn"? Because emotions can sway us, meditating on God's Word will strengthen our faith.  

Also God has placed people in your life to speak encouragement. Don't disregard their conversation. And the lives of men and women of faith that have gone before can inspire you to be unshakable. Heb. 12:1 says, "We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall."

Child of God, you may have veered off the track for a minute, but don't allow it to cause you to be disheartened. It's time to quit thinking you're a loser and stop believing the lies of devilish thoughts. They don't govern who you are! Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back on course, pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ! Forgive yourself and ask God for forgiveness. 

Micah 7:8 "Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The Lord will be a light to me.

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