In my studies today I came across a Daily Devotional that I would like to share with you and tell you how it affected me. My life is continually changing in ways that I never dreamed were possible. Some good, some not so good. But it is a process not an instant scratch off. That means it is ongoing. Here is the article:
Laying the Foundation of Courage
by Charles R. Swindoll
Read 1 Kings 17:1–7; James 5:17–18
EIijah had prayed that it would not rain and, ultimately, it did not rain for three and a half years. So the dried-up brook was just an indication that the very thing he had prayed for was beginning to take place. He was living in the result of his own prayer.
Have you ever had that happen? “Lord, make me a godly man.” “Lord, mold me into a woman after your own heart.” Meanwhile, in your heart you’re thinking,but don’t let it hurt too much. “Lord, make me stable, long-suffering, and gracious,” but don’t remove too many of my creature comforts. “Lord, teach me faith, make me strong,” but don’t let me suffer. Have you ever bargained with God like that? We want instant maturity, not the kind that requires sacrifice or emotional pain or hardship. “Lord, give me patience . . . and I want it right now!”
God’s spiritual boot camp doesn’t work that way. It is designed for our development toward maturity, not for our comfort. But self-denial is not a popular virtue in today’s culture.
A short time before Robert E. Lee passed into his Lord’s presence, a young mother brought her tiny infant to him. With tenderness, Lee took the child and held him in his arms, looking deeply into the baby’s eyes. He then looked up at the mother and said, “Teach him he must deny himself.”
The seasoned veteran knew whereof he spoke. As Douglas Southall Freeman writes, “Had his life been epitomized in one sentence of the Book he read so often, it would have been in the words, ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’ “¹
Our God is relentless. He never ceases His training regimens. He shaves off our hair, He takes away our comfortable and secure lifestyle, He moves us into cramped and unfamiliar quarters, and He changes our circle of friends—it’s like we’re in a spiritual boot camp!
In the process, He strips us of all our pride! And then He begins to lay the foundation blocks of heroic courage, and a new kind of confidence, if you will—the kind that no longer defends us but defends Him. What a magnificent change that is. And how essential in our journey toward maturity! Again, it’s all part of being cut down to size.
Have you done that? Asked God for something but only if the process wasn’t too painful? Did you put conditions on the prayer? Let’s face it people, even in real-time without our Father doing the changing, change does not come without something becoming different than what it is now. So if you pray for something to be different, get ready. God does not make deals. You may never hear Him say a word to that particular point. But trust me on this, GOD DOES NOT MAKE DEALS. Pray with purpose. We can be grateful for one undeniable statement….He will never forsake us. He does not start something that He does not intend to finish. So pray for change and then get ready for the most astounding changes to occur. Maybe not what you asked for but what He knows you require to get to the path that He has laid before you.
You Are Not the Only One 