What We Need To Get Us Through What We Are Going Through... That We’ve Never Been Through Before

Many times… more times than I can count, I have read, quoted, prayed and preached the encouraging promise in Philippians 4:19: “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”. Most of the time, that promise is referenced in relation to monetary needs. Many of you reading this devotion today have experienced the fulfillment of this promise over and over… for our God is a mighty God -- a faithful God is never slack concerning any of His promises. Yet, God’s promise to meet our needs is not limited to financial situations. God’s promise to meet all our needs includes what each of us need to get through what we are going through.

• We Need Confidence. A global pandemic; stay at home orders; a collapsing economy; food shortages and concerns of a second wave of Covid-19 has shaken the confidence of millions of people. We dare not place our confidence in political parties, possessions nor economic projections. Proverbs 3:26 says, “The Lord will be your confidence”. Our confidence is in Jehovah God who never falters, fails, or forsakes us. As we walk through what we’ve never been through, we choose to place our confidence in our God who is not remote, removed, distant or detached… He Is Ever Present. “God is our Refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.” (Psalms 46:1).

• We Need Courage. Courage and confidence are similar, yet different. Confidence is an inward believing that governs our perspective on the past, present, and future. Whereas, confidence is about perspective, courage is about decisions and actions. Many people have been immobilized by all that has taken place in recent weeks. Courage is not the absence of fear—it is action, in spite of fear. One rendering of 2 Timothy 1:7 is: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of courage, love and confidence.” As God’s people we are driven by faith rather than fear. The spirit of courage resides in each of us. With confidence and courage, we walk in God, through that which we have never walked through.

• We Need Counsel. We dare not base our decisions on the latest news. On Facebook, views and values vary from person-to-person and post-to-post. There is no shortage of opinions among family and friends. Peace or pandemic… life goes on and decisions have to be made. Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way that SEEMS right to man, but the end thereof is the way of death”. We need the counsel of God! James 1:5 says that God gives wisdom to those who ask. David said, in Psalms 119:104, that the precepts of God give us understanding. It is not the tide of public opinion or practice that determines our decisions—WE HAVE THE COUNSEL AND WISDOM OF GOD that comes from His Word and His Presence!

Hear me today, the confidence, courage and counsel that comes from God, will get us through what we are going through that we’ve never been through before.