No Matter What Mondays Archives - Page 72 of 89

God’s power and glory will remain forever {No Matter What Monday}

July 3, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

I love sunsets. (I love sunrises, too, but I prefer to be asleep when they’re happening.) The glorious colors spread over the horizon, as if God took a handful of paintbrushes and danced across the sky. When I look at a gorgeous sunset, I know two things are true: there is a Creator who makes beauty and the Creator is glorious.

And yet, these verses teach us that God’s glory is even greater than the glory of creation:

“Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end” (Psalm 102:25-27).

The heavens are the work of His hands, and they are glorious. But one day, He will change them like He’s changing His clothes. The creation we see now will pass away, but the Lord will remain.

So what does this mean for us on an ordinary Monday when we feel overwhelmed by the week ahead?

Created things – sunsets, people, nature, possessions – can be beautiful, glorious blessings in our lives. These same creations sometimes bring us pain and suffering. In either case, they will pass away.

The Lord is the one Who will always remain. His power and glory will never fade. Those gorgeous sunsets can remind us of this truth: we are loved by a glorious Creator who will never change. His years have no end.

No matter what you face this week, God’s power and glory will remain forever.

This devotional originally appeared on this blog in September 2016.

You Can Do Hard Things {No Matter What Monday}

June 26, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

The year was 1983. I sat in Mrs. Miller’s first grade classroom, facing an overwhelming task. With little six-year-old fingers, I painstakingly cut out 72 construction paper candles to assemble a birthday cake for President Reagan. It’s the first difficult assignment I remember having as a child, and it wouldn’t be the last.

Now we face grown-up challenges, don’t we? We struggle with our relationships, our work, our health, our finances, and our private wrestling with temptation, unbelief, fear, and doubt. God often gives us difficult assignments as we live as lights for Him in a world filled with sin, brokenness, and pain. But He does not leave us on our own.

In Philippians 4, Paul recalled hardships he faced as he carried out his assignment from the Lord. He was hungry and needy, and he suffered in humiliating circumstances. And yet, he found the secret to being content in these struggles. He wrote, “I can do all things through [the Lord] who strengthens me.”

You can do hard things. You can complete the difficult tasks God gives you. You can walk through a challenging relationship, career, illness, financial situation, or temptation and emerge on the other side looking more like Jesus.

Not because you’re amazing, but because your Heavenly Father is.

Not because you’re strong, but because He gives you strength.

Not because you look inside yourself and find the resources you need, but because the Spirit of God lives inside you.

You can do hard things because the Lord is strong and mighty, and He is with you in your struggles.

No matter what you face this week, you can do everything the Lord asks of you because of His strength.

God is Not Ignoring You {No Matter What Monday}

June 19, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

This week’s No Matter What Monday devotional is a special edition – I’m sharing today at the devotional website for Proverbs 31 Ministries. I hope you’ll head over there with me to read the entire devotional. Here’s a preview . . .

“Yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” Habakkuk 3:18-19 (ESV)

If our pediatric dental clinic keeps a Top 10 list of challenging patients, I bet my daughter is near the top. She can’t stand lying flat on her back while a stranger cleans her teeth with noisy tools. It doesn’t matter if Frozen is playing on the ceiling or if we promise her all the bouncy balls in the world. My girl hates going to the dentist.

Prior to one of these semiannual visits, my daughter repeatedly asked me to pray for her. We prayed over and over again for God’s help and peace, right up until the moment the hygienist prepared her instruments.

Then the cleaning started. My daughter realized that despite all her prayers, the experience was just as terrible as she feared.

That’s when she started screaming, “God isn’t helping me! God isn’t helping meeeeee!”

My daughter has something in common with the author of today’s key verse. Before Habakkuk’s declaration of trust in chapter 3, he questioned the Lord’s plans. Evil rulers oppressed God’s people, and Habakkuk wondered why God hadn’t intervened to rescue them.

“O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?” (Habakkuk 1:2, ESV)

Do these questions sound familiar? Do you feel abandoned in your suffering, like my daughter and Habakkuk? Have you cried out for relief from your struggles with your work, relationships, parenting or sin?

Maybe you’re weary from waiting for the Lord to intervene. You see suffering in this world and in your life and say with Habakkuk, “How long will you keep ignoring my struggle, Lord?”

Read the rest of the devotional at Proverbs 31 Ministries by clicking here!

Your Debt is Fully Paid {No Matter What Monday}

June 12, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

It’s happened to me twice now, and each time was surprising and impactful.

I’ve pulled up to the Starbucks window and found out that my (grande, non-fat, one-pump-caramel) latte was paid for by the driver in front of me. It feels strange to receive my drink without giving anything to the cashier. I accept the gift of a free latte because someone I don’t know paid the debt I owed.

It’s a beautiful picture of the Gospel. Romans 8:1 tells us, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Condemnation is not a word we like to discuss. But God’s Word is clear that we are all sinners, and our sin deserves God’s punishment.

So how can Romans 8:1 say there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? Has God decided to look the other way? Did He change His mind about sin? Is He just being nice?

There is now no condemnation because Someone else paid for our sin.

On the cross, Jesus took the punishment our sin deserved. God is fully satisfied with Jesus’s sacrifice and will not demand payment from those who are in Christ. Our debt has been paid. We freely receive the gift of God’s grace.

As we drink deeply of His grace, we are set free from trying to convince God and others that we’re good enough. We don’t have to keep looking around, hoping to be a little better than the next guy. We don’t have to keep striving, hoping the good works will outnumber the bad.

When Jesus took your punishment, He gave you His perfect, sinless record. If you are in Christ, when God looks at your life, He sees what Christ has done. You can walk in the joy and freedom of God’s grace.

No matter what you face this week, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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