Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

Nothing Can Separate You From God’s Love {No Matter What Monday}

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Nothing

I have planned my husband’s funeral countless times.

My husband is a perfectly healthy forty-something-year-old who has never been in a life-threatening situation that I’m aware of.

But sometimes he is late coming home from work.

When he’s late coming home from work, I start to think he’s dead on the side of the road.

And when I start to think he’s dead on the side of the road, I mentally plan his funeral. If he’s really late, I might even brainstorm some of the hymns we’ll sing.

Sometimes I try to make myself feel better by telling myself that surely he just got one more phone call on his way out of the office. But the reality is that I’m not guaranteed to grow old with my husband. Sometimes telling myself the worst won’t happen doesn’t quite calm my fears.

But one truth that can calm my fears is this: no matter what, nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. The matchless, unfathomable love of Christ is a guarantee I can cling to.

What are you facing this week? What are you afraid of? Can it separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus?

Filter your challenges and fears through this test:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:38-39

We face many losses in this life, and they are heartbreaking. But we will never face the loss of His love.

No matter what you face this week, nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

 

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We Never Suffer Alone {No Matter What Monday}

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Those who belong to Christ never suffer alone

No matter what you face this week, Christ walks beside you in your suffering.

In Daniel 3, God’s people are living as exiles in Babylon. Three of the Israelites, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, face a difficult choice between worshipping a golden image or being thrown into a furnace.

In the minds of these three men, the decision is a no-brainer. In fact, the confident manner in which they defy the king’s order to bow down to the idol sends him into a rage.

After the men are thrown to the flames, the king’s fury changes to confusion. “Wait a minute,” he says, “how many men did we throw into that furnace?”

A fourth man, whose appearance was “like the son of the gods,” walked with the three men in the furnace (Daniel 3:25).

We all know how this story ends: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are pulled from the furnace without even a scent of smoke on their clothes. But we know from experience that this type of deliverance isn’t always God’s plan for His people. Sometimes the flames feel like they’re killing us. We may not be pulled from the furnace until we reach heaven. So what can we take away from this story?

Dale Ralph Davis puts it this way in his commentary on Daniel: “Christ did not keep them out of the furnace but found them in it. He does not always shield you from all distresses and dangers, but it is in the loneliness, the betrayal, in the loss that the Fourth Man comes and walks with you.”

If you belong to Christ, you never walk through suffering alone. He has found you, and He will never leave you. Whatever you face this week, your Savior walks with you.

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God Can Be Trusted {No Matter What Monday}

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He who did not spare

 

No matter what we face this week, God can be trusted.

 

Os Guiness writes, “Christians do not say, ‘I do not understand you at all, but I trust you anyway.’ Rather we say, ‘I do not understand you in this situation, but I understand why I trust you anyway.’”

 

Can you say that? Do you understand why you trust God even when you don’t understand what He’s doing?

 

God has proved His trustworthiness in many ways—in our lives, in His Word, and in history. The ultimate demonstration of His trustworthiness was the Cross. God made the greatest sacrifice to meet our greatest need: He gave His Son for the salvation of sinners. He proved that He will go to any lengths necessary to meet the needs of His beloved children. Therefore, we can trust Him.

 

Our trust wanes and falters at times, doesn’t it? I know mine does! I’m thankful that my hope is in God’s unchangeable character, not my own fickle faith.

 

We may not trust perfectly or even feel like trusting at all. But we can cling to our understanding of God’s character, even when we don’t understand our circumstances.

 

He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 

Romans 8:32

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