THIS DAY, I WILL ARISE
Your adversary does not want to see you rise after a setback. He intends to keep you discouraged, questioning your purpose, and expecting another disappointment. When you return to prayer, apply God’s Word, and resume your responsibilities, you refuse to allow yesterday’s defeat to govern today’s decisions.
Yes, you have experienced a setback. Perhaps you invested time, effort, and resources into something which failed. Perhaps you prayed for a particular outcome, yet your circumstances moved in the opposite direction. The disappointment deserves acknowledgment, but you must examine what you have allowed disappointment to produce in your thinking. Have you stopped trying? Have you abandoned your responsibilities? Have you begun speaking about your future as though nothing will ever improve?
You must stop depending entirely on your own strength. Your determination has limits, and exhaustion will affect your judgment. God has never instructed you to face every challenge without His help. Bring your weakness before Him and begin reminding yourself of His Word.
First John 4:4 declares, “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Psalm 46:1 reminds us, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
These Scriptures deserve more than an occasional quotation when you feel overwhelmed. Consider what they teach. Your circumstances do not remove God’s presence. Your weakness does not exhaust His strength. Trouble does not prevent you from seeking His help.
When Paul wrote about doing all things through Christ, he described learning to endure both provision and lack. His confidence rested in Christ’s strength throughout changing circumstances. You need this same confidence when progress is slow, resources are limited, and your emotions urge you to abandon your efforts.
Why have you accepted defeat as your permanent condition when God’s Word gives you reasons to continue? Discouragement becomes especially harmful when you allow a temporary experience to shape every expectation. One failed attempt does not prove every future effort will fail. A delay does not excuse neglecting what you already know to do.
Examine your response to the setback. Learn where you need correction, seek counsel where you lack understanding, and take responsibility for the decisions within your control. Depending on God includes obeying His instructions. Prayer does not remove your responsibility to act.
This time, approach your challenges with the Word of God directing your response. Ephesians 6:17 identifies the Word of God as the Spirit's sword. Read the Scriptures, consider their meaning, and apply them to your conduct. When fear urges you to withdraw, ask what obedience requires. When anger urges you to respond recklessly, practice restraint. When discouragement tells you to neglect your responsibilities, complete the next necessary task.
Give attention to your words as well. If you repeatedly declare that nothing will improve, you reinforce the thinking that discourages further effort. Speak honestly about your circumstances while remembering what God has promised. You do not need to deny a problem to express faith. You need to stop treating the problem as more authoritative than God’s instructions.
Your words are not a way to control every outcome. They should express your trust in God and your agreement with His truth. Instead of declaring your situation hopeless, acknowledge your need for wisdom and commit to seeking His guidance. Instead of calling yourself a failure, identify what needs to change and begin making the correction.
Consider Job. After receiving devastating news, he grieved and worshiped God, as Job 1:20 records. His worship did not mean the losses were painless. Throughout his suffering, he expressed sorrow and asked difficult questions. Yet his distress did not erase his relationship with God.
You also have permission to grieve without abandoning your faith. Bring your disappointment before the Lord. Speak honestly in prayer, receive correction where necessary, and continue doing what is right while you await answers.
Let us pray.
Father, in the name of your Son Jesus Christ, restore my mind and help me focus on your Word as I face today’s obstacles. Forgive me for the times I have allowed disappointment to govern my decisions. Strengthen me where I am weary, correct me where I am wrong, and give me wisdom where I lack understanding.
Help me see beyond my temporary circumstances without neglecting my present responsibilities. Show me what requires patience and what requires immediate action. Where fear has delayed my obedience, give me courage to proceed. Where my decisions have contributed to my difficulties, help me accept responsibility and make the necessary changes.
Lord, guide my tongue. Teach me to express my pain without continually rehearsing hopelessness. Replace careless complaints with honest prayer, gratitude, and words grounded in Scripture. Help me speak in agreement with your promises while submitting my desires to your will.
Give me the resolve to worship you during hardship, as your servant Job did. When events move in the opposite direction of my desires, keep me faithful. Help me bring my questions to you without withdrawing from prayer or abandoning obedience.
Expose the habits which keep me from completing my responsibilities. Help me distinguish genuine exhaustion from avoiding necessary work. Give me wisdom to rest when needed and discipline to act when required. Teach me to use my time responsibly and finish the work before me.
THIS DAY, I WILL ARISE.
I will return to the responsibilities I have neglected and take the next step in obedience. I will confront procrastination, reject laziness, and challenge negative thinking with the truth of God’s Word. I will receive correction, seek wisdom, and keep trying even when progress requires patience.
I will pursue these changes through the grace, mercy, favor, strength, and Spirit of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My confidence rests in His help as I put His Word into practice.
Amen!
Written by: Kevin L A Ewing
ewinglakevin@icloud.com
kevinlaewing.blogspot.com
www.kevinlaewing.com
While it may seem as if absolutely nothing is happening for you, and it appears to be business as usual. Know for sure that the same God who has promised his children that "ALL THINGS" must work for their good is silently working behind the scenes, ensuring that all things will do just that, and that is, work for your good!
