“Life seems overwhelming,” a gracEmail subscriber says. “I don’t know how I can handle another day.”
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3. REST IN GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY (Matt. 11:20-30). Some cities which saw most of Jesus’ miracles still did not believe in him. Jesus’ response was a joy-filled heart and a prayer to God — who is always in charge and whose work will never be defeated. When your agenda crashes and your hopes and plans fail, rest in the knowledge that God has an eternal purpose, and that no one will ever thwart his master plan for the salvation of all those who rely on him.
4. SEEK GOD’S PRESENCE (Matt. 14:12-13). When word came that John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, forerunner and friend, had been beheaded, Jesus went out in a boat to a lonely place by himself, apart from all human company. From these times of intimate communion with the Father, Jesus drew strength and direction for his messianic task. The same guidance and power is ours also, if we will seek and receive it, for the work God has entrusted to us.
5. TRUST GOD’S FAITHFULNESS (Matt. 26:36-44; 27:46). In the Garden of Gethsemane and again on the cross, Jesus entrusted himself to the Father’s keeping — confident even in his godforsakenness that death would not have the final word. Sometimes, life reveals no answers, no solutions, no escapes. But God is always faithful, and we can always entrust ourselves to his care with full confidence and without any equivocation or reserve. The last chapter has not yet taken place. When it does, we will see that God is faithful and that our trust in him was never in vain.