I went to a Christian concert on Sunday night, it was in a church so it felt more like a church service than a concert in many ways, we prayed, we sang, and we prayed some more. The singer was talking about how Bible verses that we hear in different times of life hit us in different ways. A verse that you have heard a thousand times, finally sinks in.
His father is a pastor and made him recite Philippians 4:13 every day before getting out of the car. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I have heard that so many times, from people, in songs, on plaques and water bottles, but it does not always sink in. As the night wore on, we kept coming back to it, over and over. At the end the singer pointed out that we had been praying and meditating on that verse for literally hours. That’s a powerful statement, in a room with hundred of people I didn’t know, I felt very connected to God.
A long time ago I remember one of my friends said that was her favorite verse. I was with her yesterday and we were talking about all of things swirling about in our lives, most of which we have no control over. She said something interesting. “When it looks like it’s all a mess, praise God anyway. Praise God for the stress, praise God for the problems, praise God for it all. ” How does that go?? Does it work? She assures me that it does.
It makes sense really. If God is there in the happy times, he is also there in the challenging ones. The challenges are thrown in as a bonus test, do you keep believing or think that God has abandoned you? God doesn’t abandon us and if I don’t believe when times get tough, I don’t have faith.
Today, ask God to bless and thank him for whatever mess you find yourself in today. If there is no mess, then thank him for that. If you need to borrow a verse to help remind you that you can do whatever is in front of you that doesn’t look possible….Philippians 4:13 comes to mind. Or, if you have a favorite verse, leave it in the comments below!
