Count It All Joy

Guess what, folks. I had a computer crash. We believe it was a hardware problem and so far I cannot retrieve any of the data I had on the previous drive. My tech is going to be working on it for a while and if he has no success, we will try sending it to someone who does data retrieval for a living. It has all my Bible notes, documents, and scads of other stuff valuable to me, including all the past devotionals on James. I uploaded most of my stuff on James to the website but stopped with the June ones I believe, so I am hoping I can get copies from my webmaster-and if he doesn’t have them, I may just ask my readers who could send me a copy of all the James devotionals. Meanwhile, we will wait and see if the data can be retrieved from the dead mother board.

Mother board indeed. Interesting name isn’t it? Notice how we folks attribute supervision and care to mothers. They are good at it, however, scripture tells us the greatest care giver and care taker is a Father and the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, even Jesus. Sometime I will explain why God the Son has God the Father as His God. But today we will go into a verse of scripture that is in Romans 8:28. "All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose."

First I have to praise God that all of you on my mailing list are on a server that keeps the mailing list for me. I don’t have you people at all on my computer. So this is a reason to praise the Lord. Another reason I praise the Lord is He is worthy to be praised anyway. He is still in control, despite what I believe to be Satan’s attempts to throw a monkey wrench in the works. Read the following from an email devotional I got from a lady in our church just yesterday. .

"STOP ALLOWING YOURSELVES TO BE…DISTURBED." JOHN 14:27 AMP

You’re doing it to yourself

So often we use our faith to try and remove things that don’t feel good, or that we don’t like, instead of using it to go calmly through the storm. Jesus said, "Stop allowing yourselves to be…disturbed!" You’re doing it to yourself! The only power worry has over you is the power you give it. Stop allowing circumstances to steal your peace every time you turn around!

Jesus rebuked the disciples because they lost their peace in the storm (See Mk 4:40). He didn’t lose His; He was asleep in the back of the boat. Where are you today? Resting with Jesus in the back, or panicking with the disciples in the front? Fear takes over when:

(1) You forget what God has told you! Listen, "Let us go over to the other side" (Mk 4:35 NIV). Once Jesus had spoken those words there wasn’t a big enough wave to take them under. What has God told you? Anytime you’re doing that, rest assured you can’t go under.

(2) You forget who’s in the boat with you! Before the night was over the disciples were asking, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" (Mk 4:41 NIV). The Lord has permitted this storm to show you that:

(a) you don’t have a problem He can’t solve;

(b) you may be powerless in the situation, but He’s not;

(c) through this experience you’ll come to know Him in a way you’ve never known Him before.

By: Bob Gass - Printed copies of "The Word for Today" are available free from UCB,
PO Box 255, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 8YY, England

You notice (a)? You don’t have a problem He can’t solve. God can solve my problem and I believe He will. Notice (b)–you may be powerless in the situation, but He’s not. Halleluhia! Praise the Lord! You see God is in control. He is in the boat with me and there is nothing He can’t handle.

What if my information on that dead mother board is not retrievable? Well, praise the Lord anyway! Why, because if it does not get retrieved, then God has a reason to allow that to happen. Yes it will mean hours of work, but at least I have printed copies of the very most important data and some of the rest are still on floppy disks. But I will definitely back up the stuff on cds and floppys regularly from now on.

But no matter what happens, this event will work for my good. We will see how over the next week or so. Now even though I have had a bad feeling about this, I am not going to base my faith in God answering my prayer on this feeling. That is not basing my faith on fact. The Bible says if I abide in Him, and He in me, I can ask what I will and it will be done. But I must believe, trust, be convinced of the truth of Jesus’ statement. For if I doubt, as James said, I won’t receive. Jesus also pointed out you must believe, trust, be convinced of-and not doubt. I can already feel the peace of God just seeping into me. That is because I have chosen to believe, trust, be convinced of receiving the answer to my prayer. And it is also because I have been obedient to make that choice that I have been receiving peace even as I write this. As a matter of fact, joy is welling up inside me. Know what folks? Everything may have happened just so I can practice "counting it all joy". Remember what Paul said about every circumstance? "I am content" in whatever situation I am in. He stated this in the book of Philippians. There is also a verse in 1 Thessalonians 5 that says "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." So in this situation I am giving thanks to my God because doing so is God’s will. Eph 5:20 says "always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father." (RSV).

So folks, I thank God for this all happening. I don’t know all of what is going on that it should happen, but God does and He is my shield and my rock, the floor beneath my feet, and my high tower to run into.

Brothers & Sisters, are you thanking Him today? Are you giving thanks for all things, in all situations? Or are you mumbling, grumbling, worrying over all the things that don’t go along with your plans or don’t work the way they are supposed to? Give yourself an attitude check. See if God sees an attitude and frame of mind in you that is not what He likes and set about changing it if there is anything wrong. In other words, if there is something-some attitude or behaviour-or even some belief that doesn’t fit what God says-then go ahead and repent. Confess and ask forgiveness of your missing of the mark and change to the right attitude, etc. You will be so blessed when you do. Nothing is greater to experience-I think- than the peace of God. Let His peace guard your hearts and minds this week, and let it send up the flags and pay attention to those flags so that His peace can continue to guard your heart and mind. God bless you all this weekend. The Good News Lady