Short and Sweet: Hope, Wait and Pray

Short and Sweet Nourishment for the Soul

” … rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer …”

Romans 12:12

I like lists. You may already know that about me. I often start my day with a list of things to accomplish … complete with allotted times. It gives me great satisfaction knowing what to do and when to do it. That’s why I like Bible verses like Romans 12:12. It gives me three things to do, it tells me when to do them AND how to do them.

What to do when you’re hoping – rejoice!

Why can we rejoice in hope? Because we worship the God of Hope – therefore we always have hope. No situation is beyond God’s reach.

Are you sick? He’s the healer. Jehovah Raphe

Are you lost? He’s the God who sees you. El Roi

Are you in need? He’s the God who provides. Jehovah Jireh.

Are you neck deep in sin? He’s the God who washes away sin. Jehovah Tsidkenu.

Biblical hope is different than worldly hope. With worldly hope, you hope something will happen. With biblical hope, you have hope because something will happen. Whatever your need, God sees you and He’s at work. He is your hope. So start rejoicing!

What to do when you’re facing tribulation – be patient!

Since we can rejoice because we always have hope, we can also be patient in tribulation. I usually define the word patient as someone who controls their temper and frustration. In Greek, however, the word patient means to tarry, to wait, to remain behind. To wait for what? For God to act. Instead of trying to work a frustrating painful situation according to your will, wait for God to work it according to His perfect will. Everyone wins.

While we’re hoping and waiting for God to move, He gives us a job …

Continue steadfastly in prayer.

Don’t forget – while you have all this hoping and rejoicing and waiting going on, cover it all continually and steadfastly in prayer. The KJV of continuing steadfastly in prayer is “continuing instant in prayer.” I love this definition. Every moment is the right moment to continue in prayer.

This instant.

No matter what you are doing.

Pray.

Action Points

How can you actively rejoice over a current hope you are waiting for?
How can you show God you are waiting for Him to move in a current trial? What can you do to show Him you are waiting for Him and His will? What do you need to stop doing to show Him you are waiting for Him and His will?
Pray! Pray over your hopes, your tribulations, your everything. Pray!

Life is sweet. Hope. Wait. Pray.

Short & Sweet: Credit, Please

Short and Sweet Nourishment for the Soul

“Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead …” Romans 4:20-24

Righteousness. I had none.

Not one leaf, not even a filthy rag of righteousness. My sin was ever before me. Where does a woman like me go to get righteousness … ?

To Calvary.

To the Cross.

To the feet of Jesus.

The cross of Christ, flowing with the blood of Christ. One drop is all it took. One drop of His precious righteous blood and my filthy rags were washed as white as snow. Credit, please.

It was credited to him as righteousness.

In the Greek, the word credited is rich with meaning. (Ask God to prepare your heart to receive the meaning behind this Greek word). Logozimai means to account to impute, when a thing is reckoned as or to be something, availing as equivalent to something, to pass to one’s account.”

In layman’s terms, God makes a huge deposit of His righteousness into our empty account. It’s like getting an inheritance check in the mail. Not because we earned it, but because it’s credited to us. Free righteousness. No strings attached. Good credit, bad credit, no credit at all.

Words of righteousness.

Logozimai descends from the Greek word logos, which means words uttered by a living voice, (by a Living God), “the sayings of God.” Logos descends from the root word lego, which means to say, to speak, to call by name. Reread the definitions and let them fall on you for a minute.

On my knees. Tears flowing because of the righteousness flowing from the Word of God. The Word. Jesus is the Word. I see it. I put the pieces together. Righteousness flowing from the Word of God.

God’s righteousness cannot be separated from His Word.

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Righteousness by words.

Righteousness by the Word.

Righteousness by The Word of Life.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.

Like links in a chain, we are anchored to God by the righteousness that comes through The Word … Jesus. Righteousness credited to our name because of His name.

Credit, please.

Action Points

Receive God’s gift of righteousness.
How should a righteous person live, act and walk?
Now that you no longer have to strive for righteousness, what can you do instead?
What can you do differently now that you know you are accepted and redeemed by God?
Pray for God to help you realize the depths of your righteousness because of Christ.

Life is sweet.

Back to School: Test

To Do-ers List: Back to School, Test

“Please get out two sharpened number two pencils and a piece of scratch paper. Do not open your test booklet until I tell you to do so. Please look at Sample A. Please read Sample A to yourself as I read it aloud…”

Tests! Life seems to be full of tests – math tests, English tests, spelling tests and history tests. Don’t forget about the never-ending-fill-in-the-dot tests. As Christians we also undergo tests. Spiritual tests. Character tests. Circumstances and events that try our souls. Unlike school teachers, God doesn’t test us to learn what we know. He tests us so WE can learn what we know. Once we learn the truth about the contents of our hearts, we are able to seek God’s healing and restoration.

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” Malachi 3:10

Test Me in this.

There is an occasion in the Bible, however, when God asks us to test Him. “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty …”

The Teacher takes the test.

In fact, the Master Teacher longs for us to test Him. Why? So He can bless. The Hebrew word used for test in this verse is bachan, which means “to try, to prove, to lookout for, to watch.”

What kind of test are we to give God?

The giving test.

Giving.

Giving deep.

Giving till it hurts.

Out on a limb kind of giving where only God can pull it off. We give and what does God do?

God pours out.

” Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it…”

Funny. I have always approached this verse in a very self-centered manner. Prior to writing this study, I believed the verse read something like, “Give your tithe and I will pour out My blessing upon YOU.” I give my little sacrifice and God pours down blessings on little ol’ me. The one receiving my “sacrifice” benefits a little, while God pours His blessing down on me …

The verse doesn’t say that. It says, give your tithe, and

I’ll pour out My blessing so you’ll have even more to give – not more to keep.

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A continuous flow in the direction it was given–like the boy with the five loaves and two fish. He gave Jesus his boy-sized snack and ended up with lunch for 5000 … alfresco … plus doggie bags. Amazing. The blessing wasn’t just for the boy. Jesus poured forth blessing in the direction it was given, to feed the crowd. What would the boy have done with food for 5000? It would have spoiled. Hmm …

… I wonder what happens when we try to hoard our gifts?

For today: take the test.

God asks us to test Him by giving. Start by praying. Ask God to show you opportunities to give today. What shall we give? Our money? Yes, but not only our money, but

our time,
our talents,
our gifts,
0ur possessions and
any other thing we can think of.

Resources:

To help you organize your daily study and record your experiences, please download and print the following PDF, or download the journal app to your favorite Apple device.

To Do-ers List Study Guide PDF
Days Lite: My Wonderful Life App free app from App Store.

Other Resources:

Joyce Meyer: The Going Through Test

Chuck Swindoll: The Ultimate Faith Test

Don’t forget to comment on your experience in the comment section below! Choose your test for today and be a Doer of the Word. School is in session. Test!

We can’t wait to hear how your day went! Remember, God is waiting for His test.

Let’s do it!

if you need to catch up, click on the links below!

Day 1: New Clothes

Day 2: The Book

Day 3: Pack a Lunch

Day 4: Listen to The Teacher

Day 5: Study!

Day 6: Obey the Rules

To Do-ers List: Without Complaining

Bonus Day

To Do-ers List: Without Complaining

14 “Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. 16 Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.”

Philippians 2:14-16

24 “The people refused to enter the pleasant land,

for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them.

25 Instead, they grumbled in their tents, and refused to obey the LORD.”

Psalm 106: 24-25

It has taken me a while to figure out complaining is not a spiritual gift.

In Christian circles complaining is an acceptable sin. It is not as messy as other more shocking sins. Why is it so acceptable? Because everyone does it. Not everyone has a debt problem. Not everyone has an issue with addictive behaviors. Most of us don’t have an armed robbery conviction (all of which are forgiven and covered by Jesus), but EVERYONE complains.

On a daily basis.

Well, hourly.

Ok, it’s a way of life.

We rationalize: Complaining isn’t really that bad. Everyone does it. Millions of people can’t be wrong. Note: Complaining is not without consequence. It will produce a harvest, not of nutritious fruit, but of weeds and tares. Complaining is sin because it casts doubt on the goodness, wisdom, and sovereignty of God. We complain because in our pride we think we know more than God.

Complaining needs an audience.

The Greek word for complaining is goggysmos.

Goggysmos?

The word just looks like trouble, doesn’t it? I can imagine the following conversation:

How is your husband today?

Oh, he’s been very goggymos, I had to get out of the house!

Goggysmos means, murmuring, muttering, a secret debate, of the cooing of doves, of those who confer secretly together, of those who discontentedly complain. Study the definitions of goggysmos. Do you notice anything interesting? Complaining is a team sport.

One little complaint has the potential to loose an avalanche of grievances. To be completely honest … I must confess … sometimes I enjoy complaining. I like having a good grumbly story to tell my friends and then wallowing in the sympathy that is sure to follow.

Complaining affects our destiny.

Read Psalm 106 again. What did the Israelites do instead of entering the land God prepared for them? They complained.

They missed the Promised Land.

Instead of living the abundant life in God’s presence, they had to wander the desert. (Our God inhabits praise, not complaints Psalm 22:3). Complaining will keep us out of our Promised Land and hinder our walk with God. We will wander through life and miss God. We can believe or complain, but we can’t do both.

Once we decide to quit complaining and trust God, what do we do instead?

Instead of complaining, praise and pray.
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Praise Him for how He is going to work your tough situation for His will. Thank Him for how He is using this present pain and suffering to shape you into the image of Christ. Pray for Him to change to the one thing you can control in this trial, your attitude. God’s Word says to give thanks in everything, not because everything is good, but because God will use everything for good.

Hard things.

Ugly things.

Hideous things.

God will give beauty for ashes.

You may have reason to complain, but you do not have the right.

For Today:

Ok. This one is going to be hard. We can do this. No complaints. Not one. No bad words about anything or anybody-including ourselves! We have a choice: We can speak words of life or words of death into our situations. What will we choose? Thank God out loud for what He will do and how He is using annoying things to shape our character, thus our destiny. Remember, the book of James states our words act like the rudder on a ship, steering us to good lands or stormy seas.

Study Guides:

To help you organize your daily study and record your experiences, please download and print the following PDF, or download the journal app to your favorite Apple device. I’ve added a new graphic organizer today, Journal 101 (This one is my favorite. I use it often for Bible study and I LOVE it.)

Journal 101: Bible Journalgraphics
To Do-ers List Study Guide PDF
Days Lite: My Wonderful Life App free app from App Store.

Resources:

The Secret to Avoid Complaining

Don’t forget to comment on your experience in the comment section below!

If you are starting late, please access the first seven days of the study on the links below!

To Do-ers List Day 1: Love God

To Do-ers List, Day 2: Love Others

To Do-ers List, Day 3: Pray ’bout Everything

To Do-ers List, Day 4: Walk by Faith

To Do-ers List, Day 5: Word in Me

To Do-ers List: Day 6: Always Do Good

To Do-ers List: Day 7: Trust God

Be a doer of the word.

To Do-ers List: Trust God

Day 7

To Do-ers List: Trust God

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5

Whom do you trust?

When I was little, my sister, Carol and I used to play a game called Trust. To play Trust, two people stand one behind the other, both facing the same direction. The person behind (the catcher), puts out her arms and says fall. The person in front (the faller) closes her eyes, stiffens her body and falls straight back into the arms of the catcher. The catcher of course catches the faller, thus building a relationship of trust. Fall and catch again. Perhaps, you are wondering why we bothered to play such a predictable tedious game.

It gets better.

After completing round one, the catcher takes a step back and the process repeats.

After a while the game gets a little dicey … will she catch me?

The stakes get higher … will I hit the floor?

At some point in time a smart faller calls it quits. After all, you are only as safe as the one who is catching you.

(Uhh … one time I did drop my sister. It wasn’t my fault … my mother called me.)

In the game of life, God calls us to trust Him.

He is standing right behind us saying fall.

You lose your job … God says fall.

You receive news from the doctor … God says fall.

Your husband is transferred … fall.

Your marriage becomes stormy … fall.

Your child drops out of college … fall.

Trust God and fall into His everlasting arms.

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God is omnipresent. Because He is everywhere, at every time, all at once, He is always able catch you. It may seem He is stepping back, but He is never any closer to you at one moment than any other. Fall into His will concerning your new job, your move, your transfer, your sickness, your debt, your marriage, your singleness. You are as safe as the One who is catching you. Trust God.

Trust God with all your heart.

Read today’s verse again … with all your heart. Not part, but all. How well would you function with part of your heart, say only the right ventricle? Yet so many people try to. I know I have. I can trust God with my job, but my children?

Trusting God with part of your heart will leave you with a heart condition. Not healthy. You may sustain life, but you will never be able to run, soar, and live the abundant life with part of your heart. You will limp along in the shadows, living a half-hearted life. Trust God with all of it. He wants it all, every corner of your heart: relationships, career, school, friends, children, family, love, hate, hurt, blessing. He says fall and you let go. He’ll ask you to trust Him with more of your heart, bit by bit, until you finally trust God with all of your heart. Trust God.

A little warning.

Trusting God will not always make sense. Some people will think you’re crazy. Others will TELL you you’re crazy. You may lose friends over it. I have experienced all three. Trust God anyway. My greatest victories have come when I have listened to God and trusted Him, despite the voices of others.

Remember, God will never call you to do any thing which contradicts His Word.

For Today:

Take a moment and pray. Ask God to show you what areas or situations of your life you need to entrust to Him. Don’t hold back. If He wants you to speak, do it with all your heart. If He wants you to pray, do it with all your heart. If He wants you to reach out in a new way, trust God and do it with all your heart.

Use the To-Doers List Study Guide or a journaling app to plan and journal your day.

Note: the To Do-ers List Study Guide will greatly enhance your time with God.

To Do-ers List Journal Study Guide PDF
Days Lite: My Wonderful Life App free app from App Store.

For ideas on how to trust God, please check the resources below.

How Trusting God Can Transform Your Life by Joyce Meyer

Please take a moment to pray and ask God for His strength to do good to everyone you meet today (and the people you live with). Don’t forget to leave a comment in the comment section below. Have a blessed day!

To Do-ers List, Day 1: Love God

To Do-ers List, Day 2: Love Others

To Do-ers List, Day 3: Pray ’bout Everything

To Do-ers List: Day 4: Walk by Faith

To Do-ers List: Day 5: Word in Me

To Do-ers List: Day 6: Always Do Good

by Mary Kane

To Do-ers List: Always do Good

Day 6

To Do-ers List: Always do Good

15 “See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.

16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying.”

1 Thessalonians 5:15

There was a saying when I was growing up, “It’s payback time.” Eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth. If someone did something to you, you did it back to them and then some. It was the law of the street. One of the problems with paybacks, however, is they never end. The cycle of hatred churns and escalates.

Hatfield and McCoys.

Cain and Able.

Notre Dame and Michigan.

Do we even remember what we are fighting about?

God has a different idea.

Do good. Always do good. Instead of payback, pay-it-forward. Good for evil. Blessings replace cursing. Help instead of hate. Always do good.

Why?

Because that’s what God does; it’s who He is. It’s what He did for us. While we were yet sinners, Jesus died on the cross for us. We were enemies of God by our wicked works and He died for us. What if He had waited for us to do something GOOD until He did something good? He’d still be waiting while we spent eternity in hell.

What is good?

In the Greek, good translates as agathos, which means good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy, honorable, upright, excellent. Part of the word means sacrifice. To always do good, we must

sacrifice our right to be angry, our right to be hurt, and our right to be bitter.

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It’s part of the abundant life.

This one is hard for me. Really hard. I learned and lived by the law of the street. I can payback like the rest of ’em. It’s a wonderful witness when you convey a rude gesture and have a fish sticker on the back of your mini-van. I still struggle with it today. Why? Pride. I’m better. I act better. I think better. How dare you do that to ME. It’s ugly and sinful. But, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, I’m making progress.

Long time ago I came across the following maxim:

Satan repays good with evil;

Man repays evil with evil and good with good;

God repays evil with good.

Always do good.

It’s a choice we make … to love instead of hate, to bless instead of curse, to always do good. We were created in the image of God. Like Father, like daughter. He is good; therefore, we must always do good.

For Today:

Today will be tough. Look for ways to do good to those who aren’t good to you. Doing good to another can be a kind deed, graceful words, or prayerful thoughts. Look to do good to everyone, regardless of how they treat you. Do we always do good because others deserve it? No, we always do good because it’s the right thing to do.

Use the To-Doers List Study Guide or a journaling app to plan and journal your day.

To Do-ers List Journal Study Guide PDF
Days Lite: My Wonderful Life App free app from App Store.

For ideas on how to always do good, please check the resources below.

Overcoming Evil with Good

If you missed a few days, you can catch up by clicking the links below.

Short and Sweet: Hope, Wait and Pray

What to do when you’re hoping – rejoice!

What to do when you’re facing tribulation – be patient!

Continue steadfastly in prayer.

Action Points

Short & Sweet: Credit, Please

Righteousness. I had none.

It was credited to him as righteousness.

Words of righteousness.

Action Points

Back to School: Test

To Do-ers List: Back to School, Test

Test Me in this.

What kind of test are we to give God?

God pours out.

For today: take the test.

Resources:

Other Resources:

To Do-ers List: Without Complaining

Bonus Day

To Do-ers List: Without Complaining

It has taken me a while to figure out complaining is not a spiritual gift.

Complaining needs an audience.

Complaining affects our destiny.

For Today:

Study Guides:

Resources:

**If you are starting late, please access the first seven days of the study on the links below!**

To Do-ers List: Trust God

Day 7

To Do-ers List: Trust God

Whom do you trust?

In the game of life, God calls us to trust Him.

Trust God with all your heart.

A little warning.

For Today:

Use the To-Doers List Study Guide or a journaling app to plan and journal your day.

Note: the To Do-ers List Study Guide will greatly enhance your time with God.

For ideas on how to trust God, please check the resources below.

To Do-ers List: Always do Good

Day 6

To Do-ers List: Always do Good

God has a different idea.

What is good?

Always do good.

For Today:

Use the To-Doers List Study Guide or a journaling app to plan and journal your day.

For ideas on how to always do good, please check the resources below.

If you are starting late, please access the first seven days of the study on the links below!