We cannot love the fresh and new above the steadfast and lasting. We cannot adore flaws and disorder above perfection and order. For, we find in God neither change nor flaw. 

I think that the best way to move forward with Jesus is to remember His goodness. When we have weak times, seasons, or moments, we need to remember to embrace His goodness — not the negativity or dullness that we can feel. When we accept Jesus’ goodness, it’s highly honoring to Him.

These examples of God’s power remind us that our lives are not in our hands, but we live at the behest of a God who has a plan for His world. Nothing can thwart the almighty God. We can rest assured that the world is held in His mighty hands.

What we want is for the experience of the Person, Jesus, to connect with our lives — so that we are bringing our concerns, thoughts, challenges, and decisions to Him. In order to do that, we have to learn more about this Person through Scripture.

God is a Person we relate with in prayer. We speak and He moves in us and in our lives. We extend our hearts to Him, and He extends His. What a faithful God! He honors that we need guidance in this world. He honors that we need His help, His love, His reassurance, and more.

How does it “taste” to be so forgiven? It tastes glorious, peaceful, uplifting, emboldening. It tastes good. I believe that our inner spirits regularly need the boost of tasting and seeing that the Lord is good, especially because we live in a fallen world.

We are co-heirs with Christ, so we will reign with Christ. This is a significant aspect of the believer’s eternal hope. We can find rest in it. We will be fulfilled thorough the good work that God will allow us to do in all eternity, without any toil associated with that work.

We are also in a phase of imminent arrival of our dearest wishes and dreams coming true. Birth pangs of the world mean that the resolution to the hard matters of our lives will indeed come quickly. So, we need not focus on the pain, if at all possible. We can focus on the joy that is uniquely given to us through the Holy Spirit. And we can trust that all will be well soon.

We can fix our eyes on the beautiful image of Jesus we have in the Scriptures and tune our ears to His loving words toward us. Jesus will be glorified in His children. And He is highly glorified when we believe this love, this grace, this mercy — that these are real and never run dry.

This Christian walk is for daily faith. I love how this verse says we live: the righteous shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). And we do. Life is by faith. Righteousness is by faith, and life in the righteousness of Christ is good.

Will you consider what it would mean to treat everyone in your life like Jesus has treated you? I wouldn’t consider that I am worthy of the kind of consideration that I wish were mine. Instead, I would consider others more highly than myself always.

Consider that He saved you from your sins because He wants you. Simple, right? But true. He wants you – you the person – for Himself. It’s a sweet and marvelous reality. He wants to know you and be known by you. He loves you the person. And we love Him, the Person.

One’s approach to helping another person can influence whether the weaker person rises versus feels diminished—whether the weaker moves forward versus becomes stagnant.

In our prayer to Him, we pray in one direction, raising our hearts to the One above us. We confess in prayer that we are not above God, as if we could sway Him by our goodness or control Him with our anger, sorrow, or determination. No, the raising of the heart implies the confession and acknowledgement of our true state before Him—beginning with Him being God, and us not. Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Ranta Images