MPC LENTEN DEVOTIONS

The last two years have been unprecedented for several reasons. First, a global pandemic that has claimed more than 6 million lives and infected close to 500 million people has forever changed our lives in one way or another. This created a shortage of everyday items no one would have imagined. Remember trying to find toilet paper? It also created a supply chain backlog that is just beginning to ease; affecting everything from cars, to toys to bridal wear.

We were angered by the deaths of Ahmaud Arbury, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor and marched to ignite a long-overdue national awareness that Black Lives Matter. And now just four months into 2022, we have suffered through yet another COVID outbreak, with a possible new one on the horizon; the unjustified invasion and attack on a European country and rising inflation resulting in your monthly gas budget possibly exceeding your car payment.

 Of course, you worry. How can you not, right?

We have been conditioned all our lives to take control. “If it going to be, it’s up to me”, right? Well, If nothing else, these last two years have shown us we are not in control.

So instead of worrying, Worship! When we worship we change our focus from our issues and concerns to God, and who he is.

Our God is omnipresent. He is everywhere which means he is with you. Not, just sometimes or only when we are loving and kind but all the time. Joshua 1:5, states, “as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave nor forsake you.”

Our God is loving. Jeremiah tells us God cares for you with a love that is everlasting and Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:18 is that we may grasp how wide and long and high and deep is Christ’s love for us.

Our God is omniscient- God knows you.  He knows it all; your hurts, your failures, your mistakes. The good, the bad, and the ugly.  Luke 12:7 reminds us that God even knows the hairs on your head, every single one of them.

Our God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. Nothing and I mean nothing is too hard for God. Isaiah 43:2 tells us “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. This is the God who parted the Red Sea. The God who protected the three Hebrew boys from the flaming inferno AND he is the God who can handle whatever you may be struggling with.

And lastly, our God is faithful. He stands on his promises. If God said it, believe it.

Hebrews 6:18  says “So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.”

And his promises don’t come with an expiration date. Deuteronomy 7:9 tells us “Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands”.

God’s ultimate promise to us was the resurrection of Jesus Christ on that glorious third day.    God loved us so much that he gave his one and only son that if we believe in him, we shall not perish but have everlasting life.

God has fully equipped us to overcome everything the devil can and will throw our way and Worship is one of the many weapons we can use to win the battle.  Trust God and instead of Worrying, Worship him!