by Chaplain Adele M. Gill
“Be strong & courageous…Do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9
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God will be with you wherever you go. In today’s world, it takes radical faith to be able to believe in Jesus and stand up in faith for one’s Christianity. It takes great strength and courage, especially
in times of adversity, to seek God’s help, and hand Him the reigns. But when we
realize that He is with us wherever we go anyway, and is fighting our battles
with us and for us for the asking, we can strive to follow Him to higher ground.
It is when we believe that we are sons and daughters, heirs of God, in fact, empowered
to follow Jesus and do His divine will, that we can rest assured we are not
alone in this turbulent world—Jesus is with us. Beyond self-esteem, this
understanding helps us know our worth in the eyes of God.
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,
if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
Romans 8:17
Somehow, when we consider that God is with us everywhere
we go, guiding, comforting, protecting, healing and saving us, it makes it
easier to endure things. Through the Holy Spirit, we are able to harness Jesus’
extraordinary, unmatched strength, even when ours is depleted and we are overwhelmed
by our limitations.
This scripture passage reminds us that we can be strong
and courageous in Jesus, even when we are at our lowest point. We can rise
above every circumstance, every disappointment, every failure, by simply
calling upon Jesus’ holy name, trusting that He has our back, and He is in
control despite our free will. Radical faith begins with what some may call outlandish
trust in God; and it gives us reassurance that all is well, even when our human
logic, and sensibilities, tell us otherwise.
With Jesus at the helm, we really are always in His care,
never fully on our own at any given time. This is hard for some to believe, especially
those who believe they are autonomous, self-made’ men or women. However, there
can be tremendous comfort in trusting we are in Jesus’ loving care at all
times. This high-level trust is the basis for the paradox of joy in adversity. Surely all of us know someone who seems to be able to endure significant challenges and obstacles. We watch them unexpectedly rise above enormous challenges, against all odds. It begs the question: How is that
they can live happy, full lives without being completely bogged down by their circumstances?
The answer is clear. It is only with God’s help that
we are able to endure great things, with gratitude to Him, reaping joy, and
peace as a result of His holy intercession. His love for all of humanity is unending
and unconditional, and His favor rests with those who seek him in earnest;
those who believe that His Only Son, Jesus Christ, died and rose in atonement for
our sins. God’s love never fades, regardless of how far we wander from His
divine plan for us and our lives. His love is perpetual for us, even when we
sin and wander far away from him, He tries to beckon us back into the fold.
Yes, God’s flock is strong and courageous, even and especially in times of weakness, because of
Him, rather than anything they can do on their own. They seek a relationship with Jesus Christ in earnest, trust in Him and serve Him as their Lord and Savior, and for that they are never disappointed.
‘Jesus answered, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except
through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father, as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”’
John 14:6-7
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© Copyright 2020 | Adele M. Gill
