Meeting God In The Everyday Moments
“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an
overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us]”(Romans 8:37).
The Gospel is so arranged and the gift of God so great that you may take the very enemies that fight you and the forces that are arrayed against you and make them steps up to the very gates of heaven and into the presence
of God.
Like the eagle, who sits on a crag and watches the sky as it is filling with blackness, and the forked lightnings are playing up and down, and he is sitting perfectly still, turning one eye and then the other toward the storm.
But he never moves until he begins to feel the burst of the breeze and
knows that the hurricane has struck him; with a scream, he swings his breast to the storm, and uses the storm to go up to the sky; away he goes, borne upward upon it.
That is what God wants of every one of His children, to be more than conqueror, turning the storm-cloud into a chariot. You know when one army is more than conqueror it is likely to drive the other from the field, to get all the ammunition, the food and supplies, and to take possession of
the whole. That is just what our text means. There are spoils to be taken!
Beloved, have you got them? When you went into that terrible valley of suffering did you come out of it with spoils? When that injury struck you and you thought everything was gone, did you so trust in God that you came out richer than you went in? To be more than conqueror is to take the spoils from the enemy and appropriate them to yourself. What he had arranged for your overthrow, take and appropriate for yourself.
Streams in the Desert
“Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an
angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat”(I Kings 19:5).
We should be better Christians if we were more alone; we should
do more if we attempted less, and spent more time in retirement, and
quiet waiting upon God. The world is too much with us; we are
afflicted with the idea that we are doing nothing unless we are fussily running to and fro; we do not believe in “the calm retreat, the silent shade.” As a people, we are of a very practical turn of mind; “we believe,” as someone has said, “in having all our irons in the fire, and consider the time not spent between the anvil and the fire as lost, or much the same as lost.” Yet no time is more profitably spent than that which is set apart for quiet musing, for talking with God, for looking up to Heaven. We cannot have too many of these open spaces in life, hours in which the soul is left accessible to any sweet thought or influence it may please God to send.
“Reverie,” it has been said, “is the Sunday of the mind.” Let us
often in these days give our mind a “Sunday,” in which it will do no
manner of work but simply lie still, and look upward, and spread itself out before the Lord like Gideon’s fleece, to be soaked and moistened with the dews of Heaven. Let there be intervals when we shall do nothing, think nothing, plan nothing, but just lay ourselves on the green lap of nature and “rest awhile.”
Time so spent is not lost time. The fisherman cannot be said to be losing time when he is
mending his nets, nor the mower when he takes a few minutes to sharpen his scythe at the top
of the ridge. City men cannot do better than follow the example of Isaac, and, as often as they
can, get away from the fret and fever of life into fields. Wearied with the heat and din, the noise
and bustle, communion with nature is very grateful; it will have a calming, healing influence. A
walk through the fields, a saunter by the seashore or across the daisy-sprinkled meadows, will
purge your life from sordidness, and make the heart beat with new joy and hope.
Streams in the Desert
“Just as a nursing mother cares for her children ,so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of
God but our lives as well” (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8).
A mother often creates the conditions for life to flourish. You might recall meals prepared with hands that knew your favorites, encouragement when you felt defeated, or a room filled with books and bedtime stories that
widened your imagination. That nurturing care is a picture of God who tends his people. God provides what you need to grow spiritually—scripture to feed
your soul, people to speak truth and grace into your life, and daily mercies that renew you.
When you recognize nurturing in your life, it points you to a God who is not distant or indifferent. He nurtures you with patience and provision. Your growth is not accidental; it is tended by One who cares deeply for each step
you take.
God’s patience is not passive; it’s steadfast and purposeful. He waits while you learn, redirects you gently when you wander, and loves you through the slow
work of transformation. If you’ve known a mother who stayed in the hard places with you, you’ve experienced a hint of God’s enduring patience.
When you remember the sacrifices made on your behalf, you’re remembering
echoes of the cross: love that chooses the welfare of another above convenience or personal comfort. That sacrificial posture invites you to live with gratitude and to reflect that love toward others. Mothers often embody both tenderness and fierce protection. You can picture a mother’s arms shielding a child from harm or a bold voice standing up for a vulnerable one. God also protects you—watchful, strong,
and unflinching when you face danger or injustice.
As you step back into your day, carry this portrait of God with you: a heart that nurtures, endures, sacrifices, and protects. Let maternal imagery invite you into a more tender relationship with God and a more intentional way of loving others. You can be both shaped by the love you received and choose to reflect that love outwardly. The world needs your faithful, mothering care in many forms—gentle, fierce, patient,
and sacrificial.
Excerpts from A Mother’s Love: A Devotional On God’s Heart Through Moms at biblestorieshub.com
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40 NIV).
Mary and Martha could not understand what their Lord was doing. Both of them said to Him, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." Back of it
all, we seem to read their thought: "Lord, we do not understand why you have stayed away so long. We do not understand how you could let death come to the man whom you loved. We do not understand how you could let sorrow and
suffering ravage our lives when your presence might have stayed it all. Why did you not come? It is too late now, for already he has been dead four days!" And to
it all Jesus had but one great truth: "You may not understand; but I tell you if you believe, you will see."
Abraham could not understand why God should ask the sacrifice of the boy; but he trusted. And he saw the glory of God in his restoration to his love. Moses could not understand why God should keep him forty years in the wilderness, but he trusted; and he saw when God called him to lead forth Israel from bondage.
Joseph could not understand the cruelty of his brethren, the false witness of a perfidious woman, and the long years of an unjust imprisonment; but he trusted, and he saw at last the glory of God in it all. Jacob could not understand the strange
providence which permitted the same Joseph to be torn from his father's love, but he saw the glory of God when he looked into the face of that same Joseph as
the viceroy of a great king, and the preserver of his own life and the lives of a great nation.
And so, perhaps in your life. You say, "I do not understand why God let my dear one be taken. I do not understand why affliction has been permitted to smite me. I do not understand the devious paths by which the Lord is leading me. I do not understand why plans and purposes that seemed good to my eyes should be baffled. I do not understand why blessings I so much need are so long delayed.
Friend, you do not have to understand all God's ways with you. God does not expect you to understand them. You do not expect your child to understand, only believe. Some day you will see the glory of God in the things
which you do not understand. – J.H. McC
Streams in the Desert
“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his inner being shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38).
Some of us are shivering and wondering why the Holy Spirit does not fill us. We have plenty coming in, but we do not give it out. Give out the blessing that you have, start larger plans for service and blessing, and you will soon find that the Holy Ghost is before you, and He will present you
with blessings for service, and give you all that He can trust you to give away to others.
There is a beautiful fact in nature which has its spiritual parallels. There is no music so heavenly as an Aeolian harp, and the Aeolian harp is nothing
but a set of musical chords arranged in harmony, and then left to be touched by the unseen fingers of the wandering winds. And as the breath of heaven floats over the chords, it is said that notes almost Divine float out
upon the air, as if a choir of angels were wandering around and touching the strings.
And so it is possible to keep our hearts so open to the touch of the Holy Spirit that He can play upon them at will, as we quietly wait in the pathway of His service. --Days of Heaven upon Earth
When the apostles received the baptism with the Holy Ghost they did not rent the upper room and stay there to hold holiness meetings, but went everywhere preaching the gospel. --Will Huff
"If I have eaten my morsel alone," The patriarch spoke with scorn; What would he think of the Church were he shown
Heathendom-huge, forlorn,
Godless, Christless, with soul unfed, While the Church's ailment is fullness of bread,
Eating her morsel alone?
"Freely ye have received, so give," He bade, who hath given us all. How shall the soul in us longer liveDeaf to their starving call,
For whom the blood of the Lord was shed, And His body broken to give them. bread, If we eat our morsel alone!"
Archbishop Alexander
Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me” (Psalm 42:7).
They are HIS billows, whether they go o'er us, Hiding His face in smothering spray and foam;
Or smooth and sparkling, spread a path before us, And to our haven bear us safely home.
They are HIS billows, whether for our succor
He walks across them, stilling all our fear; Or to our cry there comes no aid nor answer, And in the lonely silence none is near.
They are HIS billows, whether we are toiling
Through tempest-driven waves that never cease, While deep to deep with clamor loud is calling;
Or at His word they hush themselves in peace.
They are HIS billows, whether He divides them, Making us walk dryshod where seas had flowed;
Or lets tumultuous breakers surge about us, Rushing unchecked across our only road.
They are HIS billows, and He brings us through them; So He has promised, so His love will do.
Keeping and leading, guiding and upholding, o His sure harbor, He will bring us through.
--Annie Johnson Flint
Stand up in the place where the dear Lord has put you, and there do your best. God gives us trial tests. He puts life before us as an antagonist face to face. Out of the buffeting of a serious conflict we are expected to grow strong. The tree that grows where tempests toss its boughs and bend its trunk often almost to breaking, is often more firmly rooted than the tree than the tree which grows in the sequestered valley where no storm
ever brings stress or strain. Streams in the Desert