Is It Well with Your Soul?

 

By Andrea Merrell

The song stops me in my tracks … makes me cry … every time—“It Is Well with My Soul.”

Maybe it speaks to me because I think of all the years it was not well with my soul. Those years that I didn’t serve God or served Him halfheartedly. Times when I tried to hide my messes from Him—oblivious that He already knew all about them. Ashamed to come boldly before His throne of grace while thinking I had to be perfect before He would accept me. Times when I tried to fill that God-shaped void inside of me with everything and everyone except the One who longed to inhabit every nook and cranny.

Those times were exhausting. I longed for peace but couldn’t find it. I tried to find happiness, unaware that true joy comes only from the Lord—no matter what is going on around us.

The truth is God is not all about religious rules and regulations, all the dos and don’ts—that’s the Enemy’s domain. God is about relationship, and He invites us to come to Him with all our messes, weaknesses, and imperfections. His love is unconditional, and only that love can turns those messes, weaknesses, and imperfections into something good. All we have to do is come to Him in childlike faith and trust.

Is it well with your soul? If not, it can be. It only takes a moment.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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God’s unconditional love can turn our messes, weaknesses, and imperfections into something good when we come to Him in childlike faith. via@AndreaMerrell (Click to tweet.)

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The Simple Faith of a Child

By Andrea Merrell

  Learn this well: Unless you dramatically change your way of thinking and become teachable, and learn about heaven’s kingdom realm with the wide-eyed wonder of a child,                  you will never be able to enter in.

Matthew 18:3 TPT

“Catch me, Daddy,” the little girl exclaimed. Without hesitation, she jumped into her father’s outstretched arms.

We can learn a lot from the simple trust of a child. In fact, Jesus said we should become as little children in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven, seeing it with wide-eyed wonder.

Children are quick to forgive. They don’t hold grudges or walk around with a chip on their shoulder. When they’re forgiven, they don’t carry feelings of guilt and condemnation. They get over an offense quickly and move on. Stress does not get the best of them, because they don't worry and fret over tomorrow.

Children are humble and trusting. They have a teachable spirit and a positive attitude. They find a way to have fun and enjoy themselves in any given situation. And they offer their love unconditionally.

In essence, children have simple faith, pray simple prayers, and believe that whatever they need will be provided. That’s the way Jesus wants each of us to approach Him. One writer says that when we have this kind of simplicity in our relationship with the Lord, we will find ourselves at peace, growing spiritually, and enjoying Him more than ever.

I’m ready to leap into my Daddy’s arms. How about you?

(Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and David Castillo Dominici.)

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Children have simple faith, pray simple prayers, and believe that whatever they need will be provided. That’s the way Jesus wants each of us to approach Him. via @AndreaMerrell (Click to tweet.)

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Childlike Faith

By Andrea Merrell

The Lord protects those of childlike faith.

Psalm 116:6 NLT

We met many years ago. I don’t even remember the woman’s name, but I will always remember her unwavering, childlike faith.

The woman (we’ll call her Doris) was a coworker who occupied the office next to mine in an accounting office. During the months we worked together, we were never what you would call close, but she was always anxious to share her prayer calendar with me.

Whenever Doris had a need, no matter how big or small, she would pray, asking God to meet that need, then write it on her calendar. If she needed forty-three dollars and fifty cents, that’s exactly what she asked for. When God met her need—which He always did—she would mark it on her calendar as “prayer answered.”

The Bible talks about childlike faith. I can see that trusting, unhindered faith in my granddaughters when I take their hand or promise to do something for them. They have no doubt I will do what I say.

Too many times, as Christians, our faith is childish instead of childlike. We want what we want when we want it … end of story. In 1 John 5:14-15 (MSG) we read:

And how bold and free we then become in His presence, freely asking according to His will, sure that He’s listening. And if we’re confident that He’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.

This verse has so much to say to us about how God operates. First, He expects us to come boldly into His presence, asking freely—not out of compulsion or obligation—for whatever we need. The key is in asking according to His will. When we do, we can be assured He is listening and that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.

God is our provider. He is our Father. We should be as confident as a child when we ask for what we need and then place our hand in His.

Are you operating in childlike faith?

(Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and David Castillo Dominici.)

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Are you operating in childLIKE faith or childISH faith? via @AndreaMerrell (Click to tweet.)

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What's It All About?

By Andrea Merrell

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God, and keep his commandments;

for this is the whole duty of man.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV

“What’s it all about, Daddy? Why did God put us here?”

This line came from a TV sitcom, but it's a true problem for many people. Even the old song which asks, “What’s it all about, Alfie?”  begs an answer to this ageless question.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has a plan for each of us. A plan and a purpose. But we can spend our entire life looking for the right path, struggling to find ways to please God and accomplish that purpose.

We hear things like: Work for God. Serve Him. Volunteer your time. Tithe. Give to the needy. Visit the widows and orphans. Read your Bible. Pray. These are all good (and necessary) things, but we can get so caught up in the doing that we lose the being part of our existence. What we do does not determine who we are ... only knowing who we are in Christ.

So, what does God expect from us? What’s it really all about? Sometimes we make our Christian walk difficult and complicated when it’s supposed to be a matter of following Him with simple, childlike faith.

The writer of Ecclesiastes sums it up very succinctly when he says, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

That’s what it's truly all about.

(Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net.)

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Do you ever wonder what God REALLY expects from us? via @AndreaMerrell (Click to Tweet.)

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