“…But the God in Whose hand your breath is…”    Daniel 5:23

This is taken from the middle of Daniel basically chewing King Belshazzar out for not respecting the Lord Most High, but I had to stop & reread these 9 words over again a few times!  We worry so much about the world & what we think people can do to us or how things are going for us, but do we really stop to realize God “Holds are breath”  WOW!!!  He is so Mighty & so Powerful, we concern ourselves with so many things that really in the long run will not matter, but we forget to focus our eyes on the Creator.  Let me repeat that again, “But the God in Whose hand your breath is”, if that doesn’t shout out to you how important your are to the Living God, I  don’t know what does.  There are so many times in scripture that God lets us know how important we are to Him, but my question for you today (and myself) is do we let God know how important He is to us??  Is He important to you?  Then why isn’t He your first thought when trouble comes your way?  Why do we not depend on the One who has proven Himself faithful to us time & time again?  He has not failed us.  “I will never (under any circumstances) desert you (nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless), nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you (assuredly not)!”  Hebrews 13:5 AMP  That is a promise folks, God doesn’t break His promises or take them lightly, He is faithful as His Word says.  “Faithful & absolutely trustworthy is He who is calling you (to Himself for your salvation), & He will do it (He will fulfill His call by making you holy, guarding you, watching over you, & protecting you as His own).”             1 Thessalonians 5:24   You know what I think is sometimes our biggest problem fear that He will fulfill His promise, I know it sounds crazy, but think about it, our biggest issue in this day & age is trust, so many people have broken that trust that we put out there, so we expect it from God as well.  I mean really He created mankind & we surely can’t trust them so why could we trust God??  We have been hurt by our parents, by our spouses, by our kids, by our friends, by our pastor, & the list goes on & on & on but why do we put that on an Almighty God who is perfect?????  We live in a fallen world people where the enemy runs free & yet we blame God for the bad things that happen, saying “He is teaching me a lesson”  WHAT!!!!!!!  God is LOVE!!! 1 John 4:8  If you love someone do you let them fall into a hole to teach them a lesson, cause that is how you are showing them love?  Loving parent, do you let your kid jump in front of a moving car to show them how much you love them???  NO!!! Love does not teach you a lesson by hurting you.  I know with my kids I try to teach them to avoid things that will hurt them, not push them into pain, so why would a God who LOVES me hurt me to teach me a lesson?  We blame God too often for the bad when there are two other sources for that, number one it is the enemy, he wants to take us down so we are not useful to the Kingdom, if we are mad at or blaming God for the bad in our lives then satan has completed his task of keeping us from ours, for we are not saved for pew warming but we are saved so we can share that love with others & grow the Kingdom.  The second place to look is at ourselves, yes look in the mirror.  I am going to use my husband as an example (cause I know he won’t mind), he works construction & when he was younger strictly did roofing, now in his late 40s his knees give him issues, well he can’t blame God for that (& doesn’t), he did that to himself, he was young & didn’t think about how all that kneeling would start destroying his knees, he just did it & now in hindsight realizes what he did, but that is his doing not God’s.  Yes, I know you are thinking that doesn’t compare to what is going on in your life or maybe you are thinking you have something going on that doesn’t fit into either one of those categories, well maybe you need to look at your prospective of the situation then.  Have you thought that maybe this trial is not a punishment but a growth track.  Maybe He is trying to draw you in to Him so He can save you from something, or maybe save someone else down the road?  If we are willing to allow God to work in our lives & use us as a vessel, to teach or to lift up others what we thought was pain at the time, what you think is painful right now, later on when you are past it will not look so much like pain but like joy hidden from the worldly eye, but when looked at with spiritual eyes is beauty.  Isaiah 61:3 says He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, in the New Living Translation, in the AMP translation it says “The oil of joy instead of mourning”  I can truly testify that God has done that for me, He has turned my mourning into joy many  times, so I know He is faithful to do the same for you, if you will just trust Him to, don’t doubt His faithfulness, don’t blame Him, don’t walk away from Him, run to Him, His arms are open & waiting to comfort & hold you, as He holds your breath, to Love you as only He can do!!!

Much Love,

Michelle