Latest / Kate’s Devotional Podcast / 4 Ways to Tell if You Are "All In" for Christ

Transcript

4 Ways to Tell if You Are "All In" for Christ · Kate’s Devotional Podcast

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Kate Dreston here.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Today I want to talk about being "all in."
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy to say that we're all in for Christ when things are going good,
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: but it gets a lot harder when life is hard.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it gets even more difficult when life is hard for a long time
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: and you're beginning to wonder if things are ever going to get better.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm going to give us four things to remember when we're being tested to keep us all in.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hi guys.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Think back to the last time you were sick.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not talking about the sniffles.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean the kind where you can't keep anything down and you're coughing up
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: a lung wondering if you're ever going to see tomorrow's sunrise.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: You want relief.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And in your desperation, you beg God to help you feel better ASAP.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: If the Lord answered your prayer and you felt better,
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: your body went back to normal, it's easy to praise God and move on.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: But what if you didn't get better?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: What if your suffering went up a notch and landed you in the hospital?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Would you still praise Him?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Would your faith be strong,
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: knowing that He could have healed you at any time, and yet He chose not to?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot harder to accept and be okay with, isn't it?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you,
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: but I don't want to be the type of Christian who praises Him just
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: because I got what I wanted.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I want to go deeper than that.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: I want my love and praise to be the same,
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: even if He doesn't answer my prayers in the way that I'd hoped.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's in these moments— When the pain doesn't stop,
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: when the quick fix doesn't come or the healing never happens,
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: that faith is really tested.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: These are what we call defining moments in our faith.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: We need to be honest with ourselves.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: If we don't get what we ask for, are we going to still love Him?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Will we still be faithful to Him?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Will we still trust Him?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because when our life is falling apart around us, we're either all in or we are all out.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's no in-between.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So if we're going to be all in,
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: number one,
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: we have to believe that God is faithful, even when it doesn't feel like it.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us He's faithful.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's more than just a head knowledge.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: We need to internalize it in our hearts.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Faithful means he's dependable, steady, reliable, trustworthy.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Number two,
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: we have to believe that God is working for our good even
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: if it feels like we're just getting knocked down over and over again.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Job is a perfect example from the Bible.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: He was tested with losing all his possessions, his family, and then his health.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: He kept getting hit over and over again,
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: but he said, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Blessed be the name of the Lord."
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Job believed that he was working for his good, no matter what.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Number three,
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: we have to believe that God is loving and kind,
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: even if it feels like he's being cruel for letting us suffer.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to understand why someone who loves us is okay with us being miserable.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: But God doesn't delight in our sufferings.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: He is working to draw our hearts towards Him.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Number four,
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: we have to believe that He loves us enough to watch us struggle,
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: so we'll grow and become stronger for the next trial.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: He tells us in James that these times help us grow in perseverance, patience.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're helping us mature in our faith.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: So remember, truth isn't based on feelings.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Being all in means we need to have faith that these things are true.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: So what are we going to do?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Are we going to love and trust Him even if things get worse?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Are we going to serve Him no matter what it costs?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Are we going to release our fears to Him?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because when we're walking through the fire of a trial and things aren't easy,
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: this is where our faith is defined.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: You have to choose to surrender to Him.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And no one ever said that's easy to do.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: You need to surrender today, tomorrow, the next day, over and over again.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm going to be doing the same.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, go make it a great day.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: And thanks for listening.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: You can find all my one-minute devotionals and my five-minute podcasts at www.katedreston.com.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And Dreston is spelled D-R-E-S-T-O-N.