Today I want to share Gloria Copeland's testimony of faith from their devotional, "From Faith To Faith":
When Tough
Times Come
Then had the
churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified;
and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were
multiplied. Acts 9:31
There are
times when life on this earth is hard and uncomfortable...and even downright
painful. When those times come, you deeply need the comfort that only the Holy
Spirit can bring.
How do you
receive that kind of comfort?
By doing
just what the believers in Acts did. By “walking in the fear of the Lord.”
Now, when I
talk about “the fear of the Lord,” please understand, I’m not saying you should
be afraid of God. He’s your Father! You should be as secure and unafraid when
you come before Him as a child who knows he is dearly loved. But you must also
have so much respect for Him that whenever He reveals something you need to do,
you do it immediately—even if it goes against your natural desires. That’s walking
in the fear of the Lord.
Let me show
you what I mean. Once, several years ago, I received a very disturbing phone
call shortly before I was to preach at one of our meetings. It was painful news
about a situation in which one of my children had been wronged. The news of it
wounded my heart.
I cried, and
in the natural, I wanted to get angry about it, to strike back in some way. But
instead, I began praying in other tongues. As I prayed, I was prompted in my
spirit to rejoice and praise the Lord.
I certainly
didn’t feel like praising. I felt like stomping my foot. But, out of
respect to the Lord, I put my feelings aside and obeyed. Next, the Holy Spirit
impressed me to read a particular prophecy. As I did, I could tell I was being
strengthened.
Then
suddenly, I realized I was free. By my obedience, I had opened myself to the
comforting power of the Holy Spirit. The anger and pain that had filled me just
moments before were gone! They had been replaced by the gentle love and
reassurance of the Lord.
No matter
how tough or painful a situation you may be facing today, trust and obey the
directions of your Father. He will make that same supernatural, Holy
Spirit-inspired comfort available to you!
AMEN! Doing things God's Way will ALWAYS be the RIGHT WAY! AMEN! Make sure that you are seeking His face and His presence on a daily, moment by moment basis! We can NEVER get 'too much' of HIS presence! And in HIS presence is FULLNESS OF JOY (Psalm 16:11)! And we can ALL use a little more JOY in our lives! Here is Hillsong with a great older song called "This Is How We Overcome!":
Shalom in Him!
