Supernatural “Special Effects”

Years ago, a friend invited me to a huge Christian conference. It was amazing! In an arena filled with people worshipping God, I felt so uplifted and inspired.

I was filled with excitement after hearing people discuss the power of God’s Word and how they had read the whole Bible in a year, and I desired to achieve the same result. After all, as an avid reader, surely I could succeed. How wrong was I?

A year later, I was far away from achieving my goal. I had committed to reading the entire Bible, but my pace was much slower than I’d planned. I could have just given up then, believing that I’d failed. But I felt like devouring huge chunks of the Bible—and then forgetting it all—wasn’t the way the Holy Spirit wanted me to read His Word. I needed to take baby steps. It wasn’t easy, and it took me five years, but I eventually finished reading my whole Bible!

Maybe you have a goal in your heart to deepen your relationship with God. Maybe you feel frustrated, like I did, but you know this is still something you want to do.

It’s natural to feel discouraged and sometimes even a sense of despair in this broken world we inhabit, but the good news is that God sent His only Son, Jesus, to save us in our brokenness. His life, death, and resurrection have covered all
our failures and shortcomings. Our relationship with Him doesn’t depend on our achievements—He is constantly pursuing us with His inexhaustible love! And He wants to help us live a life that honors Him. If we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit living inside us as our helper, comforter, and advocate. His pace may be different from what we had in mind, but we can trust that God’s way is best. Whenever we have any worries, we can rest in His faithfulness and trust in the God who is our help. Hang in there, and keep drawing near to God. • Cindy Lee

• Sometimes, God invites us to read long passages of Scripture to get a bird’s-eye view of what He’s doing. Other times, He invites us to dig deeply into a small portion of Scripture. How do you like to study the Bible?

• What benefits do you see in reading the Bible with other believers? And reading it by yourself?

• Have you ever been frustrated with yourself for failing your own expectations? As Christians, we can offer up these frustrations to God. He has compassion on us, and when we seek Him, He will guide us and give us the courage and patience to follow Him (Psalm 32:8-11).

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3 (NIV)

Read Verses:

Matthew 27:45-56; 1 Peter 2:21-25