The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“Why are you in despair, my soul? And why are you restless within me? Wait for God, for I will again praise him for the help of his presence, my God.”

—Psalm 42:11

This is a wonderful example of taking our thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) by talking back to our own minds and preaching to our own hearts. We know that the Lord is where our hope and help come from and that he is our only firm foundation, but we forget. Our soul despairs over our circumstances or grows restless and dissatisfied.

But those feelings don’t rule us. We might still feel despair and restlessness, but we choose to act on what we know—that our hope in God is sure, he is fully good and wants good for us, he works all circumstances to good for believers, and our eternity with him is sure.

We too often accept our thoughts and feelings, allowing them to control us instead of standing up to them and telling them the truth of who God is and what he’s promised. Philippians 4:8 says to think on the things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. It says that living like this brings peace and puts us in God’s presence (Philippians 4:9).

So when our hearts are despairing or restless, first, we remind them to wait on the Lord, who is our only salvation. Next, we replace those despairing thoughts with things that are true, honorable, and just, etc.

Our emotions do not always lead us in truth. In those times, we focus on what we know, despite what we might feel.

We can always praise him for the help and peace of his presence, because he is always faithful and never leaves us.

The post December 16-Talking to My Soul appeared first on C. E. White.

The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

—Matthew 5:6

We long to be satisfied. Growing up, I remember saying, “I don’t know what I want to be; I just want to be happy.”

But we’re usually quite bad at knowing what will truly make us happy, and many of us spend years chasing one thing after another grasping for it.

If we could change that statement to, “I don’t know what I want to be; I only want to be righteous,” our satisfaction and success would be guaranteed.

To seek happiness itself might lead to all sorts of selfishness and debauchery. If we all sought righteousness, we would not only be reaching out to the source of satisfaction and good but helping ensure the satisfaction and good of others.

Righteousness leads to placing others’ needs above our own. It keeps us from oppressing the weak and compels us to help them instead.

To hunger and thirst after righteousness is to hunger and thirst after God. He tells us over and over that he will satisfy (Psalm 73:25–26), provide for (Psalm 81:10), protect (Deuteronomy 3:22), and give us more than we need so that we can also reveal his goodness and satisfaction to others (Luke 6:38).

If we all hungered and thirsted for righteousness the way many of us hunger and thirst for happiness, think of the satisfaction that would spread like a wildfire throughout the world! True joy would be the byproduct.

Our souls would be satisfied in watching God’s plan and purpose come to fruition in our own lives and the lives of those around us.

The post December 15-Where True Joy Comes From appeared first on C. E. White.

The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!”

—2 Corinthians 12:7

Paul had a lot of abilities, experiences, and wisdom that could’ve made him prone to self–importance—not the least being his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus. Can’t you imagine that many pastors in our day would use such a story to build their entire platform and would expect special treatment because of it?

Paul knew that was a danger for him. He was smart, educated, and raised to know the law and the existing Scriptures intimately. He’d been a rising star within the Pharisees before the Lord appeared to him personally. He had many reasons to be arrogant.

But God gave him this thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. We don’t know what it was, and it doesn’t matter. The point is that sometimes there’s a struggle the Lord allows to remain in our lives because he cares more about our character than our comfort.

If giving us what we want or taking a difficulty from us would cause us to become self–righteous, selfish, or anything harmful to Christ’s character in us, the Lord will keep us right where we are.

We can pray that our struggles are removed, but even if they’re not, perhaps the Lord will reveal how they’re growing us in the Holy Spirit and keeping us on his path. Either way, we can trust that all our trials will work something good in and through us when we love and follow the Lord in the midst of them.

The post December 14-Grace That Hurts appeared first on C. E. White.

The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there, and engage in business, and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’”

—James 4:13–15

This verse doesn’t mean we must include the words “if the Lord wills” in front of every sentence. It’s a matter of having a heart listening to the Holy Spirit—one that is not boastful or set on its own plans but is humble and willing to accept a new path as God leads.

Every goal we make in life should be held with open hands, with the attitude of “your will be done, Lord,” and with acceptance if what he has for us is different than what we hope.

It’s okay to plan, hope, and have desires, but we must add—as Jesus did—the “nevertheless, not my will but yours” (Luke 22:42) to all of those.

If we resist what God has for us or grow bitter when our plans or hopes don’t come to fruition, we have made ourselves, our desires, and the things of this world into a god. Our culture may not have many idols carved from stone or wood, but there are many things we put in front of our desire for the Lord’s will.

Let’s live the life God gives us moment by moment instead of dwelling on the what–ifs, the might’ve–beens, or the should’ve–beens.

The post December 13-Holding My Plans Loosely appeared first on C. E. White.

The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be to you; just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.’”

—John 20:21

We can look at how the Father sent Jesus to know how he sends us.

He sent him humbly, in the form of a baby who had to grow and learn just like we do.

He sent him humbly, as a servant who washed the feet of his own followers.

He sent him humbly, as a sacrifice willing to give up his own life and everything else in this world for the sake of others.

But not only humbly . . .

He sent him in power, as one who did not have to fear evil because he had overcome it.

He sent him in power, the relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit guiding and enabling him to resist temptation and walk in truth.

He sent him in power, as one who was not controlled by the fear of death.

He sent him in power, as one who stood up to those in authority when they oppressed others.

He sent him in power, with the authority to defeat our enemy who prowls about seeking to devour us.

We have been sent as humble servants with a power that no one can take from us, ready to give up this life at its end, dying to self each moment before that, yet walking in the strength that we can only get from abiding in Christ with every breath.

The post December 12-Humble, Yet Unafraid appeared first on C. E. White.

The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?”

—Psalm 42:1–2

When a deer is thirsty, it knows to go to the water. But it doesn’t drink from just any source; it finds the flowing water—the living water. It instinctively knows that the moving water is fresh and safe. The deer will only drink from a stagnant pond—potentially full of dangerous bacteria or algae—if it’s the last option.

Our human instincts aren’t quite as good. We frequently find ourselves drinking from the stagnant pools of this world rather than water that flows from our living God.

We drink and drink the tainted water and wonder why we’re thirsty and ill. The voices of the world tell us we simply haven’t drunk enough or we need to try a different pond, so we attempt to quench our heart’s desire with more and different worldly things. Satan is just as happy if we drink from the worldly pond of pride or deceitful riches as he is to keep us at the pool of lust or addiction.

But the more we drink from the world, the more our thirst increases; the less satisfied we become. We’re poisoning ourselves—sometimes slowly and sometimes fast. Anything other than the overflowing fountain of Jesus Christ will do its deadly work in the end.

When our souls pant from thirst, nothing but the true life–giving nourishment of Christ will do. He’s the only source of the spiritual refreshment that will sustain us, and as we come to him, the living water of the Holy Spirit will flow through us and nourish those around us as well.

The post December 11-When the Soul Thirsts appeared first on C. E. White.

The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please himself.”

—Romans 15:2–3

Most of us spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make ourselves happy. We may put our desires aside for a time, but there’s often still a voice whispering, “I’ll get back to doing what I want later, so it’s okay temporarily.”

But when the “temporary” extends longer than we’d hoped, our desires start rearing their ugly heads. We get annoyed about how long this “pleasing and edifying my neighbor” is taking rather than getting our own time for whatever seems pleasing and edifying to us.

But if we would put off our desires for good in favor of following the Lord’s leading in our lives, how much happier and freer we would be! For “what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is the source not your pleasures that wage war in your body’s parts?” (James 4:1).

Putting our desires aside is, in the end, freedom from the sins that so easily plague us. When we do so, we finally find that running this race with endurance is worth the joy set before us—eternity with the Lord (Hebrews 12:1–2).

We are also typically quite bad at knowing what will bring us true and lasting joy; setting aside our own desires leaves us open to all the unexpected, beautiful places God wants us to go.

Putting the edification of others for their good above our own wants in favor of the Lord’s direction is the path to peace and, ultimately, to more purpose and joy than chasing our desires ever could provide.

The post December 10-Beyond My Desires appeared first on C. E. White.

The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hurries toward the goal, and it will not fail. Though it delays, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay long.”

—Habakkuk 2:3

God gives us all good works to do in this lifetime (Ephesians 2:10). Some of those good works are simply living life where we are with faithful integrity, showing others the work of the Spirit in us, and making disciples of those around us.

But sometimes it feels a bit bigger than that; God gives us a hint or a vision of something that seems beyond us.

And sometimes we’re tempted to make that vision come to fruition by our own efforts . . . like Moses trying to free the Israelites by his own strength and being exiled from Egypt or like Abraham and Sarah making their own plan about how to get a son. They did get a son, but he was not the promised son.

God’s way had Moses shepherding in the wilderness as a nobody for forty years. It had Abraham and Sarah childless for twenty–five years after the promise.

If God calls us to something big and he hasn’t shown us the way to accomplish it, proceeding according to our own human efforts will always lead to disaster rather than fulfillment.

In the end, Moses freed the Israelites with miracles he never could have performed without God’s power. Abraham and Sarah had a child after it was beyond the realm of possibility according to all human standards.

If God gives a way forward, we move in it. If he doesn’t, we keep praying about that vision and trusting that God has given it an appointed time in which he will bring it to pass.

The post December 9-The Appointed Time appeared first on C. E. White.