God is not a vending machine, so quit treating Him like one. 

You put money in a vending machine, you make your selection, and out comes your item.  Some people go through life not acknowledging God until they need something.  Then, it's an urgent prayer request that they assume will be answered right away.  This is not how God works.  This is not how He is designed, or how He designed us.

This all begins with prayer.  How's your prayer life today?  Have you ever heard about the ACTS model of prayer?  ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanks, and Supplication.

The next time you pray, start out by praising God for all He's done in your life.  Next, confess anything that you've done that you're sorry for.  Next, thank Him for all His blessings that He freely gives to you each day.  And lastly, ask God for something for yourself or for others.

Quit treating God like a vending machine.  He's the creator of the earth.  He knows all and sees all, and He wants you to rely on Him, confess to Him, thank Him and give Him the desires of your heart.

Luke 6:46 – "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?"

I admit, it's difficult to be in God's waiting room.  I wait.  I pray.  I hope that the situation will turn around.  But the waiting room is necessary.  The important lesson learned during all of this is, "do you trust God.?"

This waiting room is God's training ground.  This boot-camp experience is where we will strengthen our spiritual muscles to endure the hardships that are before us.  If God doesn't prepare us and our faith doesn't strengthen, then how are we going to get through?  How are we going to defeat the enemy, with God's help.

Turn to God, not away from him during this time.  Bring your fears and anxieties to Him and allow Him to control the situation.

None of us like to wait, but to be in God's waiting room means that hope is near; answers are coming, restoration is in close proximity!

Psalm 130:5 – "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope;"

For most people it's not until you've exhausted all your resources and fleshly attempts at resolving an issue that you turn it over to God.  Quit fighting it.  Quit trying to figure this life out on your own.  We weren't made for that.  Look to God when you come to the end of yourself.  This allows God to step in and gives Him a platform to work on our behalf.

It's here that God is revealed.  In hard times God may allow things to happen.  Most times it's here where you finally acknowledge Him and show others that alone, you are helpless.

God wants us to recognize our weaknesses.  When we are at our weakest, He is strong.

Don't wait until you've exhausted all your resources.  Rely on God to get you through a current struggle or difficult situation.  Allow Him to shelter you through the storm.

1 Peter 5:6 – "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you,"

Have you been through storms in your life, or been waiting on a dream come true or an illness to cure, and it seems like God's not there?  I have been and at the time, it seems like God is saying no to my prayer request.  When, in reality, our timeline is not the same as God's.  You've heard the cliché, "things happen for a reason," when in reality, they happen on God's timing. God is never late and He's never early.  His timing is always right on time.


This concept may be hard to understand, especially if you don't have a relationship with God.  But trust is the key to all of this.  If you don't trust God in His timing, then you're going to be impatient and worry because things aren't happening on your timeline.


Isaiah 40:31 - "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." 


I couldn't agree with the verse above had it not come true in my life.  Wait on God.  It's totally worth it.  It may not be pleasant, but you can trust that what He says He will do, will come to fruition.


God's delay will cause your faith to strengthen and your trust in Him to blossom!

Have you had anything happen to you recently that had you scared?  I'm not referring to 'monsters in the closet scared.'  I'm referring to bad news of an illness, broken heart of a relationship or a tragic fatal accident.  Your instinct is to crouch down in fear.  You worry about what's going to happen next; thinking about how you might be able to alter the situation.


But, all throughout the bible God tells us to not fear.  God speaks of not giving us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control.  God wants us to run to Him when we feel fearful.  It's at our weakest moments when God steps in and performs His mighty miracles.  He wants us to trust Him with the situation.  


It's taken me a long time to learn this lesson.  As these seasons of life pass, I realize that letting go, giving the control over to God is so freeing.  I had to get to the point when things started falling apart, or spiraling down, I replaced my fears with God's words. I replaced my anxieties with scripture verses that soothed my soul and got my mind on God instead of myself.


Let God be your shelter in the storms of life.  These storms will always come, but we have the King of Kings that has already won the battle.  God's our shelter!


Proverbs 18:10 - "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe."

The world offers many kinds of peace, most of it temporary at best.  There are false teachers roaming around the earth, people who claim to be Christians who are not, and are offering people a 'peaceful, stress-free life' if they just follow them.  Be careful friends of these type people and religions.  


Jesus has already commanded that He has overcome the world.  There will never be true peace that we will share unless and until we confess our sins and give our life to Christ.  That's when a peace that passes all human understanding will be a part of your world.


Don't get me wrong, world peace is a beautiful idea, but one that will only come to be when Jesus returns.  


Our job until then is to convince our family and friends to give their life to Christ; be borne again and live a life that God requires.  And someday soon, we will bask in the glory of God's goodness and everlasting peace.


John 16:33 - "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world."

There is not an area or detail in your life that God will not be willing to help you with.  You may think that the issues in your life are small or trivial, but God doesn't.

I've spent so many years of my life miserable because I was depending on my own plans; my own goals.  Once I realized that God is in control and has already won the battles ahead, I was then able to rest, knowing that the burden lifted.

God guides our steps daily.  He knows where we will be next month, next year, etc.  He knows when to shut doors and when to open them.

It may seem that you're going in the right direction, and then something happens that changes your course.  You may feel confused or even angry that you didn't get what you wanted.  If the door was closed, it was closed for a reason.  God didn't want you to go down that path, but another path that He has already designed for you and for your good.

Stay faithful, even in the isolated areas; the dry spells.  God's got this!

Deuteronomy 20:4 – "For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory."

Some of us spend time daily to exercise.  Some want to get stronger; some to maintain what they have.  If you're like me, you know when you've missed your daily work-out or you didn't have time to work-out altogether.  And, you know that the longer you go without this routine, you can feel the difference.

The same is true with faith.  The longer you go without using your faith, the greater the danger of forgetting how to use it altogether.

So, faith is like a muscle.  It needs to be exercised.  It needs to be used daily.  Faith is God's gift to each of us who believe in Him.

I aim to get stronger in my faith because I know that faith factors in the ability of God to go to work in me.  If we try to figure out life on our own initiative, then we're likely to get discouraged and give up.

God never promised us a happy, stress-free life.  We need to be strong in our faith to face the storms of life.  We need to trust that God is in control.

Stay in faith.  Grow stronger in your faith and watch your life change for the better.

Ephesians 2:8 – "For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,"