Why do some Christians struggle and others have peace and joy no matter what their circumstances? It is because of their perception of God and their attitude toward Him. The way you see God determines your approach to life. It reveals how you see yourself and what you believe your opportunities are. If you believe God is against you, you have no reason to have a positive attitude in life. But if you believe God is for you, you can believe in His goodness and see beyond any hardship that comes. You believe His abundance is yours.
Despite David’s faults, he had an approach to God that defined his life.
“When I cry out to You,” David wrote, “then my enemies will turn back; this I know, because God is for me” (Psalm. 56:9).
David was convinced that God was for him. Do you believe God is on your side? That He wants you to receive his blessings and His promises? Believing God is for you is the determining factor in your life and future.
When Moses asked the Lord to see His glory, how did the Lord answer him?
“And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth’” (Exodus. 34:6).
The Lord revealed His goodness and mercy—not His holiness or anger. He was giving Moses the truth on which Moses could fulfill God’s purpose in his life. If we are going to have a chance in this fallen world, we need a revelation of God’s abounding goodness toward us. It is His goodness that draws us to repentance. It is His goodness in us—the righteousness that Christ has given us—that convinces us God is for us and we can become a conduit of His blessings.
“The Lord is merciful and gracious,” David wrote, “slow to anger, and abounding in mercy” (Psalm 103:8).
David believed in God's abounding mercy long before God sent Jesus to redeem us and pour His love into us (Romans 5:5). Until we understand God’s abounding goodness and mercy, we will struggle to earn God’s love on our own merit. We will try to earn His love through our works and then have to deal with the shame and guilt of sin Jesus has forgiven. We will not believe God is for us.
“Moreover whom He predestined,” Paul wrote in Romans 8:30, “these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Then in Romans 8:31, Paul asks us how we will respond to these truths:
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
How do we respond to these truths? If these are true and God is for us, then who has any power to be against us? The way we view God and our attitude will either bring victory or drown us in defeat and despair. Despite the challenges of life, we should seize each day with joy because God is good. He is for us! His goodness and grace abound toward us!
“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8).
As a man thinks in His heart, he is (Proverbs 23:7). What you believe about God—your attitude about your life—is who you are. It is what you believe, and it determines your outcome.
Believe God is for you.
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