Daily Devotional

"You have enlarged me when I was in distress." Psalm 4:1

When God wants to make you a bigger person, He does it through "distress." The way to build stronger muscle is to lift more weight. Now when a muscle is put under stress, you groan. But if you persist, that muscle grows stronger and what you were groaning about last week you are smiling about this week. Who said the Christian life was supposed to be easy? Not God! His Word compares it to a battlefield, not a bed of roses. "Endure hardness, as a good soldier" (2 Timothy 2:3). Satan's number one target is your faith! Jesus said to Peter, "Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail" (Luke 22:31-32 NKJV). In the same way you separate wheat from chaff, Satan wants to separate you from your faith. Not only did Peter survive this attack, he grew through it and wrote: "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you" (1 Peter 4:12 NKJV). Because we tend to be shocked when trials come our way, Peter deals with our attitude toward attack. He wants us to know how to think when we're under attack, to understand the appropriateness of the battle we are in. Satan may attack your health, but he's after your faith. He may attack your finances, but he's after your faith. If he can destroy your confidence in God and His Word, he wins and you lose. So the word for you today is "Strengthen your faith." Summit Christian Center in San Antonio, TX