The Upper Room Daily Devotional of Nashville, Tennessee, United States "BEYOND UNDERSTANDING" for Thursday, 31 August 2017 - Read 1 John 5:1-14

The Upper Room Daily Devotional of Nashville, Tennessee, United States "BEYOND UNDERSTANDING" for Thursday, 31 August 2017 - Read 1 John 5:1-14
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1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah has God as his father, and everyone who loves a father loves his offspring too. 2 Here is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God, we also do what he commands. 3 For loving God means obeying his commands. Moreover, his commands are not burdensome, 4 because everything which has God as its Father overcomes the world. And this is what victoriously overcomes the world: our trust. 5 Who does overcome the world if not the person who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God?
6 He is the one who came by means of water and blood, Yeshua the Messiah — not with water only, but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 There are three witnesses — 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood — and these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept human witness, God’s witness is stronger, because it is the witness which God has given about his Son. 10 Those who keep trusting in the Son of God have this witness in them. Those who do not keep trusting God have made him out to be a liar, because they have not trusted in the witness which God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the witness: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Those who have the Son have the life; those who do not have the Son of God do not have the life. 13 I have written you these things so that you may know that you have eternal life — you who keep trusting in the person and power of the Son of God.
14 This is the confidence we have in his presence: if we ask anything that accords with his will, he hears us.
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This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. [1 John 5:14 (NIV)]
For years my daughter Deanna has suffered from frequent, severe migraine headaches that only medication and a dark, quiet room can lessen. Seeing this, I feel helpless and wish I could suffer in her place; but I can’t. So for three years now I have been praying for her healing — fervently, hopefully, confidently, and with as much faith as I can muster. And yet my daughter continues to experience this pain that I can’t fix.
The Bible tells us that we will receive if we ask. But it also tells of two sets of disciples who prayed for two different men of God to be released from prison. I’m sure both groups prayed fervently, hopefully, confidently, and with as much faith as they could muster. Yet an angel freed Peter, and John the Baptist was executed. Did Peter’s disciples pray harder than John’s disciples? If not, why does God seem to answer some prayers and not others?
Surely God hears all our prayers and answers us. Sometimes the answer is immediate; sometimes God says, “Not now.” And sometimes we may never know the answer. I will continue to pray for my daughter — knowing that God’s love for her is even greater than mine. I trust that God hears us and responds in ways beyond our understanding.
See a photo of Tom and Deanna, here.

Tom and his daughter Deanna

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Read more from the author, here.
More from Tom Smith
I’m the blessed ‘daddy’ to three girls (now young women!) and the husband to a beautiful woman I don’t deserve. I’m also an avid musician that would write and play for a living if that paid the bills!
Not a day goes by without me lifting my girls up to God in prayer. The devotion I wrote on prayer today is a topic I’ve wrestled with many times over the years. When we see people we love go through painful challenges for no apparent reason finding the words or the reasons to explain it is impossible.
Like you, my friends, I’ve had my share of personal life setbacks including health issues, relationship challenges, financial trouble, and job loss. Many times I’ve pondered what God is trying to do or teach me through confounding situations!
I have been lucky to see around the curtain a few times; such as a painful cross-continent move that years later brought me a vibrant new ministry; a note from a teenager — decades later — thanking me for being her youth pastor when at the time I thought my impact was zero. Many times, however, we just don’t get to see God’s full picture and that’s just plain tough! So I’ll go to the funeral of my neighbor’s young daughter, and I’ve got no answers but I’ll listen and cry with them. I’ll meet my co-worker in bar over a beer as they pour out their heart with regards to their broken marriage. And I’ll meet my youngest daughter for breakfast every Thursday morning and listen to the challenges she has just getting through a day of school or work when her head is throbbing like a jack hammer.
Folks one thing I am strongly certain of is that God is creating a beautiful tapestry with our lives. God has placed us in circumstances that may never make sense in this life. I am very confident that God loves us with an all-encompassing love every day. Knowing that fact may be all we can hold on to as we tread water but believe it. Reflect on that kind of love for a minute. Your life circumstances might make you feel angry at God, frustrated or discouraged (fill in the blank). You can’t possibly see why God could allow the crushing weight on your shoulders to continue whatever that might be. I just sense that as we cry over painful situations, God is crying too. (He did for Lazarus!).
And I pray.
I try to trust God through the journey sometimes taking only a brave, baby step forward but confident in God’s love for me. I’m not ashamed to hold onto the hand of the person God has put in front of me either as they help me weather the storm.
Since it’s Thursday, as you read this devotion this morning there is a good chance I am at Denny’s right now having breakfast with my daughter. The server will kindly put us in a booth in the ‘closed’ restaurant section so that Brody, Deanna's service dog, can curl up underneath our table without the bustle of other diners. I’ll hear about Deanna’s week both the challenges and the joys.
I’d love you to pray for my daughter and her migraines, and I’d like to return the favor too. What is your paralyzing, “I don’t understand” pain that is sucking the joy out of your life? My wife and I commit to pray for each one of you, so email us!
Sincerely,
Tom ( tomgwen@hotmail.com )
The Author: Tom Smith (Utah, USA)
Thought for the Day: God sees a big picture that is beyond my range of vision.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to trust that you will always respond to our prayers, though we may never understand your timing or your answer. Amen.
Prayer focus: THOSE WHO SUFFER FROM MIGRAINES
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