Lies I Believe Part 5: God Won't Give Me More Than I Can HandleSmakprov

WHO DO YOU RELY ON? Reflection: Sometimes God will give you more than you can handle because He wants to teach you to depend on Him alone. The book of 2 Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. As an apostle, he was commissioned by Jesus to travel to many places and share the gospel. Today’s reading makes it clear that although Paul was obediently doing the will of God, he still found himself in many impossible situations. Often those situations were even created by his obedience in following God’s leading. Amazingly, he did not allow this to stop him. He did not let the presence of hardships cause him to doubt the presence of God. Instead, he became well aware that he could not fulfill his purpose through his own strength and ability—he learned to rely fully on God. Have you ever noticed that we tend to forget about God when things are going really well? We somehow start to believe that “we’ve got this.” If you could handle everything yourself, why would you ever need to rely on God? Ask Yourself: Are there any areas of your life that you tend to operate on “auto-pilot,” without pausing to pray and ask for God’s input and guidance? Are there any areas of your life that have become too much for you to handle on your own, and you find yourself tempted to quit or get discouraged instead of leaning more fully on God? Pause to Pray: Jesus, I know that you have good and perfect plans for me and that sometimes I will face hard situations. Let me not grow weary and get discouraged. Even now I ask you to help me rely more fully on you in regards to ________________________. Take a Next Step: Seek out and write down three or four scriptures that you find encouraging. Keep them in a convenient place to pull out when find yourself in hard situations. Consider: Isaiah 40: 27-31, Psalm 85: 15, Lamentations 3: 21-23, 1 Corinthians 1: 9, Matthew 11: 28-30, Galatians 6:9, Isaiah 41: 10.