The Easy Way and the Hard Way

I read the following passage in my devotional time this morning from one of Joyce Meyer's books: Battlefield of the Mind. I thought it would be an encouragement to others. Many of us are going through some sort of trial. They aren't the same trial. Our journeys may be different but the trial is still the same. Hopefully this encourages you this morning that the journey is making us stronger and we must keep pressing on.

When Pharoh let the people go, God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God said, Lest the people change their purpose when they see war and return to Egypt. Exodus 13:17

You can be sure that anywhere God leads you, He is able to keep you. He never allows more to come on us that we can bear (I Cor. 10:13). Whatever He orders, He pays for. We do not have to live in a constant struggle if we learn to lean on Him continually for the strength we need.

If you know God has asked you to do something, don't back down just because it gets hard. When things get hard, spend more time with Him, lean more on Him and receive more grace from Him. (Heb 4:16)

Grace is the power of God coming to you at no cost to you, to do through you what you cannot do by yourself. Beware of thoughts that say, "I can't do this; it's just too hard."

Sometimes God leads us the hard way instead of the easy way, because He is doing a work in us. How will we ever learn to lean on Him, if everything in our lives is so easy that we can handle it by ourselves?

God led the Children of Israel the long, hard way because they were still cowards, and He had to do a work in them to prepare them for the battles thye would face in the Promised Land.

Most people think that entering the Promised Land means no more battles, but that is incorrect. If you read the accounts of what took place after Israelites crossed the Jordan River and went in to possess the land of promise, you will see that they fought one battle after another. But they won all those battles fought in God's strength and under His direction.

God led them the longer, harder route even though there was a shorter, easier one because He knew they were not ready for the battles they would face in possessing the land. He was concerned that when they saw the enemy, they might run back to Egypt, so He took them the harder way to teach them Who He was and that they could not depend on themselves.

When a person is going through a hard time, his mind wants to give up. Satan knows that if he can defeat us in our mind, he can defeat us in our experience. That's why it is so important that we not lose heart, grow weary and faint.