{"id":14,"date":"2007-08-13T06:00:27","date_gmt":"2007-08-13T13:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devonline.us\/dailyevotional\/archives\/14"},"modified":"2007-10-03T15:32:24","modified_gmt":"2007-10-03T22:32:24","slug":"if","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/if\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;IF!&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Proverbs 3:5-8<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;If&#8221;! Such a tiny little word, yet one which holds so much meaning. It is a conditional word that often implies being a little reluctant to respond until certain conditions are met. I will do this or that &#8220;if&#8221; you meet my expectations, demands or in some way make me feel comfortable.<\/p>\n<p>It is a sad commentary that we often bargain with God by attaching an &#8220;if&#8221; to our obedience. In doing so, we place ourselves in a position of control. Instead of saying, &#8220;Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done&#8221;, as Jesus prayed in the garden, but our telling God what to do and when to do it.<\/p>\n<p>Just recently someone forwarded the following inspirational piece. It explains a little of the reason for God&#8217;s actions and reveals why we do not always see His hand at work in our life.<\/p>\n<p>GOD SAID&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you never felt pain, then how would you know that I&#8217;m a Healer?<\/li>\n<li>If you never went through difficulties, how would you know that I&#8217;m a Deliverer?<\/li>\n<li>If you never had a trial, how could you call yourself an overcomer?<\/li>\n<li>If you never felt sadness, how would you know that I&#8217;m a Comforter?<\/li>\n<li>If you never made a mistake, how would you know that I&#8217;m forgiving?<\/li>\n<li>If you knew it all, how would you know that I will answer your questions?<\/li>\n<li>If you were never in trouble, how would you know that I will come to your rescue?<\/li>\n<li>If you never were broken, then how would you know that I can make you whole?<\/li>\n<li>If you never had a problem, how would you know that I can solve them?<\/li>\n<li>If you never had any suffering, then how would you know what Jesus went through?<\/li>\n<li>If you never went through the fire, then how would you become pure?<\/li>\n<li>If I gave you all things, how would you appreciate them?<\/li>\n<li>If I never corrected you, how would you know that I love you?<\/li>\n<li>If you had all power, then how would you learn to depend on Me?<\/li>\n<li>If your life was perfect, then what would you need Me for?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>THANK YOU, GOD! HELP ME TO REMEMBER!<\/p>\n<p>Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today, trust Him completely, and be a blessing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; &#8211;\u00a0&#8211; Pastor Cecil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Proverbs 3:5-8 &#8220;Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-e-votionals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}