Two Good Days

By Malcolm Walls

What if you could move from defeat to victory with only two good days? You may be disheartened by your own persistent imperfection or beaten to the ground by trials. But imagine if, no matter what looms ahead, you could say with confidence that tomorrow will be better than today! In Two Good Days you will find: –60 days worth of devotions to guide you steadily from a place of brokenness to a newfound fortitude and resilience as a follower and servant of Christ –Insights from Scripture, leaders of the faith, and the author's personal experiences that meet you where you are and help you grapple with the challenges you encounter every day –Tools God gives us to live with joy and purpose in a troubled and senseless world –The perspective needed to transform hardship, inadequacy, and failure into opportunities for the advancement of God's kingdom –PLUS reflection questions to help you discover how God is moving in your life Even for faithful Christians, it's easy to look at failure and suffering and think there's no hope. But don't give up! Face all of life's challenges without allowing even the darkest days derail you from your walk with the Lord. Purchase this book NOW and start advancing day by day in your renewed walk with Jesus Christ!

• Language: English
• Publisher: SermonToBook.com
• Release date: Jul 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533736154

Book preview

TWO GOOD DAYS

A 60-Day Devotional to Transform Hurt into Hope

Malcolm C. Walls, Jr.

Copyright © 2016 by Malcolm C. Walls, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NCV) are taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of the International Bible Society.

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Two Good Days / Malcolm C. Walls, Jr.

ISBN-13: 9780692574355

ISBN-10: 0692574352

Dedication

I thank God for sending His Son Jesus to die in my place. Without that, this book would not be possible. I also want to thank my wife, Tiffanie, for her love and for the continued grace and support that she gives me. Thanks to my children Imani, Malcolm III, and Alexander for keeping me awake at night so I could get the writing done. I also want to thank my mom, Alfreda for her love, support and encouragement.  Thanks to my sister Sala for our daily talks that continue to bless and encourage me. Thanks go out to Carlos, Tiffani, and Chloe for their unconditional love and tremendous support. You all helped make this happen and hanging out with you all is liberating, fun, and edifying. I also want to give special thanks to Pastor Michael Heath who has and continues to encourage and look out for me. Thanks to all who helped make this book a reality. And lastly, to HURT, you tried to destroy me but you birthed this book. Thank you!

CONTENTS

Note from the Author

Introduction

Pick Your Head Up

Still There

Restore Me

Help Ain’t Heavy

Big Payback

Inch by Inch

Brave Heart

Moments to Love

It Takes Time

God Has Not Forgot

Purpose

Strategy of Praise

Courage Under Fire

Time of Reflection

Hero

Something in My Heart

Fear Not

Wisdom

The More Excellent Way

Hope in the Moment

Moving Forward

The Time Is Now

Awesome God

Need You Now

I Surrender

Walk by Faith

The Blind Side

Pit Stop

Hands and Feet

Integrity Counts

You Are Not Alone

Daily Bread

Love Song

Think About It

Copycat

Third-Round Pick

On Guard

Get Back in the Game

Change

Reaction

End Point

Truth

The Mirror

Layover

Giving Your Best

Jesus, Fix It

Dream Believer

Second Place

Freedom in the Fire

Valley Low

Hide and Seek

Determined to Run

Light in the Dark

The Knife

What Do You See

You or God

Scorecard

Rest in Him

Don’t Go Back

You Are

About the Author

About SermonToBook.Com

Note from the Author

The Christian journey is truly an exciting endeavor because we become eyewitnesses to the holy activity of a wonderful God in our lives on a daily basis. One of the great marvels of the faith is that we are transformed into testifiers of His strength and grace in the midst of major obstacles.

For the believer in Christ, we get to experience His love and mercy during hardship and loss. We are recipients of His compassion when we fail. We are exposed to His love when we fellowship with others who are in relationship with Him. We rejoice in His redemptive power when others come to know Him. We are filled with His joy throughout every aspect of our lives, knowing that people will watch us go through this pilgrimage and they will also glorify God in the process. The journey is something to be enjoyed and lived out to the fullest because God has given us His Word to stand on and guide us.

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. — Psalm 119:105

Too many Christians throw in the towel because they hit a major difficulty in their journey. When they find themselves staring difficulty in the face, instead of seeking and trusting God, they quit and never live up to their God given potential. Rather than pressing toward the goal which is in Christ Jesus, they settle for mundane Christian living.

It is only by constantly staying in the Word that we can find joy in the journey, even in the center of hardship and pain. For many Christians, the spiritual journey is riddled with loneliness, despair, discouragement, and hopelessness that ends up derailing and deterring them from getting to the place where God wants them to be. They willingly isolate themselves living in obscurity but journeying hopelessly and uselessly in darkness is not God’s design for us. It is His will to transform us in the darkness via His marvelous light, so that fruit can be produced from and in these challenging times.

There will be dark days, but God wants us to experience all of who He is even as we navigate through the tumultuous seas of life. It is His Word that illuminates our pathway so we can deal with life and enjoy the journey, no matter what we face along the way.

My friend, the journey that you and I are on is a difficult one. It is also a glorious and amazing adventure filled with great experiences of a great God who does great things. As you carry on, you will be able to look back and praise God for all He has done as you see the amazing fingerprint of God in your life.

The ups, downs, disappointments, and victories of my own life have provided the impetus to write this book. All too often we feel as though we are on our own and that we are the only ones struggling. This psychological trick that is both self-inflicted and from the enemy has left many believers feeling stuck and disheartened in their Christian walk. The results can have damaging effects not only on us personally, but also on the relationships in our lives. None of us are able to make it on our own, and the words written have come from several years of my journey experience.

As you read, you will learn that I have been hurt in my Christian walk, have failed, and been discouraged. However, you will also see God’s grace and love that I uncovered in my hurts, failures, and discouragements. My prayer is that you will see some of your own life in the pages you read and find hope to continue in your journey. It is with the utmost confidence that I know God will use this book as another tool to encourage you, challenge you, make you look more like His son, Jesus Christ, and help your day be better than the day before. He wants you to have life and life abundantly and this devotional will help you get back to the place where you experience the joy of your salvation.

This devotional is not meant to give you theological stimulation; rather, it’s designed to provide coaching while at the same time give you practical insight and inspiration to connect your broken heart to God’s healing hand.

The goal of this book is not to trivialize your hurt, or to simply make you happy, but to aid in your personal journey of holiness and compel you to recognize that as a child of God your hurt can be healed.  To that end, a reflective question accompanies each chapter of the book as a practical tool to help you get the most out of your daily devotion. I recommend that you go through these sections with a pen in order to write your thoughts in the areas provided. You can go through the questions by yourself, with a friend, or with a study group.

However you choose to approach the devotions and questions, it is my desire that you enjoy the book and grow in your experience of God’s healing power and blessings. God can transform your hurt into hope and I believe that when He does that you will string together Two Good Days!

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. — Psalm 107:19-21

WELCOME

Introduction

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. — Psalm 147:3

On the weekend of November 5, 2010, an event occurred that I will never forget. I was at a conference—along with some other pastors—and the last general session was coming to a close. The popular keynote speaker opened with a powerful story of how his life went into a spiritual tailspin after losing his wife and daughter in a car accident.

While sharing about his journey of brokenness and hurt, the room was quiet and everyone was captivated. I thought to myself: How could a pastor who was so popular have been so broken? His words moved me to think about my own brokenness and struggles as a Christian involved in drugs, pornography, lies, loneliness, dependency, depression, and so on.

This speaker then made a very powerful statement. He said that as he was dealing with his issues, all he wanted was to put two good days together. Looking at his life from the outside, people believed he had everything together; however, on the inside, his thoughts of inadequacy, failure, death, pain, and betrayal haunted him. I resonated with the same feelings...and then some.

He then closed with an altar call. I hesitated because I was a pastor. I couldn’t let people know that I had issues: they relied on me to be better than them; they needed me to be perfect. I remember the Lord saying to me, They need to know you are broken. I still did not move. As the war raged on within me I kept saying to myself, Walk up...stay here...walk up...you have too much to lose, stay here. Deep down I also wanted to put two good days together. Two days of strong devotion and obedience to God. Two days without pornography. Two days without trying to live up to the expectation of other people. Two days!

I finally got up and walked to the front of the stage, and at that moment I broke down. I was tired of carrying the burdens that weighed me down. I was tired of making excuses and justifying my behavior. As the pastor prayed for me, I pleaded for God to help me put two good days together.

Two Good Days was birthed out of a lot of pain, mistakes, errors, and bad judgments, with some victories thrown in. On my journey to become a better Christian, I realized that broken people need to hear from other broken people. That is what moved me that weekend in November 2010. The man preaching that day