One of the most liberating revelations I received from the Lord was when He made it clear that He does not look upon trouble as we do. Where we see stress He sees opportunities. Where we see crisis, He sees growth and betterment. God's purpose in times of crisis and trouble is to teach us precious lessons. They are intended to educate, and build us up. And when we learn from them and ride out these storms of life, we will see the great promise fulfilled. We need to see the joy and opportunities through times of problems. Because we will learn that there is a sweet and wonderful joy we can have here too. We do not have to wait until Heaven. We can learn to make our life joy filled by seizing the crisis and growing from it; and becoming the person that we are capable of being for our benefit and His glory. So when God tests us, or bad stuff happens, we need to see it as a time to learn and to trust Him by changing what is wrong while putting His promises in our hearts and feet. And when it is over we can look back and see that our trials have been necessary. We are better, He is glorified!
I do not like going through trials, for many years I would try my hardest to get out of a trial. And then be thankful that it was over. But they kept happening and happening, so I had to rethink my strategy from my purpose to what has revealed in His Word. And that is to recognize the crisis as a challenge from God to learn valuable lessons to make me grow in maturity and strength. And then I was receiving a better blessing than I ever had before. As stated in 1 Chron. 4:9-10, as the ministry He entrusted me with grew and grew. I can praise His name in deep suffering and delight in the blessings. And when those storms of trials and crisis come, I'm prepared, because I now see them as opportunities to gain more strength and maturity, and even obtaining a larger measure of Divine grace. Thus our adversity can and will become our tools to grow and learn to be our best for His highest. So things that are seemingly against us, He will turn around in His time and way. We have to get out of His way and allow Christ to work. And this is how we become more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
To be a content Christian and happy with life, I learned we need to see life as a series of problem solving and learning opportunities. Because the problems we face will either overwhelm and overpower us or grow and develop us. Thus, the path of joy is determined by how we respond to them. Unfortunately, most people (including Christians) will fail to see God's hand in their life. Choosing instead to focus on their problem and allowing it to take over their lives. I believe wholeheartedly God wants to use our problems for good, to make us better and stronger for our personal development and in turn for us to be able to help others in their lives. Unexpected crises are a part of life, they are like storms. At this very moment you are in one of three storm categories; either you just came out of a one, or you are in one right now, or you are headed into one. Such as it is with crises, they cannot be escaped, even if you hide in the storm shelter it is still there pounding away! Thus we need to learn how to prepare and ride them out.
As with crises, we must learn to prepare and ride them out by learning and maturing from them. Sometimes God needs to slap us in the face to wake us up. Without such wakeup calls we will blindly fall onto the wrong path that leads to greater disappointment and ruin. We will not see it coming, because our will is in the way of His. But know this, God is there leading and protecting us, even when we do not see Him! And be warned if your will is in the way of His, He will light a fire under you to get you moving! Problems will point us in a right direction if we surrender our will over to His. His love is there to motivate us and change us into the best path and plan, much better than we could ever come up with! Whoa……. Is God trying to get your attention?
Problems are the main ingredients for us to build character. The key to these building materials is that they need to be used in the right way to be able to fit and function correctly. And that right way is how we respond and learn. God is far more interested in our character than our comfort. The only two things we will take into eternity, is relationships and character. Romans 5:3-4 says, "We can rejoice when we run into problems ...they help us learn to be patient and patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady." God has big plans for us, if we are willing to submit to His rule in our lives—if we come to understand the purpose for problems, and grow through God's own correction and pruning, asking Him to empower us through His Holy Spirit. We will stumble and suffer in life. We will have problems, as long as we are in the flesh. But God tells us to face our trials and difficulties positively. In the end, it is not the setbacks that He is most concerned about. It is how well we bounce back!
Let’s pray: “Heavenly Father, strengthen me with the power of Your Spirit that my attitude and outlook may develop, and my way of looking may become more like yours. Teach me how to transform the difficulties that come my way into opportunities for personal growth and service to others. In Jesus’ Name Amen!”
One Simple Nugget: “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently!”
I do not like going through trials, for many years I would try my hardest to get out of a trial. And then be thankful that it was over. But they kept happening and happening, so I had to rethink my strategy from my purpose to what has revealed in His Word. And that is to recognize the crisis as a challenge from God to learn valuable lessons to make me grow in maturity and strength. And then I was receiving a better blessing than I ever had before. As stated in 1 Chron. 4:9-10, as the ministry He entrusted me with grew and grew. I can praise His name in deep suffering and delight in the blessings. And when those storms of trials and crisis come, I'm prepared, because I now see them as opportunities to gain more strength and maturity, and even obtaining a larger measure of Divine grace. Thus our adversity can and will become our tools to grow and learn to be our best for His highest. So things that are seemingly against us, He will turn around in His time and way. We have to get out of His way and allow Christ to work. And this is how we become more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
To be a content Christian and happy with life, I learned we need to see life as a series of problem solving and learning opportunities. Because the problems we face will either overwhelm and overpower us or grow and develop us. Thus, the path of joy is determined by how we respond to them. Unfortunately, most people (including Christians) will fail to see God's hand in their life. Choosing instead to focus on their problem and allowing it to take over their lives. I believe wholeheartedly God wants to use our problems for good, to make us better and stronger for our personal development and in turn for us to be able to help others in their lives. Unexpected crises are a part of life, they are like storms. At this very moment you are in one of three storm categories; either you just came out of a one, or you are in one right now, or you are headed into one. Such as it is with crises, they cannot be escaped, even if you hide in the storm shelter it is still there pounding away! Thus we need to learn how to prepare and ride them out.
As with crises, we must learn to prepare and ride them out by learning and maturing from them. Sometimes God needs to slap us in the face to wake us up. Without such wakeup calls we will blindly fall onto the wrong path that leads to greater disappointment and ruin. We will not see it coming, because our will is in the way of His. But know this, God is there leading and protecting us, even when we do not see Him! And be warned if your will is in the way of His, He will light a fire under you to get you moving! Problems will point us in a right direction if we surrender our will over to His. His love is there to motivate us and change us into the best path and plan, much better than we could ever come up with! Whoa……. Is God trying to get your attention?
Problems are the main ingredients for us to build character. The key to these building materials is that they need to be used in the right way to be able to fit and function correctly. And that right way is how we respond and learn. God is far more interested in our character than our comfort. The only two things we will take into eternity, is relationships and character. Romans 5:3-4 says, "We can rejoice when we run into problems ...they help us learn to be patient and patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady." God has big plans for us, if we are willing to submit to His rule in our lives—if we come to understand the purpose for problems, and grow through God's own correction and pruning, asking Him to empower us through His Holy Spirit. We will stumble and suffer in life. We will have problems, as long as we are in the flesh. But God tells us to face our trials and difficulties positively. In the end, it is not the setbacks that He is most concerned about. It is how well we bounce back!
Let’s pray: “Heavenly Father, strengthen me with the power of Your Spirit that my attitude and outlook may develop, and my way of looking may become more like yours. Teach me how to transform the difficulties that come my way into opportunities for personal growth and service to others. In Jesus’ Name Amen!”
One Simple Nugget: “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently!”
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