Thursday, June 25, 2015

What To Do When Trouble Comes Knocking




…what shall I say? "Father, save Me from this hour"? But for this purpose I came to this hour. "Father, glorify Your name." —John 12:27-28

“As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour. We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.[…]  You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.” CHAMBERS

The Bible speaks a great deal about sorrow.  Sometimes it is brought on by personal sin and sometimes just because we live in a sin-sick world.  God tells us about sorrow in His Word so we will know what to expect in life.  But we have a promise … when we face sorrow, God is our comfort … but He also expects us to use that sorrow to be a comfort to others.  (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) “the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”  We should not be surprised when sorrows come our way. In fact, get this, we should consider it pure joy …. (James 1:2-4)  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  Rick Warren said that “God never wastes a hurt.”  I don’t pretend to understand the dynamic here, but I know what the Word of God says .. and I believe that the Word is Truth.  It can’t be the truth some of the time, although there are many times I would like it to be.  And if it is the truth, then I must yield to that truth … receive it as supernatural … not try to understand it in my natural wisdom …  (1 Corinthians 2:14) “But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” So this sorrow that you are looking at like a calf looks at a new gate … it can only be understood in light of God’s Word and revelation of the Spirit of God, accepted by faith and endured by God’s strength.   (2 Corinthians 5:7) “For we walk [live and have understanding] by faith, not by sight.  Why is it important to keep yourself spiritually strong every day?  Think about it.  ELGIN

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

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