“We know that all things work
together for good to those who love God…” —Romans 8:28
“The circumstances of a
saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing
as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t
understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places,
among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose
through the intercession of the Spirit in you. Never put yourself in front of
your circumstances and say, “I’m going to be my own providence here; I will
watch this closely, or protect myself from that.” All your circumstances are in
the hand of God, and therefore you don’t ever have to think they are unnatural
or unique. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to agonize over how to
intercede, but to use the everyday circumstances and people God puts around you
by His providence to bring them before His throne, and to allow the Spirit in
you the opportunity to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch
the whole world with His saints.” CHAMBERS
Has anyone ever shared Romans 8:28 with you when you were
facing difficulties in life? Like it is
balm for your wounded heart. But we must
be careful in sharing the Word with people are in the midst of a physical or
relational crisis. Tossing a verse at
someone can be an uncaring act. What the people need is compassion and
intercession and we toss them a spiritual “bone” as it were. That is not to say that we should not share
scripture. The Word reflects God’s heart
and His character. We need to encourage
one another with the Word. But we must
go a step beyond that and care about the pain they are facing. Dr. John Maxwell said “people don’t care how
much you know until they know how much you care.”
We can approach people in two ways. Like Job’s friends who told him to confess
his sin, because surely God would not allow these problem into his life, or
like the good Samaritan who did not ask
why the man was in the condition he was in, but went the extra mile to bring
comfort and healing. People don't need you to be a judge, they need you to be Jesus. God allows us to
face difficulty but not without the possibility of enduring that
difficulty. Rick Warren said “God never
wastes a hurt”. Not let me toss a verse
at you! (2 Corinthians 1:3-6) Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and
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. For just as we share
abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through
Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are
comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of
the same sufferings we suffer.” Think about it. ELGIN
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
Charley Elgin
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