We never know when or what challenges will come our way in this life… How do you react when your boat is being rocked? We live in a fallen world that is full of challenges that we never see coming, we have to exercise our faith to determine how we are going to respond. This is probably one of the most difficult mind-transformations we have to learn, how to keep our trust in God and not allow our minds to respond in the flesh, in the natural thought process of the world we’ve been born into.
I won’t lie, even after 35 years of being saved, I still struggle with this, but instead of denying it – I bring it before the Father in prayer. I believe in being honest with God. After all, He created us with feelings, denying “how we feel” is doing ourselves a disservice, but there is a place for feelings and this is where we have to “work out our salvation” recognize and acknowledge how we feel and then try and put our feelings in their proper place.
BEHIND OUR FAITH
This is so hard to do, and I believe the Father knows this… So be honest with Him! Scream out to Him if you are in pain! Cry if you need to! Recognize and acknowledge whatever it is you are feeling and then, when you are ready – give it to the Father.
Listen, it was NEVER God’s intent for us to live in a fallen world that is full of sin, sickness, illness and disease. This is NOT the world that God created man to abide in! And if we let ourselves, we can get stuck on the unfairness of it all – but if you really think about it, that doesn’t change our situations or help us in anyway! When we feel our lives are out of control we need to turn them over to the One who is ALWAYS in control. The One who is GREATER than ANY situation (even when everything inside of us wants to believe otherwise).
THERE IS NO PROBLEM THAT IS BIGGER THAN OUR GOD
Ol’ Slewfoot tries to get us to believe in the opposite – why? Because that is what he does! But if we hold fast to the Word of God, the truth is written RIGHT there on those pages! And it was written for us and for a time such as those we experience in the here and now! It’s why God gave it to us!
Remember, our enemy is called “the accuser” for a reason and God is the one he accuses most of all! And while he points his finger at God and whispers disheartening lies into our ears in the hope that he can turn our hearts from God, remember he accuses us before the Father as well! In other words, he plays BOTH sides! Read the book of Job as an example! But on the right hand of the Father stands Jesus, who the Bible tells us is our Advocate. Hebrews 4:15-16 tells us:
“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
If your head is stuck on “doom and gloom” and you even may have a very REAL reason for feeling that way, it is time to re-evaluate. To speak to the Father and ask Him to help and give you His perspective. To keep in mind the following:
Psalm 37:23 says:
“A man’s steps are established by the LORD, and the LORD delights in his way.”
Psalm 40:2 tells us:
“He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.”
Psalm 41:11 tell us:
“By this I know that You delight in me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.”
The devil would tell us that “God has forgotten us…” That “God doesn’t care…” That “there is no God.”
But we already know he is the author of lies, so we need to say as Jesus said in Matthew 16:33:
“Get behind me, satan!”
(And yes I never capitalize his name, purposely)
The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:12:
“Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
Maybe there is a higher purpose for the things we go through than what we can see… Maybe there is a reason for why we can’t see right now “the why of it.” But we can choose to trust God in spite of whatever it is we encounter.
BUT WE HAVE TO CHOOSE TO TRUST GOD.
Whose report will we choose to believe? If we really believe that God is good than we have to hold fast to the fact that Romans 8:28 tells us:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
His purpose is so much BETTER than ours… Do you believe that? Do you trust that God has got you? No matter what? Do you believe Deuteronomy 31:6?
“God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” “
We may not have the answers to the questions that arise when life feels like it is going sideways, but if we are part of God’s Called Remnant (followers of Jesus, Born-Again Believers) then even IF we don’t have the answers, we KNOW the One who IS the answer. We don’t trust in and of ourselves.
WE TRUST IN HIM
Twelve years ago, out of the blue, I was diagnosed with Stage II Triple Negative Breast Cancer. I never saw that coming! There was no history of breast cancer in my family. I had no idea the WHY of why this had happened to me. I didn’t know if I was going to live or die. I remember being just so shocked, feeling as though I was in a vortex from everyone I knew. I didn’t know what was going to happen. But let me tell you what I DID know.
I KNEW MY LIFE WAS NOT MY OWN – I KNEW THAT I HAD GIVEN MY LIFE TO CHRIST, YEARS AGO
SO THE NUMBER OF MY DAYS HE WOULD FULFILL
(See Exodus 23:26)
I KNEW THAT THE WORD OF GOD TOLD ME THAT GOD HAS ENGRAVED ME ON THE VERY PALM OF HIS HAND
(See Isaiah 49:16)
I KNEW THAT GOD SO LOVED ME THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM (AND I DID/DO) SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.
(See John 3:16)
I KNEW THAT GOD DID NOT GIVE ME A SPIRIT OF FEAR AND TIMIDITY, BUT OF POWER LOVE AND A SOUND MIND.”
(See 2 Timothy 1:7)
I KNEW THAT TO LIVE IS CHRIST, TO DIE IS TO GAIN.
(See Philippians 1:21)
When your trust is in God, even though you don’t know “the why of it” you know Who it is you belong to. When you read the Word of God (the Bible), you learn what your promises are. You see the examples of those who God had go before you, what they experienced and how God used them. You see, we get to see their full stories in the Bible. They were as we are, they only saw in part – through the reading of God’s Word, we get to see their lives in full. Their mistakes, their weaknesses, their strengths and we get to learn from them. God hasn’t changed, maybe – as was the case with many of their stories, there is a higher purpose than what we can see at this moment for ALL that occurs in our lives. Twelve years later, I can testify that God STILL is in the healing business.
GOD HEALED ME.
If God hadn’t chosen to heal me, it wouldn’t be because of anything other than the fact that He had a different plan or purpose for what I had gone through. I am no better than anyone else. God does not have favorites. Don’t believe me? His Word says in Romans 2:11:
“For there is no respect of persons with God.”
What we need to do, is BELIEVE that God WILL fulfill in our lives ALL there is that He desires to fulfill, especially if we have given Him our lives – they are not our own, they are His. And our job through the highs and the lows of life – whatever we experience, is that in sickness and in rain, in singing and in pain, God IS in control. God IS trustworthy. God IS Sovereign.
When we allow our minds to be transformed we begin (in spite of our circumstances) to experience His peace that passes ALL understanding. (See Philippians 4:6).
Don’t deny your feelings, put them under submission to your faith, so that your faith is greater. It’s not always easy to do – God knows that – but ALL things are possible in Christ Jesus. You JUST have to believe.
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