Holy Spirit often speaks to me while I’m driving, alone in my car, I guess it is because that is one of the places where He truly has my undivided attention. 😉 2024 has been a year of great loss for me, but I want to share an encouraging Word that Holy Spirit ministered to me in the quiet of my car. This Word is for those who have also endured a “Job” season.
We often feel isolated in our pain, this is where if we are not careful the enemy of our soul can take advantage of our vulnerability and our pain and lead a full fledge attack on our faith. Don’t let him! When you are grieving, suffering or in pain this is when we need to RUN to our Father!
RUN INTO THE ARMS OF THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU! WHO SEES ALL! WHO KNOWS YOU INTIMATELY!
It is times like these when it is SO important to read the Word of God! Throughout this season specific scriptures have come front in center to me by Holy Spirit Who has helped me to hide God’s Word in my heart – this is WHY the devil tries SO hard to keep you from opening up the Word of God! He doesn’t want you to know your promises! He doesn’t WANT you to gain from the experience of the people written within the Word of God so that you can be encouraged, strengthened and learn from the things they did right and the lessons that they learned from doing wrong! Oh, Beloved by God reader –
GOD LOVES YOU SO MUCH!
Losing both my husband and my mother within 3 months of each other would have been my undoing, if NOT for my trust and faith in God!
AT YOUR LOWEST MOMENTS IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT GOD IS STILL ON HIS THRONE!
THAT JESUS SITS ON THE RIGHT-SIDE OF THE FATHER AS OUR HIGH PRIEST, INTERCEDING ON OUR BEHALF!
THAT GOD IS GREATER THAN ANY SITUATION WE CAN ENDURE OR ENCOUNTER! NOTHING COMES AS A SURPRISE TO HIM!
THAT IF YOU HAVE MADE A CONFESSION OF FAITH – ACCEPTED JESUS AS YOUR SAVIOR, MADE HIM LORD OVER YOUR LIFE YOUR STEPS ARE ORDERED BY HIM!
Pain and suffering were never God’s intent for us! But we live in a fallen world, yet Jesus is OUR Redeemer! He has made us victorious Over ANYTHING that life would throw our way! Even when we don’t know the fullness of has occurred in the spiritual realm! Listen, Job was only aware of the pain and loss he experienced in the EARTHLY realm, we as readers of the Bible have been allowed to see his FULL story! How Satan went before the throne of God with regards to Job! Take a look at Job 1:6-12:
One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.”
What can we learn from this passage? We can learn that there is NOTHING that can happen to us that God has NOT allowed. And when we don’t understand WHAT it is He has allowed to happen to us or those we love, we have to stand on our trust IN Him.
EVEN WHEN WE DON’T UNDERSTAND THE “WHY” OF IT.
So, I ask you (as I have had to ask myself this year):
DO YOU TRULY TRUST GOD?
Search your heart, even if it is full of pain and ask yourself that question. Remember that 1 Corinthians 13:9-10 says:
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
Some of the things that God allows to occur in our life (just like the circumstances with Job) are for God’s glory. It’s important for us to remember that He tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
This is where we have to remember:
GOD IS SOVEREIGN
There are SO many examples in His Word (the Bible) that show us what was going on “behind the scenes” of those whose lives we read about, we get a special “insight” on what was occurring BOTH in the spiritual realm AND the earthly realm that the participants going through them (real living human beings like you and I) could not see. They didn’t have the full Bible (New Testament) to see what was going on in the spiritual realm of their lives. We are not so different than they were back then, God doesn’t always reveal to us why we are being allowed to go through whatever it is we are going through in our OWN lives!
BUT THIS IS WHERE FAITH COMES IN. THIS IS WHERE TRUST COMES IN. THIS IS WHERE PRAYER COMES IN.
God doesn’t always answer our prayers in the ways we expect Him to and when that happens, we need to TRUST that God knows what He is doing. We need to hold fast about what we know about Him so that we don’t allow the enemy to mock us and tell us the opposite of what we know about our Father. We need to stand upon our faith and recall what it is God HAS done for us and trust in what He IS doing and what He WILL do!
This is where our testimonies of what God has delivered us from comes in! When you doubt God’s love for you remember these scriptures:
John 3:16:
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Would a Father who doesn’t love you sacrifice His Son for your own benefit??? (I think not…)
Take a look at Jeremiah 29:11:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Sometimes the things that we go through are to bring us CLOSER to Him. Help us to realize our dependency on Him. We have to remember that it was NEVER God’s intent for man to live in a fallen world full of sin, sickness, illness, disease or death. This happened when Eve and Adam sinned and chose to disobey God’s instructions in the Garden of Eden. If you read Genesis 2:15-17 it says the following:
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Notice how the last part of that is “you will certainly die.” God warned them of what was going to happen when they disobeyed Him. Eve and Adam CHOSE to disobey God’s instruction, there decision to disobey Him came as no surprise to God; Sadly, He ALREADY knew what they were going to do – He already knew what the results would be that would travel down to the generations to come. God ALREADY had a plan of redemption set in place because of HIS great love for us!
THAT PLAN WAS JESUS. OUR SAVIOR, OUR REDEEMER, OUR HIGH PRIEST, OUR LORD, OUR KING!
John 1:1 says:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
NOTHING COMES AS A SURPRISE TO GOD
So, as you go through your trial or sorrow, or pain don’t allow the enemy a foothold in your thoughts! Don’t allow him to lie to you as he did to Adam and Eve. Don’t allow roots of bitterness, anger, depression to overcome you. It’s okay to admit to God that you don’t understand the “WHY” of whatever it is you are experiencing! He’s given you feelings for a reason! But we are NOT to be led by our feelings, but by our FAITH! And we can TRUST that God (Who has already shown us that He is working ALL things out for us) that He is WITH us through WHATEVER we walk through in this life!
READ AND BE STRENGTHENED BY THE READING OF IT – THE WORD OF GOD (YOUR BIBLE)! SO THAT HOLY SPIRIT CAN MINISTER TO YOU THROUGH IT AND SHOW YOU EXAMPLES OF HOW GOD WORKED BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE PEOPLE IN IT AND IS ALSO WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES OF YOUR LIFE!
We have to accept that we may not know the “why” of what happens on THIS side of the earth, but we can TRUST in God! And during those times when we feel weakest, this is where we go to Him in prayer. Maybe what we are going through is for the glory of God? Reflect on your walk with Him and remember ALL the ways He has been there for you in the past! What He has done, what He has brought you through! Things aren’t always as they look.
I don’t know what you are going through – but I know God does! I know what I have been through, but I can ATTEST to you that throughout it ALL – God has been with me! I ATTEST to you that:
GOD IS FAITHFUL! THE WORD OF GOD IS TRUE! HE IS WITH YOU; HE IS NOT MAN THAT HE WOULD LIE! YOU CAN TRUST HIM!
The best way to connect with your Heavenly Father is through prayer, will you pray with me?
Sovereign Father, thank You that Your thoughts are GREATER than my thoughts, that Your ways are HIGHER than my ways. Thank You that while I only see in part, You see in full! You did not create me to be dependent upon myself, but to be dependent upon You. Father, I confess that I AM dependent upon You! And I’m so thankful that I am not dependent upon myself, because when I depend upon myself, I make a hot mess of things! Forgive me for the times when I have subtracted You from the equation of my life. I confess that I NEED You Father, that I don’t understand the “why” of things, but YOU DO. Father, forgive me for the times when I have not listened to the directions You have given me, but done as Adam and Eve did – gone my own way, trusted in my own understanding instead of listening to You. Thank You that You had another plan, a plan of redemption to bring us back into a right relationship with You. Thank You for leaving the glories of Heaven to come down and meet me right here where I am at! Thank You that You were born of the virgin Mary, that You clothed Yourself in flesh, Son of Man, Jesus that You lived a sin-less life and chose to take ALL our sins upon You and die on the cross for forgiveness of our sins to redeem us back to a “right” relationship with the Father. Thank You that EVEN NOW You are seated on the right-hand of the Father interceding on my behalf! Thank You for sending Holy Spirit to us to be our Guide, our Comforter, our Teacher! Father, I am in pain from the circumstances of my life, I don’t understand why I am walking through this, but I pray that it will be for Your glory! I trust in You, I have given my life over to You, so it is not my own anymore – it is Yours. Help me to trust that You have my best interests at heart (You tell me so in Your Word), please hear my prayers and help me to praise You through it regardless of how I feel. Help me to be led by faith and NOT by my feelings. I choose to trust You this day Father! I thank You that You are and ALWAYS HAVE BEEN greater than my situation. I entrust myself to Your care that Your name WOULD be glorified! I pray by faith that You will bless me, guide me, keep me in ALL my ways. I love You Father, I love You Jesus, I love You Holy Spirit, thank You for being in control even when I feel out of control. Bless me this day Father and hear my prayer, in Jesus precious name I pray, Amen.
I pray you feel God’s overwhelming peace right now after praying that prayer – I know I do! Remember that NO one can bless you or keep you better than the One who according to Isaiah 41:10:
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Let Him, let Him hold you in the palm of His hand. Close your eyes for a moment and picture your loving Father holding you in the center of His palm. Because He’s got you and He’s NEVER going to let you go. NOT EVER.
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