Three Truths that Turn Trials into Triumph

You can be riding down life’s victory road when out of nowhere you run into a pothole of problems. Sound familiar? Almost every day we are confronted with some troublesome trials that test our faith.  Some are minor, others major.  Some rock our boat while others send us into a death spin. 

So how do we get through these problems quickly and without shaking our faith or tarnishing our testimony?  The following three truths can help smooth those patches of life’s rough roads. 

1. God is in Control

The lot is cast into the lap,But its every decision is from the Lord  Proverbs 16:33 (NKJV)

What appears to be chance or bad luck is not! When you acknowledge that God has sovereign rule over all human affairs, then the ability to see God’s hand working is much easier.  The twist and turns that life often takes can cause us to doubt and fear but when you realize nothing is out of control, God is still in charge then the doubts and fears vanish.  

2. God Never Stops Loving.  

The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. Jeremiah 31:3 (NKJV)

God’s love is both everlasting and unconditional. His love is not far away but close at hand. 

“Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord,“And not a God afar off? Jeremiah 23:23 (NKJV)

During troubled times rest and be assured that God continues to love you and has not departed from you. You are not alone.

3. God Understands

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. Hebrews 4:15 (NKJV)

Remember God can identify with your problem. Since Jesus, God the Son, walked on earth as both man and God and experienced life, you can find comfort in the fact you are not facing this trial or these trials alone. Find strength and wisdom from your Lord knowing that he understands sorrow, hunger, disappointment, dread, and all of your feelings – and that He cares! So “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7 NKJV) walk tall with the assurance that you will overcome this trial.

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Warning! Trouble Ahead

In the New Testament there are three words used which embrace trouble. These are tribulation, suffering and affliction. Each words differs somewhat, and yet each of them mean trouble of some kind. Our Lord put His disciples on notice that they might expect tribulation in this life, teaching them that tribulation belonged to this world, and they could not hope to escape it; that they would not go through this life on flowery beds of ease. How hard it is to learn this lesson! Yet, we have this promise: “In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” There is the encouragement. As He had overcome the world and its tribulations, so might they do the same. Adapted from E. M. Bounds, The Essentials of Prayer.

You may find this blog helpful: Turn the wheel into the wind!

When in Troubled Waters

When in troubled waters, make sure hope is on your boat. When the disciples were in stormy waters it was Jesus who calmed the sea. Welcome Jesus abroad but remember He who is Master of the sea wishes to be THE Master of your life. Captain Hope must pilot the ship. Ask Jesus to come aboard and step out of the way!

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. (De 31:6)

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Learn to sing in the Rain!

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials...James 1:2 (NKJV)

Learn to sing in the rain. If you wait for

circumstances to be right before you allow yourself to rejoice, you are going to be one sad puppy. Learn to rejoice in all circumstances. You will be surprised at how many people will join you and sing with you.

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Acts 16:25 (NKJV)


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The False Premise

If thou wert pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee. Job 8:6

SO Bildad spoke, suggesting that Job was not pure and upright, since God did not appear to deliver him. The premises from which he argued were that God always delivers and prospers pure and upright men, and that therefore, if a man were not delivered and prospered, he was proved to be neither pure nor upright. The fallacy lay in the premiss. It is not universally true that God delivers his saints from adverse circumstances, or prospers them with outward good. There have been in all ages thousands of devoted servants of God who have been destitute, afflicted, and tormented; and there are thousands of such to-day in prisons, in hospital wards, in every condition of privation and trial; but in none of these cases can there be the least imputation on the love and righteousness of God, nor necessarily on their fidelity and goodness.

God's arrangements for us are not governed by the superficial philosophy which would make material prosperity a sign of his favour, and adversity of his displeasure. There are many considerations beside. Our privations in the outward strengthen and ripen the inward. As the outward man decays, the inward is renewed day by day. We have to learn and manifest those passive virtues which can only mature in silence and sorrow. We must be taught to be largely independent of circumstances, and to find in God Himself the springs of unfailing supply. We must learn to carry the sentence of death in ourselves, that we may not trust in ourselves, but in the living God. We have to stiffer with and for others. All these things worketh God with us to make us partakers of his holiness. But amid all our sorrows, He is always awake for us. -F. B. Meyer

Magic Pill?

Beware of being deceived into believing that Christianity is some kind of a magic pill that immures you from all problems. Christianity does not inoculate you from troubles or temptations but it does enable you to overcome them.

"The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'" ~ Billy Graham

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” -God (2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV)

If you enjoy these little tidbits of wisdom, please check out Pastor Jim's book, For His Glory: A Kaleidoscope of Wisdom. 
  

Where Could I Go But To The Lord*

Many of us have heard the hymn "Where Could I Go But To the Lord" and can identify with with being stressed out when circumstances seem to close in on us.  F.B. Meyer addresses the situations of distress we often face in the following devotional thought: 

As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress. 1 Kings i. 29.

"IN my distress I called on the Lord, and cried to my God." Never let there be distress without its cry. He will hear your voice out of his temple, and your cry will come before Him even into his ears. He will answer, and set you in a large place. There is even a gain to be won from distress, because it brings out new phases of Christ's redemptive help.

God redeemed David from the calumny of those who maligned him without cause. In so many of his psalms he refers to the unjust and cruel hatred which misrepresented him and his doings. But God, to whom he committed his cause, vindicated him, so that his righteousness shone as the light, and his judgment as the noonday. So He will do for you.

Those who now lay all manner of unkind charges to your door, will be compelled to admit your innocence. Only leave your cause with God, and be still.

God redeemed David from all the afflictions that shadowed his early days: from his wanderings in the wilderness; from his hairbreadth escapes in the caves; from meeting his death on many a terrible battlefield. We hardly realize, just now, how much we owe to the Angel of God's redemption, who is ever beside us, environing us with careful love, so that no evil may approach us, or snare take our feet. Our pathway is thick with shares and dangers, as the pilgrims found it when journeying through the valley of the shadow; but there is a way out, and in the morning we shall marvel to see how we escaped.

God redeemed David's life from destruction. This was the greatest miracle of all, when we consider the strong passions that slumbered within him, breaking out whenever he broke loose from God's grace. -F.B. Meyer, Our Daily Homily (Sermon) Volume 2 (1 Samuel - Job)

Want to rekindle your devotional time. Let For His Glory: 31 Daily Meditations stir your heart.

Turn the wheel into the wind!

When your boat is in rough waters, secure your anchor deep and man the rudder into the wind. Life will sail you into some troubled water. When it does, make sure your faith is firmly secure in your Lord and then face the trouble head on. Ride it out. You might even find that the wind whistling through your hair and the rain hitting your face invigorating.

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.  Hebrews 2:10

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Because God Does Care

Trust your cares to the one that cares for you (see 1 Peter 5:7).

In life there are only two kinds of worry. Worry about things that you have no control over and worry about things that you do have control over. Worrying about the latter is silly. If you can do something about the concern then do it! If the concern is completely out of your control, then give it to the Lord. Trust Him! He can solve the impossible - because God does care about you! Share

If you enjoy these little tidbits of wisdom, please check out Pastor Jim's book, For His Glory: A Kaleidoscope of Wisdom. 

Roll with the Punches!

Roll with the punches. Everyone on this journey we call life will find that life can throw some very hard punches. The secret to living a joyfully and successfully life is to learn to simply roll with punches. You may be knocked down but you are not knocked out. Absorb the difficulty with the attitude that tomorrow is a new day – a new opportunity. Follow @pastorbarr

Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 2Co 4:9  

The Other Side

On the other side of the clouds the sun is shining. Look beyond the clouds and see the sunshine.

The clouds of life (troubles, sickness, etc.) can block the light and cause us to live in gloom. When you look beyond the clouds, you can enjoy the sunlight. Look beyond the problems to the problem solver, Jesus. That's the secret to smiling during a cloudy day.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

Take the challenge! Let For His Glory: 31 Daily Meditations enrich your walk with the Lord. 

Build A Powerful Testimony

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4 ESV

How we meet and face the tests of life -- the troubles and trails of living for Jesus, will become the testimony tool of either the devil or the Lord. If we follow the steps of many Christian and put on the clothing of poor me, the test becomes a tool of the devil. However, if we face the trouble with the attitude that the Lord will see us through, the trail becomes a powerful testimony tool for the Holy Spirit. 

Face your troubles with the confidence that God will see you through them and equip the Spirit with powerful testimonies!

Afflictions are light when compared with what we really deserve. They are light when compared with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. But perhaps their real lightness is best seen by comparing them with the weight of glory which is awaiting us. —Arthur W. Pink