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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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)

Check out my book For His Glory: A Kaleidoscope of Wisdom! 

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

Job opened his mouth and...

Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day. Job 3:1.

THAT is, the day of his birth. Probably there have been hours in the majority of lives in which men have wished that they had never been born. When they have stood beside the wreck of all earthly hope, or entered the garden of the grave they have cried, "Why died I not from the birth!" The reason for this is, that the heart has been so occupied with the transient and earthly, that it has lost sight of the unseen and eternal; and in finding itself deprived of the former, it has thought that there was nothing left to live for.

One of the greatest tests of true religion is in bearing suffering. At such a time we are apt, if we are professing Christians, to exert a certain constraint over ourselves, and bear ourselves heroically. We  have read of people in like circumstances who have not shed a tear or uttered a complaining word; and we have braced ourselves to a Christian stoicism. "I am sure you cannot find fault with my behavior," said one such to me. And yet beneath the correct exterior there may be the pride and haughtiness of an altogether unsubdued self.

There is a more excellent way: to humble oneself under the mighty hand of God; to search the heart for any dross that needs to be burnt out; to resign oneself to the will of the Father; to endeavor to learn the lesson in the black-lettered book; to seek to manifest the specific grace for which the trial calls; to be very tender and thoughtful for others; to live deeper down.

"Nearer, my God to Thee! — Nearer to Thee!E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,Still all my song shall be — Nearer, my God, to Thee!Nearer to Thee!"

F.B. Meyer, Our Daily Homily