What We NEED in life, not What We Want
God allows us to suffer difficulties and hardships for a purpose. God led the children of Israel to wander through the wilderness for forty years in order to humble them and test them. When they refused to obey Him and enter the Promised Land, the Israelites revealed that they did not really know Him. If they had, they would have had more faith. God spent the next forty years testing the hearts of His people to see if they were prepared for His next assignment. Testing reveals what is in your heart and produces a robust faith (James 1:3, 12). God allowed His people to hunger so they could experience His provision and develop a deeper level of trust in Him. As the people walked with God they came to understand that their lives depended upon His Word. They learned that God's Word was the most important thing they had. After depending on God for forty years while living in the desert, the people listened when God spoke, and they believed. When they finally entered the Promised Land and waged war against their enemies, the Israelites knew that God's Word meant life and death. They were prepared to listen to Him, and as a result He led them to an astounding victory. Is God presently testing you in some area of your life? What has His testing revealed? Have you become bitter toward God because of where He has led you? Or have you come to trust Him more as a result of what you have gone through? - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day
“Abide in me.” John 15:4 NKJV
A close relationship with Christ is a certain cure for every trouble. Whether it is the bitterness of affliction, or the sickening excess of earthly delight, close fellowship with the Lord Jesus will take sharpness from the one, and dullness from the other. Stay near to Jesus, Christian, and it is a matter of secondary importance whether you live on the mountain of honor or in the valley of humiliation. Living near Jesus, you are covered with the wings of God, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Let nothing keep you from that holy relationship, which is the wonderful privilege of a soul wedded to the well-beloved. Don’t be content with a brief conversation now and then, but always seek to keep His company—for only in His presence do you have comfort and safety. Jesus should not be a friend we visit with now and then, but one we walk with forever. You have a difficult road ahead of you. Oh, traveler to heaven, see that you go with your guide. You have to pass through the fiery furnace; don’t enter there unless, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you have the Son of God as your companion. You have to storm the Jericho of your own depravity; don’t attempt warfare until, like Joshua, you have seen the Captain of the Lord’s host with His sword drawn (Joshua 5). You will meet the Esau of your many temptations; don’t go to Jabbok’s ford until you have grabbed hold of the angel and prevailed (Genesis 32). In every case, in every condition, you will need Jesus—but most of all, when those iron gates of death open to you. Stay close to your soul’s Husband; lean your head on His chest, ask to be refreshed with His wine, and you will be found by Him in the end, “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing” (Ephesians 5:27 ESV). Seeing that you have lived with Him and in Him here, you will remain with Him forever. - C.H. Spurgeon Morning and Evening
Oh the actual pains of success! Of Prosperity! Huh?
Read those two devotionals well. Look even at the history of various countries. Look at what was said in Jeremiah about Moab. If it weren't for the struggles of trials we don't grow in Christ, we don't exercise our Spiritual muscles. We atrophy. We all, as all have done, stop relying on God.
We tend to think to ourselves that we have arrived at our 'rest'. That our earthly struggles are no more. Work towards retirement then do your best to leave the responsibilities of the world behind. Make enough to not have to stress or struggle.
The physical things we do or don't do impact our Spiritual existence.
We cannot go through life, as well, not dependent upon our Savior. We cannot live for ourselves. Once we become a child of God, we learn what all that means. When a child is adopted into a family they learn the rules of that home. They learn what's important to their new parents. What is expected of them...and the consequences of what happens when they don't. Such it is with a Child of God.
Children who are adopted are also shown what they are not to do anymore.
Obedience often comes through trials, mostly through trials, not through prosperity.
You can read of the countless stories of what happened to people who suddenly got rich. Of how quickly it brought misery not the joy they expected. Read in Deuteronomy the recent 80 years of Israel. Read the books that follow. They were entering a land to possess that was everything they wanted. They too blew it.
We cannot be so prosperous as to forget God. Trees only grow tall and strong due to the storms of life.
We cannot grow in Christ without the storms of life. Also too we will need to rely on Christ to grow. Branches that come off in a storm lose the ability to rely on the tree they came from.
Was considering a visual example of people lined up in front of a scale. In their hands was a file folder full of the details of their lives. Each in turn handed the attendant their file folder, who put it on a scale. The scale examined the contents to determine Heaven or Hell. Mattered not the size of the file folder. Everyone was found deficient in what was necessary to go to Heaven. One of the last to step up, was about to hand their file folder over, Jesus steps up and takes it. Replacing it with His. The scale flipped over to say Heaven. Those who didn't make it were enraged. Their works amounted to nothing. This skit was and is the simple truth of what happens when you face Judgment before Jesus. If He isn't your Savior, hasn't taken your sins away, hasn't set His seal upon you, your whole life could be filled with prosperity and good deeds towards others and it won't matter.
You could have gone through horrible things and lived to tell about it. But without Christ as your Savior you will not see Heaven. Coming to Christ means a Spiritual document has been signed in the blood of Jesus stating to God the Father that you are adopted into the family of God. You are sealed in a 100% ironclad agreement that when facing judgment Jesus takes your place. The Book of Life now has you written in it. You indeed will still go through the trials of life, the storms of life, but you will never be alone in it.
Our fictional scale isn't so fictional. Jesus will review all lives at the final judgment. But the real test isn't that. It's that Book of Life. All who are not written in it WILL end up in the Lake of fire. The final decision is irreversible.
Don't let today go any farther in the worries of your heart. Stop trying to live out life on your own. Quit telling Jesus that you don't need Him, that you are doing great on your own. Your life will mean nothing at the final judgment when your name isn't in that Book of Life, the book listing all who have been adopted into God's family.
You are not promised a today, nor a tomorrow. You are not promised that breath you just took. That heartbeat that keeps taking place. What will you tell Jesus when you are asked why you should be let into His Heaven? Without adoption by God through Salvation in Christ, ANYTHING you say won't matter.
You will face trials and tribulations whether or not you come to Christ. Would you face them alone or with Jesus who has the power to get you through them?
That's your food for thought today my Friend.
No comments:
Post a Comment