There are some truths related to trials that we--I--occasionally forget. First, all trials that come into my life are need based. God has a specific purpose related to my spiritual maturity and related to my ability to know Him more deeply that is immersed in the trial He plans into my walk. For example, when God puts me in a situation that creates in my heart and mind a fear of the future, a fear of my needs being met, it is undoubtedly because I need to grow in my confidence that He is the God who holds my future in His hands--lovingly. I have been relying--am still relying--on my ability to, independently of God, meet my own needs. So as my loving Father, He simply makes that impossible. He invites me to really trust fully in His promise to supply all my need. He invites me to really trust fully that He is the God of more than you ask or think. Knowing my stubborn independence and self-reliance, He moves in my life so that I will develop a genuine faith in what I believe in my head but, not yet, in my walk--that He can always be trusted. He wants me to cast all my cares on Him to thwart the intimidating roar of the lion. He wants me to take the winds of adversity and soar on the eagle wings of faith. And if I struggle with trusting my children and grandchildren to His care, undoubtedly, it is because I have not yet learned to love unconditionally. I have not yet learned to advocate faithfully in intercessory prayer. I do not yet embrace with my walk that He loves my children and grandchildren so much more than I could ever love them. Such a trial makes me a better lover and a more fervent man of prayer. The trial is designed to be transformational, not punitive. He wants nothing more than for me to reflect more of His image to the world He sent me to. His trials--each and every one of them--have as their central purpose not a desire to push me away from Him in petty self-pity, but a desire to draw me closer into His heart, more confident in His incalculable love, and more trusting in His unfathomable wisdom. And that leads me to another aspect of suffering that I must always remember. Suffering is the evidence of genuine faith. All those who are truly His children have been given the transformational blessing of trials. All those who are truly His children are reminded through trials--should be reminded--that He is the God of love. The God who loves them--who always loves them. And our trials are evidence to others of the genuineness of our faith in the God of love--the God who wants to love them through every trial that they are experiencing. Our faith to see the possible in the impossible . . . Our faith to recognize the victory in the failure . . . Our faith to embrace the need to rely on the strength to endure found only in the weakness . . . And our faithfulness to radiate the joy that comes through humble submission to His love and to His wisdom--all are designed to be compelling evidence to a lost world of the genuine love of Calvarys cross and the undeniable power of the empty tomb. Our faith in difficult times says to the world that it is worth it to follow Him through the valleys of lifes shadows--no matter how deep the valleys or how deep the darkness. Many, I believe, will be in Heaven because a child of God in the midst of difficult times gave evidence through a life of joyous trust that Jesus love is the realest truth on earth--and in heaven. May Gods Spirit enthrone these truths on my heart every day. And may my response be days filled with joyful praise that He loves me enough to keep working at transforming me into His image and that He loves me enough to assure me that I am His--and that He trusts me enough to use my life as evidence to a suffering world of His redeeming, trustworthy love. The love that calls to them: Come unto me and I will give you rest.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 19:27:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015