1Corinthians 10.13 “God is faithful who will not allow you to be tried beyond your ability to endure – but will, with the trial, always leave a door open for you to come thru so that you will not be broken…” This is a guy who knows what he is talking about! Trouble, confusion, persecution, rejection, fear, hunger, betrayal, loss of loved ones, the cause of other’s pain… you name it, all kinds of thing happened to Paul in his lifetime yet he continued thru it; “we do not faint at these light afflictions,” he emerged from it, grew because of it and finished his course of life as a champion and model of faith! When you’re in the struggle it’s not always easy to remember, it’s just a struggle, and it will pass. And it’s not easy remembering that when He prequalified you to come out victoriously – that He left a doorway for you in it all. Journeys of faith, being interpreted “miracle mountain highs to death valley lows and everything in between” all come WITH exit doors… those are God’s words. And that’s not to imply that they are hidden in the dark mist and you must find them, it means what it means, that before the end of the expedition/ excursion/ adventure requiring your active faith, before you could possibly fall under the weight of a load too heavy to bear, before you could fall off a cliff to be broken on the rocks below, right there on the path will be a doorway to walk thru – the end of the trial. I remember when Ann and I first began ministering here in Angleton – how sick she was for six years, how she almost died from her disease, and how we continued to stand firm, believing, against what we saw happening, knowing that there was a way out of the trial already. It took us six years to get to the threshold, but it was there and we came thru (that was 27 years ago)! What was meant to take her life, destroy mine and keep Life Church from happening failed because the doorway was there to step out and into the light! We could have failed by giving up. We could have become frustrated with God (funny how we always turn it on the wrong person) and said “enough!” but we knew God had a plan for our lives and that this was a struggle in the way and that on the way we would find the doorway out! In our lifetimes there will be many of these struggles… “In the world you will have many tribulations…” each one with the same destructive design; to steal from us the life potential God lays out before us, to kill off all our hopes and dreams and fulfillment, to destroy us over and over again with every thought and remembrance of failure… But God, who is faithful all the time, is in the delivery business – and by His grace – He sets those open doors of escape on our path. If we are going to continue in well doing – we must first believe that God is faithful, that He always prequalifies us and limits the struggles to equal our faith and strength, that He will never leave us or forsake us in our times of need, and that no matter how long or dark the trail may seem – there is a door, unlocked, waiting for us to use to walk right out of the struggle.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 12:04:31 +0000