This post is to Christians in these difficult times and situations. I hope it helps you. I’ve been through more than most and have come through insurmountable circumstances into a spacious place in God where I had mostly Peace and Joy for 10 months in 2012.
There are a few bible verses I will address that can cause confusion and cast doubts in the minds of Christians sometimes in relation to God’s Nature toward us…….especially if the enemy is playing on our mind with them……that willbe addressed.
I thought I had “arrived” – as the saying goes – that my life and experience would be like that from then on. But that was a holiday, so to speak, where I could unwind and really enjoy my God. I took a detour – as we often do – and things were not quite the same and I got busy making multiple websites for people to enjoy and enjoyed my own experience less because I had less time to enjoy His Presence – that’s where the PEACE and JOY IS!
Yes really, and how quick we are to move out of His Presence in prayer often, when He would like us to linger there and soak it up – we can experience a sense of His Joy, His Peace, His Comfort or His Love this way…….His Guidance or Inspiration. Why is it that we are restless and move onto something else so quickly…..or….we are too busy but we’re not so busy to engage in an interest, whatever?
Friends, the apostle Paul did not say that he had “arrived” at any time and he did mention a “Race” we have to run in God. Peter did mention that we could go through trying times, followed by the Restoring Hand of God. I’ve experienced that. He restores and strengthens you and lifts you to a new level in your walk with Him. It takes on a different expression with each person. For me it was Joy and Peace. For someone else, it could be Overcoming Victory……for another Healing or Provision……or walking in Revelation Knowledge.
So it isn’t to say you get to a place where everything is just wonderful from then on but you do have a new strength you did not have before and for many, that they have developed new character. We would not want our kids to stay in elementary school would we?
Of-course not, we want them to go on, develop new skills and be equipped to live in the world, ready for challenges. Note: that should not all come from the education department.
We are God’s sons and daughters, He wants us to grow. Some spit the dummy and fret.
Problems are meant to be overcome in God – He should be our strength and inspiration for doing so.
The thing often is that we look at the problem instead of The Lord……we may even pray like someone in the world does ie “God take my problem away”. Two things here, we have taken ownership of the problem and we have not applied the Word of God to it in some way and looked to Him for the victory. We found the problem uncomfortable and wanted immediate relief – that is not to say we should put up with things but He is wanting to see a change in how we handle things often. Some of us refuse to grow and others could respond more appropriately if we knew that The Lord doesn’t just take everything away and give us a dream existence.
That was meant kindly when I say that because many of us were given false promises, so to speak, like “come to Jesus and He will make everything just right” and after the fresh new experience of finding Him wears off, we simply find that it just simply isn’t true – He is not a Santa Christ, He is Jesus Christ. He is not only our Savior, He is our Lord and Savior who wants to relate with us as both of these. Confusion has set in saying “He is not all that He promised to be”. But wait a minute, someone did you a wrong turn and it wasn’t Jesus because He was falsely represented. That is called Social Gospel and it’s very misleading.
How dare they give you a wrong impression and neglect to spiritually feed you with things in God’s Word that are essential to know in this journey you have commenced. It’s like giving you a product without instructions or a car without a roadmap – at some-time along the way that is sure to lead to frustration. Many of God’s kids have been disillusioned because of Social Gospel or negligent shepherds – too busy with fancy sermons and programs, giving little or no attention to the needs of new Christians.
Now the disciples in the Gospels followed the Lord and called Him Teacher and we would be wise to do the same – to look to Him as One who teaches us things in life and His Word, not only a Savior. If we could do that, then we would also have a better grasp of what it means for Him to be our Savior. Otherwise, we have little experiential knowledge of Him as being our Lord and Savior.
I FELT THAT I MUST ADDRESS THOSE THINGS BEFORE THE SERIOUS THINGS THAT MANY CHRISTIANS ARE EXPERIENCING IN RECENT TIMES. I DON’T KNOW ALL THE ANSWERS BUT I KNOW SOME OF THEM AND WILL ADD SOME WRITINGS BY OTHERS TO COMPLEMENT MINE AND MAKE FOR BALANCE. SHALL WE GO?
From Living for Jesus Alone website
“Have you ever felt like you’re struggling all alone in your current circumstances, regardless of how hard you’ve tried and prayed? Have you felt quite disappointed by God in the sense that He has let you down time after time?
Have you ever been frustrated with God or discouraged because of what He allows to happen or didn’t make happen?
I’m sure that you can relate to most of those questions above, perhaps all of them. One thing that needs to be really stressed on is that there’s a big distinction between what our human feelings would want us to believe and what the Word of God is intended to make us believe. With this in mind, our human feelings can be very misleading and disheartening.
As human beings, no matter how hard we may try to study His Word, to depend on it and be guided by it, no matter how mature we are in Him__ when serious situations occur, our faith is sometimes challenged. In fact, our faith in God doesn’t eliminate doubt, worry, panic and fear, but what it does is to empower us to overcome them.
There’s a strong bond between reality and how we feel as human beings. Reality plays an overwhelming role in determining our reaction to whatever problems we’re facing in life. And reality also has a significant influence on our conception about life’s issues. That’s the reason why it’s so easy for us to allow reality to influence our faith in God in an immense way.
Try not to let reality find its way in us through your feelings with bad beliefs that are based on fear, doubt, desperation, unbelief, exasperation, and worry.
Keep in mind, faith always defies human feelings and reality. We’re not supposed to deny reality; however, we need to understand that it has absolutely no bearing on what God is able to do, what He’s willing to do, and what He’s about to do if we trust Him.”
_________________________________
The Lord gave me a few promises prophetically at difficult times through the years.
Some, I am waiting for the fulfilment of but a few of them have remarkably come to .pass in no small way. In other words, The Lord did exactly what He said He would do but it exceeded my expectations because I did not know how He was going to do them previously, even though He gave me a few prophetic words that were leading up to them and at those times He spoke to me, I interpreted them to mean shortly after or separately in relation to what I was experiencing at those times that were Not good to put it mildly.
I know what it is to trust in a Word given that was not real Prophecy decades ago – devastating actually. Please Note: We can quickly learn contempt for prophecy when given through an immature prophet (speaking some content from their thoughts)
Some true prophecies can actually come to pass sooner when certain Principles of His Word are put into practice constantly and that which the Holy Spirit instructs us to do personally – He is not meant to be limited to praying in other languages – oh no! He was Sent to Guide, Instruct and Comfort Us.
That is not a theory, that’s for Real.
And do you know something? We are ALL Given the
More Sure Word of Prophecy – that is HIS WORD (the scriptures) So:
Go with the GOOD REPORT found in His Word, when circumstances arise; in good times and hard times – that’s what it’s there for.
Psalms says “He exalts His Word above His Name” YES even above His Name! Knowing how much emphasis Scripture places on HIS NAME that’s amazing isn’t it? Do you know why? The Original Hebrew word for “Word” there is PROMISES!
CLOSING WORDS
When circumstances arise, try not to let yourself get to the state of overwhelm before you do something. Nip things in the bud, in the area of your feelings before they overpower you.
Even the enemy relies heavily on our feelings to make his tactics work, so we should not trust in our feelings but more so on God’s Word and how He can take charge of circumstances through us or independent of us if necessary, when our faith is directed to Him. Remember the car principle: our faith should be in ‘drive’ not ‘reverse’. Fear, frustration and confusion are reverse……..confidence or trust in God is directing our faith……or giving our faith a direction to go in before confusion sets in…….or shifting gear if we are upset by something.
If you have been in a situation for some-time, faith is a light switch, so pray-read His Word and switch it on. Remember, if your thoughts have become accustomed to a situation, you will need to change your mind-set to do that – prayer reading the scriptures is the best way of handling our mindsets, then we can switch our faith on…….hey?
Also, be alert as we’re told in scripture to do because the enemy can hit us with a sense of overwhelm so we feel paralysed (in fear or depression) and unable to do something (about the situation or moving on in God. His greatest weapons are fear, depression, confusion and distraction, generally – he knows that he can distract us from the purposes of God with fear, depression or confusion……..even something that appeals to us, so we need to be aware of these things. Ignorance is not bliss when you find months or years later you missed God’s Best for those months or years when one interest (whatever) has had our attention one after the other.
Now in saying these things, I do not want to make you conscious of the enemy in your thinking but wiser than we are when ignorant of these tactics. If we are aware of a manufacturer’s marketing ploys we don’t fall for them. If someone bad knocked on our door, we would not let them in, would we? Yes, we don’t have to, so don’t be intimidated, be God conscious and keep your mind in tune with Him and you have nothing to fear……keep praise on your lips and let nothing get you down but keep rejoicing – it’s like placing a “No Knocking” notice on your front door.
God consciousness is so important in every area of our lives. Years ago, I was quite peaceful and happy in God until I had a medically induced illness and then I found that a few pastors actually made me enemy-conscious. Well that was the last thing I needed that served to make matters worse – because things became amplified in my mind – and they were godly men. It would have been far better to in-still some “Christ in Me” consciousness into me because that’s what we need when we are ill – we feel that our mind or body have been taken over, so to speak, because we do not have the freedom we once experienced.
That’s when we need to employ all the “Freedom in Christ” consciousness we can in our spirit rather than letting what ails us sit on top of it. That can so easily occur but don’t let it. Look Up in your spirit. Take heart!
In each difficult situation in Life, learn to LOOK UP for your present Redemption Draws Near. I like to them of Redemption as Past (at Calvary) Present (when we need it Now) and Future when Jesus Returns.
Try giving Him the Unanswered Questions in Life, so they don’t Trip you Up, and Affirm in your Thoughts those things you Are Sure Of in Faith.
Faith is “Activated Trust”………..when you see it that way, it isn’t complicated anymore. The Holy Spirit showed me that through something Miraculous He did for me in 2012 when I just reached out to Him in Total Trust.
Counter your doubts with Positive Statements about the Goodness of God. When doubts come (we all have them in our flesh – the sense realm) Believe Anyway (regardless, in your Spirit) and Meditate on Uplifting Scriptures. God bless!