I picked this off of a bulletin of a friend on friendster. As a fellow sibling in christ, I found this shockingly true, much as i dont want to abmit it. Read it, and i sincerely hope that it'll actually bring you the revelation of how you might have strayed from God, even without you knowing.
“I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will takeaway your joy.” (John 16:20-22 NIV)
Worship/Fellowship — There are somedays when, frankly, I don’t feel muchlike worshiping God. There are probably more days like that than I’dcare to admit.
But usually those are days are whenI’m staring at my circumstances and making faithless judgments about whatI see around me. And I struggle withthe God-truth that he is in the circumstances that surround my life –all the circumstances.
Have you ever considered that heartbreak is part of God’s plans foryou, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and afuture”? (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) We put so much energy into avoiding the hurt when God would have us embrace it. He wants us to know that he can heal our hurts, even use our hurts for his benefit, and for us to faithfully believe that sometimes the circumstances we think are harming us are actually positive situations God is engineering.
God, who is omnipotent, sees the breadth and depth of our circumstances, and he knows his plans for our lives. Thinking, then, like Christ, we can slowly, ever so slowly,begin to understand that avoiding the pain in our lives is actually an actof faithlessness. God calls us to faith in him during difficult circumstances; we’d rather place our faith in avoiding the circumstances.
As always, Jesus shows us the way –because he is the Way. Jesus embracedthe pain of God’s plan for his life,and he did it with full faith that God was still working the plan to bring a “hope and a future” to your life and mine. (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) Christ was so sure that his grief would turn to joy that he showed a radiant certainty in God’s faithfulness (“Radiantcertainty” is a phrase William Barclayuses to describe the attitude of Jesusat the Last Supper).
Our Brother Jesus, who is also ourKing, was heading into a crisis that would cost him His life, yet He was so certain – radiantly certain – of God’sfaithfulness that not one of his disciples even discerned the gravityof the crisis! Jesus was so certain of God’s faithfulness that it radiates throughout his whole being.
And we, too, can have this radiant certainty about God’s hand in ourl ives. We can say, when it comes to God’s faithfulness, “I know because Iknow that I know.” That’s radiant certainty! The Cross was Christ’sglory, not His penalty – and the sameis true of difficult circumstances inour lives.
So what?
• God’s faithful character - You willdevelop this radiant certainty in Godwhen you learn to trust in hisfaithful character. Your daily worshipof God is irrevocably tied to yourfaith in God.• Praise God anyhow - You must choose to praise and worship God every day,no matter what the circumstances ofyour life. Developing a radiantcertainty in God begins with simplesteps of faith and obedience.
• Respond to God, not your circumstances - When faced with apainful or difficult circumstance, askGod, “How do you want me to respond tothis?” Keep your eyes wise forthe ‘Why me?’ traps that lay aboutyour circumstances.You can be radiantly certain of this:Difficult circumstances areopportunities for you to intentionally focus your faith in God and to seewhat he will do to give you hope andhealing.
You can be radiantly certain of this:Difficult circumstances areopportunities for you to intentionallyfocus your faith in God and to seewhat he will do to give you hope and healing.
No comments:
Post a Comment