TROUBLES

If I obey God, will He keep troubles from coming into my life?

God's Response:
The Lord asked satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless - a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil." Satan replied to the Lord, "Yes but Job has good reason to fear God... Reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!" "All right, you may test him," the Lord said to satan. "Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don't harm him physically." So satan left the Lord's presence.
Job 1:8-9; 1:11-12

Our Takeaway:
Job was a model of trust in God and obedience toward Him, yet God permitted satan to attack him in an especially harsh manner. Although God loves us, our faith and obedience do not shelter us from life's calamities. Setbacks, tragedies and sorrows strike Christians and non-Christians alike. But in our troubles, God expects us to express our faith to the world.

How do you respond to your troubles? Do you ask God, "Why me? or do you say "Use me!"

God's Promise:
No one is abandoned by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He also shows compassion because of the greatness of His unfailing love. For He does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.
Lamentations 3:31-33

Big T's Thought To Ponder:
I like to think that Job was the exception to the rule, perfectly faultless, a righteous man of God, a man after God's own heart, and yet God used him to prove to satan that His servant Job would remain faithful even through some of most impossible trials any human could endure.

I have had people along my journey tell me, "Tony, don't worry, God will never give you more than you can handle". Obviously, taken out of context from (I Corinthians 10:13). It actually reads, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is to common man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it". Were not talking about temptation; we're talking about unbearable, tragic, earth shaking, hold on for your life - is there really a God out there, type troubles!

I can assure you from my own experiences as well as those of close brothers and sisters in Christ, that this verse has absolutely has nothing to do with God testing us or the trials he allows in our life.

God can, will and does put more on your plate then we can endure. Believe that! God warns us straight out in (John 16:33), "In the world you will have trouble" and Paul tells the disciples in (Acts 14:22), "We must endure many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God".

We can't lose sight that the gentle Kingdom of God and the vicious kingdom of darkness are competing for the same territory. We have forgotten that God makes disciples and displays His purposes by pressing His people into shape and refining them in the fire. It can be a violent process we must, can and will endure...

It is human nature to avoid trials and it is Godly nature to persevere through them. They have an indispensable purpose in molding and forming us into the greater image of Christ, who, as we recall, had to suffer like no other. Establishing the Kingdom of God in Christs name was a traumatic event for Him. Entering the Kingdom of God in His name is traumatic for us as well.

One of the problems is that in many of the mega churches we see on television today (businesses), and the messages that they are sharing with the world, is not the truth!

The gospel message is being hazed over by these evangelists who are preaching the message of prosperity and happiness. People are being lured to God because they think that by accepting Christ, He will take all their problems away - If I became a Christian I can escape all the trials and tribulation of this cruel world - Wrong! Unfortunately this is what many Christians are believing today and is the mentality of many... Fist time they have some real hardship is their life they think God has abandoned them; we know this couldn't be further from His truth.

Life isn't going to be a bowl of cherries, it's a hard, cold and wicked world out there and there are no easy streets. Life by His Divine design is experiencing trials, troubles, trauma and the hardships of this fallen world and ultimately enduring them; it's an integral part of His tried by fire sanctification process.

God love us and doesn't particularly want us to endure a life of hell here on earth, if fact He sent His Son Jesus so that we wouldn't have to endure the eternal pains and sufferings of hell. Don't pursue trials, but don't flee from them in a panic, either. God is doing something profound in them, either to shape you or to demonstrate His Kingdom. Patiently let Him...

The truth we can all stand on today is the other half of (John 16:33), that I didn't share earlier, "In the world you will have trouble, but in me you can find peace; be of good cheer, I have overcome the world".