I do not put on rose-colored glasses and look at the world without seeing the struggles, disappointments and failures. I see the hardship and dispair in the eyes of many. This look is seen in many believers as well. So, I would like to address it. I would like for you to know some encouraging words for today.
God still loves you with an everlasting love. Nothing in the world will change that. It doesn't matter what you have done for Him or against Him; He still loves you. He has proved that love with the sacrifice of His only Son while we were still His enemies. He loves us even if we choose to reject Him.
God still has wonderful plans for us regardless of how things are going right now. He will continue to complete that which He has called into us. He will walk with us to the end of this journey.
God isn't finished with us yet. As long as we are breathing, God is working on us to create the image of His Son. He is bringing us to the joy of our salvation. He is pruning us for greater things.
God will bring us to victory. He is a God of victory; not defeat. He brings all those who will walk with Him into His victory. It doesn't matter how the battle looks at the moment. God will bring victory!
God is still as powerful as He ever was. He is still healing, speaking and bringing miracles to this earth. He is not hindered by circumstances. He uses circumstances to reveal His glory.
God is still in control. It does not matter what Satan has done for he must get permission from God to do anything at all. This means that God is using the evil that Satan is producing to create a people whose faith is in Him. He is bringing Satan to his end by allowing him to bring that evil. It is an ultimate rather than an immediate goal.
Nothing can come into your life that you and God together can't handle. Everything you face can be overcome because He is walking with you.
There is an end to any and all pain. That end may be your graduation from this life to a new life with Him in heaven or it may be the victory you will have over that pain. Cancer is no conqueror of God-- Not is MS, ALS, diabetes, Aids or any other disease.
God does not want you to be lonely and He has a solution for it. Look around and you will see God working in others to bring you what you need. He is a God who walnts us to be completed by our interaction with others. He is a God who loves us through the love of others too.
Did I say God loves you?
1 John 4:16 (ESV) 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Pass this on if you believe someone needs to know this.
4 comments:
Indeed, Christians are NOT free from troubles living in this world. Jesus said it this way (in John 16:33): “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Also, many people like Ps 91, for it is full of all the marvelous promises of God, and it is the psalm, verses of which, many claim and claim; and it is also the psalm, I understand in some countries, soldiers, were given, as a standard issue, before they are sent out on a mission - Ps 91 is also called the psalm of protection. It is good to read Ps 91, it promises God's protection, rescue, and even honoring of us.
Before I say a little proviso stuff, I too want to share Ps Prentis' sharing with us concerning God's faithfulness. I strongly recommend this entry of mine on my blog; the body of the article is on a vision the Lord gave me for the children of God, concerning His faithfulness, comfort and assurance; the appendix to the article was a dream I had, on the same theme, on a personal basis (This article also goes to show God does "speak" afresh to people, even though the Bible is already completed). The article link is this: http://high-expressions.blogspot.com/2009/11/lord-as-papa-eagle-vision-of.html
Before you read further, have you read the papa eagle article? I want you to catch the desire and heart of the Father God, before you face the proviso.
It is however, necessary to say a few words on the proviso. There are actually few unconditional promises in the Bible (and preachers should say so). But why? In short, it is because He is the holy God, and so, He cannot be, NOT true to Himself, and so, most of the time, He retains His rights (and that is actually for our sake). Sometimes, NOT telling people the proviso, is like saying, “God loves you unconditionally”, without saying if Jesus has NOT come into your life, you are destined to the burning fire of Hell.
Sometimes, we buy a product, and when we try to make it work for us, we appeared to have been fooled, the thing does not work. Just the other day, I was at my mother’s house, and I tried to uncouple a gas regulator from its cylinder of cooking gas. I saw an arrow marking on a “knob”, and I turned it in the direction indicated, and then I tried to pull the regulator out, but it just would NOT come off (it did NOT move even a bit!). What could be wrong? Was it faulty? It could NOT be, for it was working properly for my mother (my mother was NOT there, in the house). Then I remembered I saw a box containing an old regulator; apparently my mother kept the box; she just put the old regulator into the box, and kept the same in the kitchen cabinet. I reached for that, to see if I could find instruction on how to couple and uncouple the regulator, either on the box or in any instruction sheet in the box. Yes, it was there, and it said I had to press the “knob” in as I pull the regulator. Until I have read that, how in the world was I to know; there were no indication on the regulator, except the “arrow” marking. You see, it did NOT work when I did NOT know there was a proviso – I had to press the “knob” in as I pull. Is it NOT true also for many of us, when it comes to the promises of God? They do NOT seem to work for us. Not all cases, but enough of the cases, are because we did NOT follow the proviso.
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I am NOT saying the grace of God is with proviso; no, I did NOT say that. When it is grace it is free, we have NOT merited it whatsoever. But when it is by grace, it is up to God, and God made it clear that He will have mercy on whom He has mercy on, and He will have compassion on whom He has compassion on; that is part of His sovereignty, part of being God.
Before one is a child of God, the grant by God is always by grace. The gift of salvation is by grace. There is NOT the kind of love that the unbeliever could love God with, that qualifies for anything. There is NOT any covenantal promise to rely on. Hardly a thing the unbeliever can do to attract the grace of God, is how I would put it (Noted: favor on Cornelius of the Bible).
But when you have become a child of God, apart from the grace of God, you have separately and in combination, 3 channels. You could receive through the channel of grace of God, the channel of covenantal promises (under the New Covenant you entered into), and the channel of your love for God. I am NOT saying you cannot rely on or have, anymore, the grace of God, but I am saying that on top of that, your God wants to you to grow in love with Him. We got to love Him back (preachers got to stress this). What is one command or requirement that runs through both the Old and New Testaments unchanged? It is: You shall love your God with all of you, all your heart, all your mind and all your soul. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself. Many people thought this was new teaching (given only in the New Testament). No, both those commandments of love were in the Old Testament already (Jesus just quoted them again!).
My son (15 years old), said recently, one way to define spiritual maturity is by the closeness of one with the Lord (Wow!). May I ask you, who is the one closest to you? Your spouse, for many of you. Whoever that person might be, he/she is the one who loves you much; am I NOT right? You allow the one who loves you much get close to you. God wants you to get close to Him; and to get close, we have to grow spiritually, and that means we have to grow to love Him much.
I return to Ps 91. Does every Christian enjoy all the promises contained therein? Do you enjoy all of those promises? My answer is every Christian has the potential to enjoy all of those, but NOT all Christians are availing themselves to those promises! Do you just dismiss them because they do NOT seem to apply to you? If you do that, then what about the rest of the promises in the Bible? Is there NOT a proviso, in Ps 91?
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Some will quickly jump in, and say, it was written there, right in verse 1, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High”. But what is that? Where is the shelter of the Most High? A physical place? Where? Heaven? If NOT, where? How does one get to dwell there? No, it is NOT a physical place. It is a state or heart condition; and the answer is in verse 14. The LORD said, because he (the person) loves me, “I {God} will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (vv14-16)
You will also note that the LORD did NOT say, there would be NO trouble, but rather He said, “I will be with him in trouble, ….. (v15). So, when you are in trouble, know that God as the papa eagle did NOT leave you; only He is in stealth-mode (you don’t see or feel him). Call upon Him. If you have NOT been growing your love for Him, tell Him, from this moment forth, you will grow your love for Him. Ask Him for forgiveness, and ask Him for His grace for your situation.
There is no conflict with what I say and 1 John 4:16 – “… whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” When we abides in God’s love, our response is to love Him back, and in so doing, we abides in (both) love (God’s love for us, and our love for God), and God abides in us, and in so, we begin to love our neighbor, for God loves our neighbor, just as He loves us.
How does one love God? That would subject of another writing, but I am sure you can begin to love God (and then find more in-depth knowledge into the subject). I will just leave you with one suggestion: He who loves me, obeys my commands, and he who obeys my commands are the ones who love me (John 14:15, 21a).
May God use this comment entry to the fullest to bless. Amen.
thank you for sharing this. needed to read it
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