It may be coincidence but I prefer to think that God sends me love songs...
At the very least, he allows them to be playing on the radio (in this case, Word FM) when I need them most...
The song following this one this morning was this
I love these lyrics:
We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the achings of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise
Last night in RU, we had an AWESOME message from Mitch Zejac (aka the most amazing preacher that I have EVER heard and he's not even a preacher!)
He spoke about how Satan is on the loose seeking whom he may devour...especially those in who's lives God is working the hardest... I know that we feel him working in our family every day... He's on a mission to steal our joy. And honestly, he's been winning!
Cue attitude change... We don't have to give the devil place in our lives just because he wants one!
It's hard though...it's hard to feel beaten down...defeated...lost... It's hard not to succumb when life throws crap at us and we feel like "what's the point?"
The POINT is...the point in ALL of this life is...GOD'S GLORY! It's all for his glory...
I'm terrible at explaining what I mean sometimes but let me try for a second anyway...
I do not think that it's a coincidence that every single person God used as an example in the Bible was someone who was BROKEN. It is only when we are broken that we rely on him FULLY which is really sad when you think about it. How often do we break down and cry because God has been sooooo good to us... life has been awesome... happy days all around... No, usually, when things are going well, God sorta gets put back in the "first aid kit" for the next time we get a spiritual, emotional, mental or even physical boo boo. When we are hurting and we turn to him, that is when we really ALLOW him to work and HE gets the GLORY! That may seem selfish of him and guess what?! It is...but not in a bad way. According to the Bible, God is a jealous God...but he is a PERFECT God so the kind of jealous that he's referring to is of the righteous kind. He created us FOR HIMSELF anyway...of COURSE he wants us to rely on him! It's through our trials that HE can shine the brightest!
Think about it this way...
Yes, we can look at someone who has it all...good job, great family, impeccable health...loads of success...and think, wow, God has really blessed them...praise the Lord.
But how much GREATER is God magnified when someone was broken...poor...desolate...DESPERATE...addicted...rejected...sick...lost...and then God touches them and they are made WHOLE again???
I have had the thought that I think that people who are saved later in life actually get the better deal than someone who was saved as a child...someone who was raised in a Christian home...went to church all growing up etc...someone who lived in a spiritual bubble, so to speak.
When you go through hell...it makes you appreciate your salvation so much more!
Some people struggle to understand what they were saved from because they have never known trial...REAL TRIAL!
Have you ever met someone who truly KNOWS what they were saved from?! It's POWERFUL! What a gift!!!
Aside from trials when you aren't saved...those that bring you to God for your salvation...there are also the trials that Christians go through - the Christian life is not one that is perfect FOR SURE! In fact, sometimes I think that the trials are WORSE than that of someone who isn't a Christian. Satan doesn't care about "bothering" someone who isn't going to point others to Christ. BUT...if you are doing HIS will...LOOK OUT. Whatever it may be...you don't have to be working in the church to get attacked...you could just be trying to eat healthier in the name of protecting HIS temple (1 Corinthians 6:19) or you could be trying not to overreact when a proverbial "thorn in your side" tries to get to you (I know this one WELL). It really could be anything...your car could get hit in your work's parking lot for the 5th TIME (and you think...why am I the only one getting hit?) or your child could be diagnosed with cancer (and you think...why US...why MY CHILD?!). OR...you have an overabundance of ANTS attacking your house with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Or your husband or wife has decided that enough is enough and attorney's have been called...papers have been filed...lives have been turned upside down. All of these trials can make us or break us...in the truest sense. We can use them to destroy our lives or we can use them to promote God's glory. We do this through our attitudes. And is it easy...NO (I actually wanted to say HELL NO but it didn't seem appropriate - haha)! Horrible, in fact. So many times, I have turned to God in ANGER instead of humbleness and a open spirit to His teaching ...I have obstructed God's glory by having a bitter attitude. Do you know that the world especially looks at Christians in times of trial? They are looking for us to MESS UP! Because then it solidifies in their minds that the Christian life is really no better than the unbelieving one.
This post is mostly a reminder to me...but if you glean anything positive from it, I'm happy for that too.
Here's to working on our attitudes...realizing that God has bigger plans for us if we rely on him through our trials...
"[We] were meant for so much more than all of this"...but we have to rely on Him to find out what it is...
XO
He spoke about how Satan is on the loose seeking whom he may devour...especially those in who's lives God is working the hardest... I know that we feel him working in our family every day... He's on a mission to steal our joy. And honestly, he's been winning!
Cue attitude change... We don't have to give the devil place in our lives just because he wants one!
It's hard though...it's hard to feel beaten down...defeated...lost... It's hard not to succumb when life throws crap at us and we feel like "what's the point?"
The POINT is...the point in ALL of this life is...GOD'S GLORY! It's all for his glory...
I'm terrible at explaining what I mean sometimes but let me try for a second anyway...
I do not think that it's a coincidence that every single person God used as an example in the Bible was someone who was BROKEN. It is only when we are broken that we rely on him FULLY which is really sad when you think about it. How often do we break down and cry because God has been sooooo good to us... life has been awesome... happy days all around... No, usually, when things are going well, God sorta gets put back in the "first aid kit" for the next time we get a spiritual, emotional, mental or even physical boo boo. When we are hurting and we turn to him, that is when we really ALLOW him to work and HE gets the GLORY! That may seem selfish of him and guess what?! It is...but not in a bad way. According to the Bible, God is a jealous God...but he is a PERFECT God so the kind of jealous that he's referring to is of the righteous kind. He created us FOR HIMSELF anyway...of COURSE he wants us to rely on him! It's through our trials that HE can shine the brightest!
Think about it this way...
Yes, we can look at someone who has it all...good job, great family, impeccable health...loads of success...and think, wow, God has really blessed them...praise the Lord.
But how much GREATER is God magnified when someone was broken...poor...desolate...DESPERATE...addicted...rejected...sick...lost...and then God touches them and they are made WHOLE again???
I have had the thought that I think that people who are saved later in life actually get the better deal than someone who was saved as a child...someone who was raised in a Christian home...went to church all growing up etc...someone who lived in a spiritual bubble, so to speak.
When you go through hell...it makes you appreciate your salvation so much more!
Some people struggle to understand what they were saved from because they have never known trial...REAL TRIAL!
Have you ever met someone who truly KNOWS what they were saved from?! It's POWERFUL! What a gift!!!
Aside from trials when you aren't saved...those that bring you to God for your salvation...there are also the trials that Christians go through - the Christian life is not one that is perfect FOR SURE! In fact, sometimes I think that the trials are WORSE than that of someone who isn't a Christian. Satan doesn't care about "bothering" someone who isn't going to point others to Christ. BUT...if you are doing HIS will...LOOK OUT. Whatever it may be...you don't have to be working in the church to get attacked...you could just be trying to eat healthier in the name of protecting HIS temple (1 Corinthians 6:19) or you could be trying not to overreact when a proverbial "thorn in your side" tries to get to you (I know this one WELL). It really could be anything...your car could get hit in your work's parking lot for the 5th TIME (and you think...why am I the only one getting hit?) or your child could be diagnosed with cancer (and you think...why US...why MY CHILD?!). OR...you have an overabundance of ANTS attacking your house with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Or your husband or wife has decided that enough is enough and attorney's have been called...papers have been filed...lives have been turned upside down. All of these trials can make us or break us...in the truest sense. We can use them to destroy our lives or we can use them to promote God's glory. We do this through our attitudes. And is it easy...NO (I actually wanted to say HELL NO but it didn't seem appropriate - haha)! Horrible, in fact. So many times, I have turned to God in ANGER instead of humbleness and a open spirit to His teaching ...I have obstructed God's glory by having a bitter attitude. Do you know that the world especially looks at Christians in times of trial? They are looking for us to MESS UP! Because then it solidifies in their minds that the Christian life is really no better than the unbelieving one.
This post is mostly a reminder to me...but if you glean anything positive from it, I'm happy for that too.
Here's to working on our attitudes...realizing that God has bigger plans for us if we rely on him through our trials...
"[We] were meant for so much more than all of this"...but we have to rely on Him to find out what it is...
XO
Amen Sister!
ReplyDeleteI have been reading a book called ... hmm, I think it's called The Praying Life (it's on my kindle so I never look at the "cover" so to speak)... anyhow, the author talks about how having a strong prayer life involves being a broken person who sees their NEED for God on a CONTINUAL basis. I have really been trying to sit back each day and say - 'God, I need you here!' Even when things seem to be going "smoothly" ... it is by the grace of God when things are good, and it is for our growth and His glory when it is not so good. A good word you've written there Jen, keep looking out for that devil, he only wants to destroy.
PS - what is RU?? :) just curious!
Yes, about the time we feel safe, Satan does attack. That is why it is important to stay in the word! found you from voiceebooks. and folling you.
ReplyDeleteShanda @ Http://www.shandaoakleyinspires.com