Kicked in the gut and gasping for air, my heart grows heavy. Surprised by the disappointment I feel, I find myself being surrounded by a great fog. Suddenly, the floor gives way and I find myself betrayed by what I once had a great faith in. Falling in what seems to be an endless descent, I’m hoping to hit the bottom soon, for then I know that I can make the climb out of the pit. As I land on the cold, damp floor, I become aware that all of this signals something is wrong within my spirit. I pray, but I don’t feel You. I cry out and just want to see You. But instead of looking at the situation and finding you in that, I am looking for an easier answer. As I find myself against the ropes, being pummeled by a barrage of what seems to be an endless attack, I wonder when it will end. If there is a purpose in this, Lord, help me to find it. The walls close in even closer and I look up to see a Great Light, but it is not time yet to make my escape. There is purpose in all of this, help me to see it. Shifting focus from the assaults of an invisible Enemy, and looking inward, I become aware of changes in my own life that You would have me to make. You whisper to me to draw nearer, to come closer. You have many things You wish to show me, many more things that You have called me to. The cries of my heart have been heard, but have not yet come to pass. A new direction, but the Call is the same. For You will be glorified, with the chance to do so in my life, if I will only respond correctly.
Let’s face it, we all face adversity. It comes at us in various forms and in different ways: circumstances, people, pain and relationships that seem to have been through a train wreck. I recently went through what seemed to be an endless attack. My response was less than ideal. I did, to some measure, try to deal with it privately, although I had a few friends that I was able to confide in who I knew would pray for me. Although I had been through situations before, but this was just a non-stop attempt to steal my joy, crush my Faith and leave me wounded and wasted. I know that where our minds tend to go and the things we can start to believe, whether true or not, can determine our attitudes during the current storms. I also know that the Enemy will use any means necessary to get us discouraged, defeated and downcast. And while he has us on the ground, he will continue to punch us in an attempt to break our will and desire to serve God. If we let him, he will cause us to walk away from God-honoring relationships, turn away from our Loving Creator, and try to make us feel hopeless and helpless. He will then twist the truth and cause us to believe that we are of no more use to God and that we can no longer be counted on to bring Glory and Honor to Our Savior. He will do anything and everything in his power to distract us from the Truth of who we are in Christ Jesus. As we try to fight for Joy, he will tempt us to doubt the Love and Goodness of our Father. As we keep pushing forward through the onslaught, we resolve to allow God to do the work of fighting for us and lifting us out of the pit of despair. As we look for Him, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, we begin to see him in the midst of the assault. He nudges us into Godly discernment and wisdom to know and see what He is up to in our lives. The adversity is never the end result. The outcome is for Him to grow us in our Faith, a stepping stone to the next level of an ever- deepening relationship with Him.
When all we see is the tsunami-sized waves rolling in to keep bashing us against the shore we can easily be tempted to only see what is coming at us. But if we look through the God-sized lens, we come to see the purpose behind the attack. Adversity always moves us, either forward or backward. If our response is about us: Why Me, Why This, Why Now, we are not learning the lesson. But if instead, we respond: For what Purpose, To what End, How is this going to bring You Glory, then we are on our way to the next exciting adventure of our lives, a place He can only take us to, because He has caused new growth in our Faith in Him! When it is all about me, I don’t get it. Why this storm, Why now. But when I approach the hardship with the spiritual in mind, I am seeking Him and His answer for me. He uses the difficulties of life to cause us to develop a greater intimacy with Him, just as He can use the quiet and peaceful times. We do not always comprehend His purposes right away, but He is patient with us. He sometimes wants to point out deficiencies in our walk with Him. On our knees, He reveals areas that we may need to concentrate on more deeply, areas that maybe we have neglected. But He is always building our Faith and Trust in Him. Nothing is wasted, but we must respond rightly and as we do, he opens the door to more of His revealed Glory. He always wants to bring us to a place of deeper Trust in Him, for our Faith cannot grow without some measure of adversity. But it is always for His Glory to bring about His plans and Purposes for our lives, and beyond that, His Purposes and Plans for others that we might affect positively because of what we have been through.
Coming out of the storms, we see a brand new day and have a refreshed spirit to take on a different area of ministry for Him. Or to continue to minister to those in our lives already. He allows us to be tossed by the waves so that we can encourage others as they go through the same things. We have a heart to serve Him and He directs us to the areas of service He would have us to get involved with. With renewed Purpose and Clean Hearts, He has successfully used the trials for our good and His Glory, just as He does with everything that comes to us after being filtered through His Hands. We are then given opportunity to help others learn to Trust in His Word, Trust in Him through their own storms and learn to be Hopeful and Expectant about what He is doing in their lives. We can comfort and have compassion on others who are going through struggles and trials that are working in them a greater good and purpose for their lives. When we settle down and come to agreement with Him and His will for our lives, whether through calm seas, rough waters or squalls, we can begin to move forward with confident expectation for what lies ahead of us. As His followers, this is the way He would have us to live our lives, in Confident Hope and Expectant Joy.
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NLT)
Let’s face it, we all face adversity. It comes at us in various forms and in different ways: circumstances, people, pain and relationships that seem to have been through a train wreck. I recently went through what seemed to be an endless attack. My response was less than ideal. I did, to some measure, try to deal with it privately, although I had a few friends that I was able to confide in who I knew would pray for me. Although I had been through situations before, but this was just a non-stop attempt to steal my joy, crush my Faith and leave me wounded and wasted. I know that where our minds tend to go and the things we can start to believe, whether true or not, can determine our attitudes during the current storms. I also know that the Enemy will use any means necessary to get us discouraged, defeated and downcast. And while he has us on the ground, he will continue to punch us in an attempt to break our will and desire to serve God. If we let him, he will cause us to walk away from God-honoring relationships, turn away from our Loving Creator, and try to make us feel hopeless and helpless. He will then twist the truth and cause us to believe that we are of no more use to God and that we can no longer be counted on to bring Glory and Honor to Our Savior. He will do anything and everything in his power to distract us from the Truth of who we are in Christ Jesus. As we try to fight for Joy, he will tempt us to doubt the Love and Goodness of our Father. As we keep pushing forward through the onslaught, we resolve to allow God to do the work of fighting for us and lifting us out of the pit of despair. As we look for Him, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, we begin to see him in the midst of the assault. He nudges us into Godly discernment and wisdom to know and see what He is up to in our lives. The adversity is never the end result. The outcome is for Him to grow us in our Faith, a stepping stone to the next level of an ever- deepening relationship with Him.
When all we see is the tsunami-sized waves rolling in to keep bashing us against the shore we can easily be tempted to only see what is coming at us. But if we look through the God-sized lens, we come to see the purpose behind the attack. Adversity always moves us, either forward or backward. If our response is about us: Why Me, Why This, Why Now, we are not learning the lesson. But if instead, we respond: For what Purpose, To what End, How is this going to bring You Glory, then we are on our way to the next exciting adventure of our lives, a place He can only take us to, because He has caused new growth in our Faith in Him! When it is all about me, I don’t get it. Why this storm, Why now. But when I approach the hardship with the spiritual in mind, I am seeking Him and His answer for me. He uses the difficulties of life to cause us to develop a greater intimacy with Him, just as He can use the quiet and peaceful times. We do not always comprehend His purposes right away, but He is patient with us. He sometimes wants to point out deficiencies in our walk with Him. On our knees, He reveals areas that we may need to concentrate on more deeply, areas that maybe we have neglected. But He is always building our Faith and Trust in Him. Nothing is wasted, but we must respond rightly and as we do, he opens the door to more of His revealed Glory. He always wants to bring us to a place of deeper Trust in Him, for our Faith cannot grow without some measure of adversity. But it is always for His Glory to bring about His plans and Purposes for our lives, and beyond that, His Purposes and Plans for others that we might affect positively because of what we have been through.
Coming out of the storms, we see a brand new day and have a refreshed spirit to take on a different area of ministry for Him. Or to continue to minister to those in our lives already. He allows us to be tossed by the waves so that we can encourage others as they go through the same things. We have a heart to serve Him and He directs us to the areas of service He would have us to get involved with. With renewed Purpose and Clean Hearts, He has successfully used the trials for our good and His Glory, just as He does with everything that comes to us after being filtered through His Hands. We are then given opportunity to help others learn to Trust in His Word, Trust in Him through their own storms and learn to be Hopeful and Expectant about what He is doing in their lives. We can comfort and have compassion on others who are going through struggles and trials that are working in them a greater good and purpose for their lives. When we settle down and come to agreement with Him and His will for our lives, whether through calm seas, rough waters or squalls, we can begin to move forward with confident expectation for what lies ahead of us. As His followers, this is the way He would have us to live our lives, in Confident Hope and Expectant Joy.
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NLT)
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