Tag: Paul

SEASONS OF adversity

When was the last time you had a season of adversity? Of hardship, of pain, of loss, of loneliness, the list goes on. What do you do in that particular season? It’s difficult for what I’m about to say but we need to not just go through them we are to grow through them.

2 Corinthians 12:10

10 “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.“

In our own lives we to go through seasons. Seasons of fear, loneliness, doubt, heartache, despair, pain, depression. ALL OF THESE ARE Seasons of hardships. In these times we want to hide and run from those problems. 

Here are just a few examples who had seasons of adversity:

Saul chased David for some time, David hid in caves where he wrote most of the Psalms. 

Moses who wandered in the wilderness forty years

Joseph who was sold in slavery

Ruth lost her husband

Nehemiah had to fight off naysayers

Daniel was thrown into a lions den

Paul who while in prison wrote most of the New Testament

Each of these had adversity, but had the choice to let fear and doubt and depression hinder them.

What season are you going through? If you’re on the mountain top soaring high, then awesome. But remember that it’s in the valley of adversity where vegetation grows and where the flowers bloom. There is no growth on top of the mountain but only find rocks and boulders there. On top of the mountain is no place to put down roots, that happens in the valley below. Don’t rush the season you are in child, learn to rest in Him.

SEASONS WILL COME AND GO BUT HIS LOVE FOR US WILL NEVER CHANGE, HIS PROVISION, HIS PROTECTION, HIS CHARACTER OF WHO HE IS WILL NEVER CHANGE. AND HE MEETS US RIGHT WHERE WE ARE AT.

Why is it that we have to go through those tough times in life? If we always experienced the good times we would never be able to know what it means to say “… For when I am weak, then I am strong.“

Where is Your Faith?

so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. – 1 Corinthians 2:5

We are living in strange times, who would’ve thought that some virus could devastate the economy? It has shaken every part of our world as we know it. Our jobs, our families and more than that it has shaken the economy. And for some it has shaken a lot of things that you would’ve never thought possible. What will you be left with when all of this goes away? Will you have more money than before? Will you have your job? What will remain when the dust settles? or more importantly, will you be moved by this storm? Or will you take refuge in the Lord?

Paul reminds us in Hebrews 12:27 “This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken — that is, things that have been made — in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.”

Every distraction that has been the priority, our careers, our lives has been shut down. And we have been driven back to the basics of family and faith. I believe that God sometimes has to shake our world to re-focus our priorities in order to wake us up and for us to realize that He is our priority.

So where is your faith? Is it in man, money, possessions?

Or is it in Christ alone?

God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power – to overcome the obstacles  and love – to help others and sound mind – ability to not panic, make wise choices, to choose faith over fear. – 2 Timothy 1:7

GLORY TOOOOOO GLORY

GLORY TOOOOO GLORY

Why would a good and loving God allow us to go through such things?

  • death of a child
  • Diseases
  • Injuries
  • Financial hardships
  • Worry
  • Fear

There are seasons of our life where God has to put us under the microscope; leads us through the fire, begins to take us through some afflictions that we start asking questions of why?

So what are the reasoning’s behind all this?

 

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

What is Paul saying in those two verses?

That we all, even the just are going to face difficulties at times, those struggles/afflictions that you have, the pain of a lost loved one, the questions that you don’t understand now; we must walk by faith and not by what we see.

“that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose”

  • Romans 8:28

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When we are being transformed from Glory to Glory

It’s in the “Toooo” that builds our faith, endurance, & character.

 

So how do you look at your current situation?

know that there is PURPOSE behind every affliction!

That God will not leave you!

 

Whenever we enter into His presence with praise, He enters our circumstance with power.

 

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Expectation

The year 2016 brought many challenges in my walk with Christ. And yet I overcame every obstacle that the enemy put in front of me. I wasn’t able to overcome them by myself of course but only through Jesus. The outlook that I have before I go into prayer is this; He will meet every need that I have and restore the areas that need to be restored in my life. Your outlook determines the outcome. What are you expecting God to do in 2017?

 

In 2 Timothy 1:12 Paul writes “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

Paul is saying that yet I have been through many storms, I know what to expect! Because he knows who God is. Knowing who you are in Christ and the power that you have over the enemy is the most important thing to know and understand and not be convinced otherwise.

God is faithful, God never changes, He holds your future in His hands. Are you convinced that He is able to guard you?

 

In 2016 I learned that:

  1.  I can’t do everything by myself
  2. I need help!
  3. To worry less, casting every care to Jesus
  4. Expect a greater outcome

 

What have you learned in 2016? Are you expecting greater things in 2017?

 

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The Modern Day Pharisee

The PHARISEES were the most considerable sect among the Jews, for they had not only the scribes, and all the learned men of the law of their party, but they also drew after them the bulk of the people. They had their appellation of Pharisees, from parish, to separate, and were probably, in their rise, the most holy people among the Jews, having separated themselves from the national corruption, with a design to restore and practice the pure worship of the most High. That they were greatly degenerated in our Lord’s time is sufficiently evident; but still we may learn, from their external purity and exactness, that their principles in the beginning were holy. Our Lord testifies that they had cleansed the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they were full of abomination. They still kept up the outward regulations of the institution, but they had utterly lost its spirit; and hypocrisy was the only substitute now in their power for that spirit of piety which I suppose, and not unreasonably, characterized the origin of this sect.

Pharisee’s

They looked the part, they acted the part, but they had no recognition of Jesus Christ, who which was God in flesh. Ridiculed, despised and rejected. They had the Truth in front of them the whole time but yet they chose to look the other way. Jesus states in the book of Matthew 23…

“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant”.

Jesus begins to tell the crowds and His disciples to watch out for their religious ways. In later scripture, Jesus calls the Pharisees  “you serpents, you brood of vipers”. In earlier chapter of Matthew 15 He warns His disciples and now in chapter 23, He decides to make this public announcement.

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Paul’s Conversion

In Acts 26, Paul testifies to King Agrippa about being a former Pharisee.

“4 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. 5 They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee.

12 “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you.

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We all can look the part, but are we living it out? This reason alone is why most people will not attend a church they think “If they think their better than me, and doing the same things I’m doing, why should I go”? That is a great question. Everyone will be judged for what they do, God is a just God, meaning He is fair. The main answer is not to use people around you as a measuring rod, whoever you look up to, being a member of the church, a pastor or a good friend that is “holier than thou” is not the right thing to do, we all fall from time to time and your friends, family and others around you will disappoint you in what you think they shouldn’t do. We all must come to the saving knowledge of Christ and that is what this is all about, don’t look at others as being judgmental or using them as a measuring rod. God is the measuring rod, if you want to be holy go after Him, if you want to do more for the kingdom, go after Him!

Living under law instead of Grace

Paul had to repent – make a
transformation of mind leading to transformed action – instantly. Paul lived a
moral life, so he didn’t have to repent of immorality – but of misguided
religious zeal and wrong ideas about God.

Modern Day Pharisee

Jesus came to give life for those who would call on His name, break the religious spirits that so many people still hold onto today. He is here but yet they choose to look the other way. We can’t make Heaven our home by being a “good person” as we read above that Paul still needed to repent and he was a “good person”. If you are finding yourself in Paul’s place by holding onto a law or a rule that has made you so heavy burden, cast it at His feet, if your tired and weak, searching to find rest, He is here, Call on His name!