James 1:2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials,
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
We have all had moments in life where we thought we could not make it another second. Times where it seemed that God was so far away from us. You have heard me say before that when you don’t feel like praying to start off by praising and soon you will be praying like never before but we also know that is not always an easy thing for us to do. Is it even possible?
The Bible tells us to consider trials a joy, to praise God even when we are facing the darkest times of our life. Is that really fair? Is it fair for God to expect us to praise Him when things are not easy, are not going well, or even going horribly, terribly wrong?
Yes, no matter what our current situation is, God is worthy of praise. Denying that fact will not make your situation easier, in fact when you deny that truth you are only making things harder on yourself. You are denying the One who can help you.
Part of the problem is we sometimes look at the Bible and think it is a perfect book about perfect people doing perfect things. Yes, it is a perfect book and the hero of the story is our perfect God and His perfect Son but the people in the Bible are not perfect. I’m talking about the ordinary, everyday people like Gideon, Peter, and Paul. God accomplished amazing things through them but they themselves were not perfect and did not always have everything go right or easy in their lives.
In other words, they knew problems, they knew the trap of worrying, and they knew the power of praise.
Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China once gave this excellent advice: "Let us give up our work, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into [God's] hand; and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about."
Imagine that, if we give our all to God then we give him our worries and troubles as well.
Now no one is saying life is easy. No one is saying that we should ignore what is happening in our lives and wish it away. When the going gets tough the world tells us to bury our problems with distractions – like drugs, alcohol, work, etc. Despite what the world tells you, you still have to face the problems in your life but as a Christian, we can face them with faith.
We have all had moments in life where we thought we could not make it another second. Times where it seemed that God was so far away from us. You have heard me say before that when you don’t feel like praying to start off by praising and soon you will be praying like never before but we also know that is not always an easy thing for us to do. Is it even possible?
The Bible tells us to consider trials a joy, to praise God even when we are facing the darkest times of our life. Is that really fair? Is it fair for God to expect us to praise Him when things are not easy, are not going well, or even going horribly, terribly wrong?
Part of the problem is we sometimes look at the Bible and think it is a perfect book about perfect people doing perfect things. Yes, it is a perfect book and the hero of the story is our perfect God and His perfect Son but the people in the Bible are not perfect. I’m talking about the ordinary, everyday people like Gideon, Peter, and Paul. God accomplished amazing things through them but they themselves were not perfect and did not always have everything go right or easy in their lives.
In other words, they knew problems, they knew the trap of worrying, and they knew the power of praise.
Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China once gave this excellent advice: "Let us give up our work, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into [God's] hand; and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about."
Imagine that, if we give our all to God then we give him our worries and troubles as well.
Now no one is saying life is easy. No one is saying that we should ignore what is happening in our lives and wish it away. When the going gets tough the world tells us to bury our problems with distractions – like drugs, alcohol, work, etc. Despite what the world tells you, you still have to face the problems in your life but as a Christian, we can face them with faith.
I live in a real world, and I want a faith that deals with reality. Don’t you? I don’t want a faith that plays, "let’s pretend." I want a faith that can stand up to whatever the world has to give and still come out on top. The first thing we must realize is that whenever we face adversity we also face a choice. Do I respond with faith or do I wallow in despair? Do I put my trust in almighty God or do I put my trust in my own broken abilities? If you choose faith in God over faith in yourself then you will be able to choose to rejoice over despair.
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