Trials will come....

Acts 14:22  talks about strengthening the souls of disciples to get them ready to enter the Kingdom of God.  To get to the promised land, we are going to have to go through some trials.  This is the most unpleasant part of any growth process.  Like a child growing up and begins losing their teeth.  Yes the process is painful and you don't want to grow through it, but in order to receive your grown up teeth you are going to have to shed some things and go through some pain.

Trials can come in many forms.  For me they came in divorce, jail, job loss, family separation, domestic violence arguments, legal issues, hunger, homelessness and many more.  You don't think about the benefit of the trials when you are in your carnal mindset and your flesh is fighting to resist the trials coming at you.  And why not? it's basically a defense mechanism that the body reacts to confrontation.  But here's the thing, when you are walking in the spirit and not being led by your fleshly desires you begin to allow trials to do their work and the entire time you are going through you focus on Christ and not the pain you are going through (Colossians 3:2).

There's an old hymnal that goes "Dark clouds may rise, and stormy winds may blow; but I'll tell the world wherever i go that I found a savior and he's sweet I know".  This is how a true Christian lives.  Though Dark days may come and stormy winds may blow against you I will still trust in you Lord and tell everyone about you even in the middle of my storm.  That's the attitude you need to have and that's the faith you need.  He may not bring you out of the trial any time soon, but he will definitely KEEP you in it.  People need to know how to go through the hard times.  They also need to know that no one is exempt from them...

It doesn't matter if you have been preaching 30 years; or singing in the choir 10 years, or playing the drums in the church since you were 5.  All will go through trials and tribulations.  I keep referring back to it, but in the book of JOB he did nothing wrong.  He was favorable in God's eye.  and yet he lost it all.  All except his life and he still praised God.  My favorite scripture (and I guess I do have many) is Job 13:15 - Though he slay me; yet will I trust him.

This scripture signifies my entire year this year.  Though he slay me; though he took me through divorce a second time, though i may have lost my job, though my car may be down; though all of this has happened.  I will still trust in the Lord.  He has not taken my life and I thank God for that.  And if my trials and tribulations can help someone come to Christ then I gladly accept my time of pain.  It's not easy to do this and it takes his Holy Spirit to accomplish such faith and trust.  But I know it can happen because it happened for me.  I grew up in the church my whole life.  I am a PK (preacher's kid) and yet I did not have faith.  I did not believe truly, but when the Lord really showed me his grace and mercy I began to understand who God is and why he loves me so much.

So know trials will come and it doesn't matter how much works you do for the Lord.  It is impossible to please God without faith in him (Heb 11:6).  Trust in him and he will make all your paths straight (Prov 3:5-6).  I thank God for all my trials because they brought me closer to Christ and my purpose became clear because of my trials pushing me to Christ (James 4:8).