Trials & Hardships

None of us enjoy any of life's trials and hardships. But we can overcome!

Our attitude is often that we have to fight our way through those trials and hardships.  If we are in the trial, we  do have to go through that btthe and we should not make lite of that fact.  We can choose to fight through those trials abd hardships by our self or with God.  While that seems obvious, when you are actually in the battle, people often ask "Where are you God?".  God knows we are in the trail.  Even though the outcome of a trial or hardship could be as severe as death, it makes sense to go through that battle with God.  It will probally seem at the time that God is nowhere to be found.  That is how we may feel, but that is not reality.  Our emotions do not dictate reality, the scriptures do.  God has designed us to be overcomers, when we abide in Him. When trials and hardships come, we eventually come to realize that Jesus Christ is our advocate with the Father.  It is hard for us to understand how that could be effective when we are a young Christian.   Our understanding expects God to solve problems according to how things work naturally.   But as we grow, we come to realize that God is not limited to our understanding.  As Jesus Christ is God, He is a real help in a time of trouble.

"For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock."    (Psalm 27:5)  

The word "pavilion" means in a secret hiding or safe place.  The secret place where He will hide us, is built on a rock.  An unmoveable rock.  God's Word.  It truly is a safe place.  Our responsibility is to trust God regardless of what we see.

A companion lesson that brings many of these issues into perspective is our lesson on Hope. 

 

Trying to Grow?

Playing Games with God?

People rarely admit that they have been subconsciously playing games with God.

Are you and I playing games with God to keep our lives under our own control?  Since part of who God is, is perfect truth, perfect love, and perfect righteousness, would it be wise for us to put Him in His rightful place truly as God in our lives?

 

Even when you talk to people on a personal level they are so often not aware of their playing games with God.  Instead they will usually say one of three different views. 

1.) that  they don't understand God, or

2.)  they wish God would make things plainly visible to them, or

3.) they already have God.

Yet almost everyone ou us plays a hidden subconscious game with God for who is in contron. God's plan works perfectly and He does not change.  God will not corrupt His perfection to get things to line up with our normal.  Our normal is a twisted version of reality.  When we start to line up our understanding with God's reality, we start to begin to realize just how true the Word of God actually is.

What is quite interesting is, when a person is in a man made religion, they still are playing this same subconscious game with God. Most man made religions initially look like they have the truth.  This is also true for Christians.  The only way to know if our religion is real, is to carefully study the scriptures and prove all things.

When they crucified Jesus Christ, they were playing religious games with God.  They thought they won, but in reality, they lost.  These were the brightest, most educated people of the day.  Today is no different.  Even educated and highly educated religious people often are unaware that they are playing games with God.  God knows all about it. 

So how do we get out of this deception?  As we get older, we realize that when we play games with God we cannot win.  God always wins in the end.  We would be wise to learn how God made things work and then bring our lives in line with that reality.  There is only one source and that is the scriptures that our Bibles are translated from.  They have proven trustworthy and we should choose to believe what they say.

That would mean we should learn how God says we are made and how we should interact with Him.  Each part of us that God has made, God has a plan and a purpose on how it is to be used.  Yes we have to do the work necessary to learn this in order to be an overcoming child of God. Works are not a requirement of salvation, but they do show our belief in the God of salvation.

This means we should learn the difference between thinking, believing, and knowing from God's perspective.  Even educated people often get these mixed up.  God has specific meanings for each of them.  Also God has specific functions for the six parts of a person that are listed in the scriptures.  God put that information in the Bible for us to search out and understand and make our daily decisions by faith accordingly.  

 

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