My Utmost 3/7/19

Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let’s apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against— tribulation, suffering, and persecution— are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. “We are more than conquerors through Him” “in all these things”; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it.

When Christians are clicking along through life without a care in the world, God many times is an afterthought. It is difficult to keep prostrate before Christ in prayer when life is AWESOME or even ordinary. Instead of praising Him for our great circumstances we forget Him, much like the Israelites did when they first were in Egypt.

Once the persecution and tribulations come though we remember.

It is in the valley of despair that we give it to Him, we think when we are on the mountain “I got this” but when the world seems to be set to kill us or drive us into hiding, we release control and ….. He is allowed to become our Lord. It is counterintuitive to us humans to release our perception of control to come out of trouble, a paradox.

He is training us, shaping us, taking this clay and making us over again each time we go through the process of growing. You are not instantly “super saint” once you receive Jesus’ free gift and you are not after 20 years either….or 50. You, if you are seeking Him, are broken down and remade over and over and over.

We do not know the JOY in spite of, in opposition to, the things that attempt to ruin us and hurt us. We know JOY because OF these things. When we are at the end of our rope, hanging on with one hand and dangling over the precipice ….

He is able to be made our focus. We are compelled to give up because we realize that something is beyond our control and in that moment He takes over and we surrender. Be glad when you go through trials and praise Him for those times, this is when you know He is still working on you.

Hard to swallow when things are their darkest, but if you offer the “sacrifice of praise” He will fulfill His promise to never leave us or forsake us. We come out the other side in a better place, stronger but at the same time more dependent on Him. Stronger not in our own power to withstand the wind but in our ability to leave the wind to Him.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.