Good morning joyful ones!
James 1:2-4 (Amp) says,
- Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith brings out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.
If you’re having tough times today, that’s because God knows you’re a tough person. He knows there’s alot inside of you. God is growing you and you’re going to come out of the trial stronger. I like to say it like this: Extraordinary people have extraordinary challenges.
So, if you’re facing some big problems today, it’s because you’re a big person. Look at it this way: The enemy always fights you the hardest when he knows God has something great in store for you. And, it’s always the most difficult when you’re closest to your victory. That’s when the enemy turns up the heat to see if you’re going to give up, but I know you guys ~ You are people of faith ~ You’re going to get up each day, no matter what it looks like and say, “This is another day the Lord has made. So, it doesn’t matter how someone’s treating me ~ It doesn’t matter what’s going on in the natural ~ I KNOW God always causes me to triumph in Christ Jesus!”
I want to encourage you that just because there are forces that are trying to keep you from your destiny, the God Who is FOR YOU is greater than the little god who is against you.
Sometimes we go through things because God wants to show us His favor in a greater way. You may be in a storm, but remember, God is greater than all the storms of life, so stay in peace. James 1:12 says,
- Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor’s] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.
We need to be like Daniel ~ they threw him into the lions den and came back to check on him the next morning, fully expecting him to be torn apart. Do you know what they found? Daniel was over by the water, sound asleep, right next to the hungry lions. Daniel wasn’t worried ~ He wasn’t taking tranquilizers ~ He wasn’t hiding in the corner ~ Daniel was in peace. He knew he was “lion-proof.” He knew the storm couldn’t take him.
Maybe you feel like you’re in the lions den ~ Maybe a fiery furnace ~ all stressed out ~ all worried. God is saying, “Come back to that place of peace.” Family, He has you in the palm of His hand.
1 Peter 1:6-7 says,
- [You should] be exceedingly glad on this account, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations, so that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) is revealed.
See, what is now your TEST will become your TESTIMONY. You will be able to help other people going through the same thing. God’s ways are not always our ways. When we go though tests, we trust God in ways we never trusted Him before ~ Some things you can only learn going through the storm.
When the battle’s raging ~ When you don’t know how you’re going to make it ~ that’s when you’ll experience the faithfulness of God like you’ve never experienced it before.
Now I can tell people with confidence, when it looks impossible; when it looks like everything is against you; when the financial situations looks bleak ~ When your own thoughts are saying, “You’re not going to make it!”, let me tells you first hand – The God we serve can make a way when there seems to be NO way. If He did it for us, He can do it for you.
1 Peter 4:12-13 says,
- Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you. But insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, so that when His glory [full of radiance and splendor] is revealed, you may also rejoice with triumph [exultantly].
Let me conclude with this: 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 says,
- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
In life, I exhort you to not just look for your miracle, but to become someone else’s miracle. As you reach out to others in need and as you encourage others who are down, that’s when your breakthrough will come. James 5:16 declares,
- Pray for one another, so that you may be healed.
Be blessed today family!
Triumphantly yours,
Lisa Gordon
Gordon Ministries