Difficult times

Sometimes we experience very difficult times and we come to a place where we feel we want to give up.  We don't have the strength to carry on and we want to withdraw or give up on a certain situation.  It is easy to reach a breaking point as a result of a tangle of emotions that overcomes us.  If you succumb to your emotions you will surely starting to "die" slowly.  It will lead to depression - a spiral obstacle which is very difficult to overcome.  You will be fragile and this will cause you to be blind for the truth of God.  Fear causes you to be afraid.

Take some time out to rest, look after your body and your health as this is a temple of God.  Then after you have rested, choose to stand up for yourself and don't just stare at the problem.  If you can't get over it, go around it, but be sure to pass it.  God is with you to guide you, He is not finished with you.  He has a new way for you to proceed on.  People who felt like this were  Moses, Job, David, Elijah, and Jonah.  God helped them, see Him for who He is, only He can help you. 

The gift of grace and your faith

When we are blessed by God, we receive a measure of faith.  However, it is our responsibility to grow our faith and not God's.  Faith is one of the seeds of grace that should grow normally in everyone until he has a genuine work of faith with power.  You have to continue in faith to get its benefits. 

What exactly is faith then?

• You have to place your confidence in God;
• It's an absolute dependence upon and reliance in the Word of God and of Christ;
• It's full surrender, yieldedness, and obedience to all known truth;
• It's to trust an wholly and unreservedly in the faithfulness of God;

Faith found soil to grow in open and honest hearts.  When you give yourself over to and commit to a new way of life in Jesus Christ, do it with such a heart in mind.  But how should I proceed in this world to grow my faith?

1. Be dedicated in your relationship with Christ.  Humble yourself before Him each day before you start the day by spending quiet time with Him;
2. Abound in love.  This kind of love is spontaneous and has the following characteristics:  patience with others, kindness, generosity, humility, courtesy, unselfishness, good temper, righteousness and sincerity;
3. This love (even for the self) is patient when it comes to trouble we experience.  Ensure to gather the truth of the Gospel (Jesus and the Word) and you will have the power of it working in our life.  As long as we believe in that truth, we won't feel defeated or lost;
4. Be patient and abound in faith when you go through troubled times.  Persecution as the Bible refers to is troubled times and has never hurt Christ true church (us) and never will if we abound in faith.

Grace is never ending

God is the source of grace and it is available to everyone.  You may be of the opinion that you are a sinner and you will never be worthy of God's grace, but I want to assure you that it is only your opinion and God is not interested in your opinion.  He is interested in your willingness to accept His grace.

But what is grace?

1. It's kindness;
2. It's a gift:  it is a free gift which He gives freely and generously to whoever wants to obtain it, asking for His favour in your heart as He loves you;
3. It's good will:  a favourable act towards somebody:  YOU;
4. It's about forgiveness:  He has already forgiven your sin with Christ on the cross and He wants you to forgive others that have wronged you in the very same way;
5. He has cancelled a debt:  He has released you from what were owed to Him by your sin.  He wants you to do the same for others who have wronged you - as He did.

Once you have accepted God's grace in your own life, you can give grace to others because Jesus Christ came to die on the cross in order for us to receive God's grace.  God loved you first and this is demonstrated by grace.  It's a portrayal of His love for us.

Grace

Charis:  the Greek word for grace.  Why would God's labor be in vain if there was no possibility of Satan tempting Christians, causing them to fall and be lost?  Do we really understand the grace of God or its limitations/impact to those opposing it?

It is true that grace can't be withheld from man because of demerit, lessened by demerit, or be mixed with the law of works.  But this does not prove that there are no conditions men must meet in order to get the benefits of grace.  God is under obligation to saints only when they walk in the light and remain true to the gospel.  Grace teaches men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and godly on earth.  If men don't obey its teaching grace can go no further.

We may choose to :
-  receive grace in vain;
-  frustrate it in our lives;
-  fall from it;
-  fail of the grace of God;
-  turn it into lasciviousness;
-  sin in spite of it;
-  continue or discontinue in it;
-  minister it to others;
-  grow or not to grow in it;
-  to receive or reject it.

Considering that grace is a free gift from God who loves you dearly and wants you to be His child, what choice will you make?

Do I have to lose hope?

Sometimes when we go through difficult periods in our life, we ask:  "why me?", "why is God letting this happen?"  The answer to these questions is that we are created to honour God and not the other way around.  Whilst we go through tough times, He wants us to learn certain lessons from it.  The question should rather be:  "am I willing to learn what God wants to teach me or am I going to rebel against what is happening in my life and miss out on the lesson?"  The purpose of difficult periods in our lives is created by God to force us to leave the things of the flesh behind and rather to proceed in the things of the Spirit.  Let's see what we need to do during these difficult times:

Col. 4:2-6 (not quoted).  Be earnest towards such periods, persevere in prayer and be diligent in a continuous manner.  Pray for grace to help you to submit to the lesson which God wants you to learn and for grace to overcome this problem.  Walk in wisdom and continually give thanks to God by giving your time to Him (e.g. doing bible study on your own, even if it is 10 min.)  The seasoning used for answering others should be based in that that opposes sin and preserve from corruption thereof.

Totally new

When Jesus died on the cross for us, all our sins were nailed on the cross with Him.  Jesus took man's place to save him in order to restore the relationship with God the Father.  His blood was shed to wash us clean from our sins. 

It is our choice to choose between right and wrong, being obedient or being disobedient to the guidelines of His Word, to sin or not to sin, etc.  He gave us the freedom of choice but with that the responsibility to make the correct choice or to live with the consequences of our bad choices.  God tells us in His Word that we are a new creature when we are born in the Spirit and this happens only through believing in Jesus Christ.  However this "rebirth" is not out of blood, nor the will of man or the will of the flesh.  You are seen for who you are now (today), not what you did or who you were.  Jesus wants to set you free from your past, all you have to do is to repent your sins before Him.  Remember He didn't come for the righteous but for those who have not received Him as their Lord and Saviour, you are precious to Him. 

Gal. 5:1:  "It was for freedom that Christ set us free"

Are you on your way to your own funeral?

Luke 7:11 tells us the story of a widow whose son passed away and they were busy carring the courpse in a coffin to the funeral.  Jesus and His disciples were on their way to this city (Nain) and as He entered saw this sad scene.  His timing was perfect

He  was moved with pity for her and walked in the direction of the coffin.  When He was next to the coffin, He touched it and command the dead body of the boy to sit up.  The dead boy then sat up and began to talk.  He gave life in death to this boy.

After reading this, are you sure that you may not be on your way to your own funeral? Being in bitterness, be hateful towards others, be angry at someone, unforgiving towards someone, maybe you are engaged in a relationship which is wrong in the eyes of God, maybe lust or dissipation, always seek the acceptance of men instead of God, or maybe you value your possessions and money more than God.  I want to tell you that it is never too late, His heart is crying for you and He want to tell you to stop now and make the correct choice.  Leave behind whatever it is that you are busy with, renounce your sins and be free in Him.  Can you see that you are already in that coffin, Jesus is telling you to get up and to live.  It is never too late, His timing is always perfect.