In my reflection time this morning, I recollected the trials I faced since the beginning of this week. On Monday and Tuesday, there were exactly three challenges I faced. The first was condemnation, the second was persecution, and the third was health hardships. On the third day, Wednesday, there were exactly three victories, of which all three counteracted each of the three challenges I faced on Monday and Tuesday.
Coincidence? I think not. Grace of God? Amen!
If you're thinking that maybe God just picks and chooses certain people to bless, it's not that. In fact, it's the other way around: only certain people give God permission to bless their lives. God is the ONLY being who doesn't break promises. Even if He wanted to, He can't because it's His nature and He simply is not capable of doing anything unrighteous. In the Bible, you can find all His promises, and as His people can attest, you can hold Him up to each and every one of those promises. Furthermore, keep in mind that our God is a fair and just god. He will ALWAYS do His part, but we must be sure to do OURS. So along with His promises, the Bible also mentions what we are called to do as God's people. Things such as to live in righteousness, to love our enemies, and to trust and have faith in the Lord. As simple as these things may seem, as humans, they may be more difficult to accomplish, but we should know that we were created in His image (Gen 1:26-27), and these things are absolutely more than possible.
I believe that it all starts with one thing: Obedience. It's the one act that will get the ball rolling, and before you know it, God's blessings will become evident in your life. When you are OBEDIENT to the Lord, His blessings become evident in ALL (not just a few) aspects of your life. You automatically radiate His light, and His image is made visible THROUGH you.
"And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king." - 1 Samuel 15:22-23 (KJV)
With that being said, I will go into the details of the challenges and victories of the past three days. In the first and second trials, condemnation and persecution, after encountering conflict after conflict with a leader of mine, I eventually discovered that a person from my past expressed negative opinions about me to others, causing them to develop pre-conceived judgments about my character. In my flesh, considering who the person was and what was actually said, I started sinking to lowest of lows... I felt a surge of anger and sadness, all at once. However, the beauty of giving up my life to the Lord was quickly revealed, as the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of me started to stir up and take dominion over my flesh. I hung my head in surrender to my Spirit, and I gathered every last ounce of my faith to do one of the SIMPLEST, yet most difficult things: I spoke forgiveness on both my leader and the opinionated person, and I PRAYED for them, asking God to create a righteous leader out of one, and a righteous person and friend out of the other. I remember as I was doing this in the privacy of my car, I struggled to keep tears of both pain and relief from pouring, for I had to walk into work in the next five minutes. As for the third trial, health hardships, exhaustion from a busy schedule and added mental stress from recent conflicts had caused lupus to flare up, causing inflammation and pain in my joints. Typically, this onset causes me to perform slower at work and just become unproductive overall, as I try to avoid moving at all and prefer bed rest to heal...
Now for the glory on the third day! Immediately, the day after, God had it that I would run into my leader face-to-face in the same room. (It's not normal at all for us to see each other unexpectedly.) As soon as we encountered each other, I immediately felt this natural joyfulness in my Spirit, and I couldn't help but radiate -- there was a big, unforced smile on my face as I joyfully greeted my leader and made naturally good conversation. In turn, he responded similarly. I did not run into the opinionated friend, however, as one of my prayers was for God to "give me a tough hide, yet keep my heart tender," inspired by a good sister of mine. Immediately following this glorious event, I continued on to have one of the most productive and rewarding workdays in the entire year! God had recently blessed me with a second job at another location (same company), and after working for just a couple weeks at the new location, I've grown so much in my skills and productivity, and as a result, my accomplishments have made my work experience so much more rewarding. On top of that, they supported a complete transfer, offering me even more hours, so that I don't have to work at my original location. As for the health hardships, as everything follows in the obedience of God, as did this. My praises for the Lord are never in vain.
Looking back in retrospect, the third day (yesterday) was a sign of "certification" from God. I always thought of myself as a slow learner when it comes to life lessons (many of my old college friends can attest to that). But in just the past three months, ever since I sincerely dedicated my life back to the Lord and granted Him permission to work in my life, He has equipped me in areas I didn't even know needed equipping! And when the trials came, they served as an "assessment exam," testing to see how well I could "conquer" the material. Just as Christ rose on the third day, he "conquered" the grave and showed the people He most certainly was "certified" to be the Messiah. After "passing" my exam, I soon came to realize that obeying the Lord and doing things out of righteousness was not meant to be "difficult." God isn't so cruel as to place us on this earth so that we can "suffer in righteousness." The reason we sometimes do is because the world has deemed unrighteousness as "normal" and "right." However, we, God's people, were made to love. And as the love of God continues to dwell in us, acts of righteousness become easier and easier, despite opposing views, for our strength to overcome comes not from our flesh, but from the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us. Of course, God is the omniscient, all-knowing god, and He would not give us challenges He knew we weren't ready for, so the reason He gave me this test was to confirm to me that I AM a CERTIFIED blood-bought daughter of the Lord most high, I AM capable, and I am READY to move on to the next level...
And when I say "next level," that doesn't mean it will be all rainbows and fluffy bunnies... It means exactly what is said in Matthew 12:48: "...to whom much was given, of him much will be required..." It means I'm a step further in fulfilling God's purpose for my life, but I'm nowhere near completing it. So the take home message is to remember that obedience is the key to the escape door of all trials in your life. The best way (and sometimes ONLY way) to release the burdens caused by these trials is to truly obey God, and to do so may require you to recall His promises to you and the purpose He has set in your life. Remember, God will ALWAYS do His part... will we do OURS?
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Thursday, November 19, 2009
Obedience
In my reflection time this morning, I recollected the trials I faced since the beginning of this week. On Monday and Tuesday, there were exactly three challenges I faced. The first was condemnation, the second was persecution, and the third was health hardships. On the third day, Wednesday, there were exactly three victories, of which all three counteracted each of the three challenges I faced on Monday and Tuesday.
Coincidence? I think not. Grace of God? Amen!
If you're thinking that maybe God just picks and chooses certain people to bless, it's not that. In fact, it's the other way around: only certain people give God permission to bless their lives. God is the ONLY being who doesn't break promises. Even if He wanted to, He can't because it's His nature and He simply is not capable of doing anything unrighteous. In the Bible, you can find all His promises, and as His people can attest, you can hold Him up to each and every one of those promises. Furthermore, keep in mind that our God is a fair and just god. He will ALWAYS do His part, but we must be sure to do OURS. So along with His promises, the Bible also mentions what we are called to do as God's people. Things such as to live in righteousness, to love our enemies, and to trust and have faith in the Lord. As simple as these things may seem, as humans, they may be more difficult to accomplish, but we should know that we were created in His image (Gen 1:26-27), and these things are absolutely more than possible.
I believe that it all starts with one thing: Obedience. It's the one act that will get the ball rolling, and before you know it, God's blessings will become evident in your life. When you are OBEDIENT to the Lord, His blessings become evident in ALL (not just a few) aspects of your life. You automatically radiate His light, and His image is made visible THROUGH you.
"And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king." - 1 Samuel 15:22-23 (KJV)
With that being said, I will go into the details of the challenges and victories of the past three days. In the first and second trials, condemnation and persecution, after encountering conflict after conflict with a leader of mine, I eventually discovered that a person from my past expressed negative opinions about me to others, causing them to develop pre-conceived judgments about my character. In my flesh, considering who the person was and what was actually said, I started sinking to lowest of lows... I felt a surge of anger and sadness, all at once. However, the beauty of giving up my life to the Lord was quickly revealed, as the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of me started to stir up and take dominion over my flesh. I hung my head in surrender to my Spirit, and I gathered every last ounce of my faith to do one of the SIMPLEST, yet most difficult things: I spoke forgiveness on both my leader and the opinionated person, and I PRAYED for them, asking God to create a righteous leader out of one, and a righteous person and friend out of the other. I remember as I was doing this in the privacy of my car, I struggled to keep tears of both pain and relief from pouring, for I had to walk into work in the next five minutes. As for the third trial, health hardships, exhaustion from a busy schedule and added mental stress from recent conflicts had caused lupus to flare up, causing inflammation and pain in my joints. Typically, this onset causes me to perform slower at work and just become unproductive overall, as I try to avoid moving at all and prefer bed rest to heal...
Now for the glory on the third day! Immediately, the day after, God had it that I would run into my leader face-to-face in the same room. (It's not normal at all for us to see each other unexpectedly.) As soon as we encountered each other, I immediately felt this natural joyfulness in my Spirit, and I couldn't help but radiate -- there was a big, unforced smile on my face as I joyfully greeted my leader and made naturally good conversation. In turn, he responded similarly. I did not run into the opinionated friend, however, as one of my prayers was for God to "give me a tough hide, yet keep my heart tender," inspired by a good sister of mine. Immediately following this glorious event, I continued on to have one of the most productive and rewarding workdays in the entire year! God had recently blessed me with a second job at another location (same company), and after working for just a couple weeks at the new location, I've grown so much in my skills and productivity, and as a result, my accomplishments have made my work experience so much more rewarding. On top of that, they supported a complete transfer, offering me even more hours, so that I don't have to work at my original location. As for the health hardships, as everything follows in the obedience of God, as did this. My praises for the Lord are never in vain.
Looking back in retrospect, the third day (yesterday) was a sign of "certification" from God. I always thought of myself as a slow learner when it comes to life lessons (many of my old college friends can attest to that). But in just the past three months, ever since I sincerely dedicated my life back to the Lord and granted Him permission to work in my life, He has equipped me in areas I didn't even know needed equipping! And when the trials came, they served as an "assessment exam," testing to see how well I could "conquer" the material. Just as Christ rose on the third day, he "conquered" the grave and showed the people He most certainly was "certified" to be the Messiah. After "passing" my exam, I soon came to realize that obeying the Lord and doing things out of righteousness was not meant to be "difficult." God isn't so cruel as to place us on this earth so that we can "suffer in righteousness." The reason we sometimes do is because the world has deemed unrighteousness as "normal" and "right." However, we, God's people, were made to love. And as the love of God continues to dwell in us, acts of righteousness become easier and easier, despite opposing views, for our strength to overcome comes not from our flesh, but from the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us. Of course, God is the omniscient, all-knowing god, and He would not give us challenges He knew we weren't ready for, so the reason He gave me this test was to confirm to me that I AM a CERTIFIED blood-bought daughter of the Lord most high, I AM capable, and I am READY to move on to the next level...
And when I say "next level," that doesn't mean it will be all rainbows and fluffy bunnies... It means exactly what is said in Matthew 12:48: "...to whom much was given, of him much will be required..." It means I'm a step further in fulfilling God's purpose for my life, but I'm nowhere near completing it. So the take home message is to remember that obedience is the key to the escape door of all trials in your life. The best way (and sometimes ONLY way) to release the burdens caused by these trials is to truly obey God, and to do so may require you to recall His promises to you and the purpose He has set in your life. Remember, God will ALWAYS do His part... will we do OURS?
Coincidence? I think not. Grace of God? Amen!
If you're thinking that maybe God just picks and chooses certain people to bless, it's not that. In fact, it's the other way around: only certain people give God permission to bless their lives. God is the ONLY being who doesn't break promises. Even if He wanted to, He can't because it's His nature and He simply is not capable of doing anything unrighteous. In the Bible, you can find all His promises, and as His people can attest, you can hold Him up to each and every one of those promises. Furthermore, keep in mind that our God is a fair and just god. He will ALWAYS do His part, but we must be sure to do OURS. So along with His promises, the Bible also mentions what we are called to do as God's people. Things such as to live in righteousness, to love our enemies, and to trust and have faith in the Lord. As simple as these things may seem, as humans, they may be more difficult to accomplish, but we should know that we were created in His image (Gen 1:26-27), and these things are absolutely more than possible.
I believe that it all starts with one thing: Obedience. It's the one act that will get the ball rolling, and before you know it, God's blessings will become evident in your life. When you are OBEDIENT to the Lord, His blessings become evident in ALL (not just a few) aspects of your life. You automatically radiate His light, and His image is made visible THROUGH you.
"And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king." - 1 Samuel 15:22-23 (KJV)
With that being said, I will go into the details of the challenges and victories of the past three days. In the first and second trials, condemnation and persecution, after encountering conflict after conflict with a leader of mine, I eventually discovered that a person from my past expressed negative opinions about me to others, causing them to develop pre-conceived judgments about my character. In my flesh, considering who the person was and what was actually said, I started sinking to lowest of lows... I felt a surge of anger and sadness, all at once. However, the beauty of giving up my life to the Lord was quickly revealed, as the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of me started to stir up and take dominion over my flesh. I hung my head in surrender to my Spirit, and I gathered every last ounce of my faith to do one of the SIMPLEST, yet most difficult things: I spoke forgiveness on both my leader and the opinionated person, and I PRAYED for them, asking God to create a righteous leader out of one, and a righteous person and friend out of the other. I remember as I was doing this in the privacy of my car, I struggled to keep tears of both pain and relief from pouring, for I had to walk into work in the next five minutes. As for the third trial, health hardships, exhaustion from a busy schedule and added mental stress from recent conflicts had caused lupus to flare up, causing inflammation and pain in my joints. Typically, this onset causes me to perform slower at work and just become unproductive overall, as I try to avoid moving at all and prefer bed rest to heal...
Now for the glory on the third day! Immediately, the day after, God had it that I would run into my leader face-to-face in the same room. (It's not normal at all for us to see each other unexpectedly.) As soon as we encountered each other, I immediately felt this natural joyfulness in my Spirit, and I couldn't help but radiate -- there was a big, unforced smile on my face as I joyfully greeted my leader and made naturally good conversation. In turn, he responded similarly. I did not run into the opinionated friend, however, as one of my prayers was for God to "give me a tough hide, yet keep my heart tender," inspired by a good sister of mine. Immediately following this glorious event, I continued on to have one of the most productive and rewarding workdays in the entire year! God had recently blessed me with a second job at another location (same company), and after working for just a couple weeks at the new location, I've grown so much in my skills and productivity, and as a result, my accomplishments have made my work experience so much more rewarding. On top of that, they supported a complete transfer, offering me even more hours, so that I don't have to work at my original location. As for the health hardships, as everything follows in the obedience of God, as did this. My praises for the Lord are never in vain.
Looking back in retrospect, the third day (yesterday) was a sign of "certification" from God. I always thought of myself as a slow learner when it comes to life lessons (many of my old college friends can attest to that). But in just the past three months, ever since I sincerely dedicated my life back to the Lord and granted Him permission to work in my life, He has equipped me in areas I didn't even know needed equipping! And when the trials came, they served as an "assessment exam," testing to see how well I could "conquer" the material. Just as Christ rose on the third day, he "conquered" the grave and showed the people He most certainly was "certified" to be the Messiah. After "passing" my exam, I soon came to realize that obeying the Lord and doing things out of righteousness was not meant to be "difficult." God isn't so cruel as to place us on this earth so that we can "suffer in righteousness." The reason we sometimes do is because the world has deemed unrighteousness as "normal" and "right." However, we, God's people, were made to love. And as the love of God continues to dwell in us, acts of righteousness become easier and easier, despite opposing views, for our strength to overcome comes not from our flesh, but from the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us. Of course, God is the omniscient, all-knowing god, and He would not give us challenges He knew we weren't ready for, so the reason He gave me this test was to confirm to me that I AM a CERTIFIED blood-bought daughter of the Lord most high, I AM capable, and I am READY to move on to the next level...
And when I say "next level," that doesn't mean it will be all rainbows and fluffy bunnies... It means exactly what is said in Matthew 12:48: "...to whom much was given, of him much will be required..." It means I'm a step further in fulfilling God's purpose for my life, but I'm nowhere near completing it. So the take home message is to remember that obedience is the key to the escape door of all trials in your life. The best way (and sometimes ONLY way) to release the burdens caused by these trials is to truly obey God, and to do so may require you to recall His promises to you and the purpose He has set in your life. Remember, God will ALWAYS do His part... will we do OURS?
2 comments:
Yvonne, God is so speaking this through you. All the glory to our great God! And props to your for your faith, trust and obedience to Him. Those 3 things may be difficult to attain in the beginning, but once you try and see it, it is sooo easy to have faith in, trust in and obey the ways of our Heavenly Father! I AM PROUD OF YOU and love the fact that you are my next-room neighbor. Love you girl! God's glory is all around you. Just like we learned in 1 Peter 1 in Sunday school. Keep His righteousness and you will experience the joy in seeing God reveal His glory, amen!
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Yvonne, God is so speaking this through you. All the glory to our great God! And props to your for your faith, trust and obedience to Him. Those 3 things may be difficult to attain in the beginning, but once you try and see it, it is sooo easy to have faith in, trust in and obey the ways of our Heavenly Father! I AM PROUD OF YOU and love the fact that you are my next-room neighbor. Love you girl! God's glory is all around you. Just like we learned in 1 Peter 1 in Sunday school. Keep His righteousness and you will experience the joy in seeing God reveal His glory, amen!
ReplyDeletebeautiful.
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