1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 ESV
“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Testing of Faith
A week ago today I walked out to my car, I put some things
inside the front seat, and then I stood on the driveway next to the passenger
side of the vehicle. I was just standing there when all of a sudden my right knee
buckled on me in severe pain. I could not move. I could not walk. All I could
do was to sit down inside the car and wait for my husband to arrive.
Two days later I was able to walk using a walker. I was able
to put weight on the leg without the knee buckling again. The pain level did
subside enough to where I can now walk with aid, but I am in more pain than I
have been in a very long time. And 13 years ago the Lord led me to stop taking
prescription or over-the-counter medicines for pain or for sickness.
I began immediately to pray for healing, for my Lord is my
great physician. He is my healer. He has gotten me through the past 13 years
without the aid of pharmaceuticals for pain. I have prayed through every pain,
and I only use natural means for managing pain, such as heat, ice, diet, and
exercise. But he didn’t heal me immediately. And I am still in pain a week
later.
But what the Lord did do was to let me know that his grace
is sufficient to meet my every need, that he is enough for me. Over and over
again he has put songs in my head about his grace and his help and his all
sufficiency. And he has led me to read blogs written by other writers whose
messages were also about God’s grace being enough.
So, I am trusting the Lord each step of the way in knowing
what to do and how to do it, and I am walking totally by faith in this one.
Now, have I struggled? Yes! I have not doubted God, but I have cried plenty of
tears, and I have asked him a lot of questions about what I should do or not
do, and I have spoken honestly with him about things I don’t understand.
On the Heels
Now, this trial comes on the heels of another trial I have
been going through. This past August we discovered that we had a mice
infestation in our apartment. Mice leave their urine and feces all over the
place, but in places hidden, not generally out in the open, so it took us a
while to find them all and to clean them up and to patch the holes to keep them
from coming back into our apartment (my husband did most all the work).
But during this process I was breathing in their urine and
feces and I could feel it in my lungs and it was impacting my ability to
breathe. I already had breathing issues. And then I got very sick. I knew I was
getting sick from breathing their stuff into my lungs. I had extreme fatigue,
fever (slight), muscle aches, headaches, dizziness, stomach upset, shortness of
breath, coughing, and a sore throat (this one not listed as one of the
symptoms).
I was very sick for about 8 weeks, but I still have the
fatigue, the dizziness (another reason for using the walker), the shortness of
breath, the coughing, and the muscle aches in my left hip, both shoulders, and
now in my right knee, too (I have had bad knees for 50+ years but never like
this before). So, I was in a weakened condition physically already when my
right knee gave way. But God is good! He has been carrying me through it all.
All during this illness with the mice, which was a huge
trial, too, I had to keep reminding myself that God is in control. He is still
on the throne. He is still completely sovereign over all things. And that means
he has control over the mice, too, and he allowed them to get into our
apartment and to infect me with their virus, and so he allowed me to get sick,
and this was also a time of testing my faith, and I cried plenty of tears over
that, too.
But these aren’t the only trials I am going through. I have
others which are not on a physical level but more on an emotional level. As one
who is called of God to carry the gospel to the regions beyond and to expose
the fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are, I get opposed, rejected,
ignored, ostracized, mocked, and falsely accused sometimes, but I also get
encouraged by the Lord and by some fellow believers in Jesus Christ.
The Battle
If you are a fellow follower of Jesus Christ you are
probably going through your own set of trials right now, for Satan is on the
rampage. He is out to destroy the church and to obliterate the gospel and to
rid this world of all who are committed to following Jesus Christ with their
lives. And he has done a bunch of this already.
For so much of today’s church, at least here in America, has
compromised the message of the gospel in order to appeal to human flesh and to
the ungodly of this world. And they have turned the gatherings of the church
into businesses which they are marketing to the world. So many of them have
kicked the Holy Spirit out of their gatherings, and they have replaced the Holy
Spirit with marketing books. And they have replaced the Scriptures with books
written by humans which don’t follow the Scriptures in purity.
Most are not teaching on sin, repentance, obedience,
submission, holiness, righteousness, judgment, and the end result of lives
surrendered to following after their fleshly appetites. But they are feeding
people with lies, and with feel-good messages, and with false promises, and false
hopes of salvation and eternal life with God with no fear of God in their
lives. For they are not requiring repentance, obedience, or submission to Christ
as Lord.
And they are telling people that they don’t have to do
anything but “believe,” but then they don’t really teach what it means to
believe in Jesus. For belief and obedience are synonymous. And disobedience is
synonymous with unbelief ((1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; 1 Jn 2:3-6;
Rom 6:16; Jn 14:23-24; Rom 8:1-17).
And you know what? If you have been paying attention at all
to what is going on in the world with any amount of discernment you have to
realize that life on this earth has changed. We aren’t going back. We are
seeing all kinds of indications that we are living in these last days before
the return of Christ and we are moving ever more closely to this rule of the
beast (Rev 13). If you don’t see this, ask the Lord to show you the truth,
okay?
Anyway, one day we are going to be in a situation where we
are going to have to choose loyalty to Jesus Christ over all else, which should
be where we are now, and it may cost us our lives or our ability to buy and to
sell, or it may cause us severe pain and suffering, and we have to decide now
that when that time comes that we are going to choose Jesus and not the easy
way out. And we have to do that now, not just then.
So, I believe our Lord gives us these times of testing to
try our faith to see if we will be able to stand the test or if we will cave to
pressure and take the easy way out. Believe me, I wanted the pain gone. I don’t
enjoy suffering. But I know that I must not bend on this issue of drugs. And this
is making me stronger for a time when the tests will get even harder. For, if we
don’t get ready now, we will not be able to stand when it gets much worse.
Okay, so going back to the passage. Our faith involves work,
not our own fleshly works trying to earn favor with God, but the works God
assigns us to do, which may be simple things like eat less and exercise more,
etc. And love is obedience to the Lord so it involves labor. And steadfastness
of hope involves standing strong on what we believe and not yielding to
compromise.
So, choose this day who you are going to serve. The flesh? Or
the Spirit? You can’t have it both ways. And following the Spirit is going to
involve trials and tribulations which will try our faith, but these are to make
us strong so that we can endure, and so that we can keep on in following Jesus
with our lives. For they teach us to rely on God and not on ourselves.
Keith
Green
Oh
Lord, you're beautiful,
Your
face is all I seek,
For
when your eyes are on this child,
Your
grace abounds to me.
I
want to take your word and shine it all around.
But
first help me just to live it Lord.
And
when I'm doing well, help me to never seek a crown.
For
my reward is giving glory to you.
Oh
Lord, please light the fire,
That
once burned bright and clear.
Replace
the lamp of my first love,
That
burns with Holy fear.
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