Translate

Friday, May 22, 2015

Help In Seeing The Good in Your Trials


THE HOLY BIBLE (The New Living Translation - 1 Peter 1:6-7): 6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

 

THOUGHTS: We must be extremely careful not to doubt our salvation when we, as Christians, have troubles and trials arise in our earthly lives. Think about it friend, if we didn't have these, what kind of witness would we be to those who need a Savior. For God would not have opportunity to show the unsaved how gracious He truly is to His earthly servants, and the handiwork of His miraculous hands in the lives of His children. Secondly, if we were spared from trials, how might we experience the graciousness of God to be especially loving, caring and powerful in helping us to overcome these things that are way beyond our reach and/or resolution? In this scripture today, this analogy is compared to the proving process used in the precious metal 'gold'. For when it is brought to extreme heat, it is maximized in strength and durability. Likewise, when we face trials, it's not that God doesn't love us or care for us, for it is then that He is preparing us for battle, or to use the phrase of an old TV star, God is preparing us for the 'big one'! Probably the most challenging thing for us to do, is to praise God, even in the midst of our trials, because we understand, and have faith to believe that He is strengthening us. Friends, when we say that we are Christian and we truly believe that we have placed our hand in the hands of the Almighty God, we must then hang on for the ride of our lifetime, knowing that we are under His control, His protection and His will, knowing full well that He loves us way too much to see any harm or hurt impact us. Can you imagine the admiration and pride that must come across the face of Jesus when He looks on His creation (us) and see us living in full submission to Him, and we finally get the scripture that indicates - all things work together for good, to those who love and have surrendered their lives totally to Jesus? My challenge today is first of all for self, that I may be totally surrendered to the Savior and allow Him full control over my life. Only then can I truly desire to see each of you do the same. However, for yourself, if it's to be, it's up to you! Therefore align yourself with the Lord of all lords and the King of all kings, who loved you enough to personally sacrifice His very best so that You might trust in Him, handle life's circumstances and look forward to spending eternity with Him in glory!

 

PRAYER: Father God, I adore You, I love You and I praise You for who You are and for all that You have helped me through already in my short life. However, You have taught me through Your Word that I am not perfect, so I surrender my total self to You today and pray that You might use me in ways that might allow Your kingdom work to increase and flourish here on this earth. I am equally concerned for my friends who will read this devotional today, for I always want Your very best for them also. Please satisfy every doubt or weakness in commitment and/or total surrender. Please provoke decisions in their personal lives that will cause Your name to be lifted high and every soul be drawn closer to You in full obedience. May we learn to celebrate You in all aspects of our lives, even when going through tough times. You alone are worthy of our praise in all aspects of our lives, so I worship You and ask all these things in Your precious and holy name, Lord Jesus, AMEN!

 


 

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day's devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!

No comments:

Post a Comment