Category: grace

Posted in god's favor, grace, jentezen, osteen, spurgeon

What is all this "favor of God" talk really about?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Do we really have as much favor from God as some preachers say we do? What is all this “favor” anyway?

Interview with Joel Osteen:
Q. You talk about God’s favor a lot. What is God’s favor?

A. “There are so many people who don’t expect anything good in life. They don’t expect to get breaks, they don’t expect to get promoted, they don’t expect anything positive. So I just try to get people to say, I believe if we expect God’s favor, if we declare it, if we thank him when we do see good things happening, then we’re going to see more of that.” ~Joel Osteen

No it’s not. Favor of God is His grace upon us, unmerited. “Grace is free sovereign favor to the ill-deserving.” -Benjamin B. Warfield

It all depends on what one means by “good things.” I certainly don’t expect good things in life from God on the basis of my sparkling personality or because of the supposed favor I did Him by becoming a believer. Not this life…compared to the next. And yet, I DO expect good things. The Holy Spirit has already deposited Himself in me as a guarantee of my inheritance. That’s a good thing! Then He dispensed spiritual gifts as He willed. That’s a good thing! He has been growing me in sanctification in ever more Christ-likeness. That’s a good thing!

Mr Osteen makes the implication, both overtly and covertly, that your Christianity isn’t doing you any good unless you are receiving earthly, material things, and getting “breaks”.

In this painful but uplifting story out of Egypt, we learn the hopes and fears of the Christians there in the face of increasing violence and hatred toward them. “The service ends with the Lord’s Prayer and instructions for members to exit through the church’s back entrance–tear gas is in the air in front. A short time later, a wailing ambulance arrives, delivering six young men. One clutches his wrist; another reveals a back peppered with birdshot. Another will probably lose his eye. The following night, the violence touches the church family. A KDEC teenager is shot near Tahrir. News spreads that someone kidnapped the daughter of a church member. Another member is found dead, murdered on his way home from the airport.”

Where are their breaks??  Yet they already know they have their “good things.” And they act accordingly. The article continues: “We [converts] could be the first people to be killed,” said the activist, who asked for anonymity. “We are the rust in Islam that is corroding the walls. We are the threat.” But rather than seeking the first opportunity to leave Egypt, he and others like him choose to stay and exert influence behind the scenes. “Doctors stay in medicine; politicians stay in politics; advocates stay in advocacy,” he said. “The salt put in warehouses will just go stale. The salt needs to be in the food.”

It all depends on what a person expects is a “good thing.” The Egyptian Christians are hoping that if it is appointed for them to die, that they die for His name being uplifted and that hope enter the hearts of the killers. In Mr Osteen’s theology, Christians should hope to get a good parking space at the mall. Is the ‘good thing’ Christ oriented, or me-oriented? The way ‘favor’ is being used by the prosperity Gospelites are that the things we receive are an identifying confirmation that we who possess many earthly riches have more favor with God than the next person, who doesn’t possess as many.

For Mr Jentezen, his definition is: “Favor means God has called u to the front of the line! It’s your turn. Your [sic] next!” ~ Jentezen Franklin- Twitter

Favor means that I cut ahead of other, sanctified, holy saints to the front of the line? Why would I want to do that? And what line? There’s a line? What happens when I get there? Anyway, didn’t God say, “So the last will be first, and the first last” ? (Matthew 20:16a). Maybe the head of the line is not good, ha ha. Also, doesn’t He love us equally, without favor? As He said to the man in the parable who complained of the ones coming into the vineyard at the last hour, who received the same pay, “I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.”

Sort of along the same lines at the man in the parable complaining he’d worked all day and the last guy got the same pay, is this question asked and answered at Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry:

“Why does God hear and answer prayers for some and not others even though they live for Him?” At the end of the good essay (I recommend reading it at their site)

“What is the point of doing good then, if not to gain God’s favor? There is every reason in the world to do good! We do get God’s favor, not because He owes it to us, but because when we do good, we are operating according to God’s design for us, and we benefit from this in more lasting ways. We actually get more of God Himself when we follow Him. He is the source of all good.”

Therefore, why do I need ‘breaks,’ when I already possess the universe’s greatest break of all? Why isn’t that good enough for the positive confession, name it claim it, blab it and grab it people?

An acrostic!

The grace of God IS the favor (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). “That is to say those of us who know God through faith in Jesus Christ are the recipients of the out-pouring of God’s continual blessing and favor.” MacArthur

But what of passages like this in the bible, you say:

“And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with men.” (1 Samuel 2:26). Barnes notes explains, “The child Samuel advanced and grew and was good (or acceptable), both with the Lord, and also with men.” The word ‘favor’ translated means ‘good, acceptable’. Not that you receive extra special things according to your works.

What of Naphtali’s favor? “Naphtali is abounding with the favor of the LORD and is full of his blessing; he will inherit southward to the lake.” (Deuteronomy 33:23).
Though it is a different Hebrew word than used in the Samuel verse it means the same thing, “acceptable to the Lord, pleasing, good.”

What about Mary? Wasn’t she ‘highly favored’? “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. (Luke 1:26-28). J. Vernon McGee wrote, “There is a tendency among Protestants to play down the role of Mary, but this tells us that she was highly favored. In the same breath, however, let me say that she was blessed among women, not above women. She is not lifted above women; she lifted up womanhood.”

“One thing is clear: while Americans universally want God’s favor, as a whole, they do not want God.” (source, John MacArthur above)

What are really asking when we say we “want God’s favor”? Is it that we crave His blessings upon us spiritually, as we continually repent of our sins and seek His face, walking in His statutes? No. It is favor upon us personally, as Osteen said, to get breaks, a good parking space at the mall, and a promotion. These kinds of favors are man-sized favors, temporal and earthly, desired by people who live in the flesh. (Mt 6:19)

We should desire the God-sized favor, which means grace on earth and, stored up in heaven. (Mt. 6:20). “Do not exhaust your strength and spend your days in providing for the life here, but let your chief anxiety be to be prepared for eternity…To regulate the heart, it is therefore important that the treasure, or object of attachment, should be right.” (Barnes Notes). [Illustration, “On hoarding treasures.” Artist unknown. 1593.]

“Freedom, as expressed in Galatians, refers to freedom from the frustrating struggle to keep the law to gain God’s favor. It is the freedom of knowing you are accepted by God because of what Christ has done. Such freedom is a tremendous kind of freedom, but it is more than just a deliverance from the oppression of legalism; it is also a positive endowment. When a Christian lives in the flesh, he forfeits the blessing he would receive if he were living in the Spirit. A Christian can live in the flesh, hoping to earn God’s favor, but that only cuts him off from the flow of daily blessing.” (source)

Maybe the positive confession, favor-seeking pastors and teachers should just read Colossians!

“Positionally, you cannot increase or decrease in the favor of God. As a genuine Christian, nothing you do, or  fail to do, can change to the slightest degree your perfect standing before God–for “in Him you have been made complete” (Colossians 2:10). (source)

Posted in frontline missions, grace, missionaries

The Gospel is advancing

Posted on by elizabethprata

Though the world is dark and satan prowls, the Gospel’s power to transform lives and enlarge the kindgom is advancing!

As you shake your head is dismay at the darkness that is covering the world, remember the Light is advancing MORE because Jesus is the power! I dare you to watch these two trailers from the DVD Dispatches from the Front series and not be moved by the Gospel’s power and awed at the grace and love of our Savior. THIS is what it is all about: salvation

“Frontline Missions is an amazing ministry that produces the Dispatches from the Front DVD series. Here is what the ministry is all about: Frontline’s key objective is to advance the Gospel, forming vibrant, Word-centered, disciple-making churches, especially in those regions of the world that have the least Light. We are driven by the same desire that animated the apostle Paul who said it was always his ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ was not known (Romans 15:20). We pursue this goal by equipping Christians on the frontlines to reach their own people for Christ, by forming strategic partnerships with them, and by developing creative platforms in countries closed to traditional missions.”

Please support missionaries with your prayers and your money. They are on the frontlines. And lives are being changed, eternally.

Posted in christlikeness, grace, sin

Mortar and Pestle, a match made in heaven

Posted on by elizabethprata

A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix solid substances. The pestle is a heavy club-shaped object and the mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, ceramic or stone. Inside the mortar is a substance to be ground down by the pestle.

I am the mortar. This sinful shell of a body is a vessel. Once, it was a vessel of satan’s, his playground of sin in me. Then Jesus’s grace saved me and He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell this poor vessel. The Spirit aids me in resisting sin, which this poor vessel stillcontains. This mortar still contains the substance of sin. It is unwanted material. 

The Spirit is the Pestle. He is the mechanism that grinds down that sin. (John 16:8). O, Holy Spirit, my Lord, My God! Grind down the sin in me today, crush it into nothing! Please make more room in me for growth in Christ-likeness! (Gal 4:19, Rom 12:2, Phil 2:3-5)

Posted in depravity, grace, sin

So you think you’re a good person headed for heaven?

Posted on by elizabethprata

There is terrible news. I wish I could avoid mentioning it at all costs and in all ways. I had planned to do just that, but the Spirit burdened me otherwise.

I will only specify the news once and I won’t link to it. It is about a South Beach, Miami man found in public cannibalizing a fresh corpse he’d just killed. If I have any of the details of this wrong, I apologize. I haven’t read any of the news articles about it, and only gleaned from the few headlines that inadvertently passed before my eyes as a mistake.

Authorities say he ‘may’ have been in a drug induced psychotic frenzy. I hope so. I would really hate to think that he just did this without the catalyst of mind-altering drugs! What would THAT say about humankind’s potential for evil? This post is about exactly that, man’s potential for evil.

This post is for all the people who say that they don’t need Jesus because you are a good person. No, you’re not. You’re THAT person, the man cannibalizing a corpse. I was that person, but am now saved and my sins forgotten.

‘What?!’ you say, ‘Elizabeth, you’ve gone off your rocker! I never did that to anyone and I never would do that to anyone!!!’ Really? Unless you are saved by grace of Jesus and have the Holy Spirit in you to restrain you from sinning, ALL people have that and more in them. There is no one who is ‘good.’ (Romans 3:10). We are all totally depraved, you see. The depths of sin knows no bounds. It goes deep.

I repeat: there is none good. “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.” (Psalm 14:1).

So then you say, “Well, I’m not that bad. I’m not as bad as the guy in South Beach.” You may not be. Now. But you have the capacity.

Do you think the guy in South Beach five years ago woke up and said, “In five years I’m going to strip naked in public and chew a dead guys’ face off”? THAT guy likely never thought he would do the thing he did. None of us do. But then we do.

There are no levels of sin at which a person naturally stops and doesn’t descend any lower. In finance, When things get too crazy and the stock market drops like a rock, they put in place a circuit breaker to stop the frenzy and give everyone a time to cool off so that calm can be restored. They halt trading for different periods of time depending on how fast the levels are dropping. Humans don’t have natural circuit breaker. Therefore anyone who says “I’m a good person. I would never cannibalize a corpse” is lying. (1 John 1:8). You already have it in you to do just that.

Sin is not like a stock market circuit breaker, where a person can halt the slide into lower territory. There is no emergency switch in the elevator of sin that descends a person lower and lower. You can’t wham your palm over the red button and say ‘I’ve gone far enough in my sin, no lower!’

Unless you repent, that is. Jesus IS that emergency button. If you don’t have Jesus in you, there is no hope of resisting sin. Like a stock portfolio, sins’ effects will compound. They will drag a person lower and lower.

Some unsaved people can resist (outward) sin (for a while) and they appear as a good person. It’s like a diet. Some people can resist having cake every time and others can’t. Some people resist outward sin for a long time, years even. But we all sin.

The SoBe man eating the dead man was acting like the beasts do. We are all beasts. “I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 3:18-19). When a right combination of circumstances comes along, sin will eventually catch up to them and they will be dragged off as a gazelle in the mouth of a lion to their doom.

The reason we all have this in us, this capacity to do what the man in SoBe did, is because of total depravity. Alternately called original sin, we all are in this state until or unless we repent. It is the status quo condition of every person on the planet who ever lived (except Adam & Eve originally, and Jesus always).

Noted preacher Charles Spurgeon defined our natural condition this way: “By original sin we mean the evil quality which characterizes man’s natural disposition and will. We call this sin of nature original, because each fallen man is born with it, and because it is the source or origin in each man of his actual transgressions.”

Noted preacher John MacArthur also explains total depravity: “And yet, our verse reminds us that we are so hopelessly and thoroughly wicked that not one of us could ever truly love God unless God Himself enabled us to do so. That is the doctrine of total depravity in a nutshell. It means that we are totally unable to save ourselves. We have a debilitating moral inability that makes our love for Him an utter impossibility until He intervenes to give us the ability to love Him.”

Until and unless we repent, and our sins are forgiven, we are total sin. Paul said, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18-19)

I wonder how we look to Jesus. He has glorified eyes. He knows what is in a man. (John 2:25). I wonder what our sin looks like to him. He loves all people, including those who have so far refused His pardon and are not saved. He sees their sins in them. I’d imagine that sin looks something like this: picture a man, outwardly to us handsome, charming, clean. But to Jesus, he’s covered head to toe in vomit and poo. Dried and crusty, other sections oozing and wet. Out of his mouth comes green pus when he speaks.

EWWWWW! Would you hug a man like that? Of course not. But Jesus did. He walked among us, He ate at our tables, He healed, He touched lepers. (Mark 1:41). Moreover the verse says He was moved with pity. Jesus didn’t look at us and go, “EWWWWW.” He descended from glory and the purity of His holy habitation to walk among people who look like vomit in their sins, loved us, pitied us, and died to save people like us, including the South Beach cannibal.

The SoBe cannibal isn’t even the worst example of a sinner. It will get worse. Sin always gets worse. In the Tribulation sin is allowed its full measure (Gen 15:16; Dan 9:24; 1 Thess 2:16) and there is no Restrainer on earth! (Gen 6:3; 2 Thess 2:7) Sin will flow out unrestrained, and then you shall see how bad people really are!

The uplifting thing is that though the people who remain in their sins will descend deeper and deeper in them, to infinity, Jesus’s holiness is also infinite! His love is infinite! As low as we go, He can reach down and lift us up!! (1 John 1:9)

He came to die for sinners. Before we repent, we all look like that to Jesus. “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) . Now that is a God worth living for. If you repent (ask forgiveness of your sins) He will forgive you and cleanse you of them. He will replace the filthy rags of your deeds (Is 64:6) with a garment of righteousness.

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)

Posted in comfort, grace, mercy

Wash yourself in the word, let its comforts engulf you!

Posted on by elizabethprata

Sometimes we know that God is so big, we wonder, how can He know us? Why does He care about little old me? Will He even remember me? We know He does, but sometimes it’s hard to think on, that He is so mighty but that He cares about even our daily provision. So when we offer each other comfort, we often turn to the wonderful verses about God knowing all about us. Here is one-

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:4-7).

I am going through Ezra and I read Ezra 2 the other day. I was struck by the verses that make up the bulk of that chapter. It is the part where the LORD puts on the exiled Israelites’ hearts to leave Babylon. The 70-year exile is over and it is time to return, build the temple, and resume life as a person of God in the Land. Fifty-thousand people were to return. The Remnant.

“The number of the men of the people of Israel: the sons of Parosh, 2,172. The sons of Shephatiah, 372. The sons of Arah, 775. The sons of Pahath-moab, namely the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,812. The sons of Elam, 1,254. The sons of Zattu, 945. The sons of Zaccai, 760. The sons of Bani, 642. The sons of Bebai, 623. The sons of Azgad, 1,222. The sons of Adonikam, 666. The sons of Bigvai, 2,056. The sons of Adin, 454. The sons of Ater, namely of Hezekiah, 98. The sons of Bezai, 323. The sons of Jorah, 112. The sons of Hashum, 223. The sons of Gibbar, 95. The sons of Bethlehem, 123. The men of Netophah, 56. The men of Anathoth, 128. The sons of Azmaveth, 42.” (Ezra 2:2b-24)

Look how exacting! Look how perfectly God’s records are kept! Look how much He knows! And it doesn’t end there. After the genealogies which comprise the bulk of the chapter are exhausted (so that the generations of priests and Levites will be able to maintain their claim to the office of Priest), we read how many singers and gatekeepers there were:

“The singers: the sons of Asaph, 128. The sons of the gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, and the sons of Shobai, in all 139.” (Ezra 2:41-42).

And He is not done, after all the listings of the different types of servants, there is a list of how many horses and donkeys! “Their horses were 736, their mules were 245, their camels were 435, and their donkeys were 6,720.” (Ezra 2:66-67).

Rather than wanting to hurry and read through these extensive lists, I slowed down and lingered over these verses. First, because if it is in the bible it is put there for a reason, likely, many reasons that prayer and meditating upon will bring out. Secondly, I like to picture in my mind the men whose names are listed actually gathering their sheep and packing up the donkey and the women un-pitching the tents. I like to imagine the scene so as to bring to life that this is a real event and these were real people. Third, I was simply struck at the exactitude of the Lord. His record-keeping is as exact and controlled as He is. Of course He knows us! He knows our struggles, our sins, our attempts, our repentance, our thoughts, our failings, our past and our future. He knows. And not only that, this great God of ours, He empathizes. How can such a High and Exalted God sympathize with our puny problems?

Here is how:

“Surely our griefs He himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4).

Because of this, He personally can sympathize with us. He is our great High Priest:

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Friend, if you are struggling, if you feel lost or alone, go to the throne of mercy. It is not far, only as far as closed eyes and clasped hands. We serve a great and holy God who loves us and knows us through and through. Let Him comfort you–

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Posted in grace

‘Super turbo charged, cutting edge anointing so you won’t be bored’ blog essay

Posted on by elizabethprata

This blog entry is a few different thoughts. Nothing too deep or noteworthy today. It is Dr Seuss week at school in kindergarten. It has been a crazy hectic week and I’m pretty pooped.

Have you noticed the emotional and physical sensation-heightening language used to promote church events? Look at the language that is being used nowadays to describe what participants will experience at conferences, meetings, by reading a book…, for example, at the Alpha Summit Men’s Conference, it is stated that it will be “power packed” …and “super-charged”.

Jentezen Franklin promotes his book on Fasting by saying that when he doesn’t “sense that cutting-edge anointing”, or “when I need a fresh encounter with God” fasting will deliver those sensations to him.

I love Jesus, and to me He is always fresh. I’m satisfied with a regular anointing. I don’t even know what a “cutting-edge anointing” is and how it is different from a regular one. I don’t need an “encounter” with Jesus, because He is always present in me and with me.

Bill Hybels says of his new book, Power of a Whisper, “Without a hint of exaggeration, the ability to discern divine direction has saved me from a life of sure boredom and self-destruction.”

I’m so glad that for Mr Hybels that Jesus died to save him from a boring life.

When did church-related activities need to be promoted as something like a bungee jump? Lately it seems that Church-related conferences, meetings, activities etc are frequently promoted as something of a ‘turbo experience’ driven by adrenaline, rather than a learning experience or even a spiritual experience. The only problem with appealing to the sensations is that they always need to go higher to retain the same oomph. Eventually you can’t go higher and you run out and go off the cliff.

On another topic, tomorrow I’ll be writing about demon possession in children. I’ve noticed that people are extremely interested in the demonic side of the spiritual realms. I am too. I only post occasionally about that side of things though because I like the focus to be on Jesus. We are victors, and we have won the battle. While it is good to be aware, and vigilant, there is no need to constantly seek information about the demonic.

However sometimes it does us good to review what the bible says about that issue. I am going to do so because the question came up in my own life this week. Can children be possessed? If so, what can we do about it? I’ve been praying and researching, and Lord willing, I’ll have some information tomorrow.

Today a friend I ran into in the parking lot at the grocery store said “Hey, you look good.” Now in physical life I do not look good. I need a haircut, my clothes are ill fitting and out of style, and I’m exhausted and look it. But she went on, “You are always joyous, and you can’t fake that. Teaching must agree with you.”

Now there are two points here. The first is that I ask the Spirit every day to make me a light for His name. It is said in Matthew 5:14-16, ““You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

The Spirit is so gracious, this verse from Matthew 7:7-11 comes true every time I pray and ask in His name for the things I know He wants me to have: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

Do you ask the Spirit for the things you need? For more understanding of the bible? For strength to operate under pressure? For mercy when you sin? For open ears to hear His prompting? For opportunities to speak His name in love and bear witness to the lost? I ask, and He gives, every time!

But now here comes the second part, the bad-on-me part. The conversation had already just about ended and I was partway across the parking lot. When she said that I just smiled and said, “I sure do love kids!” and then waved a final goodbye. But I ask for opportunities to witness, and I could have said, should have said, “It is Jesus that is the light in me that you are seeing.” It’s three hours later and I’m still feeling bad about missing an opportunity to share Him, even for taking the credit myself, when I know that all joy comes from Him.

I stumbled, but I’ll ask for another opportunity and I apologized to Him. He heard, and He will give me another opportunity to share the Truth. Meanwhile, His forgiveness and grace are balms to my soul, He is just that kind of Father.
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Posted in bible, grace, trials

How do you go through trials?

Posted on by elizabethprata

At my church, we are studying 2 Corinthians on Wednesday nights. We looked at chapter 11 this week. We got to the end where Paul was reluctantly boasting in his sufferings for Christ (verses 22-39). Our teacher asked us something like, (if I remember correctly), “How do you handle sufferings? What do you do?”

I thought about that for a few days. I like when our teachers and pastors ask us questions, because I really think about the answers. I like having something biblical to chew over. Here is my answer:

1. I tell myself that this present trial is not permanent. Even if I were to receive a fatal diagnosis or were to suffer in an accident where I was totally disabled, the trial is not permanent. It is temporary. This life is short, being but a vapor (James 4:14). A 20 or even a 40 year trial is nothing, compared to eternity. And thus far, thanks to God’s grace, I have NOT received a trial that has lasted all my life. At most, one has lasted 5 years, and most of the rest only a few weeks or months. So whatever I am going through will end. I tell myself that often, because it is true.

2. My trial is not as bad as someone else’s. There is always a Christian out there who is suffering more, and usually with more grace than I am, too. Am I in jail for my faith? No. Have I lost employment for my faith? No. Have I lost a child because of Jesus’s name? No. And in reading Paul’s resume of sufferings, being the epitome of how His grace is sufficient, I have nothing to complain about, even when I am at my darkest or my lowest.

3. I tell myself that He is Good. He IS Good therefore everything He does is good. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). Therefore everything He does is Good. Even Job, who lost all, suffered much, went through one of the bible’s most difficult trials, it was Good. How so, you say? Job’s trial, his righteousness in looking to God in all things, his victory over the devil as a result, and his restoration was set into the bible, to be read by countless millions of Christians going through trials and needing encouragement. Job’s trial was bad, but it helped millions, over thousands of years. Now that’s good! So as dark as my trial is, I know something good will emerge out of it.

4. I stay positive. I do not dwell on the bad part I am going through, but pray, read the bible, and tell myself repeatedly that it is for the good. I apply 2 Corinthians 10:5 here, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” I refuse to dwell on how low I may be feeling, because feelings are ephemeral. I concentrate on God’s sovereignty, because I know I can rest under His control, even in the seemingly “bad” things. I take the negative thoughts captive while I allow the positive thoughts in. I focus on the promises, not the trials. Romans 5:3-5 helps here, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” James 1:12 too.

5. Every time I have gone through a trial, I have gotten closer to God. Jesus is my Savior and Lord, and though I can never know all His ways nor ever plumb the depths of His grace, each time I emerge from something bad, I feel closer to Him. This is a good thing! I have that to look forward to on the other side. I have been the recipient of His grace, His comfort, His faithfulness. So even in the bottom of the valley I tell myself that the reward will be a closer relationship with Him. It keeps me going.

6. I read the bible a lot. When I am going through a dark time, I wash myself in the Word even more than usual. I cling to it. I read it and chew on it and it fills me up instead of the darkness and negativity that would be there instead. His gift of spiritual armor is in place for a reason. It can withstand the fiery darts of the evil one. The bible is truth, and it sustains us. I turn to it and appeal to the Spirit for encouragement. The Spirit assures us, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”” (Galatians 4:6). The Spirit empowers us, ““And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”” (Luke 24:49). He helps our weakness! “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;” (Romans 8:26). If I do not read the bible I would not be reading these truths about His work in our lives and His power to help us overcome.

These are a few of the things that I do when I come upon a trial, and I do have them. I am relentlessly joyful despite them, because the Most High is in my heart, helping me. I surely cannot do it on my own. But He is there, in so many ways. Never forget that, even as dark as it may get in your own life, dear brethren.

What do you do when you go through a trial?
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Posted in grace

The incomparable riches of His grace

Posted on by elizabethprata

What are these incomparable riches of God’s grace?

First, Christ Jesus.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7).

As we are saved, we step from dead flesh to life eternal. From enemy sinner to forgiven friend. From object of wrath to recipient of grace.

He is GREAT!!

He manifested Himself as man, servant, no less, so that He could live a life full of the same temptations we experience, can you imagine that? “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18)

GRACE!!

As our High Priest, when we confess to Him, He understands! Thoroughly, bodily, intimately. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15).

GRACE!!

Another example of the incomparable riches of His grace is “The Promise of the Holy Spirit” –“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39).

We are given the grace of Spirit within us and as a result have eternal security of our salvation all the days of our life. Incomparable grace!

“He set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:22)

What is to come is MORE GRACE!!

When you think of Jesus and what He has done for us and continues to do, don’t you just get weak in the knees? Doesn’t your heart faint with love? He saved us so that He could shower us with His grace. “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” (1 Peter 5:10) He is the God of all grace, and He chose to shower us with the riches of that incomparable grace.

Don’t forget to remind each other of these things. Encourage one another. Repeat your testimonies. Share verses, laugh with joy at our Great Savior, who is of all Grace. All is well because Christ Jesus has risen and dwells in His heaven. All of us in Him are testimonies of His grace, and that is all joy.
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