~Sometimes God uses a greater affliction to bring us to a place of greater dependence and brokenness.
~Sometimes God will use affliction to reveal His Love for us.
God will use affliction to give one of His children a greater sense of compassion for others.
There are times God will use affliction to encourage others. We need to be careful in our thought life as it`s all for the good of God`s Kingdom. We have His promises, but when He see`s a burning desire to follow Him, be like Him, we get His attention.
~As we start to learn who our God is He will slowly make Himself known to us. If we are willing to recieve it, God wants to use our season of affliction to reveal His Love for us. Job 21:9 Say`s. "God`s rod is upon the righteous..."But He leaves the wicked one alone." God`s discipline comes to us because He loves us.
~One of the first things I have learned through my affliction is compassion. I keep saying, I know the ministry that is my hearts desire if I ever am blessed to be able bodied once again. Until then, I will look to Him, lean on Him and put all my trust in Him.
The Devil is a liar. Jesus said that an much more. This evil enemy is here for the sole purpose to break, kill and destroy God`s children. If you are healthy, keep your Spiritual armor on as the enemy will attack you in ways that will surprise you. Before we can become dependent on God, we must understand that it is .necessary to be broken of this world.. What ever state you are in ill health, healthy, rich or poor, you need God`s armor.
~I have said earlier that I am not a graceful sufferer. I am working on His grace in this area and learning to hear His whispers to me when the enemy attacks. You see it usually isn`t just one demon that is coming at me, there are spirits of confusion, depression, pain on and on. But Jesus has given us the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and the Power to bind these evil beings out of our lives...yes, you and I can order this evil out of our life. It is always in the name of Jesus Christ, covering ourselves in the precious blood that He shed for us at Calvary.
Afflictions, aggravations, family problems, kids, mis-communications and just our own weaknesses should be enough to bring us to our prayer closet daily. I have been in my affliction for a number of years. I was in my prayer closet, crying, weeping. "But Jesus, what else can I do, I have lost every bit of family that I had, and now the church. I was fretting about who now was going to take care of me. He reminded me, it is not for me to hold on to bitterness of broken promises, what I though was a rotton life as a child I brought before Him-reminded Him!! See!! Lord? Now what? You know what our Father said to me? He broght me to the passage of scripture that say`s "when your mother or father do not want you, I want you, I love you, I will take care of your needs, you are my daughter." *(my loose translation)
To those who know me and judge, I wish you`d ask. I have something important to tell you. Something that will make your life so happy, that you will have nothing else you can do but become dependant on God so that in your brokeness He will make you pliable to do His will do a good work in you. Not the work you are enjoying, have chosen to do, but what He wants...
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The cost of gold
~We naturally cherish and appreciate something more if we have had to pay a price for it. When we have bought gold from the fire of personal pain and calamity, it is extremely precious in our eyes. This deepened appreciation or character has come to us at a great price. We won`t sell it, squander it, neglect it, or forget it. When we have bought gold in the fire it`s ours!
~When God has turned up the heat in our lives, sometimes we find ourselves asking, "But God, why does it have to be so hot?" The Lord has a gentle answer that He wants to wisper to our heart: "The price tag of what you have asked for is very high." Yes the fire is very hot, but the final product (Christlikeness) is worth it.
~I have asked this very question during my infirmity. People who know me have heard me say when the pain has died down,"I would not change this situation for anything! It has given me time to grow closer to Him." II have to admit that I am not a graceful person when I am in the furnace. I have come to realize that there are many things He is trying to teach me. I have asked for the very things I am learning while I have been in constant pain. It reminds me of the saying "be careful for what you ask for." However, we need to trust in our Heavenly Father for the ways in which He chooses to answer our prayers, for it is not only for our good, but for the Kingdom of Heaven!
~Make no mistake, delayed answers are a fire!\
~When God has turned up the heat in our lives, sometimes we find ourselves asking, "But God, why does it have to be so hot?" The Lord has a gentle answer that He wants to wisper to our heart: "The price tag of what you have asked for is very high." Yes the fire is very hot, but the final product (Christlikeness) is worth it.
~I have asked this very question during my infirmity. People who know me have heard me say when the pain has died down,"I would not change this situation for anything! It has given me time to grow closer to Him." II have to admit that I am not a graceful person when I am in the furnace. I have come to realize that there are many things He is trying to teach me. I have asked for the very things I am learning while I have been in constant pain. It reminds me of the saying "be careful for what you ask for." However, we need to trust in our Heavenly Father for the ways in which He chooses to answer our prayers, for it is not only for our good, but for the Kingdom of Heaven!
~Make no mistake, delayed answers are a fire!\
Tested Faith
~After careful study of God`s Word, we see that this gold we desire is bought. We do not deserve it, but we do pay a price for it. What is the price we have to pay for such a valuable treasure? It is purchased at the cost of great personal pain. This precious gold is bought in the fire and is attained only as we persevere and endure through the trials that God allows us to go through.~God`s purpose in allowing difficulties, tribulations, calamity, infirmity, persecutions and hardships to come our way is that we might take advantage of the opportunity and buy gold! When the crisis explodes, God wants us to fix our focus on Him, find Him in the adversity, and discover the Spirit`s pathway to renewed victory.
God`s Consuming Fire
"For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." (Deuteronomy 4:24)
~The fire which proceeds from the mouth of God burns away impurities from our lives that we might stand completely purified in His presence. When we seek God, He will refine our hearts like a blacksmith refines gold or silver in a furnace.
~"For you, O God, have tested us; you have refined us as silver is refined." (Psalm 66:10)
~"But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner`s fire and like launderer`s soap. He will sit as a refiner of purified silver..."
Malachi 3:2-3~~~
~The imagery of Jeremiah 23:29 is that of God taking us up in His tongs, sticking us into His fiery furnace, waiting till we are red hot, pulling us out, setting us down on His anvil, and then hammering us into shape.
As followers of Christ, we live in a furnace of holy fire.
~When hypocrites and the half hearted can dwell in our midst without being convicted or made uncomfortable, then somethings wrong. God intends for His fire to so envelope the local church that hypocrites will not be able to stay, and the devout will not be able to remain unchanged.
~So if you are feeling the fire of God in your life, cheer up; it means that God is coming to you. This is the fire that proceeds Him.
~There are two ways we receive from God. Some things are given to us, and some are bought.
~The gold that is refined by fire is two-fold:
1) This is gold that is purified by faith. "That the gentleness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:7) When we survive the fire, we come out on the other side with a much stronger faith.
2) This gold is refined character. "But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10) This gold is CHRISTLIKENESS. When fiery trials have effectively made us more like Jesus, then we have gained true riches.
~The fire which proceeds from the mouth of God burns away impurities from our lives that we might stand completely purified in His presence. When we seek God, He will refine our hearts like a blacksmith refines gold or silver in a furnace.
~"For you, O God, have tested us; you have refined us as silver is refined." (Psalm 66:10)
~"But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner`s fire and like launderer`s soap. He will sit as a refiner of purified silver..."
Malachi 3:2-3~~~
~The imagery of Jeremiah 23:29 is that of God taking us up in His tongs, sticking us into His fiery furnace, waiting till we are red hot, pulling us out, setting us down on His anvil, and then hammering us into shape.
As followers of Christ, we live in a furnace of holy fire.
~When hypocrites and the half hearted can dwell in our midst without being convicted or made uncomfortable, then somethings wrong. God intends for His fire to so envelope the local church that hypocrites will not be able to stay, and the devout will not be able to remain unchanged.
~So if you are feeling the fire of God in your life, cheer up; it means that God is coming to you. This is the fire that proceeds Him.
~There are two ways we receive from God. Some things are given to us, and some are bought.
~The gold that is refined by fire is two-fold:
1) This is gold that is purified by faith. "That the gentleness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:7) When we survive the fire, we come out on the other side with a much stronger faith.
2) This gold is refined character. "But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10) This gold is CHRISTLIKENESS. When fiery trials have effectively made us more like Jesus, then we have gained true riches.
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