Post by cspain03 on Sept 26, 2014 9:57:53 GMT
Good morning loves!
Just as a side note based on personal experience: I'm really starting to think that God will allow bad things to happen to us to show us how much we've grown and how He's answered prayers for growth/strength/maturity since the last time we've gone through something difficult. We pray for peace when we're going through a hard time and may get frustrated if we don't feel a sense of release immediately - but don't miss the blessing of renewed peace you receive with the next difficult situation. Don't miss the answer to your prayer when the next situation comes and it doesn't hit you as hard as it would have a year ago, last month or last week. Praise God that He's built you up from the last trial that you're more strengthened in Him to face the next trial. I know I grateful that God has brought me as far as He has. I can think of done situations that would have broken me, pushed me to curse God or take my own life and I didn't have to even go there because those prayers for peace and strength and understanding had been answered in God's time allowing for me to be stronger to face the next battle. We are in constant warfare y'all - be vigilant ! Recognize the blessings given to you so you're prepared for the next fight!!
Ok, moving on... From today's readings, these verses stood out:
Ch 30:
26 But when I hoped for good, trouble came; when I expected light, then darkness came.
This verse stood out to me the most because it's something that I've heard before in church but never knew where it came from in the Bible. I really think it is important to has a sense of context for verses we hear or memorize, to really know what's going on around the verse and to try to gain an understanding of why the author/speaker said what they did. I am glad that I could recognize this verse in the reading and didn't skim over it. I think we've all been here: praying and hoping real hard for something only for it not to come to pass in that moment/when we think it should. But again, I go what to what I said at the beginning of this post (and the fact that many of us know how things end for Job) - we can't get caught up, side tracked, or distracted when things we're praying for don't happen immediately. We have to trust God that His timing is best and His plan for us is best and that He will work it all out for our good if we faint not and follow His Word. In all this we have to remember that we have a responsibility on our end to hold up as well - it's not a matter of just asking for good things to happen, we have to do our part to be pleasing to God and that requires us to follow His Word, and spread Love and the Gospel. In the last post Quia mentioned how Job seemed full of himself since he was listing out all the great things he's done and how powerful he was - not saying we need to walk around bragging, and I agree that just because we do Christian things doesn't mean we get a pass for ungodly things, but I also believe that you have to have some type of action to go with your faith (Faith without works is dead) and some of that action does mean doing for others, serving the church, being a lender/giving to those in need (all the things that Job listed about himself that he'd done). But those actions aren't limited to just outwardly things that others can verify - what are you doing behind closed doors, in those quiet moments with God (are you even setting aside that time - I know I need to work on this) ? Do you behind the season actions line up with your faith and line up with your "center stage" actions?
Ch. 31:
24 "If I have put my confidence in gold or said to pure gold, 'You are my security!'
25 if I have rejoiced because of the extent of my wealth, or because of the great wealth my hand had gained,
28 then this also would be iniquity to be judged, for I would have been false to God above.
35 "If only I had someone to hear me! Here is my signature - let the Almighty answer me! If only I had an indictment that my accuser had written.
In verses 24, 25, and 28 I am reminded of the temptation, especially in this day and age, to put our security in our finances/money/material things. Yes we live and operate in a world that require currency, but that's not where our strength or sense of security should lie - it should always be in our Heavenly Father, because just as easily/quick as we got it, it's GONE and we can all speak on that. We want to sow into Heaven so we can reap from/in Heaven, we want to store up in Heaven where moths/mold can't attack. The currency we want to operate in is faith, grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, and God's favor. I am not saying quit your job and live of of locus and dew like John the Baptist lol And we do have to be responsible with what we are given (tithe, save, budget, etc) but we can't hang out definition of our well being or how much God loves us on material things/money (I've been SO guilty of this but praise God for daily progress). It's easy to get frustrated and fall back into this, I know I've found myself wishing something would physically happen to me rather than my finances or my material things (sad I know, shm). But we are more valuable than diamonds or pearls or all the gold in the world - we have a Father in Heaven who has ALL power in His hands and we have access to that! Do I want a comfortable life, of course! Do I want/like nice things, heck yea. But the most growth I've seen in myself recently is to put more value in God's love for me through irreplaceable things (my amazing friends, my parents) and great experience (graduating from UNC, traveling, teaching kids in Children's Church or the simple fact I love my job - which trust me is a blessing) - God loves me weather I have a million dollars in my bank account or barely enough to make a withdrawal at the bank machine !
For verse 35 what really touched me is how I cam sympathize and empathize with Job because sometimes I really just wanted to be like "Lord, what did I do wrong to upset you so that I can fix it and get out of this situation/storm" Sometimes we really just want to know what went wrong/what charges are against us so we can work things out and move on! Boy oh boy can I relate! But again, I think it goes back to what I said earlier and what Quia said awhile ago, we need to seek to understand why we have to face hard times and be open to see the blessing/answered prayers in the difficult time we currently face. I really do think that sometimes we go through tough times so God can show us we're better than we used to be. (I also believe He allows somethings to happen so we can see how ALMIGHTY He really is). I think sometimes we face difficulties that seem so overwhelming because we need to be reminded that God is in control and we need not to have any doubt that He is solely responsible for bringing us out/restoring us (something we see in the story of God delivering Isreal from Egypt - God allowed things to get SO bad so there would be NO doubt that HE delivered the Isrealites and that HE was just THAT POWERFUL!). So even when we don't know WHY we are going through a difficult time, we have to trust God will see us through and bring us out stronger and closer to Him - it's a challenge but I know we can do it!
Have a fantastic day!
Just as a side note based on personal experience: I'm really starting to think that God will allow bad things to happen to us to show us how much we've grown and how He's answered prayers for growth/strength/maturity since the last time we've gone through something difficult. We pray for peace when we're going through a hard time and may get frustrated if we don't feel a sense of release immediately - but don't miss the blessing of renewed peace you receive with the next difficult situation. Don't miss the answer to your prayer when the next situation comes and it doesn't hit you as hard as it would have a year ago, last month or last week. Praise God that He's built you up from the last trial that you're more strengthened in Him to face the next trial. I know I grateful that God has brought me as far as He has. I can think of done situations that would have broken me, pushed me to curse God or take my own life and I didn't have to even go there because those prayers for peace and strength and understanding had been answered in God's time allowing for me to be stronger to face the next battle. We are in constant warfare y'all - be vigilant ! Recognize the blessings given to you so you're prepared for the next fight!!
Ok, moving on... From today's readings, these verses stood out:
Ch 30:
26 But when I hoped for good, trouble came; when I expected light, then darkness came.
This verse stood out to me the most because it's something that I've heard before in church but never knew where it came from in the Bible. I really think it is important to has a sense of context for verses we hear or memorize, to really know what's going on around the verse and to try to gain an understanding of why the author/speaker said what they did. I am glad that I could recognize this verse in the reading and didn't skim over it. I think we've all been here: praying and hoping real hard for something only for it not to come to pass in that moment/when we think it should. But again, I go what to what I said at the beginning of this post (and the fact that many of us know how things end for Job) - we can't get caught up, side tracked, or distracted when things we're praying for don't happen immediately. We have to trust God that His timing is best and His plan for us is best and that He will work it all out for our good if we faint not and follow His Word. In all this we have to remember that we have a responsibility on our end to hold up as well - it's not a matter of just asking for good things to happen, we have to do our part to be pleasing to God and that requires us to follow His Word, and spread Love and the Gospel. In the last post Quia mentioned how Job seemed full of himself since he was listing out all the great things he's done and how powerful he was - not saying we need to walk around bragging, and I agree that just because we do Christian things doesn't mean we get a pass for ungodly things, but I also believe that you have to have some type of action to go with your faith (Faith without works is dead) and some of that action does mean doing for others, serving the church, being a lender/giving to those in need (all the things that Job listed about himself that he'd done). But those actions aren't limited to just outwardly things that others can verify - what are you doing behind closed doors, in those quiet moments with God (are you even setting aside that time - I know I need to work on this) ? Do you behind the season actions line up with your faith and line up with your "center stage" actions?
Ch. 31:
24 "If I have put my confidence in gold or said to pure gold, 'You are my security!'
25 if I have rejoiced because of the extent of my wealth, or because of the great wealth my hand had gained,
28 then this also would be iniquity to be judged, for I would have been false to God above.
35 "If only I had someone to hear me! Here is my signature - let the Almighty answer me! If only I had an indictment that my accuser had written.
In verses 24, 25, and 28 I am reminded of the temptation, especially in this day and age, to put our security in our finances/money/material things. Yes we live and operate in a world that require currency, but that's not where our strength or sense of security should lie - it should always be in our Heavenly Father, because just as easily/quick as we got it, it's GONE and we can all speak on that. We want to sow into Heaven so we can reap from/in Heaven, we want to store up in Heaven where moths/mold can't attack. The currency we want to operate in is faith, grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, and God's favor. I am not saying quit your job and live of of locus and dew like John the Baptist lol And we do have to be responsible with what we are given (tithe, save, budget, etc) but we can't hang out definition of our well being or how much God loves us on material things/money (I've been SO guilty of this but praise God for daily progress). It's easy to get frustrated and fall back into this, I know I've found myself wishing something would physically happen to me rather than my finances or my material things (sad I know, shm). But we are more valuable than diamonds or pearls or all the gold in the world - we have a Father in Heaven who has ALL power in His hands and we have access to that! Do I want a comfortable life, of course! Do I want/like nice things, heck yea. But the most growth I've seen in myself recently is to put more value in God's love for me through irreplaceable things (my amazing friends, my parents) and great experience (graduating from UNC, traveling, teaching kids in Children's Church or the simple fact I love my job - which trust me is a blessing) - God loves me weather I have a million dollars in my bank account or barely enough to make a withdrawal at the bank machine !
For verse 35 what really touched me is how I cam sympathize and empathize with Job because sometimes I really just wanted to be like "Lord, what did I do wrong to upset you so that I can fix it and get out of this situation/storm" Sometimes we really just want to know what went wrong/what charges are against us so we can work things out and move on! Boy oh boy can I relate! But again, I think it goes back to what I said earlier and what Quia said awhile ago, we need to seek to understand why we have to face hard times and be open to see the blessing/answered prayers in the difficult time we currently face. I really do think that sometimes we go through tough times so God can show us we're better than we used to be. (I also believe He allows somethings to happen so we can see how ALMIGHTY He really is). I think sometimes we face difficulties that seem so overwhelming because we need to be reminded that God is in control and we need not to have any doubt that He is solely responsible for bringing us out/restoring us (something we see in the story of God delivering Isreal from Egypt - God allowed things to get SO bad so there would be NO doubt that HE delivered the Isrealites and that HE was just THAT POWERFUL!). So even when we don't know WHY we are going through a difficult time, we have to trust God will see us through and bring us out stronger and closer to Him - it's a challenge but I know we can do it!
Have a fantastic day!
