TRUSTING GOD IN THE STORM
Hi Facebook family!Today marks exactly one month since I last posted and my apologises for that. Ive been going through a lot of emotional turmoil in my life. Needless to say,I still have been praying and seeking God despite not posting. In my absence,I feel like I have also learnt a lot and I have grown more spiritually and I am able to understand the mind of God better.
I’d like to share my experience with Christians who feel entitled that just because they are children of God, they are not subject to tests,trails and temptations in their lives. Of course we know this as Christians, but it is a hard fact when it begins to manifest in your life.
As Christians, we want our lives to move smoothly especially that we have a Father who rules Heaven and Earth therefore, He should be able to give us what we ask for there and then.
In my experience, Ive been finding it very hard to get employment in what I view as my dream job. I once shared here about how I wanted a certain job so bad,but instead got employed at a placed I view as second or third option.
That made me wonder why I should get something I don’t regard as my destination when I had been praying VEHEMENTLY.
This post is not to complain, but rather, to share about how waiting for a job for so long has changed me so much spiritually.
Of course it is not a good thing that I have not yet received my dream job and I’m still praying about it. However, now I know I will receive as my mindset towards God has changed.
I was like many Christians today, feeling entitled. Of course as a child of God,you have a right to ask for things from your Heavenly Father. However,there are some things you’ll ask from God,some of which He will not give you immediately, but will make you wait, but its all for your own spiritual growth.
Ive learnt that whatever God does in the life of a real born again Christian is always connected to the eternal salvation of your soul. God puts that first before anything else in your life. After all,SALVATION is the most IMPORTANT THING a Christian can attain, and everything else comes second to that.
Ive also noticed that mostly, God asks people to wait for things they deem as very important in their lives. In my case,it has been finding a job. When God does not answer prayer immediately, it does not mean He wants to punish you. I have learnt that God wants us to draw closer to him through praying as we ask for what we want to receive. Drawing closer to God through constant prayer, fasting and seeking Him asking for what we want helps us crucify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5) which helps us overcome sin easier, leading to the salvation of our souls.
It also changes our priorities in lives. We start to see things from God’s point of view and see that everything in this world is passing away,and that only obeying God is important. He also wants to see our FAITH in Him. God wants to see if we’ll give up asking just because we have not received immediately.
Isaiah 48:10 “See, I have REFINED you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of AFFLICTION.”
God tests us. All children of God are subject to tests so that God can see our stance. We have to prove that we are Christians beyond just WORDS. He wants to see if we’ll still stand for Him,even when it seems like our whole life has turned into a TORNADO.
Hebrews 5: 8-9 “Though He was a Son, yet He learned OBEDIENCE by the things which He suffered. And having been PERFECTED,He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”
From all this,we can see that although waiting on God makes us suffer emotionally, it works for our own perfection,leading to the salvation of our souls.
James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into VARIOUS TRIALS knowing that the testing of your faith produces PATIENCE.But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
This patience the bible refers to is the ability to stand strong for God even in the midst of trails. That Character is built in us,and nothing can shake our Faith in God. No matter what happens, we can still believe that His word stands,and He is the ONLY SAVIOUR of our souls and therefore we must CLING to Him.
However,God measures each trail to ensure that it is not BEYOND what we can bear.
1 Corinthians 10:13 “But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
To cut the long story short, I have been praying to God for almost 3 years now for a job. I thought I would find a job immediately after graduation as I was a child of God and had passed with flying colours.
Had God answered my prayers there and then,I think I would have been more worldly oriented. My priorities would have been to succeed physically and my spirituality would have come second to that.
However, God wants us to focus on Him and on what is eternal and not what is in the world. It is NOT A SIN to prosper, but God withheld my blessings even when He had them in His hands,because He wanted to save my soul.
He wanted me to make Him my priority. In my 3 years of crying out to him for a job,my mindset has changed as I have spent more time in His presence petitioning for a job than I would have normally spent had I received the job there and then.
Spending so much time in His presence has made me more Godly minded and I can say that eternal things are now my priority. I can also feel God’s heart and His desire for mankind to be saved. In other words, I feel like my character has changed to be more Godly.
During my years of waiting, I often felt like God didn’t care. I was often fully convinced as I cried my eyes out that God was having the time of His life watching me ‘beg’ for a job from Him.
All these were pictures Satan put in my mind to try and make me give up. At that time, I did not realise that it is Satan.
Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE.”
I’m writing this with CONFIDENCE feeling like it’s the end of the trail, because the objective of the trail as I earlier explained what God’s objective was when testing me has been achieved.
I have felt like giving up more than I can express, but here I am today still a child of God, due to God given strength alone.
I have cried till my heart hurt physically and I was out of breath. I have woken up in the middle of the night to cry. I have cried first thing in the morning about my job search,I have looked for a private place to just to cry from during the day,I have blinked away tears which almost came in public out of feeling hopeless.
My current job started going downhill as the company started having payment problems and at the moment, they have piled up numerous unpaid arrears.
I wondered what GREAT SIN I had committed that this cloud of darkness had clothed me.
Little did I know that in everything,God was trying my FAITH. He helped me stand through it all and it is ONLY HIM. Without Him,I would not be here today writing this. In all honesty, with everything going on,I would have given up on life.
So I’m here to tell you today CHRISTIAN that all testings and trials have an objective and an end. They will not last forever.
About four days ago just before going to bed,I saw a vision where an Angel was giving me a GOLDEN BOOK with golden pages. In the vision, I found that I could not open it. Then I heard the voice of Jesus say,”you do not need to open it. You will just begin to see things unfold in your life. In this book is contained the answers to all your prayers.”
Joel 2:25 “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,The crawling locust,The consuming locust,And the chewing locust,My great army which I sent among you.”
Please also read this post below as it is related to what I have shared.
HOLD ON TO GOD
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2732443517080790&id=100009455040442
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