Today’s focus is going to be around navigating this life through its battles and challenges and celebrating God’s goodness no matter what is happening in our lives! Join Rusanne Carole as she courageously shares this teaching.
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- How do we celebrate God’s GOODNESS no matter what happens to us or our loved ones?
- How do we praise when our heart is hurting and in pain?
- How do we navigate the GRIEF & LOSS that we experience in life?
All really big questions! There are gigantic questions, especially as you live long enough to see the battles and the war that is sometimes wagged in this life. What about when you pray for years and you don’t get the answer you wanted or desired so strongly in your heart?
Most of you know by now that bad things happen to good people. Affliction, disease, torment, illness, and evil are all around us. It is a fallen world we live in. BUT GOD… In His WORD He has given us the answer to every dilemma we may face.
He has empowered the church with the power to come against what comes against us to kill, steal & destroy.
When we face something so painful- so hurtful- we may question
- Why God?
- Where are you God?
- How can a good God allow this to happen to me or someone I love?
And for those that have loved and served God, seen the workings of the LORD, seen transformation, seen healing, seen prayer so amazingly answered – exposed to the amazing hope of what Jesus can do on the earth – these are the people that can potentially be the most “rocked” when something happens or doesn’t work out like they thought it would or “should”.
For the believer, JESUS is the example.
What is GOD’S MANDATE to His people? Goodness knows we’ve had a recent introduction of mandates to live with but what is the mandate for believers, followers of CHRIST, not worldly ones.
As we meet and get to know JESUS we see He confronted every disease that came to Him – every oppressive sprit tormenting a life He healed; If they came to Him, He took care of them. We believe healing is possible. It is mandated. It is possible in every situation.
There truly is to be a cancer free zone. There truly is to be people freed from addiction, marriages restored, bodies, minds, and lives healed!
The mandate is not changed just because we haven’t seen it yet!
We are called to live in HOPE. To persevere, to endure, to BELIEVE that God is capable of the impossible!
So what do we do when we are currently in the battle? War is waging all around us.
- Our kids have made choices that have landed them in a lifestyle we are praying for changes to occur
- Our marriage or our relationships are not in a healthy condition
- Life has not turned out as we had hoped
- Our loved one is ill – either fighting for their life or living with a disease or condition that has stolen quality of life from them
The list can go on & on..
I have had times in my life where I have questioned GOD. Why GOD? I thought God certainly allowed this to happen. Afterall, HE is sovereign.
I remember sitting in a women’s Bible Study years ago and a women spoke about her cancer. She was being treated at the time but believed it was something God brought upon her and thought God would use to teach her things and teach others around her. I was a new Christian, just learning about Jesus, but everything in me screamed “NO, this can’t be something GOD causes!” I know now it was the HOLY SPIRIT speaking to me.
GOD IS GOOD.
He sent His son, JESUS, to take every sickness, every affliction, every sin upon Him.
He paid the price.
God doesn’t allow or give permission in the sense of disease or sickness to come upon us – to strike someone’s body. What He does allow is the process of living in a sin-filled world. Evil things happen. God has given us the answers to every dilemma we may face. He has allowed the “process” of living in a world that has injustice, sickness, affliction, heartache and loss.
BUT HE EQUIPS US WITH EVERYTHING WE NEED TO GET THROUGH IT.
We are to recognise that:
- Jesus has ALL the power. We, as believers, must rest in the fact that Jesus and the HOLY SPIRIT have the power, the ability, and the desire to help us walk the Christian walk through whatever comes our way.
The book of Matthew promises us that we are not alone and to confess our weariness to the Lord and He will send us comfort. It is not always a change of circumstances, but it could be a supernatural peace that helps us forge ahead.
I’m not a boxer but I like equating it to being in the ring – the ring of life! If I get hit in an attempt to be knocked out, I may fall. I may even hit the canvass. The enemy might be counting down till I’m out but by the power of the Holy Spirit I hop back up and keep going. We are called to fight the good fight of faith and persevere in the race – endure until we are called home, our eternal home where God will greet us.
When I can turn to Him, surrender whatever I am dealing with to Him and turn my WHY into WHAT this is where the power begins. HIS POWER, MY OBEDIENCE.
WE truly have the power to party continuously in the middle of every storm!
We walk through each valley, we rest and keep walking, but not by ourself.
WITH HIM HOLDING OUR HAND OR SOMETIMES HOLDING US WHEN WE CAN’T PUT ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER. HE KNOWS. HE SEES.
- How do we navigate the pain, the loss, the challenges without ever saying, It was His will?
- How do we celebrate His goodness no matter what happens in our lives while on the Earth?
- How do we keep going when we experience a loss, even a huge one, even after years of praying?
WE TRUST HIM THROUGH IT ALL.
OUR LIFE IS HIS. WE ARE IN HIM.
ETERNITY AWAITS.
At times, we are dealt with some heavy blows. But God!
I am reminded in Judges 20 where God refined His people through difficult trials. He made them more dependent upon Himself. The process has it’s place whether we can see it yet or not, whether we like it or not. He is a supreme, sovereign God who knows the beginning to end- and as the WORD says in Isiah 55:8, “His thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways.” But Jesus invites everyone to come to Him. In Matthew 11, Jesus asked, “Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis.”
So no matter what you are going through, have gone through or may go through I pray you sit with Him every day. Sit in His presence and see what great revelation He has just for you. And no matter what the circumstances, may you know and taste HIS GOODNESS.
Let us pray:
Lord, we love you. Life can certainly throw some things our way that rock our world. Thank you that you are good. You have a good plan for us – plans to prosper us, protect us, provide for us.
You also do work in us that is:
REFINING
ELEVATING
SHARPENING
AND
PERFECTING
We give our life to you. Thank you for giving Your life for us that day on the Cross. It is finished. And until that day you call us home let us walk in the Great Commission. No matter where you have or what we are going through we can imitate Your love, Your example you set for us when You walked the earth. Our hope is in You and You alone.
Amen
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