1 Thessalonians 5 :16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Rejoice always? That's what it says. Even in the face of our problems and difficulties? Yea, especially in the face of our problems and difficulties.
How can the Lord tell us to rejoice always in a troubled world like the one we live in? Because he doesn't see problems the way we see them, he only sees opportunities to display his glorious deliverances to us and by extension the whole world. Is there any problem or difficulty too difficult for our God? No. The Lord can tell us to rejoice always because he has also told us this:
2 Corinthians 5:7 We live by faith, not by sight.
What does that mean? It means you can stare your problems in the face and say "by faith, you do not exist anymore, I have committed you to my God for resolution and dissolution, you are a problem to me no more." We are told to ask, seek, knock, to pray continually. We are told that what we see with our eyes is MEANINGLESS when it disagrees with our FAITH. If our faith is telling us one thing and our sight is telling us another, what should we do? Declare that our truth, what is "real" to us is what our faith says, not what our eyes are telling us.
So when you are staring at your problems with "sight" you can say to them with your faith "you are defeated, I have been delivered from you and every other trouble according to the promises of my God." You can praise the Lord NOW for the deliverances you have not seen yet with your sight because your FAITH tells you, in accordance with his PROMISES that you are delivered.
The Lord is speaking clearly to me today that he expects us to take his word at face value. He expects us to expect him to deliver on his promises. He expects us to pray his words back to him and know that we know that we KNOW they are "done deals." Our God cannot lie, that's a fact. You are watching, the world is watching, the angels and demons are watching, the devil himself is watching this great drama play out in you and through you and me and every other believer here on earth. When we pray our God's promises back to him and stand rejoicing in the face of a wall of troubles and difficulties.. THAT glorifies our God and THAT is what this is all about.
Our God is glorified in the fact that we defy sight and the other animal senses in our walk with him and we trust in his promises by faith. The world looks at us and says "you are insane, you have lost your mind!" until deliverance after deliverance after deliverance shows up time and time again, then they walk away mumbling trying to explain away the evidence in their face that our God is true to his word and he honors his promises.
There are many hurting people in this world and its time for them to stop looking to the world for answers. They do the same things over and over again never seeing any progress, getting the same poor results. Trying to extract happiness from this world and all kinds of other empty ways of living when the God of eternity is shouting at them WAKE UP....I AM YOUR ANSWER FOR EVERYTHING.
The Lord spoke very clearly to me today about these things. He is calling us back to him. Only he knows how long we have left here on earth but while we are here it is our job to align ourself in perfect union with him..doing those things that please him and getting rid of every hindrance. When our Lord shows up and we are living like this, walking in faith, ready and waiting for him, then hopefully we will here this:
Matthew 25:23 ...'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
If you have things going on in your life you know you should not have, then get rid of them today. Ask the Lord to help you. We were never told to walk with him in our own power. We were given the Spirit which is able to accomplish in us and through us far more than we could ask or imagine. Keep the faith, pray for the brothers, we are dearly loved..grace and peace
Be Anxious For Nothing
5 years ago