One of the things we all must remember is that there is someone in control of everything we go through and if we ask for the trial to stop and it doesn’t, then God has plans for us that include us continuing down that path. God’s plans are even better than our best plans and if we have to wait, it is for something even better than what we planned. I have been waiting for God to deliver me from the trials I’ve had to face. It seems that God has something even better than I thought in store for me. I don’t think you started to read this to hear about me though, so I’ll change the subject. I only mention myself so that others may see the situation at hand.
We face things to learn from them. I for one learn the most from the mistakes I make. It is said that a smart man will learn from his mistakes, but a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. I want to be a smart man, but even more I want to be a wise man. I face the problems of life with this in mind; To continue to follow Christ is much better in my mind than to succumb to the belief that we were all created in some cosmic big bang, and slowly became what we are today due to external pressures we went through. It takes more faith to beleive that load of @*# %$#@ than to believe that we must put our faith in Jesus who, there is documentation in artifacts and scrolls, died on the cross, rose on the third day, and ascended in to heaven to be our intermediary between us and God, and sits at God’s right hand.
It dosen’t matter who the President is, or who is your representative in congress, or who your pastor is for that matter, God is still in control. God let those people have the seats of power over you, and they are in God’s plan for everyone. If you look back at Abraham in the Bible. You will see a man, just like you or me, who had a promise from God of a son that would be the father of a great nation. When after some time had passed, and nothing had yet happened, Sarai, Abrams wife, his name was still Abram at the time, decided that she would help God along with His promise and had Hagar, her servant, sleep with Abram and get pregnant by Abram so Abram would have a son and heir, and God’s promise would be fullfilled. All of this is recorded in Genesis 17:16 - 21:2. We think, just because God does not work in our timeline that He must need our help. The son born to Abram by Hagar was named Ismael and became the father of the Islamic nations. The son Abraham, which God changed his name to when God had to renew the promise after Ismael was born, named Isaac was the Father of the nation which later became known as Israel. We get tired of waiting for God to change things, take matters into our own hands, and usually thoroughly screw them up.
If we could just have the Peace of God and wait for God to move, then we would get the blessing that God has in store for us.A good example for us is Joseph, in the Bible in Genesis as well. Joseph sat back and waited for God to deliver him from the slave traders, who his brothers sold him to, and then from the jail that Potifer the captain in Pharoah’s army put him in, and then from being just a servant to the Pharoah, to the point that Joseph became the second most important man in Egypt, just beneath Pharoah, and had the power to reunite his family and help them to survive the drought. He sat back, so to speak, and let God’s plan work itself out in his life, never once losing the faith in God to deliver him from the bad times he was facing. The entire story of Joseph is found between Genesis 37:2 and 50:26 with the exception of chapter 38.
How do we know when something is from God, and not from our own plans? First we must pray and fast. If we still feel like God is leading us in that direction, then we read God’s Word and get revelation from it as to what God would have us do. If all these things agree, then God must be in it and we should go ahead. If God doesn’t want us to do it He will let us go ahead and make the mistake, hopeing that we will learn from it. We should not be so stymied by wanting God’s Approval that we are kept from doing anything. If we feel that God has given His approval over something, then we should be Quick in following up and doing what God would have us do. The door will only be open for a short time then God’s plan will change to adapt. Don’t wait so long that you get out of God’s will by waiting.
Sometimes we despite the seemingly lack of chance that we will be able to do something without God’s help, we are kept from doing things. God wants us to be willing to step out on faith as Peter did when he walked out to Jesus on the waters. Peter could no more walk on water than you or I, but he steped out on faith and began to walk to Jesus. The only problem was that when he failed to keep his eyes firmly on Jesus and looked instead at the storm around him he began to sink. Notice, he only began to sink. Jesus will never let any of us sink to deeply into the waters of sin that surround us. Jesus will always reach out and grab us before we sink further than God wants us to in His plan.
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