We should rejoice in our sufferings, say what? Knowing that pressure and affliction, and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. We’ve heard that saying, “if it doesn’t kill me, it’ll make me stronger”. This has some biblical truth about it. God allows us to go through some pretty horrendous situations to help grow our character our integrity and our faith in trusting Him. Once we latch on to the idea no matter what comes our way, we will never, ever give up on God. Endurance develops a fortitude in us, and that develops into maturity of character, which is approved faith, and tried integrity. This level of character produces the habit of joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. With a hope like this, a confident favorable expectation, will never disappoint or cause you shame. Through faith and patience we obtain the promises of God (Hebrews 6:12). So it is of great importance to let patience have its perfect maturing way in and through you (James 1,:4-8). The only way to develop patience and endurance is to go through something that is specifically designed to rock your world. No trouble, crisis, or great hardship is ever permitted to come to us until it has been properly vetted by God himself first (1 Corinthians 10:13). If you allow the process its full longitude of expression, you will become deepened in your comprehension, your understanding, and your faith and love towards others.

Turning to God so your sins may be wiped out is today’s talk. Because justice must be satisfied, it is vitally important that we die with a new recreated human spirit intact. If we transition without having been changed by the Lord, it’s an automatic ticket to hell. Hell was originally created for the fallen Angels that followed Lucifer in his rebellion against God (2 Peter 2:4). Those fallen Angels are now bound up in hell along with men and women who have not received Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives. Our sins can be remitted like you’ve never done anything wrong in God’s sight. Jesus was the sacrifice that satisfied justice for mankind. If we don’t receive the finished work at Calvary, there’s no hope after that of you dying and going to heaven. To repent means to turn away from wrong doings. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ has caused our sins to be wiped out, and that enables us to have times of refreshing on a level that only God can supply. The only sin mankind will be judged on is not having received Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives. For christians, when we mess up, God is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9). But those unintentional sins won’t take us to hell like a sinner who habitually sins, and can’t help it.

By seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things (needs met, bills paid, etc) will be added to you. This is an easy way to stay secure in a life of having provisions being provided by the Lord. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21), but we must learn the ways of living a righteous life. As we renew our minds with God’s word, we can begin to understand how God deals with mankind (Romans 12:2). There is a lifestyle that lends itself to walking by faith and not by sight, and being led by our newly recreated human spirits and not by our flesh, our emotions. With all the struggles in life, it should drive us to the Lord for help. Most people cry out, “Oh my God!” when something really bad happens to them. That initial cry out is the spirit of a man or woman reaching out and yearning for its creator. Those times of trouble bypass the brain and our soul-ish area of all natural understanding or learned environmental influences, and cuts to the chase wanting God’s help. By seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, part of all the things that will be added to your life include getting through a crisis successfully. Walking this walk with God puts us in a guided program for victorious living.

Even way back in the old testament in the bible, God was establishing the basic rule of thumb. When we are either disobedient or straight up acting like the devil, there will be consequences. Many times people say, “I don’t know why this is happening to me”. I do, because your bad behavior has finally brought you an unwanted harvest of trouble. We will always reap what we sow, whether it’s negative words, or an act of malicious intent, etc (Galatians 6:7-8). God will always respond to evil doings with a corrective response that can rock our world. If God can get our attention when we are wilding out, to bring us back to Himself, He will try. Ultimately it’s our choice whether we want His help or not. You can decide to come to God for the first time for help, or you’re coming back to Him because you’ve had enough of going against the grain of life. God promised us life, and life more abundantly (John 10:10), but it is a participatory program, and there are conditional terms that must be met (this is where many christians fall away). The Lord declares, “Return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping, and mourning”. If you’re coming to Him for the help you need, you got to come correct, your heart has to be in it. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. He’s waiting on you to take the first steps toward Him. Seek and you shall find knock and the doors will be opened to God’s treasures of life.

Sometimes we go through stuff that we feel we cannot handle. Our minds start flipping out from worry and anxiety. The struggle in life is very real and there must be a strategy to handle things. The first thing to consider is the fact that God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation of what we’re dealing with to be more than we can stand. The good news is that God knows us better than we know ourselves. Since He created mankind He has the manual on what makes us tick. If our minds are not renewed with the word of God, we will freak out and get too deep into our own heads. Once we have the knowledge of how God deals with us, we can relax in that knowledge with the understanding we can go through anything successfully. God is faithful and will not allow us to go through that which we can’t handle. So even though our minds may start freaking out, if we stay steady trusting the Lord no matter how bad it seems, things will turn around. Many times God wants to see your faith in Him. And that is only by the trouble we deal with and the crisis we successfully go through.

Sometimes we must go through some pretty hard times until we start to believe. The Lord will most definitely allow us to go through whatever it takes to draw us to Himself. He knows He’s the only one who can get you out of the difficulty you’re in right now. But without our belief in God’s word how can He begin to help us. It takes faith in the Lord’s teachings and precepts to overcome the demonic influences in this world (1 John 5:4). Otherwise you’re just along for the ride with every Tom, Dick , and Harry that’s winging life, hoping things work out. Whereas we can believe what God has said about us and act on it. Walking with the Lord in our everyday lives, was the original plan of God. He created us for fellowship with Himself. We are made in God’s image and His likeness so He could have someone on His level, which we are (Genesis 1:26). We must study to find out how we are to operate as God’s children. It’s all based on faith, and without it, God will not be pleased (Hebrews 11:6). God simply wants us to take Him at His word. Because of the noise of this world, all the distractions in it, and the infinite choices available in life which can cause confusion, we lose track of who we really are in Christ. We can’t believe without trust, and we can’t trust unless we spend time together with the Lord. Spending quality time in prayer and worship with God is the only way for victorious living.

Some of us who are further along in our walk with Christ than others, must be mindful of our brothers and sisters who doubt. It takes a lot of time and meditation in God’s word to have the faith which quails, and calms down doubt. Keeping ourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Showing mercy to others brings mercy to help you in time of need, because we all miss the mark from time to time. There will be those who come to you with good intentions but a bad way of going about it, whatever it is. Sometimes a stern hand of correction is necessary for some of the younger more zealous brothers and sisters in Christ. They need guidance just like you did to get you where you are today. It may feel like you’ve acquired more kids to look after, but we are of the same family, God’s family. Doubt is the enemy of faith, and a disconnecting entity that separates us from God’s help. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), and faith is the hand that takes from God and makes it a reality in our lives. Be merciful to those who doubt, because their faith depends on it.

Seeing is believing, is what we’ve heard most of our lives. On the contrary, believing is seeing in God’s program of life. Thomas, the disciple of Jesus would only believe if he saw Jesus with the nail holes in His hands. Jesus appeared to Thomas, having heard his comment from heaven, and came down and told him, blessed are those who believe without seeing with their eyes. Jesus said, blessed and happy, and to be envied are those who have never seen Me and yet believe and adhere to and trust and rely on Me. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). We can see so much more through the eyes of faith than our natural eyes. We can be tuned into God in such a way that we can be led along in life by submitting to that still small voice in our gut. Our inner man is where God speaks to us, or you’ll get a strong feeling about something, that in most cases is God’s direction being delivered to you. In this way of life, which is achievable, we can walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Being led by our human spirits and not by our fleshly appetites or our emotions, which will lead us astray. We can see so much more through the lens of God’s word in our lives. We have eyes of truth we can look through and discerned motives and intentions of others. This kind of sight far outweighs the seeing is believing theory. You can’t see it all with your natural eyes.

God loves a cheerful giver whose heart is in his giving. When we give a gift to someone, and you basically do it because everyone else is doing it, your heart isn’t in that. When we give to the Lord, whether it’s our time, money, or talents, we want to give cheerfully, because God loves a cheerful giver whose heart is in his giving. Giving with strings attached is what I call Indian giving. When I was a young boy, it was explained to me that once you give something to someone and then you take it back, that’s called an indian giver. You curse your own seed from harvesting later, and nobody will like you because of it. Spiritually speaking it’s a blemished gift that never makes it in the ground to bring you a return on your giving. The law of reciprocity is always in effect (Luke 6:38). Be a blessing to others and it will come back to you. Give with no strings attached and mean it from your heart. Be a “Prompt to do it Giver” whose heart is in his giving.

Walking and living habitually in the Spirit, responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit, we won’t gratify the cravings and inordinate desires of the flesh (your body’s appetites). We don’t want to live a life according to human nature without God. To have the christian advantage in life we must walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Living by faith is the Christian’s portion in life. To follow what the teachings and precepts say concerning life in the bible, is the beginning of walking and living life in the Spirit. Understanding life according to the one who created life is to our utmost advantage. We have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (the law of our new being) is the prescribed pathway for walking in the Spirit and not the flesh. There will always be the fight of good against evil, as well as the fight of the Spirit against the flesh. These are at two opposite ends of the spectrum. Without choosing the side of good, and following after the Spirit, you will automatically default to your old nature which is corrupt before God. Let the Holy Spirit guide our lives straight to victorious living. Those who are led by the Spirit are the true sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:14).