WHERE YOU GOING?

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“When the GOING gets tough the tough get GOING” …

Familiar cliché, right?  But when the going indeed gets tough (and it often does), where do some or where did even “we” end up “going”?

We GO to the bar?

We GO to the “pity party”?

We GO to the “affair”?

We GO to the ‘site’ for a little fantasy-filled R & R?

You know what I am talking about right?

Too many times when the going gets tough we don’t stick around or stick through it, we run, hide, medicate, or cash out instead.

Yet friends when we GO, we are LIKELY missing some of the most important teaching/refining in our lives. I can say unequivocally that there is always PURPOSE in our tough times, there is always a REASON to ADVANCE THROUGH adversity rather than run from it! 

The Bible reminds and even chides us a little when it says, “You are a poor specimen if you can’t stand the pressure of adversity.” - Proverbs 24:10 (MSG)

Ouch!

What each of us needs to realize is that adversity is one of God's most effective tools for growing us in our faith!

Charles Stanley puts it this way: “What puts us on our knees is what grows us up.”

Don’t you just love that quote even though we don’t like the adversity?

GOD allows adversity in our lives to bring us CLOSER to HIM, to make us more DEPENDENT on HIM, to bring our focus back to HIM, and to build our TRUST in HIM.  As Charles says it, to GROW US in HIM!

That is why God carefully chooses where He wants to work in our lives and uses pressure and adversity to accomplish His plan.  Therefore, we can’t wilt under the pressure or GO running from the adversity. Instead we must be courageous and press through it; seeking GOD’s purpose in all of it! 

But you (who are devoted to being with God and searching for God) be strong and do not lose courage because your actions will reap rewards. - 2 Chronicles 15:7 (AMP)

In intense times of difficulty, we may be hard pressed to understand what God is doing but we can be certain God has a divine purpose in it. It does not matter what the source of the trouble is either. Whether it is from something we caused, from someone else's actions, or something allowed by God Himself, God has a purpose and a plan for it.

And while “in it”, we can’t lose sight of this fundamental truth!

we know that ALL THAT HAPPENS TO US is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans. 

Romans 8:28 (LB)

So, ask yourself a couple of tough questions today. 

How do I handle my adverse circumstances?

Do I run to the pity party or the “medication” when times get tough or am I looking to GOD for the purpose in my pain?

Do I seek to advance through my adversities or prefer to cower and retreat?

Remember, adversity is an intensely accurate barometer of our spiritual life. If we want to know the strength and quality of our faith, we need only look at how we handle our troubles.

Therefore, always remember my friends, trouble comes with the territory and it is true that…

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us.... 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (MSG)

Maybe it is just time to GO to our knees?

I love you all!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE