Joy In The Face Of Trouble...God An Irreplaceable Part Of Me...

After everything this week, Sunday was again a day I was looking forward to, as I seemed to begin to be weighed down by all the things I was facing. And, I mean, it seemed as if my joy was draining away and like God was beginning to feel distant. So, as I attended Church again, as amazing as it always is, God presence feels so close and everything begins to feel so insignificant, and the perspective is corrected again, so I guess, in that it was really great and awesome but perhaps I thing it highlights though is that other than on Sundays’ I’m not doing enough to maintain closeness with God throughout the week, but nonetheless, it was wonderful to truly feel God’s presence again this morning at Church. And, all feelings of discontentment, dissatisfaction, loneliness and being inadequate just faded away. And, again, I felt the joy again of truly living for God’s glory and just trusting the Lord and loving Him. Plus, the message was an encouragement and a reminder of all the troubles in our lives being actually something we can still find joy in and gain from and that God is with us and all we need to do is just trust the Lord. SO TO ANYONE DOWNCAST FROM THE TROUBLES AND PROBLEMS IN LIFE THAT READS THIS, KNOW THAT GOD MEANT THIS FOR U TO READ, for in this post I will write about the message that was for the church service this morning in my church that tells you that in all the troubles in life, God intends for them to build you up into the person that He wants you to be and we can find great joy in all our problems and difficulties in life for we know that God is in control and with us, so we can trust that He has a great plan despite all the problems in life.

The message at church this morning was entitled, “From Pain To Gain”, which was about how God wants us to grow through troubles and consider it PURE JOY WHEN WE FACE TRIALS and we may never know why we face certain tragedies, suffering, disasters or troubles, but we can trust that the Lord has a perfect plan and it is a test of our faith and we do not let these things affect us but believe that God will see you through and you can have a peace of mind and still be joyful no matter what circumstances we face. So, before I get into it, here’s the passage from the Bible of the sermon, well part of it:

James 1: 2-5

Consider it pure joy, my brothers,
when ever you face trials of many kinds,
Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete,
Not lacking anything.

So, the speaker began the message, by highlighting the fact that we all wish we could escape from and that is that we will face troubles and trials in life. As much as we find it so frustrating that life throws as problems all along the way, we all know that it is a fact of life. Yes, put in one word, troubles in life are, INEVITABLE. It is evident in the passage where Paul uses the word “when”. Troubles are generally categorised into three kinds, trials as a result of Man’s sin, spiritual trials, which are used by God to help us grow spiritually and finally, trials that we do not understand the reason that they occur but, we know and can trust that God is using for one goal and that is for the ultimate glorifying of God, according to His perfect plan. But, in the Bible God tells us to regard trials as pure joy, so we are told instead of dreading the troubles of life, we are to embrace them with great joy, not that we delight in misery but because we know that God is working in our lives and we can trust that God has a plan and wants the best for us, so we can find joy despite suffering. In fact, in Thessalonians, we are told also to “Be joyful in all circumstances…” Thus, the message is that we are to handle our troubles in life with joy. Basically, we are to gain from our pain and suffering, by being joyful, and it requires three things to handle the painful experiences in life, i.e. our troubles etc, which relates to considering it all pure joy. It requires an attitude of joy and an understanding of the truth and a faith in God’s plan; in fact, we are told not to lose faith in God, and to truly stand on the Lord’s side and trust Him. And, all the troubles that we face in life are a test of our faith, and by overcoming the troubles with our faith in God, and a joy that is from the Lord, we stand to gain from these tests. We will develop perseverance, and grow in our life and we will have the crown of life. We are to run the race of life trusting in God thru all the difficult times, and in the end we will be rewarded with eternal life, and we can bask in the glory of the Lord. Finally, we are also to know that God does not tempt us and make us fall but God puts difficult times in our lives to develop our faith. So truly, whatever troubles we are facing in life, let us examine ourselves and ask God what He is trying to build into our lives. We are to have joy in the face of troubles and in so doing we can gain from our painful experiences.

So that was the message, and truly, I realised that life is so empty, futile and hard, if we do not have God in our lives, because we need God for He created us to be in fellowship with Christ. We find joy in Christ no matter what circumstances we face, and He loves us, and we can trust that He has a plan to prosper us, and He is here to see us through in life, all we have to do is surrender and give our lives to God to be in control of. And, a brief moment of feeling distant from God this week, made me have an even more overwhelming conviction that GOD IS AN IRREPLACEABLE PART OF ME, and it is all the same for everyone. And, we must not give up but hope in the Lord in our struggles.

Oh Lord, you are my God, I love you so much, all I need is you alone, I can’t do without you, please always let me be close to you and help me to truly consider it pure joy we I face trials. Amen.