Learning to trust in times of trouble.

How are you…really?
•    How are you deep inside?
•    Are you taking strain?
•    Have you taken knocks?
•    Has God disappointed you? His leaders? His people?
•    How are you feeling toward His church? This season?
•    Do you think you would be better off dead?

You need to be honest this morning.


What I have to share isn’t necessarily what you want to hear.
Not gonna be an easy pill to swallow.

This morning I want to bring you hope. Not some trite, cheap health, wealth, prosperity rubbish.


LET GO OF YOURSELF< YOUR PRIDE< HUMBLE, CONTRITE.

Learning to trust in times of trouble.


Lets get on the same page>>>

Wrong perception:
Only one
Because I have done something wrong
Because God is angry with me

Rom 8.17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

•    We share in His sufferings IN ORDER THAT we may also share in His glory!
•    Christians are never promised a life without suffering.

1 Peter 1.6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

•    The TESTED genuiness of our faith is considered more precious than gold.

Heb. 12:7        Endure hardship as discipline 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

•    Hardship/Discipline PRODUCES!

James 1:2   Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds.

•    WHEN you meet trials!
•    The bible doesn’t say if we suffer, it says WHEN.
•    The word ‘Count’ means to value highly or esteem.
•    Give much value to times of trouble!! Really?! How???







Learning to trust in times of trouble.

Suffering asks the tough questions.

1>>>>Suffering gets us to deal with that which success never will.

•    Sometimes we are stubborn, unteachable.
•    Sometimes it’s a blind spot issue – blindly unaware.

2>>>>Suffering reveals where we are at

•    They get our attention and allow us to make the necessary changes.
•    God is not capricious – randomly throwing tests our way to keep us busy.
•    They are times of preparation; God is not finished with us yet.

When God is near:
•    We worship with joy;
•    We give cheerfully;
•    We sacrifice to be with Him;
•    We jump at the opportunity to serve at church.

But when times are tough, or when your faith begins to cost you, your true motives are revealed – and only then can you make the changes God requires for you to grow.

3>>>>I’ll tell you how we GLORIFY GOD, when you have it tough

•    Your child dies
•    You house gets taken away
•    Your spouse cheats on you
•    You find out you have a terminal disease

and yet through the deepest possible pain, you say GOD IS ENOUGH, He is good, He will satisfy me, He will get me through this.

When you’re able to say:
Ps 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
That makes God glorious.

Everyone wants Jesus when He is a genie, but when it costs you your life? Your reputation? Your comfort?

Is God enough?  - JOB

I ask this, not knowing what it’s like to lose a child/house/spouse.

THE REST OF THE POINTS ARE IRRELAVENT.


Suffering asks the tough questions.

1 Peter 1.7 – Tested genuiness of your faith.

We can have as much of God as we want – A.W. Tozer.

Do you want more of God?
How much more?

•    But more of one thing means less of another.
•    Our desire for God is not tested by how loud we praise, or how much scripture we can quote.
•    Our desire for God is tested by how we react in situations – IS GOD ENOUGH? - choosing God’s will over our own, choosing God over ourselves.
•    This is never more tested than when it is easier to choose our way, than to choose God’s.
•    The more we choose to follow God, the more we choose God.
•    The greater the suffering – the greater the anointing – RT Kendall.


All people, when God is smiling on them can sing and dance, give generously and serve in the church, but when it costs, their true relationship is revealed. – RT Kendall










Suffering asks the tough questions

God will never promote us to the level of our incompetence.

I believe that every single person who has been used mightily by God has only been used to the measure that he/she has been tested.
All great men and women of God who have finished strong have been through great trials and testing.
•    MICHAEL JACKSON

•    Joseph – Ps 105.16-19
o    When He summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, 17 He had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 18 His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron. 19 Until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.
•    John – risked his life by standing by Jesus at the cross, acknowledging that he was one of His disciples, and he was the only one of the 12 who didn’t die a martyrs death.
•    It takes a refusal to bow to Nebuchadnezzars idol to have the testimony of having Jesus stand beside you in the fire.
•    It takes a willingness to pray openly 3 times a day to have the Lord shut the mouths of lions.
•    King Saul lost his anointing because he was unteacheable and unwilling to endure the suffering of waiting for Samuel and possibly loosing face in front of his men.

What is the Lord putting you through, what has He allowed in your life?
Take it with both hands, with joy.

NB – Unlike tests at school or varsity, failing a trial this year doesn’t mean you get to take it again next year. There are no guarantees that you will be honoured with the privilege of facing this again. And if it does come again, there are no guarantees that it will be as big and hold the same rewards.









What do I do in times of trouble?

Welcome the trial as if it is God Himself.
•    No discipline seems pleasant at the time.
•    But for the joy set before you – endure.
•    Take it as a compliment from God.

Never forget that God allowed it.
•    He is sovereign.
•    It’s not sinful to ask why - Even Jesus asked why [Matt 27.46]
•    Be sure to guard yourself against bitterness, unforgiveness and a hardened heart.

Know that there is a purpose in it.
•    James1:2 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. 3 You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. 4 So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

Don’t grumble.
•    In 1 Cor 10.1-12, God puts grumbling alongside idolatry and sexual sin in the list of evil deeds that brought His wrath down on Israel.

Pray
•    Take every moment to seek His face.
•    Refresh yourself in the Lord
•    Instead of rebelling against Him, draw near to Him.
•    Put aside extra time for the Lord, to rejoice in the Lord, to praise Him.
•    ‘Lead me through valleys of sorrow to rivers of joy’ – Jars of Clay.

Is. 49:14 Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me
15      “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
    that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
    Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
16     Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17     Your builders make haste;
     your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
18     Lift up your eyes around and see; they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, declares the LORD, you shall put them all on as an ornament; you shall bind them on as a bride does.
23    Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”