“Do not grow discouraged if a situation exceeds your competence & resources. At issue is your belief. Do you trust that Christ is able & willing to use your life to accomplish His work? When God sets an assignment before you, what you do next reveals what you believe about Him.”
– April 11, Discovering God’s Daily Agenda by Henry & Richard Blackaby
March 17, Discovering God’s Daily Agenda by Henry & Richard Blackaby
“God is under no obligation to save us from the adversity we consequently encounter, especially if we have brought it on ourselves.”
I guess that’s the answer to my question why God isn’t helping me at all, why I deserve all this. I brought this on myself.
The March 9 entry, in the devotional entitled Discovering God’s Daily Agenda by Henry & Richard Blackaby, is entitled The Rewards of Discipline. The devotional told about the discipline of athletes where discipline is their training. If they train hard enough, they will be reward with success. After all, nothing worth having is easy to get.
I’m no athlete but I sure know how it feels to be rewarded because of my discipline. A few days ago, I wrote this entry entitled “My Fault” where I had this week full of bad luck and punishments from God because I failed Him. Right after I talked to God, admitted my mistakes and asked for His forgiveness, everything got better. I prayed every night, thanked Him for everything, and my faith got stronger. I was able to have self-control. With that, I was able to make the “Right Choice“. So I thanked God even more, prayed even more. That’s why He gave me today this thing I’ve been praying for the past few days, and He even gave me more than what I expected. Isn’t that great?! It was my reward. I’m so thankful and happy that I can’t even stop smiling until now. I even almost did that Flintstones tapping-of-heels-while-jumping move. Seriously. =)
Following God will give us more rewards…and problems. But the way I see it, they’re both rewards (“Problems: It’s a Good Thing“). With problems, you get better training and more lessons. With success, you get rewards, a little less lessons compared what you get from problems, and you desire to aim for something more challenging. It doesn’t matter what our goal is or what reward we want to get. Just keep in mind that we have to work hard to get those things. Like I said, nothing worth having is easy to get. Just stick with God, keep the faith, stay strong, and you’ll have all the training you’ll ever need. Pretty soon, victory will be in your hands. =)
PS.
Here’s a thought: “T” is the middle letter of the word “victory”. And look! The small “T” looks like a Cross. Coincidence? =)
Just as God prepared Esther, He is preparing you for His next assignment for you. Each step of faithfulness prepares you for what awaits. God will use your current circumstances for His next great work in and through your life. (March 7, Discovering God’s Daily Agenda by Henry & Richard Blackaby)
I’m a stubborn person and, many years ago, I’ve always asked myself and God why I had to go through the same problems over and over. I just don’t get it! Haven’t I had enough? But as the years pass, and with the help of my ministry, I’ve learned that there’s a reason why that had to happen and they’re not just the same problems. Those problems may have the same “theme” but every time I go through one, the level of difficulty increases.
It’s because I’m stubborn that’s why I have to through that same kind of problem over and over. Of course God knows I can’t take on the highest level on my first attempt. I had to ease my way into overcoming that kind of problem. If I’m done with it and learned everything from it, God will give me a different kind of problem. I’m glad i’m not that stubborn anymore (and now a bit wiser) so I get to learn more and faster, and is able to take on higher levels of my problems. And I’m glad I have problems. It just shows that God wants me to become better and He is training me, molding me, using my problems as my personal gym to “beef me up”. So be happy when you have problems. Be worried if you don’t have any (James 1:2-3).
This reflection reminded me of this part in the movie Evan Almighty (2007) where God told the family that when people ask Him for courage, He doesn’t give them courage instantly. Instead, He gives them an opportunity to be courageous. We have to remember that we are created in the image of God. Through Jesus Christ, God showed us that man is capable of doing good and, if we have faith in God, we can be like Jesus Christ. Every good thing that God possesses, we also have. We just don’t realize it. That’s why God doesn’t need to give us anything because we already have it. We all need to be subjected to certain circumstances that would help us find that characteristic, find it and then use it. We as His people don’t realize yet how very capable we are. Even I still don’t know how capable I am. But I know God will put me through things so that one day I would know the things I am capable of, and use it to grow, become a better person, and above all, help other people.
So the next time you encounter a problem, don’t ask God to take it away from you. It’s just God’s way of giving you want you’ve always wanted. He’s just testing you if you can actually get it for yourself and how much you really want it. God works in mysterious ways after all. His ways are above our ways (Isaiah 55:9).
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