God Allows Adversities—Because He Loves

God Molds Us With His Mighty Hands

God allows hardships in our lives so we can (1) grow closer to Him (2) grow in faith (3) comfort others.

(1)- 1 Peter 4:19- So then, those who suffer according to God’s Will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Acts 14:22- Strengthen the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

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If we are suffering, commit to the Lord. Draw close to him. There is a reason for the anguish. Study God’s Word. Pray continually. God will reveal through his Holy Spirit, in time, why we are going through the storm. He will hold us tight in the palm of His mighty hand as the storm surrounds us and swirls around us.

One of the possibilities for the storm is, we are being tested by Satan. A testing is when Satan stands before the throne of God in heaven and petitions God to test a person. He has studied us and finds us with unrighteousness. God allows the testing to purify us; we are refined by fire.

For more information on testing, I invite everyone to read my article: The Full Armor Of God—Wear It! https://bestill876095733.wordpress.com/2018/03/14/the-full-armor-of-god-wear-it/

Not every storm is from Satan. This is a broken world. Bad things happen to good people all the time; a bad medical report, family issues, work relationship problems, financial hardships. All these problems can lead to horrible consequences, sometimes at the best we can do.

These catastrophes in our lives will rip us apart—tear or families into pieces. Our best solution is to turn to our heavenly Father for comfort and guidance and ride out the hurricane. As the winds of disaster blow in our lives, rest in the palms of His mighty hands. Ride out the storm in His strength. If we rely on his strength, we will survive the storm.

2 Corinthians 12: 10- That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Ephesians 6:10- Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

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(2)- Grow in Faith- When God allows a storm into our lives, it can be for many reasons. Many of these reasons are not for us to understand.

Isaiah 55:8-9- “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9- As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

All things are in God’s control; he owns the entire world. When the Lord allows a catastrophic event into our lives, it can be difficult to think of him as good and loving. How could a God who loves his people allow bad things to happen to good people?—especially when he has the power so stop the hurricane.

We must consider that this is a broken world; full of sin. Bad things happen all around us, all the time. Sometimes, God rescues us from the disaster, and in his wisdom, sometimes he does not. He allows us to go through the event even though he loves us with a deep love that is beyond our understanding.  The question is, where is our focus?

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2 Timothy 3:16- All scripture is God –breathed and is useful for teaching, reproofing, for correcting and training in righteousness.

2 Peter 1: 20- 21-Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21- For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes God’s reason for allowing us to go through a storm is to drive us upward toward Him, in our faith. The Lord, through the Holy Spirit, will call us to read His Word with a passion, perhaps like never before. Through the reading of the bible, the Holy Spirit will reveal God’s truths to us that we never understood before. The scriptures will take on new meaning; they will become alive to us.

God will use the horrific event to reveal new truths about himself to us through his Word and allow an increased pouring out of His Holy Spirit upon us. (This may be accompanied by excessive crying or weeping)

God grows our faith in spurts like this. He might use a storm as the event to grow us.

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(3)- Teach us to comfort others. It is difficult to feel mercy toward someone else’s pain if we have not been through pain ourselves. Pain is a universal bond. The pain does not have to be the same but sometimes it is the same or often times relatable. God allows his children to go through pain, to help others who are suffering; that is only one reason.

Romans 8:17-18- Now if we are children, then we are heir –heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his suffering in order that we may also share in his glory. 18- I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

We are called to share in Christ suffering; we also will share in his glory, if we remain faithful to him to the end.

Therefore, since we as Christians are called to share in Christ’ sufferings, in all pain, we must run our race, no matter what the Lord has called us to do. Encourage one another in our pain.

If we are not sure what our race is, pray and ask the Lord for his wisdom as to what our purpose is. He will reveal our purpose for us in His good time. Wisdom is waiting for the Lord while remaining in the faith.  By remaining in the faith, we pray, read our bible, and attend church; walk in the Lord.

One part of running our race is comforting others who are in pain. We should be quick with comfort and compassion—but withholding judgement. Since we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, none of us has the right to judge—no matter what a person’s pain.

For more information on running your race, I invite everyone to read my article:

Run Your Race For Jesus https://bestill876095733.wordpress.com/2018/03/06/run-your-race-for-jesus/

Be like Christ and give comfort to others.

John 15:9- As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
God’s love gives us the ability to love, if we are abiding in his love.

John 14:15- “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
If we truly love the Lord Jesus, we will be eager to follow his commandments; we will pick up our cross and follow him.

1 John 3:11- This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

If we say, we love Jesus, then we must love one another. If we call ourselves Christians—Christs’ followers, we are required to love as he loves us. To love with agape love isn’t humanly possible; loving unconditionally is a trait that is given to us from the Father, through his Holy Spirit. Pray that God will give you, as I do, a heart that loves with agape love (Deep and unconditional love) of the Father in heaven.

For more on God’s agape love, I invite all to read my article: God’s Agape Love, Displayed For All To See
https://bestill876095733.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/gods-agape-love-displayed-for-all-to-see/

Let’s all pray for Christ’s love (agape love) toward everyone and give comfort and love to all who hurt,

Gary The Tested

 

Put On The Full Armor Of God

Protect Yourself From Satan

Ephesians 6:13-18- Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

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If you are called by the Lord to read or study the gospel of Job you are being tested.
Satan petitioned God at His throne in heaven to test you. And God allowed Satan to do so for a reason. That’s right. Satan and God had a conversation at the throne of God in heaven and they discussed you. In time, God will reveal to you why He allowed Satan to test you.

During his testing, Satan attacks your emotions; agonizing fear and terror. Deep loss and depression. Uncontrollable crying. No appetite (food repulses you) and more. All to the point of near or possible death. He will cause you to lose your church, job, home, children, spouse, family, everything, life. He can only do what God allows him to do.

Job 1:12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

Job 2:6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well then, he is in your hands, but you must spare his life.”

Satan will study you, look for your weakness, then use someone or something to attack you. If you are married, he will study your spouse as well. He will attack whichever of you two he feels is the easier target for him to destroy you and your spouse. His goal is to destroy your life—completely and totally.

Satan will use someone from your church, family, job, neighborhood, close friend, etc to betray you and his testing will begin. This person will behave demon-like. They will terrify you to the point of almost death. Remember Satan will manipulate your emotions. You will feel deep emotions that you would not normally feel. His testing may go on for years. You could be reduced to skin and bones while struggling to sleep or eat. You may be barely able to function in life as you attempt to keep your family together as you deal with whatever outside crisis Satan has brought into your life via this person or thing or circumstance he is using (his tool to torment you). This can go on until you are nearly to the point of death or your family is broken apart. You may lose your job, your home, lose everything.

The person Satan uses is always someone who is not saved but who is faking Christianity. If you remember back through history with this person, there were lots of red flags. And you did not know what to do with the warning signs so you ignored them. God tries to warn us to stay away from these people, but we must heed His warnings. Someone who is very loud, always drawing attention to themselves, is someone to keep an eye on. God loves the humble and meek. Learn to be a good fruit inspector. If God shows you the red flags, you don’t need to understand. Obey the Lord and keep your distance, you’ll be glad you did.

Galatians 5:22- 23a- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Satan petitions God night and day to test the Lord’s people. To protect yourself against Satan’s testing, don’t tell lies, don’t gossip, don’t steal, pray continually, live a righteous life, live a Christ-like life. Be honest, good, humble, and fair. Do not have any unconfessed sin in your life. Read and study the bible (Word of God). Make sure your faith is sure and steady. Believe God keeps his promises. Make certain you are saved. That Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior and the Holy Spirit dwells within you. Then pray in the Spirit for all the saints. And attend church.

Pray for wisdom. Pray for the Lord to draw you close to Him.

Psalms 91:11- For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

Pray for God’s hedge of protection. He will send His angles to protect you.

Pray that God will increase your faith; use you for His glory in this world.

When Satan is finished with you and your testing comes to an end, if your family is still intact, and you still have your job and home, you have fared better than most.

Know this, Satan always betrays the person he used to betray and test you (his tool). After Satan is finished with you and your family, he betrays that person and goes after them, but much, much worse. If you thought you got it bad, what you got was child’s play compared to what that person got from Satan.

Final note: The Lord (via my wife) asked me to write this article. The information I am giving you about testing and Satan, except for the scriptures, is from my own experiences.

Put on the Full Armor of God,

Gary The Tested

Waiting For The Sunrise - A Novel About Prayer

Dear Readers,  

     My novel, Waiting For The Sunrise, is a tale of how God sometimes reacts to prayer - admittedly not always. This is a story about the Flanagan family and their struggles.
     Beth and Tim are parents of Mitch and Amber. They are

A Waterfall on Chickamauga Lake in Tennessee

expecting their third child. Tim is involved in an affair and Beth has medical issues due to her pregnancy. Their life begins to crash- partially due to Tim's alcoholism. Beth's parents, Ben and Edna Casey, along with the Casey's church, become involved in their lives. 
     See how God answers a host of church member's prayers. This novel is staged in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains of Eastern Tennessee as a harsh winter fast approaches.
     To download this novel on Kindle, click on the waterfall or the book cover on the side panel of this blog.

     God's Blessings, 
     Shepard Cross