Through Times of Trial

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. - Genesis 50:18-21

If anyone had ample opportunity to become embittered by life’s trials, it was Joseph. His brothers treated him with contempt even before they tossed him into a pit. Then, he was sold into slavery, transported to a foreign land, framed for a crime, and left to waste away in prison—all within a relatively short period of time. Despite the many injustices he suffered, this boy who grew up in bondage became a man of diligent work ethic and gentle spirit.

It’s almost impossible to understand how Joseph could seem so forgiving, peaceful, and even joyful. His secret to maintaining grace under pressure was a constant focus on God. He must have spent many hours recalling Jacob’s stories about the Lord’s faithfulness to their family—and also the divine revelations about his own future as a leader (Genesis 37:8-9). In spite of his numerous afflictions, Joseph trusted that those God-given dreams would become reality.

Imagine what kind of man Joseph might have become after 13 years of suffering and injustice. Had Joseph dwelled on his unfair circumstances, he’d likely have become cynical and vengeful. With a mind full of escape plots and revenge tactics, he might have failed at being a good worker—so instead of achieving greatness, Joseph would probably have toiled at unfulfilling menial tasks.

With his spiritual eyes trained on God’s glory, Joseph persevered through great trials. In the end, he certainly had the power to punish his brothers for their treachery, but he chose to forgive. That decision probably wasn’t easy. Yet because Joseph placed himself under God’s protection, his heart was unhindered by negative emotions.

© Charles Stanley

What Is God’s Will for Your Life?

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification. - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3a ESV

Conversion is not the end of something; it’s just the beginning! When God forgives you and wipes the slate clean in your life at conversion, He begins a process called sanctification. This is the real work God wants to do in you. Conversion initiates the sanctification God will continue in you for the rest of your life on earth.

The Apostle Paul described the beginning of the process in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” As new creatures in Christ, we’re growing. We see this continual growth process in 1 Thessalonians 4:1: “we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.” We don’t please God perfectly or completely, but increasingly. That transformation should be ongoing so that we please God “more and more.”

When you’re a new Christian, you begin with immense uncertainty. You make obvious, messy mistakes all the time. But over time you learn, as a follower of Jesus Christ, how to walk. Slowly, gently, and precisely, the Holy Spirit deals with your sin mess, and though you’ll never walk perfectly, you’re learning to follow Jesus Christ. That’s the process of sanctification. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification,” Paul explained (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

Did you catch that? God’s will for your life is your sanctification. Pastors are bombarded with questions about God’s will: “What does God want me to do? Where does God want me to live? Who does God want me to marry? Which job does God want me to take?” The Bible doesn’t spend any time on those questions. God’s focus is on changing you—the real you, the inner you, not the outer trappings of your life. God knows if He changes you into the person He wants you to be, then all the other decisions will fall into place. God’s will is 98 percent about who you are, not where you are or who you’re with. The Bible clearly teaches that God’s will is your sanctification.

The word sanctify means to make holy, so sanctification is the process by which God takes sinful people and makes them holy. It’s not as churchy as it sounds. Holy is a powerful word; it means set apart or distinct, different from the world around us. Holy means being like God!

So when you wonder what God’s will is for your life, or you wonder what God’s doing in your life, the answer is simple—He’s sanctifying you. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). This clears up a lot of confusion. The next time you wonder about what you’re seeing or experiencing and struggle to know what God could be up to, remind yourself, “He’s changing me.” And you’ll be right. Next time disappointments or heartaches come (perhaps today, in this moment), you might be asking God, “What are you doing, Lord? This hurts!” As you look through your pain, try to recognize that God Himself is holding the hammer and chisel. When you ask, “God, what are you doing?” the answer is always the same: “I’m changing you, child.” Don’t bother arguing, “I don’t like this. I thought You would make me happy.” He wants much more for you than that; He wants to make you holy.

© James MacDonald

How to Face Your Fears and Indecision

Trust the LORD with all your heart, and don’t depend on your own understanding. Remember the LORD in all you do, and he will give you success. - Proverbs 3:5-6 NCV

The root of all indecision is fear. We all have different kinds of fears. We’re afraid we’ll make mistakes and embarrass ourselves. We’re afraid that we won’t be able to finish what we’ve started. We’re afraid we’re not good enough.

One of the fears that keeps us from making decisions is the fear of disapproval. Proverbs 29:25 says, “Fear of man is a dangerous trap, but to trust in God means safety” (TLB). The moment you start worrying about what other people think, it’s over, because fear of disapproval is always worse than disapproval.

So how do you get rid of a fear? There’s only one way: Face it, and move against it. You do the thing you fear the most! At some point you’ve got to stop aiming and pull the trigger.

The only antidote to fear is faith. You have to step out in faith. You’ve got to trust God and start moving.

In every major decision we’ve had to make at Saddleback Church, I was scared. But I did it anyway.

Courage is not the absence of fear; courage is moving ahead in spite of your fear. If you’re not afraid, you don’t need courage. Courage comes because you’re scared to death but you also believe it’s what God wants you to do, so you do it anyway.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust the LORD with all your heart, and don’t depend on your own understanding. Remember the LORD in all you do, and he will give you success” (NCV).

God supports those who move in faith. So here’s the question you need to ask: Where do you need to trust God? You haven’t really trusted him until you’ve attempted something you can’t do on your own power.

I don’t know what decision you need to make, but you need to prepare for it and then step out in faith. Why? Because your choices determine your character and your destiny. Commit yourself to the Lord, and he will give you the wisdom and courage to make the decision that will bring you closer to who he made you to be.

© Rick Warren

Let Him Lift That Load

For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. - James 2:10

The Ten Commandments were not given to make us holy; they were given to show us that we are not holy. The commandments were given to show us that we need Jesus. The Bible says they are like a schoolmaster (kind of an old King James word). The idea is that of a disciplinarian. The commandments were given to say, in essence, “You can’t do this on your own.”

They are like a moral mirror. When you look at them, you say, “Uh-oh. I’m not measuring up.” Every one of us has broken the commandments.

Someone may say, “Yeah, that might be true, but I haven’t broken that many. I’ve only broken a couple of them.”

Maybe. Or maybe not. The Bible says, “For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws” (James 2:10). If you have broken even one commandment, it’s enough to keep you from God and to separate you from Him.

The commandments were given to drive us into the open arms of Jesus. That’s why Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Have you ever been carrying around something that was very heavy and had someone say, “Here, let me take that from you”? That is what Jesus is saying. “Let Me lift that load. Let Me ease your pain. Let Me give you relief. Right now. Come to Me,” He says.

That is the message of what happened at the Cross. He died for our sins and paid the price for every wrong we have ever done. And if we will turn from our sins and believe in Him, then we will be forgiven.

© Greg Laurie

Do You Have to Prove Your Worth?

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. - Ephesians 3:18-19

The width of God’s love extends across the entire world and includes all people: “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does” (Psalm 145:17 NIV). God loves the whole world (John 3:16).

God never made a person that he didn’t love. He made you; he loves you. And God doesn’t make junk! He loves you unconditionally. He loves you very, very, very, very, very much.

Everybody matters to God. In fact, we see in the life of Jesus that he even loves the unlovely and those who may feel unlovable. Do you want to know the secret of self-esteem? Here it is: If you want confidence, then understand how much you matter to God. If God loves you, who cares what anybody else thinks?

Because God loves us, there’s no need to prove our self worth. We don’t need props anymore to make us feel good about ourselves. We don’t have to wear certain kinds of clothes to make us feel like we’re OK or drive a certain kind of car to prop up our faltering egos. We don’t need status symbols anymore.

You may not be able to understand it fully, but you can accept it and let it change your life: God loves you!

© Rick Warren

God Is Never in a Hurry

Don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed. - James 1:4

Be patient with God and with yourself. One of life’s frustrations is that God’s timetable is rarely the same as ours. We are often in a hurry when God isn’t. You may feel frustrated with the seemingly slow progress you’re making in life.

Remember that God is never in a hurry, but he is always on time. He will use your entire lifetime to prepare you for your role in eternity.

The Bible is filled with examples of how God uses a long process to develop character, especially in leaders. He took 80 years to prepare Moses, including 40 in the wilderness. For 14,600 days Moses kept waiting and wondering, “Is it time yet?” But God kept saying, “Not yet.”

Contrary to popular book titles, there are no “Easy Steps to Maturity” or “Secrets of Instant Sainthood.” When God wants to make a giant oak, he takes a hundred years, but when he wants to make a mushroom, he does it overnight.

Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering. Be patient with the process. James advised, “Don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed” (James 1:4 MSG).

Don’t get discouraged. When Habakkuk became depressed because he didn’t think God was acting quickly enough, God had this to say: “These things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!” (Habakkuk 2:3 TLB)

Remember how far you’ve come, not just how far you have to go. You are not where you want to be, but neither are you where you used to be. Years ago people wore a popular button with the letters PBPGINFWMY. It stood for “Please Be Patient. God Is Not Finished With Me Yet.” God isn’t finished with you, either, so keep on moving forward. Even the snail reached the ark by persevering!

© Rick Warren

The Source of Our Adversity

I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these. Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down righteousness; Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, and righteousness spring up with it. I, the LORD, have created it. Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker-- an earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, `What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, `He has no hands’? Woe to him who says to a father, `What are you begetting?’ Or to a woman, `To what are you giving birth?’” - Isaiah 45:5-10

When experiencing hardship, we usually wonder why God allows painful situations to come our way. In our minds, this just doesn’t fit with His role as our loving heavenly Father. We also struggle to reconcile our suffering with the realization that an omnipotent God could have prevented it. To understand what’s going on, we must consider the possible sources of adversity.

• A Fallen World. When sin entered the world, suffering came with it. God could have protected us from these harmful effects by making us like puppets who couldn’t choose sin, but that would mean we’d also be unable to choose to love Him, since love, by its very nature, is voluntary.

• Our Own Doing. Sometimes we get ourselves into trouble with foolish or sinful choices. If the Lord stepped in and rescued us from every negative consequence, we’d never grow into mature believers.

• Satanic Attack. The devil is our enemy. To hinder anything God wants to do in and through believers, Satan will never cease to harass us. His goal is to destroy our lives and our testimonies, thereby making us weak and useless for the Lord’s purposes.

• God’s Sovereignty. Ultimately, the Lord is in charge of all adversity that comes our way. To deny His involvement contradicts His power and sovereignty over creation.

For us to accept that God allows—or even sends—affliction, we must see adversity from His perspective. Is your focus on the pain of your experience or on God and His faithfulness? As believers, we’re assured that no adversity comes our way unless He can use it for our benefit and His good purposes.

© Charles Stanley

What Grieves God

And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. - Genesis 6:6

One day the Lord’s disciples came to Him with this question: “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3).

Jesus answered, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (verses 37–39).

In this significant statement, Jesus not only was verifying the historicity of the Flood spoken of in Genesis, but He also was encouraging us to look carefully at the way things were before the Flood came, because these are characteristics that will be prevalent in the time before He comes again.

There are some striking parallels between Noah’s time and our time. Noah was living in his last days. He was living in a time right before judgment came in the form of the Flood. And we are living in the last days, the time before the judgment that will come during the Great Tribulation.

As Genesis 6 opens, things had gone from bad to worse on Planet Earth. The Bible tells us, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (verses 5–6).

God was grieved that His creation was living that way. This shows the heartache of God over the rebellion and wickedness of men and women.

© Greg Laurie

The Trouble with Gossip

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. - James 3:9-10 NIV

When my son was leading his high school Bible Club, there was one particular student who was causing some strife in the group. In an attempt to avoid confrontation, my son tolerated behavior from this girl that he should have dealt with more swiftly and firmly. As I became increasingly frustrated with the situation, I began talking about her in a gossipy, critical manner. One day, when she called to speak to John, he left her hanging on the phone while he came to tell me about her latest attempt to disrupt the club. I immediately lost my temper and began spouting bitter and critical remarks about her. When my son finally told me that she had heard every word I said, I was even more furious. But after thinking and praying about it, I realized that the reason God allowed me to go through this experience was to teach me about the devastating consequences of gossip and critical speech. Knowing how deeply I must have wounded that poor girl grieved my heart back then, and it still does today.

Many times when we gossip, we do it because we feel sure that we’ll get away with it. But the Bible tells us that sooner or later, we’ll be found out. Proverbs 10:20 in the Message Bible says: “Loose talk has a way of getting picked up and spread around. Little birds drop the crumbs of your gossip far and wide.” And Jesus said that our hypocrisy would not be hidden forever. What we have whispered to others will eventually be broadcast for all to hear. (Luke 12:1-3 TLB) We mustn’t deceive ourselves by thinking that what we say about others in private won’t have serious consequences. I know from experience that trying to refrain from gossip without getting to the root of the problem is futile. Jesus said that whatever is in our hearts will eventually come out of our mouths. (Luke 6:45) That’s why the Lord demands that we deal with what’s in our hearts. In Zechariah 7:10 (NIV), He says, “In your hearts, do not think evil of each other.” Only by obeying this command can we successfully overcome our tendency to speak negatively about others. While we can’t change our own hearts, we can ask God to change us. David prayed, “Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires.” (Psalm 51:10 TLB) We can pray this same prayer, trusting the Lord to answer by making us more like Jesus as we seek Him daily.

James 1:26 (TLB) gives us an idea of just how important what we say is to our witness: “Anyone who says he is a Christian but doesn’t control his sharp tongue is just fooling himself, and his religion isn’t worth much.” If we don’t make a serious effort to control our speech, we can’t expect to make a real difference for God. In Ephesians 4:29 (NIV), Paul says: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Our words have the power to build up and tear down. They can either “pierce like a sword” or “bring healing.” (Proverbs 12:18) And the words we speak can affect us, as well as others. Proverbs 18:21 (AMP) says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life].” That’s why Peter says, “If you want a happy, good life, keep control of your tongue.” (1 Peter 3:10 TLB) Gossiping, or even just passively listening to gossip, can affect our physical and mental health and well-being. Proverbs 18:8 in the Message Bible says, “Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy. Do you really want junk like that in your belly?”

What if WE are the victims of gossip? Peter says, “Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do, and He will bless you for it.” (1 Peter 3:9 NLT) May our heartfelt prayer each day be: “May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer”! (Psalm 19:14 NLT)

© J. M. Farro

God’s Love Is Deeper Than Your Problem

The Lord reached down from above and took hold of me; he pulled me out of the deep waters. - Psalm 18:16

There are times when we all think, “I’m going under for the last time! I’m about to sink!” No matter how deep you are, God’s love is there. He can pull you out of the deepest waters.

No matter what problem you have, God’s love is deeper than your problem. You may be in deep despair, deep trouble, or under deep stress. You may have deep problems — emotional problems, physical problems, or financial problems.

Yet God’s love is deeper still.

Corrie ten Boom and Betsy ten Boom were Christians who lived in the Netherlands during Word War II. They hid Jews in their home to protect them from the Nazis. When they were discovered, not only were the Jews taken to the concentration camp but Corrie and Betsy were taken as well, and they spent the rest of the war there.

After watching one atrocity after another, Corrie told Betsy, “This place is the pit of Hell!” Betsy replied, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper.”

In the last few months, you may have hit bottom. Perhaps you’re at the bottom financially and you think, “I’m going broke!” Or, you’ve hit bottom emotionally, or your marriage has hit bottom, or you’re having health problems. You’re frustrated, and you think, “I’m going under.”

Where is God when you hit bottom? He’s right there underneath you. He is “your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you” (Deuteronomy 33:27a NLT, second edition).

Drop into his arms of love. Let him catch you and support you when you have nowhere else to go.

© Rick Warren