Have you ever wondered why God brings you to things in life? Why He has you going through something, especially if it’s painful and messy? Why He would bring you to immense struggle that leaves you reeling in disillusion and seeming despair?
I've been there many times in my life. I'm walking through a struggle right now, and I now understand that this struggle will be with me probably for the rest of my life. I could sit and wring my hands and complain and bemoan the fact that I am going through something hard, or I could look at it for the truth that it is. A testing period. An intense pressing for character revelation.
When I became a Christ follower it was hard to make right decisions all the time, but I felt the immense love and guidance from the Lord and so really at that time it was easier than what it is now, as I have recently realized. Now I am invested in the Lord, now I am in a more mature spot than I was all those years ago, now my trials and pressing are heavier and carry more weight with it. In my early days as a Christ follower, I think I missed some things, I missed that humble lesson many times. I was arrogant in my faith. You can't tell me you haven't walked those steps, I think its something we all go through.
When you walk blindly and arrogantly into a trap, a snare, a plan that Satan set up so nice and pretty for you...it is easy to become disillusioned and distracted by the circumstance and not the lesson the Lord has allowed to come to you. He has allowed your pressing. He has allowed your testing. He never leaves you or forsakes you in it, but allows you to go through it. Sometimes we walk upright and proud in our self-worth and self-faith. We like to tell ourselves that this faith we have is strong in the Lord, until trials come along and we are knocked to our knees, crying pitifully on the floor of our own making. We may have the foundation from God, but we cover over it with what we want and desire and so our foundation is strong yet its coverings are an illusion. We have no choice in those moments but to become humble. God has a way of stripping down the illusion and bringing you to His way of thinking.
The testing periods have no time limit.
Mine lasted a good 2 years. He took everything I thought I knew about Him in my arrogance and stripped it down to the bare bones. He made me re-evaluate my faith in Him. He made me re-think why I believed what I did. He made me fight for His place in my life. He stripped that arrogance and pride from me over days, weeks, months, and years. My mind was focused for a long time at my anger at my circumstance and anger at Him.
Until my desire became Him. I had known an existence that was easy to be with Him, and to spout out His Word arrogantly at people. I was a good arguer for the Lord. I could melt opponents from the fire and wrath of my tongue. I was good at cowing people down- had been good at it before I even knew Christ and became worse afterwards. That wasn't a loving heart. I was even arrogant in my 'loving' people- it was a 'I have Christ therefore I love you' attitude and it wasn't heartfelt and heart warming. I could walk away from people easily. I taught in arrogance and pretend humbleness. Until the Lord just had enough. He set on me a testing that took years. He made me start from scratch and rebuild my faith in Him. I had to WANT Him, I had to SEEK Him, I had to FIGHT for Him.
All of that in the most intense battle and struggle I have ever had to go through. It wasn't enough for me to say I had faith, I had to live it, breathe it and hang onto the hem of His garment with all of my might. I have had a cross to bear ever since that day that it began. The more I walk with Him, carrying this cross of mine, the more struggles I go through. Christian life is not and should not be an easy one. Whoever said following Christ would be an easy life, obviously never read scripture and never met Jesus.
Your struggles are there as a part of this faith-life. Our struggles are there to help us grow IN HIM. They are there to help us re-evaluate our faith and beliefs and the "why's" of both. Jesus was tested in the wilderness. Why would we be different? If you really look at His life and ministry, He had opportunity after opportunity to walk away from a hard human life. He had no home, but what others were willing to provide. He was always coming up against opposition- almost constantly and yet kept His focus on the Father. He is a God that understands the thoughts, emotions, and decisions that we have to go through while we are in human form, but He also sent His Spirit to dwell inside of us to guide us. We are close to God because He sent His Spirit to dwell INSIDE of believers.
We know we are not alone in these struggles, because His word declares the Truth about Himself and the Holy Spirit.
John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Holy Spirit), to be with you forever.
Isaiah 12:2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord Himself, is my strength and my defense.
Sometimes in our struggles it becomes all about what we are doing wrong, but sometimes it is really about what we are doing right. We are all called to specific tasks in His Name. Our walk isn't easy like I said before, which means that every step has the potential for struggle. If we want something bad enough we will fight for it.
Countries are never conquered with just intentions, there always has to be action. There is always opposition from those they are trying to conquer and yet the struggles they face, although enormous, are just a part of the overall plan. Our human struggles in life whether they be mental, physical, financial etc aren't the big picture although we get caught up and fixated on what is in front of us and it seems so pressing during it. No, the big picture is what God has centered on us to do for His Kingdom.
What He has personally equipped you with. What task He has set before you. What talent or gifting He has given you for the advancement of His kingdom or to help someone else in need. The struggle isn't the focus. The struggle is a character pressing, a 'find out what you're made of' type of soul searching, but while we go through it, we can't let it consume us. If we allow it to consume us, we aren't heeding the call of the Holy Spirit within us. We are also living in a fallen world and we are not just battling the seen but the unseen as well. We are fighting the minions of the evil one and his plans he has against those that belong to God. So in that struggle, know that Satan is against you and is trying to keep your focus off of the Living God, he's trying to keep you away from the Living Word and the Power of the Word. Keep your focus on God, resist the evil one and he will flee from you.
Lord, help us as we walk through this life. Help us take the magnified focus off of our struggles and put them back where they belong; on You. Guide us through the troubled waters we find ourselves in today and help us to keep hanging onto You, as You are our life raft. God we are unable to see the whole picture, but Lord we thank You for the glimpses of eternity You have given us. Thank You for Your Word as it is Light in the darkness of this world, we thank You for the Truth spelled out for us in black and white and we thank You for the Holy Spirit that resides in us. Lord, help us to find joy in the middle of our sufferings and trial and not complain and bemoan our circumstance, but to see that You are there with us and You never will leave us to do it all alone. We love You Lord, thank You for loving us. In the Holy and Precious Name of Jesus. AMEN...
