not alone – Past the Surface

Meant To Be

What were you “Meant To Be“? Just asking the question, what you were “Meant To Be” has a sad tone to it because it is saying right now as you read these words, you are not what you thought you were “Meant To Be“. Some reading this will be very sad, some will be just a little sad with possibly others being angry. I want you to know, I am sorry for those who had the good “Meant To Be“. This life is to short living with sadness, regret, and feeling incomplete. It is a terrible thing to live with all that inside your spirit.

No one truly knows your pain. They may hear your words of sadness, regret, and the feelings of incompleteness, but if it has not experienced inside their life they will truly not know how you feel. Most people will hear you and go on without a second thought with being content you are in their life. Your suffering is silent and a slow eating away acid dissolving your dream of what I was “Meant To Be“.

You breathe in and out doing your job and fulfilling the expectations of those in your life. Yet, life does not slow down as time ticks by, no matter if you are standing still or walking forward. Your mind is always wishing for the “Meant To Be” to somehow miraculously appear before you as an open door you could simply walk through.

Life has seen you laugh, cry, and appear to be normal as others. A another face in the crowd doing their thing and enjoying life, but underneath your outward face and appearance the longing in your heart is somewhere else. Your prayers and wishes seem to be old and far away echoes fading in the deep distant canyons with gray and dark clouds hovering above as the wind blows them away as whispering ghosts vanishing out of sight.

Your were “Meant To Be” something else than what you are now. God has a plan laid out for all of us that He would like to bless us with. We just made some decisions that detoured us from that divine plan. It was not His fault, but possibly the freedom of our choices or some things out of our control deviated us from that path. None the less, we are not presently what we were “Meant To Be“.

BEAUTIFUL STORY

A man was told he needed to go and visit this house where a potter creates useful vessels. The understanding of what was “Meant To Be” will come clear to him. The man arose walked down to the town finding the potter’s shop. He opened the door as it swung to the right, stepping inside, he saw the potter sitting at his wheel spinning round and round. You could see the potter’s gentle and skillful hand trying to shape the clay into what he “Meant To Be“. Behind him was a shelf with all kinds of different pottery from the large to the small and the beautiful to the average. The room was silent with only the sound of the foot peddle methodically pressing the harmonious speed the potter desired.

The man stood there without saying a word as his thoughts absorbed the life of the clay being shaped in the hands of the potter. It was a beautiful sight to behold as the clay began to take shape of a wonderful vessel. As the clay was smoothly rotating in the hands of the potter something strange was in the clay. Something was bumping the potter’s hand as it came around each time it grew worse. The potter was trying to adjust, but suddenly the clay collapsed and fell inward. His wheel came to a stop as they both were staring at the crumbled clay.

The man stood there shocked at the sad outcome of the clay. His eyes turned toward the potter for his reaction, but there was nothing there except a continual holding of the clay in his hands. He would not let it go. He did not push it off the wheel into a basket for trash. The potter had an atmosphere about him of “it’s okay, I will do something else“. There was no hint “I am mad at you“, “you are no good“, or “I am done with you“. You have made your choice and what you were “Meant To Be” is lost.

The man standing there watching the potter as he slowly started the wheel to spin again. Hope filled the room for the clay to be made again something new. Standing there anxiously, the potter lovingly formed the marred clay into another useful vessel. A smile slowly appeared upon the potter’s face looking with love at the newly born again vessel. Trash was never in his eyes, but what can I do to help you to be what you were “Meant To Be“. Inspired from Jeremiah 18:1-6

YOUR NEW STORY

The above story is a beautiful typology of God holding us in His hands doing His best, honoring our choices in this life, and trying to help us to be what we were “Meant To Be“. We were the clay that marred in His hands changing over to the shaping wheel of sin and the devil. God did not give up, but worked on us from the outside trying to reach our spirit on the inside for good choices. God, the potter of life, came inside a fleshly clay body as Jesus Christ providing another chance. He, the potter of life, walked among us showing us how to handle this world’s spinning out of control wheel of destruction. God, the potter of life, provided us with another wheel He could set us upon.

We can be (key words) born again as a new vessel in Christ with the smile of God upon us allowing another chance to be what we were “Meant To Be“. The first wheel of God was natural of the earth mixed with His Spirit of Life in the clay. We (Adam/Eve, mankind) marred ourselves in a bad spiritual decision choosing to follow the devil’s lies corrupting our clay and spirit. We all are now born on the wheel with sin as the potter. The second wheel of God was made of His Spirit mixed with a pure fleshly clay vessel. He can now take us from the wheel of sin and place us upon the second wheel making us new creatures in Christ creating all things new (2 Cor. 5:17).

You can still be what you were “Meant To Be“, but in a different and new way. It may not be exactly as you envisioned here on the earth, but the completeness and the fulfilled goal of your soul is still attainable. God will not let go of you or throw you away. You are not trash to Him. You are not replaceable like the devil looks at you when it comes to how God feels.

BEAUTIFUL SECOND WHEEL

God’s beautiful second wheel is in the man Jesus Christ mixed with the one true God’s Spirit on the inside (Col. 2:9). Jesus/God came to take away all, I said ALL, your marred sins inside your clay and spirit. Jesus is the powerful wheel of God that the Potter of Life can once again reshape you into a good vessel. God can fix the path He had hoped you would choose, but you did not and you can once again be what you were “Meant To Be” through Jesus Christ.

Let God take your sadness, regrets, and feelings of incompleteness into His hands allowing Him the chance to fix what was “Meant To Be” in your life. On this wheel you will never be the same again. The power of God’s life and guidance will be inside your clay beside your spirit all the way through this life and carry you into the next. It is the greatest thing to be born again, set free, and have God as your roommate inside your clay with your spirit.

How can I be what I was “Meant To Be” in God? It is simply to repent with regret for the marred sins in your clay from this life, be baptized in Jesus name applying the potter’s blood, which is in the name for forgiveness that he shed on the cross washing away all your sins, and the final touch upon your clay is receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit of God with power of God speaking from within your clay through your voice praising God in a language God gives you, which is a sign to you that your clay has been totally born again of the water and of the Spirit (Jn. 3:5), made new in Christ Jesus inside and out (Acts 2:38).

POTTER AND THE WHEEL

After you are born again of the water and of the Spirit you now have the Potter and Wheel inside you. He can, if you allow Him, help your spirit to see the truth of things and enlighten you with His wisdom from above that is first pure, peaceable, gentle full of mercy and good fruits, easily to be given to others, without partiality, and without hypocrisy (James 3:17). Doesn’t that sound beautiful to have inside your life? This is a greater “Meant To Be” than this life could ever offer. I am no longer spinning on the wheel of sin in confusion, but now a life of clarity from God.

Now, you and I can be like the potter and the wheel through the power of Jesus Christ to reshape our attitude and adjusting to things in this life that we thought we were “Meant To Be” and doing them in the way God opens the door for us to do it fulfilling what we felt were our shortcomings.

If call on Him He will answer us directly. He will wrap his loving hands around our struggling times and touch our hearts where no man can go and comfort in a way no one else can reach. We can do something about our life with the power of the Potter (God’s Spirit) and His clay (Jesus). I want the Potter’s attitude about life when it seems like it is falling apart to not give up and throw it all away, but to hang on and try again.

First, be born again finding in God what you were “Meant To Be“. Spend your everyday wisely walking in the fellowship with God and His Word because you are exchanging what you do daily from a day given to you out of your life. We are all in the count days and life is to short to live with sadness, regrets, and incomplete. Be all that you are “Meant To Be” in God. May God bless you with an overflowing cup of fellowship all the days of your life.

Fighting Myself

Have you ever found yourself wondering “why did I say that“, “why did I do that“, or “what was I thinking“? It is a moment when you realize there is something else going on here. You say to yourself, “I would normally never say or do that“. It is a frozen moment of time in your mind processing “what just happened“?

I don’t know if you have had this experience with getting angry or not. It could be from some other emotion you have experienced. For many years I would easily get angry saying and doing things I would later regret. One day a person did something and my anger immediately reacted and for some reason in the middle of my anger a thought came to me “why are you so angry“, “it was accident“, “you can see in their face they did not mean to do it” and I found myself releasing them from my grip.

For the first time I began to examine and search out the anger within myself. The first truth of myself was my temper and anger were like another person that takes over. It was like a furious person lashing out for a satisfaction without true clear thinking being involved. This started me on the path to watching this anger takeover within my system.

I had now started on a journey of thinking if my anger tries to take me over could there be some other things hidden underneath my own nose. The discovery of asking questions opened the unseen world within me and the unseen world around me. Seeing and understanding how to fight yourself is crucial to finding balance in your life.

Later on in life I found a friend who could help me in “fighting myself“. I had previously tried different kinds of relationships, which actually helped developing the anger issue inside of me. My new found friend whispered into my thoughts “that I had tried everything else why not try me“.

I wanted to know what other battles were inside myself and to see the truth of the world. I was tired of the lies, deceptions, hypocrisy, and no truthfulness anywhere. So, I told God I would give Him a chance and His Bible. Mind you, I had been in the public school system, raised in a church, and transferred to a religious school. The list of wrong things I saw and happened to me where in all three systems. My giving God a chance was between Him and me ONLY (key words).

This is how our relationship began on the basis I want to know. I no longer wanted to be deceived by mankind or anything else. Now, that God and His Word were on a trial basis of friendship. I began to look up things in His Word on what He had to say in His opinion and look what I found…

Romans 7:17 “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me“.

This connected so well with the anger I had as though it was another person in me that took over in certain situations. So, it was the good trying to tell me “it was absolutely an accident” and the evil was enjoying the grip I had on the person to inflict pain. It reminded me when God said to Cain, “…Why are you angry (Why art thou wroth, KJV)…” Ge. 4:6, which Cain’s anger led to the murder of his brother. The “Fighting Myself” battle within Cain did not hear the good, but only listened to the evil.

Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.“

Ah, I see. My flesh has its own agenda. The “Fighting Myself” comes from a mind that can think and a body that only acts. Two laws inside one person warring against each other. One law of good and the other law of evil battling it out. Within you and me the choices of doing good or doing evil is a fight between the voice of good (spirit) and the voice of evil (flesh/body).

It started to make sense and explain some things not only in the present, but also things in the past. This also showed me we are all from a higher creation than other creatures. We have inside of us a spirit that is meant to be higher than our fleshly bodies. Your eternal spirit is to be more than the short and temporary lifespan of your flesh.

Now, I wanted to know “What is good?” “What is evil?” I see I have my spirit on the inside of my body. These two do not get along. My flesh will never be a Christian or a friend to God. My spirit may want to pray (talk with God), but my flesh wants to sleep. The “Fighting Myself” comes from my flesh wanting to do things its own way without thinking of consequences and my spirit wants to understand the truth before the actions. Romans 7:23 “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity (prisoner) to the law of sin which is in my members.“

The first thing I wanted to know what does my flesh want to do in this life. Did God have a list of things my body could potentially want to do? I did a search and found in Galatians 5 starting with verse :19 “…sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery ‘(crazy partying and wild nights)’; :20 “idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions” :21 “and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (NIV)

I don’t know about you, but as I was reading the list of things my flesh would like to do, if it were totally in control, I was saying in my thoughts: yes, yes, yes…no, no…yes, oh yes,…no. Then my eyes came across the last words “…those who live like this will NOT inherit the kingdom of God“. Ah, the “Fighting Myself” and who wins has consequences because God has set His deciding factors in place.

God revealed to me in His Word that I have good and evil inside of me. The fight and struggle is based upon the choice of who wins. As I have found out with this daily walk with my new friend – God/Jesus is I am always being reminded I am NOT alone.

Now, that I have discovered what “Fighting Myself” means it helps me to know when the fight begins who is wanting what in the situation because I have a list to go by. I have not forgotten “What is the good“? In the same book of Galatians and in the same chapter five in next verses says, :22 “…love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,” :23 “gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” This is the list for the good.

Again, did you find yourself going through the list thinking: “sort of, a little bit, kind of, not really, working on it, trying…” as you read through the list? So, the conclusion of the “Fighting Myself” could end with not inheriting heaven or being of such integrity you would need no law to govern you. This “Fighting Myself” has some pretty high stakes and goals involved for my soul.

Romans 7:23 “…But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind…”, :25 “… So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

This is a great understanding of the battles we face in fighting within our own self. Here is a much more understanding and the greatest comfort to all the things we will face in this life. As we have the battle of good and evil inside of us deciding which side will win. We are becoming more like our Father than we consciously realize.

God, also has good and evil inside of Himself. What? God is only good and nothing else! There is no evil inside of God! Are you crazy! Think about it, God is an All Present God, everywhere at once at the same time, which we call Omnipresent. All of creation is inside of God, right? This means inside of God’s All Presences is good and evil. The greater understanding is God, like us, made a choice of who He wants to win – good, which for Him is a final decision.

God had no struggle with evil. God is the ONLY ONE and is still the ONLY ONE who can separate, contain, and control evil. We see His choice between the two inside of Himself. All angels and creations in heaven before us were made totally from the good – His choice. He created all of us with the same choice of good. When Lucifer and a third of the angels wanted to mix the good inside themselves with evil the result was evil won the war of “Fighting Myself” and took them over completely. They did not have the ability to separate, contain, and control the knowledge of evil. ONLY God has that ability.

What did God do with this change of evil creatures in His heaven He created? He kicked them out separating, containing, and controlling their now evil state into another location within Himself. You will see a pattern of what God does with evil within Himself. There is always a separating, containing, and controlling evil within God. He does not want evil to be active in the focused area He has designated for the good.

So, here is the picture: all creations were absolutely good in a designated area while God kept evil separate, contained, and under control within Himself (His Choice), but under the freedom of choice evil was accessible.

Note: Okay, you do understand a creation without the ability of choice there is only existence. A rock by the creek exist for its purpose, but no choice. How much fellowship would you get from a rock? Angels were beautiful interactive creatures God enjoyed their fellowship because He wanted them to exist (Is. 55:11), but they were free to choose within themselves.

The angels can NOT separate, contain, and control evil. They are not powerful enough, knowledgeable enough, or have the presences enough to separate, contain, and control evil. Only God has that ability. Now, heaven has the good angels in a designated area and God separated, contained, and controlled the fallen angels of evil in another designated area.

Good angels have no fight within themselves with evil. Evil angels have no fight within themselves with good because neither one of them have the mixture of the two within them like God. Evil inside God is not warring against God because God finalized his choice – good wins. God gave the angels His choice in their creation, but they decided their choice inside themselves.

Are you slowly seeing why we, God’s children, are special? Angels do not have the two laws of good and evil warring inside of them like we do. God does not fight the good and the evil within Himself because His choice of the two is finalized. We, mankind, are the only ones remaining with the daily battles of “Fighting Myself“choices.

Adam and Eve, the children of God, the human race of mankind could not separate, contain, and control like God the knowledge of evil. It took them over just like it did the angels who made that choice. God did NOT release evil. The choice of Satan and Adam/Eve released evil upon themselves and those under their authority. All evil in this world was released to freely inflict it’s list of pain, sorrows, and tortures by Adam and Eve’s choice, NOT God’s choice.

God is still God of His choice of good and we, His children, when we sinned were put in separation, containment, and in the control with the affects of death, hell, and the grave inside of it (this world) because that is what evil brings. God inserted inside the birth seeds of mankind a promise seed to be born inside the evil world purely good as the lamb of God to pay for the sins of mankind.

This is where the angels long to understand how can these things be (1 Peter 1:12). Adam and Eve should not be able to return from evil. There should be no battle, no choice, no “Fighting Myself“. We, mankind, were made in His image and likeness. We can be like Him, but Adam and Eve could not do it without God inside of them showing how to handle separating, containing, and controlling evil.

The birth of Jesus was God in the flesh encapsulated with pure, holy, and divine blood walking among us with our daily struggles. God again separated, contained, and controlled Himself from evil by being inside the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. God answered the devil in the desert through Jesus on how to separate, contain, and control the temptations of the flesh. God fulfilled all requirements for the redemption (separation, containing, and controlling sin) for His children through Jesus Christ the Lamb of God.

This is why it is crucial for us to win against this battle of “Fighting Myself” with the knowledge, Power, and Presence of God because with Him we have the ability to be like Him separating, containing, and controlling evil by Jesus Christ.

For us to win the war of “Fighting Myself” with the flesh law and spirit law we must be born again. The born again of the water and of the spirit (Jn 3:5) Jesus told us about is the Paying of our debt factor (applying the blood of Jesus washing away sins), the Empowering factor (infilling of the Holy Ghost), and the Knowledge factor (guiding us into all truth, Jn 16:13).

THE BORN AGAIN QUESTION: :37 “…Men and brethren, what shall we do?” :38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:37, 38

These three things gives us the Presence of forgiveness of sins through water baptism in Jesus name applying the blood that is in his name (Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12); Powering us with the birth of the Holy Ghost that has not changed (Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Heb. 13:8) from the days of the Apostles (Acts 2:4, 39); and the Knowledge of truth (Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth… Jn. 16:3) on how to separate, contain, and control the knowledge of evil we face on a daily basis here on earth becoming more like our Father in heaven.

“FIGHTING MYSELF” WAR IS WON

We are His children, born again, learning every day about evil with the same choice to separate, contain, and control by the power of God our Father “…because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4.

While living in this world we step by step make decisions to separate, contain, and control through Jesus Christ the evil we encounter in this world slowly becoming like God our Father knowing how to handle evil that no other creature knows how to handle except God and His born again children.

We still have our flesh to contend with and the world around us. We cannot finalize because the struggles of this life is still teaching us something new everyday on the reason why we should separate, contain, and control evil within ourselves.

:17 “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me“. :18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” :23 “…But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind…”, :25 “… So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” Romans 7:17, 18, 23, 25

Make God and His Word your best friend believing in Him only asking all the right questions.

YOU CAN “…do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Phil. 4:13

Just For You

This evening I felt the Lord taking me back to the woman that broke the letter of the law by committing adultery and was sitting between a wall of men with rocks in their hands ready to stone her to death and on the other side one man left with the final word of her judgment.

I see the woman in her village with all the people knowing her life style. When she walks down the street all the eyes look upon her with shame. She enters the store for supplies and she can feel the air is filled with rejection.

On the surface many people hated her for her getting away with her crimes against the letter of the law, but no one did anything about it, but deep in heart she knew the day would come. No one escapes from the seeds they have sown in life. What goes around comes around.

People only saw her face and body that was given over to the men of the town. The women saw a woman to hate for her actions. The men saw a woman they could use. She was nothing to them, but an object to use. Who cared what she felt or thought?

Could it be she hated herself, hated the life style she lived, and felt trapped with no way out. Could it be she felt there was no forgiveness in the many people around her nor any forgiveness in her own heart. There was no one to reach out to her other than for her to perform and serve them.

She could feel that ominous feeling her day of judgment will come and there will be no one who cares. People only saw her body and did not see her sadness, loneliness, and sorrow in her heart. No one sees me, the real me. No one cares about the real me inside this body.

Jesus stopped in this town to go to the temple to teach. Could it be just like the woman at the well. Jesus sent all of his disciples away just for her to meet him alone at the well. Could it be being God inside that man Jesus knew this woman’s time was at hand.

Could it be Jesus knew that woman felt the day would come for her to pay for her sins because there was no one to help her or forgive her. Could it be all the woman desired with all her heart was for someone to stand up for her and forgive her to set her on the path of doing right.

When the men broke into the room where she was breaking the letter of the law of adultery. She knew her time had come. As they were pulling her along seeing them picking up good size stones. She knew this was it and no one would help her. All she knew they were taking her to a place to stone her to death.

When the men pushed her down she expected them to speak her sentence and the stoning would begin. The day she knew would come was here. The men began to speak, but it was not to her. It was to a man in front of her laying out all the proven evidence before him asking him for the final word of judgment. The truth was breaking her spirit in shame.

All of them could only see a criminal woman of adultery physically laying there on the ground, but there was one man that could see her thoughts and her heart. The tears pouring out of her eyes was not the fear of death, but tears of repentance. She knew she deserved to die and no one would or should forgive her. She was sorry as daughter before God.

God has and always will be multitasking for the souls of His children. Could it be Jesus purposely stayed to teach in the area for not just the people, but the one lady who needed someone to forgive her and others needed to see no one is without sin except God and mercy needs to be practiced.

JUST FOR YOU

Sure the people needed to hear the living Spirit side of the letter of the law. Sure the men with the stones needed to realize all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. They all were blessed. Could it be God was after that one lost sheep in the midst of the 99 sheep who did not need repentance, but understanding? Could His eyes be looking at her with love unspeakable saying, “Just for You“? As we all know we will pull from this scene God’s love for us.

Ready for the stones to start hitting her with the end near the one man says, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” She heard the words, but shock had frozen her mind. What is this? I am going to die. I knew this day would come. Through her tears, no one will forgive me and I am so sorry I have lived this way. I cannot forgive myself.

The stones slowly started hitting the ground instead of hitting her. Silence began to surround her as her brokenness inside continued to crumble. No one can forgive me. No one can forgive. No one will forgive me. I am alone.

In the silence a shadow covered her from the burning hot sun cooling her condemned skin and a soft voice of the one man said, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?“. At the sound of his voice with her body trembling she began to slowly open her eyes cautiously looking around for her accusers. They were all gone. She said to Jesus, “No one, sir“.

In that moment of realization her ears heard the words, “Then neither do I condemn you.” The words of forgiveness overflowed her heart that not just someone, but THE anointed man containing God’s presence spoke these words. She felt the release of condemnation of her past when he said, “Go now and leave your life of sin“. I can start a new life.

JUST FOR YOU is a love only you can see when God goes out of His way to set up the moment to reach out to you when no one else does. He waited for the woman at the well who had six husbands and the one she had presently was not her own. He was there JUST FOR YOU.

Do we see when He sets up things JUST FOR YOU? Did the woman at the well see later it was JUST FOR HER, but spilled over to the people around her? Did the woman who was ready to be stoned to death later see it was JUST FOR HER? the Bible is loaded with people God went there JUST FOR THEM.

If you and I were to really think we could find things God was doing JUST FOR US. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was JUST FOR YOU.

This message God returned me to this woman and her village was JUST FOR YOU. Will you let this spill over from you to others?

Behind Sufferings

Have you ever wondered or asked why was your life so filled with pains and sorrows? Has the ‘Why, me Lord?‘, ‘If it’s not one thing it’s another‘, or ‘Will it ever end?‘ ever crossed your mind or been spoken from your lips? Have you ever come to the place you thought you were destined to live the majority of your life with troublesome situations with only teasing moments of good times? Does it seem like the ones that come looking for you are misery, negativity, trouble, and frustration?

As children the bad things we experienced caused us to store them away and categorize them forming a wall of defense for future encounters. The lies we believed and the suffering from them will never leave our memories or hearts. The bad relationships that caused the tears to flow and the heart to ache will not be forgotten. The betrayals will always be a haunting sight when that memory resurfaces in our minds. Our inward defense pops up holding them at a distance or they overtake us with the emotions all over again. The majority of the time most people fight them off or avoid them not wanting to go through it again. Troubles and misery for most of us is something we don’t want to keep company with.

As time goes by some will face getting tired and weary battling thoughts of they do not want to go home, go to work, or be around people because they become use to always something unpleasant occurring. A constant of some form of suffering is something not all people experience. There are those in life you meet that seem to have the silver spoon in their mouth. Their luck is always blessing them in money, jobs, promotions, and relationships. Their path always seems to be the smoothest while yours is full of debris, holes, and obstacles. They always get the girl or the guy while you are completely ignored. You may have accepted that each step you take will be with the expectation of what problem is next.

There is a side to suffering very few ever see. If it happens to you the void is filled with understanding and perception to the total effect of that bad event. There is a void if it happens to others there is no true experience knowledge inside of you, but only the outward observance and the guess at the pain of suffering. If the majority of things fall right into place and the minority of things fall apart for you this reading will be difficult to wrap your mind and heart around with complete understanding. If the majority of your life is filled with troubles, problems, and never quite lining up for your life you will connect with this reading.

I have heard the song “Blessed” that has the words of “Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops…healing comes through tears…sleepless nights…trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise…“, but never really digging into it. The song “Thy Will” has words like “…I may never understand that my broken heart is a part of your plan…All I’ve got is hurt…But this don’t feel good right now…It’s hard to count it all joy…” , again not really going past the surface of the words. The song “Trust in You” says, “Letting go of every single dream…I try to win this war I confess, my hands are weary, I need Your rest…” is another hearing with nothing past the surface to understanding what is behind the words.

Troubles will try to drive you, negativity will try to push you, problems will try to beat you, sorrows will try to crush you, betrayal will try to stab you, lies will try to slap you all of which is an attempt to surround you with darkness and defeat. We know the fight will be there when we wake up and remain until we sleep with possible nightmares even there.

The paths in this life that I was drove down, pushed into, beaten with, betrayed into, slapped, blindsided, and crushed with caused me to reach out to someone I was completely ignoring. As you can tell I have made God my best friend, but just because He is my best friend does not make me instantly smart and smooth life. We are the ones still learning every day. It does not matter what you affiliate yourself with or title yourself because you are not automatically perfect because of the connection. When I took my first step towards God I was not instantly a saint. Each day, each step, each word, and every action was learning to be better than what I was before.

As I was talking to my best friend He dropped a thought in my mind that I had never considered before. This is one way He guides us by showing us a thought path for us to follow Him to the end of understanding. At this moment I was pondering the troubles we all face daily and the different levels. This is when He dropped an image of a father sitting about two feet apart from his child that was weeping. The father looked at the child with eyes filled with the look of please scoot closer to me and I will wrap my arms around you and cover you with my love that changes not. Why doesn’t the father scoot over and force his arms around the child, I wondered. Some of us want to handle things are own way. Forced comfort is not one hundred percent effective being one-sided as compared to freely choosing the comfort and the two agree as one.

A son took his inheritance and spent it with wild living all the while he could not be helped until he freely and willingly chose to commit himself to his father (Lu. 15:11-24). We all have set our sights on something in this life whether it was a person we wanted in our life or a certain thing we wanted to be and went after it with all of our might. The not getting the girl or guy we wanted, the not getting the certain thing we wanted, the not becoming what we wanted to become, and the other things that did not end well there may have been a reason behind them. The son wanted to live life spending money and partying not realizing there was an ending and a beginning to something different he had not considered. The happy days of parties and money turned into no one really cared about him with no money in his pockets. Misery, loneliness, and being poor were now his only friends. I see the father sitting close to the child wishing they would allow him to comfort them, but it was up to them. Here the son is in a muddy hog pen slopping the hogs to make some money and having nothing to eat hungered for the hogs food. ‘Why, me Lord?‘ could be going through his mind sitting there desolate. Behind his trouble was a father wanting the chance to help a son to live and learn the right things in life.

What if troubles in this life had God behind them waiting on you to seek Him? What if behind the sorrows you are facing God was waiting on you to cry and be comforted with Him? What if a sickness had God standing there waiting on you to seek Him, meet Him and trust Him? What if your hunger and thirst God was there waiting on you to ask Him, seek Him, and knock at His door?

This is a time to stop, stand there, and really look around yourself. We are in a day that there are all kinds of avenues we can choose to follow. Could it be the different troubles we are having has God waiting on us to choose Him? There are more sides to this life than eating and drinking the pleasures of this world. There are more important things in this life than being recognized by our fellow-man. There are better positions to attain in this life than the leaders of this world. There is a status to reach inside yourself that is far greater than the things of this world.

Your pushing for financial status quo may never be reached being constantly blocked by troubles of this world. Your troubles may be God standing behind them waiting on you just to lean on Him, acknowledging Him, and trust Him to guide your paths (Prov. 3:5, 6). I know it may be hard to believe, but there is a down side to being well off. It is nearly impossible for a rich person to enter into heaven as it is for a camel to crawl through a low gate to a city, eye of a needle (Mtt. 19:24). Your troubles could be the thing keeping you close to God making it easier for you to humbly enter into heaven. This reading may hurt because you would love to have less of a financial burden on your shoulders, but that weight may be what keeps you awake to praying to God.

A person that has it all together in money, power, relationships, and material things is something we observe from the outside wishing the luxuries would be ours. We live from pay check to pay check barely meeting the needs of our families. We have the pressure of paying our bills on time. We have no power of influence to use for ourselves. Our relationships are filled with arguing, negativity, misunderstandings, and seem like constant turmoil. Our material things come from hand-me-downs, neighbors, and the cheapest things we can afford. We are constantly sacrificing our time for all other things, but ourselves. Reality tells you they will always be there. Could it be behind all these things we know will always be there sits a Father close to us waiting on us daily to turn to Him for help in carrying our loads in life keeping us close to Him to the day He reaches up and removes that burden with the words to us to enter in my good and faithful child?

If you or I were rich, wealthy, and increase with goods would we even think of our heavenly Father? Would it even dawn on us that day in the hospital bed dying beyond the ability of the doctors all our riches, wealth, and increase of goods could not stop death either? Would it cross our minds anything and everything we physically have in this world someone else will take it over and do with it as they please? The comfort and false peace we would live daily would meet a harsh reality when it comes to the things of our heart. Rich people often seek for the treasures of real friends, real relationships, and real things for their spirit because they have not been pushed as we have in daily life.

The ‘need of nothing‘ spirit and attitude robs us of the things that matter and will last for an eternity. The ‘need of nothing‘ spirit plays and sings to us songs of temporary lies of happiness and false peace. The ‘need of nothing‘ spirit dances before us wooing us into a vision of parties with no tomorrows. The ‘need of nothing‘ spirit drives us to credit debts beyond the truth of our financial means. The ‘need of nothing‘ spirit places glasses over our eyes with false lenses of paradise on the inside and the outside is black as night. The ‘need of nothing‘ spirit brags to con us on our outward appearances avoiding the looking on the inside of our hearts. The ‘need of nothing‘ spirit of this world would have us to believe lots of money, lots of clothes, lots of vehicles, lots of homes/cabins, and lots of good times is the answer to true happiness. What the ‘need of nothing‘ spirit does not tell us the good things of this world puts us to sleep, blinding us from the miserable, nakedness of our wretched soul, and the difficulty of entering heaven after this life (Rich man and Lazarus, Lu. 16:19-31).

My troubles are to keep me praying fresh living prayers. The bombardments of negativity are supposed to keep me seeking God’s positiveness. My on-edge of poorness should keep me humble and mindful for my need of God. My misery should make me run into the arms of God for the comfort of a better tomorrow. My naive acceptance of lies and deceptions should drive me to desiring the truth from God. My shame should cause me to desire to be clothed and covered by God.

None of us enjoy suffering, sorrows, losses, breakups, betrayals, negativity, and other kinds of stresses in this world. I don’t like the thoughts that my tomorrows will have troubles waiting for me to arrive. If I know the Father is standing there with that trouble ready with His grace in hand I want to find Him and freely choose His sufficient help in time of my need. If I know the Father is going to take the sour lemons that life hands me. I want to look past the present suffering and find Him to allow Him to convert it with His power into making me a better person.

Paul was suffering in his flesh with tormenting pain. He asked God to take away this pain three times (2 Cor. 12:7, 8). It never occurred to me suffering, negativity, pain, and sorrow may be putting or keeping something in its right place for the preserving of the status of my soul. We all have different things in our lives that will so easily cause us to fall and sin (Heb. 12:1). Behind our problems could be a reason for to keep us in check. It sounds awful, I know. I would rather be alive to God than to allow the ‘need of nothing‘ spirit deceiving me like the rich man waking up in hell for eternity. God told Paul the reason behind his suffering and tormenting pains of the flesh was for to keep him humble and the spirit of conceit would not deceive him into losing his own soul. This temporary suffering of the body was a time for him to keep his spirit fresh in prayer and fellowship with the Father sitting right next to him for His grace is sufficient and His power makes perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).

Problems, troubles, negativity, sorrows, and all other pains of this life could be God wanting you to call on Him, to meet you, admit you are not God, to look for Him, to trust Him, and to believe Him in keeping your soul safe from the ‘need of nothing‘ spirit. After God told Paul the reason behind the suffering Paul said, “…I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:10).

TROUBLES AN OPPORTUNITY?

Naaman – 2 Kings 5:1-15 God wanted Naaman and others to know, meet, and see

Pharaoh – Exodus 7-11 God wanted Pharaoh to admit He was God and to Obey?

Balaam – Numbers 22:4-33 God wanted Balaam to believe Him and Listen?

Blindness – John 9:1-41 God wanted understanding to be seen as true sight?

Our daily battles with pain, sorrows, sufferings, negativity, and other stressful aggravations are not against flesh and blood that we can physically see, but by the spirit of rulers, authorities, powers of darkness, and spiritual forces of evil (Eph. 6:12) that we cannot see, but by our side if we look for Him is God waiting with grace sufficient enough and power to perfect our weakness to be called upon. May be He just wants us to be close to Him as much as possible until we are safely home.