So, I’ve been rather quiet over here for a while. Life.. ya know?
Well, I’m here today. I’ll be stepping aside from our Holy Bible study in 1 Timothy for this post because God has laid on my heart the need for encouragement.
Yesterday we had a sweet night at church with communion that was followed by an intimate afterglow time with our church family. Sometimes when we open into church fellowship times my flesh gets a little nervous because I’m naturally introverted… yet God enjoys to shine through that by asking me to share. He laid on my heart scripture to share, then as I stood up, someone else had stood up right as I did. They shared, and then the allotted time was up and we sang our last worship song. I knew that God had given me this scripture and in remembering that He is sovereign in everything and that He knew that who needed to speak in that time did stand and speak.. I was left with the question: Was this scripture meant for me? Well the answer to that is a resounding, “Yes!” So, I immediately began to feel my face get red with embarrassment, hoping that my stand-up-sit-down wasn’t noticed by too many people! I looked back at my husband who was at the sound booth to find him giving me this look of urgency… Yep. embarrassed. After service was over I walked to the back of the sanctuary to find my husband standing there expectantly. He simply said, “You had something to share.” “Yeahhh, God laid something on my heart..” “It was meant for someone,” he replied. Wow.. Ok. So, God IS sovereign and I AM supposed to share what He gave me. He knew how the events of last night would pan out. Therefore… in obedience to His calling, here it is. For you.
Please bear with me as I share a few scriptures here.
2 Corinthians 4:8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
At the beginning of the year God gave me a word for the year, “Focus.” Which at the time I thought was really neat. I thought, “Oh good! He is going to grow my faith! This will be a year of focusing on Him in a deeper way.” Oh how true that has been! If you’ve walked with the Lord any length of time, especially if you’ve stepped out to serve Him, you have probably found that life isn’t any easier. The gospel is incredibly good news! Jesus, the holy and spotless lamb died as a sacrifice for us. His blood cleanses us of all of our sins, once and for all, if we believe in Him as our Lord and Savior and choose to follow Him. He breaks our chains and lifts our burdens! We literally can feel that difference in our spirit! (If you have never experienced this and have questions I am open to discussing this with you.) But, that is coupled with the reality that we are currently still on earth in these created earthen vessels. There is still a spiritual battle waging around us, a battle we can not see. But for followers of Christ it’s a battle we can deeply sense because we become targets as our enemy doesn’t want people to be saved eternally. Our enemy wants to lead masses like sheep into eternal darkness.
Lately, in our tiny part of the globe- East Tennessee, our communities have experienced some heart-wrenching trials. Just in the last few months we’ve lost a dear hometown hero. A dedicated officer who touched the lives of many in our small town and died while serving to protect. We’ve experienced wildfires that have destroyed thousands of acres of our beautiful mountainous homeland, over a hundred homes and businesses, and taken numerous lives. We’ve lost a man who worked in a lesser acknowledged area of service, utilities, as his life was taken serving our town in the midst of a power outage. Personally I’ve seen and prayed with people as they’ve hurt for their children, their marriages, and major illnesses. All of this within my very own small realm of community… If you ask me, I know far too many people who are feeling pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and knocked down.
The encouragement comes in the contrasting areas of this verse. These are promises for those who have been redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus, we will not be crushed, we will not be driven to despair, God will not leave us, and we will not be destroyed! We must remember these promises. We must focus on the One who is our Rock, our Fortress, and our Help in trouble!
We must also develop an eternal mindset, looking beyond our incredibly short lives on this earth, which described in the book of Ecclesiastes as a vapor! Our lives are a vapor, a breathe, over in an instant in comparison with eternity.
Our lives on earth also are not perfect and never will be perfect. Take a look at verses 10-11..
10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies.
In the midst of earthly hardship it’s hard to step back to look at these verses spiritually. You mean we have to expect hardship? Well, yes. When you take the term “christian” and look at it as is intended as a “follower of Jesus”, we gain a greater understanding that as we follow Him, we even follow Him in the hard things. Jesus walked a life of being hard-pressed on every side, being persecuted and hated, and being struck down… Let’s just take a moment to let this sink into our hearts. Not only did He walk this earth to be sacrificed for us…. He was and is God! He humbled himself, left His heavenly abode to show the greatest expression of love, for us! We are even told that this amazes the angels!
1 Peter 1:12 They [prophets] were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.
So, let not your heart be troubled (John 14:1) and let Him comfort your today. Check out 1 Peter 1:6-9 below and notice the promises we have in Him!
1 Peter 1:6 So be truly glad.[b] There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
Let Him grow you today. Allow Him to encourage you and give you peace that surpasses understanding today (Philippians 4:7). Choose to trust in Him even when you may not feel like it!
With so much love,
Courtney
More Than Gold 