God Will Get You Through It
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
You can’t live with the mindset that you must prevent any and all failure in your life. You can’t live to prevent hurt. You can’t live to avoid hardship. You can’t live to avert disappointment. Why? Because that failure and that hurt and that disappointment might just be the way the Lord wants to grow you and bless you.
No amount of disappointment should make you doubt that God’s work and God’s plan and God’s purpose is being fulfilled in your life. No disappointment should make your relationship with the Lord negotiable. Abraham waited for years and years for the arrival of Isaac to be the fulfillment of his hopes and the answer to God’s promises. Perhaps you are awaiting the arrival of your Isaac, so to speak. If so, let me tell you this: the long stretches of time waiting to see it come to pass should not make you consider abandoning your faith or lessening your trust or doubting your God.
God is going to complete whatever God starts in your life. God is going to deliver whatever God promised He’s going to deliver. God is going to answer whatever prayer you articulate. God will shape you however He has creatively imagined. God will accomplish everything He intends for your life!
If you anchor your faith in Him, you can confidently take advantage of opportunities He puts before you. And whether you sink or swim, whether you fly or free fall, whether you succeed or fail—none of that matters as long as He is with you.
You’re not trying to prevent loss, hurt, disappointment, or failure. That is not your goal. You’re trying to multiply, and advance, and progress, and risk, and explore, because eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, and minds have not conceived what great things the Lord has in store for you. So if you try to take advantage of God-given opportunities, and you trip along the way, it doesn’t matter as long as God picks you up and plants your feet on solid ground again.
Shift your focus from avoiding the difficulties of life to looking at Jesus as He walks you through them.
God Believes in You
For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.
Matthew 25:14-18 (NKJV)
In the parable of the talents, the owner entrusted money to his servants while he went away. It was clear that the owner wanted to have his money used profitably while he was absent, but he didn’t weigh them down with unnecessary instructions. He was interested in seeing how each one of them would seize opportunities given to them, “each according to his own ability.” This text brings to us an important revelation, which is this: God has a whole lot of confidence in you!
We read of no instructions, no restrictions, no express wishes, no shared desires. When the owner gives up his wealth to his servants, they knew what he expected. They knew that they were to take advantage of what had been given to them and go and make something happen with it.
The same is true for every one of us in our journey with Jesus. He gives us opportunities because He knows our faith can handle it. He knows that our faith will stir up creativity, imagination, and ingenuity in wanting to do what pleases Him.
I can tell you that I'm excited, infused, and inspired about my salvation. I’m motivated that every day I open my eyes, I am in a relationship with a God who believes in me. He believes in me so much that He gives me blessings, and He places His gifts within me. He’s got so much confidence in me that He gives me increased territory, endless options, human connections, open doors, miracles, favor, anointing, and opportunity!
The incentive I have to move forward and use my talents for the Lord is not an absence of fear or an ignorance of my faults and frailties, doubts and suspicions. I am instead fueled by His confidence and motivated by His belief in me. The more God believes in me, the more I want to live up to his belief in me.
Friend, God believes in you. Will you allow that fact to shape your thoughts and actions today?
For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
Matthew 25:29 (NKJV)
Jesus shared a parable to describe the grace and blessing of opportunities that are given to each one of us. It’s the parable of a wealthy man who went away, entrusting talents, or sums of money, to three servants. One is given five talents, another is given two, and a third is given one. The man gives them no instructions, no suggestions, no leads, no expectations. He just departs. We are told nothing regarding the man’s journey. We are simply told he entrusts talents to them and goes his way.
The servant with five talents becomes industrious. He is wise, he is shrewd, and he is creative. Whatever he does, he doubles the five talents into ten. The same happens with the servant given two: he turns it into four. The third servant, who is given one talent, digs a hole in the ground and buries it. He does this because when he weighs his fear of the owner against the potential for opportunity, his fear is greater.
The owner returns unannounced, and he asks for an accounting. Both servants who doubled what was given to them are rewarded. But the one who buried what was given to him is reprimanded and condemned.
The focus of this parable is certainly on the one who decided not to take advantage of the opportunity given to him. Jesus shares this with us to teach that we should not bury the gifts and graces and blessings and redemption given to us. The kingdom of God is for those who take advantage of kingdom-extended opportunities.
This story serves as a reminder that faith is intended to push us to reach for things that are beyond our reach, but not beyond our trust. In trusting Jesus, we become creative and courageous in the stewardship of the blessings He has given.
What will you do with the opportunities He has entrusted you with?
Resurrected with Christ
By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
1 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV)
Lloyd Ogilvie was a Presbyterian minister who served as chaplain of the U.S. Senate. He said, “The most powerful historical proof of the resurrection is the ‘resurrected’ disciples. Dull, defeated people became fearless, adventuresome leaders. Cowards became courageous; the timid became triumphant; the inept did the impossible.”
It’s been said that like the first disciples, our greatest need is not just to hear about the resurrection, but to have the resurrection happen to us.
I don’t have to take you to an empty tomb and show you that it longer bears the body of Jesus. I can just let you walk with me and tell you my testimony. I not only believe in a resurrected Christ, but I’m the testimony of a resurrected man. Things I used to do—I don’t do those anymore. And the places that I used to go—I can’t go there anymore. I can’t help but to love Jesus because I have personally found salvation at the foot of the cross. Like the old hymn, I declare,
At the Cross! At the Cross! where I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart rolled away, It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy all the day!
I believe that Jesus is the resurrected Lord because I am a resurrected individual. I was dead in trespasses and sin. I was blind. I was headed to condemnation, but I heard the voice of Jesus and now I live.
I know that Jesus lives because He lives in me. I know He’s strong. I know He brings blessings. I know He opens doors. I know He makes ways. I know He has power. I know He heals sickness. I know He defeats enemies. I know He defends and protects and provides.
I know all of these things from experience because He lives inside of me. Does He live inside of you as well? When you establish an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, you will find that your life has just begun.
Don’t just hear about the resurrection; let the resurrection happen to you.
Lessons from the Valley
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 (NIV)
I confess there have been times when I’ve thought how different life could be if I had taken a different voyage. But then I look at the treasures I’ve accumulated along the way—the lessons God has taught me and the gifts that He has placed in my life during the journey:
• The revelations that have magnified God in my life.
• The blessings that have defined the quality and content of my praise.
• The losses that have proven life does move on, and things do turn around, and God does heal the hurt, and He can open doors, and the mind can be transformed.
I can’t regret anything in my life—the pains, the pitfalls, the vices—that has led me to these lessons. Not one day of it do I regret. Not one minute of it. Not one scar that is generated from it. Not one limp that I have to bear as a result of it. Because no matter how many failed expeditions and voyages I have had to manage, I’ve picked up some valuable treasures along the way.
I’ve learned that God answers prayer, that He can bring us back from excessively dark places, that He can turn things around, that He can take the worst of human experiences and use them for the best of what He’s trying to extract from us, that He can take us to places as dark as the valley of the shadow of death and teach us that we don’t have to fear any evil because His rod and His staff will comfort us. And right there, He’ll provide a place for us so that we can say, “Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”
Don’t you dare regret any of your pains or your hurts or your failures or your voyages that seemed to accomplish nothing. And even when you think you’ve reached a dead end, know that it’s not a dead end. It’s exactly where God intends for you to be so that you can collect the valuable lessons He wants to teach you. There is treasure to be found in the valleys of life!
