Have you ever had a trial or tribulation you just don’t quite understand? You pray, cry, and pray even more, yet the more you find yourself in the sinking sand of despair. You’re not alone. Yes, you read it correctly… YOU ARE NOT ALONE! God allows for trials or tribulations to work us and usher us into a greater dependence in Him and Him only.

I hear people from day-day-to make statements about how “they did or own” certain things on their own as if they are self-made successes. Everything each of us has ever owned or possessed in this life came from God. You may have lost the possession, relationship, or thing along the way for whatever reason, but He gave it to you to be a good steward over, not to worship it’s existence and being.

When we’re not fulfilling stewardship over what God’s given us, rest assure you’ll find He’ll quickly separate you from that matter! The GOOD NEWS: God loves each of us so much that He has to save many of us from our very own destruction by allowing for trials and tribulations to bring us back into full relationship with Him. He misses each of us dearly when we make the decision to worship elsewhere, rather things beyond Him.

Let 2 Corinthians 10:17-18 serve as a reminder of His love and more importantly, a reminder of where our strength and dependence lies: in Him and only Him, not other people or things!

Charles Swindoll states, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” Meditate upon that statement for a minute and truly let it soak in. Think about ALL OF THE TIMES you reacted to circumstances and situations that were not Godly. There are many people lying six-feet deep in cemeteries well before their time because the 90% they chose lead them down the path to destruction (death). It’s one thing to die because it lived a full and prosperous life, but a whole different thing to die behind foolishness and sinful actions.

Now this post is not meant to beat any of us up or be ‘Debbie Downer’ by any means. My hope is that thinking about our daily actions and reactions allows for each of us to process information in such a way that we allow God’s teachings to take a hold of our lives and lead our hearts before, during, and after circumstances and situations arise. We hear the importance of our actions, but there also is equal, if not greater, importance for our reactions.

In short, God wants to love us and give us favor and a good name in the sight of Himself and everyone we meet, but there is a level of expectation that we must decide to uphold in our daily actions and reactions for such to happen.

Those words of power were spoken by Jesus himself. I find great comfort knowing that I can depend on those words for this lifetime and the next, even after both Heaven and earth have passed away. With all of my prized possessions, family, and friends, nothing on this earth can fulfill such a promise spoken by Jesus in Matthew 24:35. Think of His words as our insurance policy that is paid in full because of His sacrifice on the cross for our unworthy lives we live in our every attempt to bring Him glory in all we do. Simply put, these words should direct our every move, action and reaction, in life.

Who and what else could ever match Jesus’ guarantee of never failing us?

Is He your “I’m-in-trouble -genie-in-a-bottle”? For some people, the only time they ever think to call on God is when life’s dark storm clouds come rolling in, or when they’re in need of a “world-moving-miracle” of some sort. God is just like the rest of us… He too would like to be shown love and appreciation for the little things He does on a daily without us asking.

Think for a moment… about the smallest blessings you’ve been a prime recipient of just today. Yes, what if He hadn’t decided to wake you up in a comfy bed and living arrangement, then what?

My mom always told me saying ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ would take me a long way in life. Just as we each love to hear both when we do things for people, don’t you think God would love to hear thanks from you, and more importantly, what He is and means to you?

Who is God and what does He mean to you?

If God came back at this very moment, pressing pause on all of our lives, what would He find in all aspects of your life? Would the sum of your actions line-up with God’s Word in regards to obedience of His commandments for us all?

Think about it… We don’t know when God is coming back, yet many people choose and decide to live their lives for their god. Yes, I used lowercase god, because if you’re not serving the one and only God (Jesus), then all others are just that, small gods or idols, which cannot save you.

But more importantly after reading James 1:21, I pose the following questions to each of us:

What would your possessions (house or apartment, iPod, vehicle, pc/mac, email account(s), mobile phone, or bank account just to name a few) reveal about your life?

Would it show your heart’s motive was in direct relationship with God, or indirect?

Personally, I’m so glad that God doesn’t throw in the towel on me as one of His children. As often as each of us allows for ourselves to be frustrated and aggravated with others and their flaws, I’m sure God is just a frustrated with each of us in our areas of struggle in our Christian walk.

The great thing is that God doesn’t throw each of us away with each and every flaw we possess. He works each of us and our flaws like the potter does his clay, molding and shaping us into our purpose of glorifying God in all we do and possess. Beyond our flaws, God sees the good in each of us and uses the flaws to bring about good; however, in striving to become the good work God made us to be, we have to let go of our insecurities and stop focusing on our flaws.

Now this doesn’t mean we don’t need to improve upon our flaws, rather we need to look towards our creator, God, to help us improve upon areas of our lives that we struggle with on a daily. I’m willing to bet that God has given you someone or something to overcome that ‘flaw’ you think is holding you back. Let go of that ‘flaw’ and allow God to use it to not only bless you, but bless the socks off someone else too! – that is, should you stop passing out pity-party invites about your ‘flaw’.

Are you going to cry just because you’re flawed, or celebrate that God is using your flaws to bring about good for you and others to bring Him ultimate glory?

If God ask you to travel to the ends of the world to carry the Gospel, would you? Would you go willingly or would He have to deliberately place you where He needs for you to be?

These are deep questions to answer for some of us while others try to minimize their part they play in building the Kingdom. At some point in your life, not just some point but many points, God is going to test your faith and trust in Him in regards to carrying the gospel to places you’ve never thought about visiting. For some, it may be a short visit and while others are called to minister a lifetime. Are you ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Could God depend on you to walk away from all of your comforts to solely focus on bringing souls to Christ? Can you say yes without a doubt in your mind?

One of the most challenging concepts to deal with in life is ‘belief’. Belief in conceptual terms is a very slippery slope for some. For some people, without evidence of proof, they just won’t believe even when they see the unbelievable and unexplainable happen with their very own eyes. Others, well, they believe with the conviction of the truth and need not to be convinced. My question to each of us in regards to Psalm 16:8 is this: Do you believe without a doubt in your mind that you will not be shaken when setting the Lord before you in all aspects of your life?

It’s easy to say ‘yes’, now let your words and actions (belief) come into alignment with your commitment to God’s Word.

[22] “How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?

[23] If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. [24] But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, [25] since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, [26] I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you [27] when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
[28] “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. [29] Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, [30] since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, [31] they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. [32] For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; [33] but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”Proverbs 1:20-33

At our weekly bible study and community group time this past week, a thought crossed my mind in regards to wisdom as I listened to various participants express self-prescribed opinions in relation to the current book of the Bible we’re studying. That’s not to say all opinions we horrible, but a few didn’t line up with the Word of God. And from where I’m from, you don’t ‘kinda’ get into heaven – it’s quite concrete; either you do or don’t get in to heaven!

I digress… my thought was centered upon how as believers we need God’s grace and mercy upon our lives each and everyday to provide protection. That’s nothing profound in thought, but the power comes in having wisdom and a discerning spirit to listen and be lead down the path of righteousness by God and His Word. Even that sentence is not profound as most of us know this too to be a truth as it relates to being a believer in Christ.

However, the rubber hits the road when it comes to activating our faith to believe and act upon God’s word – even in the most simple terms of daily living. Most of our problems are not deadly although the actions, if not aligned to God’s Word, eventually can lead to death and destruction.

Just as verse 22 states, How long will each of us simple ones love our simple ways? Think about your life for a moment. Each of us, hands down, is the CEO of our personal fan club. Be real, we each love us some ‘ME’! Don’t get me wrong, I want each of us to love ourselves, but not to the point we forsake God, God’s wisdom and His Word. God has promised us that should we listen to Him and obey His Word, our lives will be lived in safety and ease, without fear of harm.

So then why would any of us knowingly choose our own ‘Do-It-Yourself’ Prescription when God has openly made Wisdom to handle our circumstances and situations available through prayer?

Think about areas in your life that you subscribe to the ‘Do-It-Yourself’ Prescription. How about Prayer? Finances anyone? Careers? Family and Friends? Material Possessions? Purpose and the list goes on…? God is waiting for each of us to ask Him for Wisdom to handle all of life’s situations.

Are you ready to break your addition to ‘Do-It-Yourself’ Prescriptions and try the one and only true prescription in life: Chirst?