I believe many will agree that 2022 has been a trying year. It has for me. I have experienced some health issues that have tried my faith and found me wanting.
The financial impact of a pre-recession economy has also taken its toll on my savings account while attacking my faith in God’s promise to “supply all of my needs.”
The Old Testament Proverbs says that only a fool says there is no God. But what do you do? Do you throw up your hands, shaking your fist towards heaven, and declare that God is not there? You could, but what would that get you?
As a kidney stone moved from my kidney to my bladder, it did not “feel” like God was anywhere near. The pain medication prescribed by the doctor was useless. The “hear my cry, oh Lord,” quoted by the Psalmist David went unheard—or at least unanswered.
The Apostle Paul, in his New Testament writings, says to “endure hardships as a good soldier.” but what do you do? Do you throw up your hands, shaking your fist towards heaven, and declare that God is not there? You could, but what would that get you?
Jesus says in the New Testament books of the Gospels, “in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.”
But what does that mean? Am I to be happy because I am enduring the tribulation because Jesus overcame the world? How does overcoming the world help me in my tribulation?
The New Testament book of Revelations says that they (the Christ-followers) overcame by the blood of the lamb—Jesus, by the word of their testimony—the things they say while going through the tribulation, and by not loving their lives unto the death—they decided to yield their will to His will.
You overcome
You cannot overcome something you do not go through. This means that trouble came. It was not a walk in the park with sunshine and lollipops. It was a rough—perhaps treacherous—road, but you overcame—How?
The word of your testimony
Amid the heartache, you opened your mouth and acknowledged that God is good, that he is God, and that he DOES take care of you.
You told your feelings to SHUT UP because you believe what you cannot see and do not understand.
God said it—in his word—and that settles the matter.
It is a choice—it always has been and always will be—that is how you are created.
You did not love your life enough to hold onto it
Jesus said he came to earth to do his Father’s will, not his own. Your journey on earth is to fulfill the Father’s will, not your own. And your Father’s will is eternal—not temporal (the here and now).
These are essential elements in a close personal relationship with God—what I call the Godhead.
It is time to know Jesus.
A close personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is an unexpected journey of discovery.