STRONGER THROUGH TRIALS

Dearest Saints, First I want to give each one of you Gods richest blessings and His strength to work within you and through you ever so much more in 2015 and be molded to be a strong Advocate for the Lord then ever before. But knowingly, it often takes a person to go through "the wilderness" of life to get to "The Promised Land" where we all want to get to. We all want the blessings, but in order to be disciplined and become that strong Man/Woman of God that we would all like to be, we have to understand that we need to go through circumstances that we may not like to go through during any particular time in life. It may not be what we want, but God knows it's often what we need in order to reap greater eternal benefits. When you read Matt 20:20-22, it mentions that the Mother of Zebedees Children came to Jesus with her two children and asked Him if each one of her sons can sit on either side of God in His Kingdom. Jesus replied back and said to her: You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? In other words, many people want to be blessed and have a place of honor, have a big ministry or fulfill other high ambitions in life, but are they willing to put up with alot of "unfavorable situations" or go through many valleys to do what they would like to do? Are they willing to drink out of the same cup that Jesus drank out of to be able to do what He did? Many of the people who have great and powerful ministries are the ones who learned much as they went through alot of testings, trials and valleys. It has often cost friends that weren't really friends in the first place. It may mean opposition when people say to you: "You can't do this/that". It may be times of feeling lonely and there is no one but just you and God. I may not like what God has to say at times, but am thankful He is honest because He doesn't tell us that He will spare us from storms, but tells us that we will go through many trials to enter into the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). However, He does promise never to leave us, even through the storms of life. Just like when He was in the boat crossing the Sea of Galilee with the other Disciples and He was there with them through the storm. God doesn't just want anyone to go through storms or valleys for no purpose, but the reality is that these are the times/places that make a person stronger by having gone through them. God Himself understands all about trials because He went through greater trials than anyone will ever go through. One of my many trials was dealing with people who often tried to discourage me, which has caused me to fight back with the Power of Gods help to get me through as I held my ground and believed He would strengthen me through those times. Now strangely enough, I find myself to be an Encourager to many people world-wide. Maybe it's because I know the pain of being discouraged and want to encourage many of you in the Lord and to tell you there is Hope when we put our trust in Him. In one instance of dealing with many discouragements, I was told by one of my Supervisors that I would never be able to do the job in an isolated military community and be an effective Warehouse/Retail Manager. I felt drained of all energy just hearing those negative words. I thank God that I was able to fight back and rise up in the power of Gods might to break those chains that the enemy (satan) tried to make me a prisoner of. I had to rely on God and learn to fight back by boldly declaring the Word and getting to know the God whom we serve. Having opposition has taught me to use His Word boldly, courageously and to fight back by having that Victory mentality He tells us in Rom 8:36-37 and Isa 54:17. I can tell you that I would not have developed a bold God-confident spirit within me had I not had to face these challenges and learn to fight back with the Word of God. I know often times that people want whatever storms in life to veer away off track so they don't come our way (whether it is physical storms, relational storms, spiritual storms, "financially-Challenging" storms), etc. However, we need to see them as an opportunity to rely on the Power of God to see us through. Many times, God will have to put people through storms all because many refuse to put their Trust in Him which is where He wants to end up placing each of us for our own benefit. After seeing what God has brought me through, I would not dare want to live a day without the Lord taking full control of my life. In fact, it scares me to leave God out of any part of my life. It's an amazing liberation to trust in God and see how He moves in the lives of many who have come to that place and learned to put their total trust in Him. Again, if we want to be that Bold, dynamic man/woman of God to rise up in His power to be His Representative, are we willing to drink out of the same cup as others have in order to do the type of work they are are doing? Going through "financially challenging" storms may be far better than winning the lottery. It caused me to have my chains broken from that strong spirit called "covetous" which often keeps many of Gods children in bondage. But to be released from this bondage, it often takes people going through challenging times. I have always liked Robin Williams as an Actor. But unfortunately, ended his life by committing suicide. So what did all his $50 Million dollar estate he left with his family end up doing for him? Putting our hopes and affections on the things of this world rather then on God and His Kingdom are temporal and are eventually going to come to a drastic end. Going through trials is a "necessary evil" because this is where people are challenged to examine their heart and motives and make those life altering decisions to decide to Trust in the Lord that will be better for us in the end. Do our hearts still long for Egypt (worldly ambitions, world riches, worldly cares, etc)? These are the times God has transformed my thinking and made me realize that I was putting all my cares and ambitions into something that was only temporal that will not last. Having gone through trials, I no longer have those worldly ambitions by caring to have what the neighbours have or compete to have the latest and most up-to-date gadgets. My heart is now set on things above and living for the Lord. But again, I had to go through trials and valleys to be released from bondages and get to where I am at. I want to encourage each of you to be purposeful in your heart in advance to make a decision that You are going to trust in Him. This is that hedge of protection by preparing our hearts and mind in the first place. Just like Jesus was always prepared in advance by being prayed up before He went into ministry who faced many oppositions. Therefore, don't just simply ask God to spare you from trials/storms, but ASK and BELIEVE our loving God to help You trust in Him to whatever He brings your way in life and ask Him to help you cooperate with Him to become that mighty Man/Woman of God who can be most useful for the advancement of His Kingdom which is the only Kingdom that will last forever. Why put your energies, heart, ambitions and time into something that will never last? With His help, put your energies and ambitions to serve Him and increase the work of His Kingdom. He tells us to set our affections on things above, not on things of this world (Col 3:2) because He wants us to cooperate and be recipients of what is eternally best for us (Read 1 Cor 3:10-15 and 1 Cor 9:24,25). Let's declare to put our Trust in the One who KNOWS what is BEST and He KNOWS what we need to go through. We know what we want, but often do not know what we need, but HE KNOWS what we NEED. The more we resist His leading and fail to put our full trust in Him, we may have to do a journey through the wilderness longer then expected. It took the Israelites 40 years to do an 11 day journey. In Gods economy, as long as we resist from surrendering our lives and wills to Him, we are likely go through more trials and testings until we learn to come to the place of surrendering to His will. I would like each one to pray that God inspired prayer in Eph 3:16-19 so that whatever we have to go through, BY HIS GRACE, we are going to cooperate with Him and be better off eternally because of it. Make a declaration: That by Your Grace Dear Lord, 2015 is going to be a year of surrendering to God and allowing His power to move through our lives like never before. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Ministry Encourager Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/ Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders? (Exod 15:11)