On social media, we will sometimes see pictures or thoughts tagged with #blessed. We beautiful pictures of beautiful families. Scenic views. Everything great, perfect, and tied up in a bow. And you know what? Those are great blessings. Today in … Continue reading
You ever feel like God doesn’t love you? Ever feel like you are too far away from His love? That something has happened that is going to keep you from really knowing His love? Do you ever just feel like … Continue reading
One of the things that we, at least in the western church, can sometimes believe is that if we face roadblocks or troubles, then something must be wrong. We must have messed up, or a door has closed or something … Continue reading
None of us like tough times. Really, I mean who wants to go through a time of trial or worry. None of us do. I don’t, you know, not a single one of us. We all wish that we could avoid these times. But you know what we see when we look at the Bible?
It’s not going to happen. We all are all going to go through tough times. It’s just part of the deal being human. Trials, storms, and tough times will come. Faith doesn’t prevent them from coming, but faith gives us strength when those things hit us. Faith gives us a hope and a belief in the darkest times.
But here’s something else the Bible says. Count these storms as a joy. Listen to what it says today in James 1: 2-4:
2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
James says count these trials as joy. Why? Because these tests produce endurance and endurance grows our faith. Our faith matures and lacks nothing. When we go through tough times, you know what we find? All we need is Jesus.
And if we have Jesus, we all have all that we need.
When these trials come against us, they can (if we allow) draw us closer to God. And went our trials draw us closer and closer and closer to God, they become for us, in a redemptive way, blessings.
Here’s the thing. It’s up to us if these trials are blessings or curses. How we handle them. How we deal with them. How we allow them to affect our faith. That’s up to us.
The old saying is when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. What faith can do it will allow us to see those lemons as lemonade. Through the eyes of faith, we can see that the lemons are actually lemonade. These trials are good things. They make us tougher. They make us stronger. They may us lean more and more on Jesus.
God will actually use these trials for our faith. We may not enjoy them at the time, we probably won’t. But in time, we will look back and say – at that moment, then, that’s when my faith grew. That’s when I trusted. That’s when I clung tight to Jesus. Then.
Today, let’s not have lemons. Let’s have lemonade. And let’s see exactly what it is that God will do with all our lives!
If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!
Yesterday we read on of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, today we read another. Today, we read in Revelation 2: 8-11 the letter to the church in Smyrna. Listen to what it says:
“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
A couple of things that jump out to me about this letter, and many of the letters in this first part of Revelation. First, notice this part at the beginning – “I know your tribulation and poverty (but you are rich).”
What does it mean to poor and what does it mean to be rich? We think of wealth in terms of possessions. To be rich means to have much, to be poor means to have little. Here, we see John say – you are poor. But you are really rich.
Why?
Because you have Jesus. If you have Him, and you are poor (in the world’s eyes) then you are really rich. If you don’t have him and are rich (in the world’s eyes) then you are poor.
Our worth, our wealth, it never comes from material possessions. It comes from Jesus. I have always liked the quote by Patrick Meagher – “Some people are so poor, all they have is money.”
Today the people are reminded. Yes, you are poor. But you are rich, because you have Jesus. That’s a great reminder for us today. If we have Jesus, we really have all we need.
And the second thing that jumped out to me is when he says, you are going to be tested. Don’t give up, don’t quit.
Sometimes we can think that if we face opposition or troubles, then it’s not what we should do. We are reminded here – no. When are being faithful. When we are doing right. When we are trying, we will face opposition. It will happen.
Don’t give up when the times are tough. God is good. God is there. Don’t quit. He won’t leave you, no matter what.
In all of this, if we have Jesus, it’s going to be ok.
Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones, and you thought our app, you can now watch our worship services from Asbury too!
Jesus promises us a lot of things in scripture. He promises us that the Father sees us. He promises us that we will be forgiven. He promises us that He will be with us. He promises us all sorts of things the Bible.
But today, I want to talk about two specific promises that He makes in John 16: 32-33:
Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
Jesus gives us two promises here this morning. First, there will be trouble. He says that in the world there will be tribulation. There will be trials. There will be times of trouble, there will be times of sadness and tears and worry and fear.
Lock it down there will be trouble. There will be. It’s gonna happen. None of us want it to be so, but it is. In this world, there will be tribulations. Just get ready.
But, the second promises is as hopeful as the first is discouraging. Jesus promises us, I have overcome the world. Take care. Don’t worry. Don’t fear, don’t be distressed. Take heart. Have hope. Have peace, don’t be afraid.
Yes, you will have real, for real troubles. Yes, even as a Christian, things will come that will rock your world. Yes, there will be lots of things that will hurt.
But, it’s ok. Take heart. Jesus is bigger than these things. He’s overcome them. He’s bigger, He’s stronger, He’s better.
Don’t lose heart. Don’t give up. Don’t be afraid. Yes, there will be troubles. But Jesus has already overcome them. Have faith. Trust. Hope. Believe.
He’s got this.
Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones, and you thought our app, you can now watch our worship services from Asbury too!
None of us like tough times or challenges. None of us like times of trial, or times of worry, or times of stress. These are all times that we turn away from, times we we don’t like, times we great, and yes, even times that will haunt us and stay with us for a long while.
There are times in our life that are so hard, that literally feel like days, months, or years of our lives are wasted and gone, time we will never get back, time that is gone for us. These times trial can cause us to even think that God is not there, that we have failed, that our faith is crushed.
You may be going through a tough time right now, and that’s how you feel. You may be going through a hard time right now, and you’re wondering, where is God, how is this going to get better, how is this going to change, how can I keep going?
Today, listen to the words of James 1: 2-4. This time of trial may be a great blessing to you, believe it or not:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Count these times joy. I know it doesn’t sound right. I know it doesn’t even make sense. But it’s true. These tough times, they will make us strong. They will make us better. We will grow. We will find our way. We will find that God is there.
See, that’s the thing that I’ve come to realize about times of trial. We feel like God’s not there. We all feel that way. But what we come to find out, in time, is that it is God that is carrying us. It is God that is giving us the strength to keep going. It is God that is pulling us forward, holding us close, giving us strength.
No matter how hard the challenge is today, God is with you. Know that. Remember that. Don’t give up. Don’t give up. Don’t give up.
Even if you don’t feel it, God is there. Don’t give up.
For this time of trial, it will grow you. It will change you. It will make you better. It will. Believe that. Keep going.
Even in the hard times.
Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phone
You ever feel like you both God with your prayers? Ever feel like you are praying for the same thing, over and over again? Ever feel like God must be getting sick and tired of your prayers? We probably all, at some point, have felt that way.
Today, in one on of my favorite stories in all the Bible, Jesus talks about that. Listen to what happens in Luke 18: 3-7:
And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
I love this story because it’s the story of judge that is not just. Not fair. And this widow just wears him out by always going, asking, demanding justice. And this judge didn’t respect God, no man, but finally he grants her wish, because she wouldn’t leave him alone.
Jesus said, pray in the same way. Wear God out. Pray hard.
Seriously. Pray hard about things. Take things to God over and over and over again. Take it to Him repeatedly. And if this wicked judge, who didn’t care for people or for God, will grant this, how much more will your loving God, who loves you dearly and care for Him, how much more will He grant your requests.
Pray hard. Today. Pray hard. Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Don’t give up hope. Pray hard. God hears. God cares. God knows. Don’t give up.
Keep praying. Don’t quit. Pray hard. God is there. He will hear. And He will answer.
Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.
One of the things that I’ve always stressed in ministry is this. Things will not always be easy. There will be times of trial, times of hurt, times of tears, times of worry, times of stress.
That’s a given. That’s a certainty. We see that in our lives. We know that from our experiences. We just know that. Things will not always be easy.
Even the Bible confirms that. We can even look within God’s Word and understand that man, sometimes it’s just going to stink. Sometimes, there’s no getting around it. It’s just going to be hard.
But you know what, even in that, it’s going to be ok. Listen to what is says in John 16:31-33:
Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Jesus tells us there will be times when the disciples face troubles. They will be scattered. They will leave Jesus alone. Times will get tough, bad, and painful. It will not be fun.
The same is true for us. We know that. We can count those times in our minds right now.
But, keep reading. In the world you will have trouble. But, He has overcome the world. Yeah, it may be bad. It may be hard. You may not like it. You may feel like giving up.
Don’t. Do not give up. The world cannot win. The pain cannot will. The trials cannot win.
They will come. Sure. But Jesus has overcome them. He has triumphed over them. He has conquered them. He has won.
Yeah, troubles come. That’s ok. Remember what matters.
God wins. And through Him, so do we. It’s going to be ok.
God wins.
Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.
Sometimes, in the midst of trials and troubles, it is very easy for us to think that we are all alone. It is very easy for us to believe that there is no help for us when we in the midst of a “spiritual battle.”
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.
RevAndy.org 