What if?

Andrew Murray wrote this many years ago "You are in this straight place by Divine appointment." Second, he said, "You are here in His keeping. He will keep you by His grace and love in this situation." Third, Murray said, "You are here for His training and discipline. God wants to stretch you, to build you up, and He has brought you to this trial to test you by fire." Finally, he said, "You are here in His time. You don't know how long you'll be here, or what your future will hold, but this is where God wants you now."

What if you and I approached every trial we face with these precepts in mind?

What if we viewed every hardship as His perfect plan for us?

Murray also said, "If there were any circumstance better for you than the one in which you find yourself, Divine Love would have placed you there."

That gives our trials a whole new meaning, doesn't it? If you are experiencing a time of difficulty right now, ask God to give you wisdom to see your situation the way He sees it. His aim is that you and I grow up. Trials are our ticket out of complacency and mediocrity. When we struggle, we grow. Like Job, we can be certain that the outcome of our pain will be a stronger, purer faith.

The Apostle Paul wrote this over 2000 years ago, how true these words are still today.

Romans 5:1-5 HCSB

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith,  we have peace  with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.   We have also obtained access through Him  by faith  into this grace in which we stand,  and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that,  but we also rejoice in our afflictions,  because we know that affliction produces endurance,   endurance produces proven character,  and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us,  because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts  through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

God still dwells amongst His children

The Ark of the Covenant represented God's presence among his people, and His pure holiness. Though the actual ark is lost , today sadly we have lost what it represented as well.

We have lost the sense of God's holy presence among His people. Nothing is sacred anymore. Sexual immortality, and a culture of death rule our airways for ratings, ordinary people, politicians and celebrities mock God openly by words and deeds. We have lost almost all reverence of God that is critical to our very survival.

God dwells within His children, we are to have the same respect and awe of God as Israel had for the Ark of the Covenant, but like Israel we have almost lost it,we need to bring back the awe of God to our land, to recover our sense of the sacred.

We must repent, confessing our sin to the living God who makes ethical requirements of us. When we return to Him with our whole heart, acknowledging His authority over us.

Then we must remove the foreign gods from among us. That's right. "Little-g" deities like the god of comfort, the god of beauty, the god of gain and ease and activity all of these must go if the awe of God is to return. Then we are to serve God only, and God alone. He is not to be just a part of our lives, but our entire lives, He is to be involved in every endeavor, every relationship, every dream and desire.

Romans 14:7-9, 11-12 HCSB For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and came to life for this: that He might rule over both the dead and the living. For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will give praise to God. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

What is truth?

Absolute Truth has been declared politically incorrect, morality is defined by politicians instead of God in our society today.

But there is a cry today in out families, our churches, and our communities for moral authority.

We need to turn back to the Bible , the Bible is and always has been the source to which we can look and say with confidence, "This is right," or "This is wrong."

You and I need authority in our lives.
And as we live among foriegners, we need it more than ever. I believe the Bible the Word of God is that authority we need. It is infallible. Even if others who call themselves brothers or sisters fall away we who believe must be steadfast and immovable when it comes to God's word. It's precepts give us a place to stand, and a foundation for right living that is unshakeable and true.

2Timothy  3:1-7, 9, 12-17 HCSB
But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people! For among them are those who worm their way into households and capture idle women burdened down with sins, led along by a variety of passions, always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. But they will not make further progress, for their lack of understanding will be clear to all, as theirs was also. In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.