JOY IN TRIAL
December 05, 2019
Prayer: I am glad You are with me today, Lord, even if others mistreat me. I pray for others suffering much more than I am. I trust You to guide my actions and attitudes. Please show me if there is anything in me that displeases You. Thank You. Amen.
Scripture: He will judge the world with justice and rule the nations with fairness. Psalms 9:8 NLT
We know that God loves you, dear brothers and sisters, and that he chose you to be his own people. For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know that the way we lived among you was further proof of the truth of our message. So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. 1Th. 1:4 NLT
All religions teach a system of something to believe about the world, about man’s nature, and about living now and eternally. Trouble is most religions are not at all clear about access to the ‘eternity’ part and about the ‘overcoming evil’ part. However Christianity is different. It is different because Christ was not– is not– the garden variety leader/founder of just a religion. Christ was/is the one and only GOD, come in human form. NO other religion teaches that about a person. Jesus taught that. Jesus told them why He had come and what He had to do. They missed all the way around, even while they were crucifying Him.
Only after the giving of God’s Holy Spirit were people genuinely able to understand what had happened and what was happening to them as they believed by faith in Christ. But that faith was/ is mighty and changes nature. It does this because the nature of God is in it and resides in you if you will permit Him to.
So this ‘message’ Paul spoke about was received with joy even in the face of severe persecution. It is that way today around the world where much of the Christian church faces severe persecution.
Are you living a faith of lasting JOY even in the face of evil or persecution?? You can be!? Christ will be looking for that in you, because HE is willing to place it there.
Walk in Joy, walk in power today!
Copyright Dan Elliott. Email [email protected]