When you follow Christ, you will have storms come up in your life because the enemy will try to stop you. The enemy will do anything and everything to try and stop you from serving
God; he hates God and he hates you because you are naming the Name of God. So, don’t
think when you give your life to God, you will be exempt from trouble and problems.
It’s the opposite; your troubles are just beginning. But, I got good news for you, Jesus encouraged you about this in John 16:33, He said: “These things I have spoken to you, that IN ME you may have peace (peace ONLY comes from knowing
Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior). In the world YOU WILL HAVE TRIBULATION; BUT
BE OF
GOOD CHEER, I
HAVE
OVERCOME THE WORLD” (www.biblegateway.com –NKJV –emphasis added
by me).
It was implied to me when I accepted
Christ that all my problems would end but they got worse and I struggled as a Christian
for a long time because I thought “all my problems
would end.” I kept asking
God, “Why is this happening to me? Why am I suffering?” I thank God for His mercy because
He knew I did not understand and basically
I was misled just so I could
accept Christ. But God want us as ministers to tell people the truth; we cannot use scare tactics and lies to make someone accept Christ (God
draws us to Himself through loving
kindness – Jeremiah 31:3).
When someone comes to Christ
through scare tactics, it
causes that person to
backslide; as it did
me,
over and over again. One day I was so distraught about
backsliding that God
spoke to me and gave me the scripture in Psalm
37:23-24: 23 ”The
steps of a good man
are ordered (established) by the Lord, and He delights
in his way.” 24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord
upholds him with HIS hand” (www.biblegateway.com – NKJV – emphasis
added by me). It was verse 24
which
really stuck out to me and I wept before God in repentance. It was my heart that God saw; He knew
I was trying and that is
what kept me seeking after Him. Although I made many mistakes,
and kept making
them, God knew my
heart as He saw Samuel’s in 1
Samuel 16:7; He said: “…The
LORD does not look
at
the things man
looks at. Man looks
at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at
the heart” (www.biblegateway.com – NKJV).
I thank God for teaching
me that we are going to have trials, tribulations,
and temptations; life is going to
happen. But I know from
many personal experiences, no matter what/who
comes or goes in our
lives, God is
there with us and
He is in total
control of our lives and Jesus will deliver us out of
every storm that arises
in our lives if we only trust Him!
Don’t try to do things your way but trust God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit to do what needs
to be done in your life; They will never fail you!!!
God bless you!
Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks
These materials
are copyright protected therefore you must request permission to reproduce any part of them. To request
permission, contact:
Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks: drdehooks@abusedwoman.org.
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