This last week God saw fit to crush me. He knew that I would hold strong against people and circumstances, so He Himself did the crushing. It was so intense that I did not know how to respond other than telling God, “Though [You] slay me, yet will I trust [You]…” (Job 13:15).
I do not know what you are going through, but my prayer is that you will persevere and press in to the Lord. Even when you cannot understand Him, be sure that He understands everything about you. Praying these words below would be a blessing to you.
God has to crush your life out of you to put His life into you.
There is not an easy way, because the easy way would never change you. “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart…” (Deuteronomy 8:2).
The wilderness reveals you.
There are two forces that create the nature of Christ in you: an outward breaking away, and an inward giving away. The outward is the hammer and chisel of external circumstances. The inward is the willing submission of your life to Jesus. The less submission, the harder the hammer must strike you. “…Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him” (Zechariah 12:1).
As a diamond is formed in adversity, so God forms the saint.
You cannot have the victory without the battle.
Never think the tough times have no meaning, as they are the times that have the most meaning in who we become. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).
His plans are always good, whether we see it or not.
With man, even in his good his motives are often bad. With God, He is always good.
Never imagine your life is supposed to be easy. “…We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
If you didn’t have the trials, you wouldn’t know what you were made of.
You would not learn the lesson if He gave you the answers before the test was over.
It is the testing in the wilderness that prepares you for the promise at the end. It was the Lord, “who fed you in the wilderness… that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end” (Deuteronomy 8:16).
Trusting the Lord is refined in the wilderness of “nothing makes sense”.
Never set your goals based on the difficulties you may face, but the promises you will walk in. “You must not fear them, for the Lord your God Himself fights for you” (Deuteronomy 3:22).
He never promises an easy life, but a life in which He would never leave you.
Live your life such that when circumstances would bring you to your knees, you are already there. King David wrote, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears” (2 Samuel 22:7).
When you see how circumstances draw you nearer to God, then you will begin to understand God’s plans more clearly.
Consider that the very reason for your troubles are that you would invite the Lord Jesus nearer to thee.
Your life is the classroom and your circumstances the lesson. The hardest lesson is the one that grows you the most. “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness…'” (Hebrews 3:7-8).
It is in the quietness of nature that the Lord’s voice soothes our soul. We need to get out of man’s creations and into God’s Creation.
It is in the wilderness that the Lord can separate us from the things of men and into the things of God.
We pray the most in the hardest of times, so consider that is why the Lord allows them. “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears” (Psalm 18:6).
We want an easy life, but the Lord is shaping us with difficult people and hard circumstances.
Though I feel so low, yet I worship a God Who is on High. “I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me” (Psalm 57:2).
Live your life such that your prayer time with God remains the same, in good times and in the bad.
Blessings to you,
Paul
All Scripture is in red and uses the NKJV (New King James Version) translation unless otherwise noted.
This was a much needed word for the season I am in right now. There were nuggets that spoke firectly to me. I know the Father led me to read it. Thank you.
Thank you so much. I am quite certain that the Lord puts us all in the wilderness for a time, and through it we are then able to minister to one another. Praying for your journey.
Wow! So profound! Exactly what I’m going and is indeed exactly what my I need! Thank you so very much! Praise GOD!
Thank you so much Anna! Praying for your victory, you have a mighty God who goes before you!
Your complete trust in God inspires me. I pray that one day I will be as strong and bold in my faith as are you. Praying for you, Brother.
Oh, I thank my heavenly Father that He saw fit to place you in my life to talk me off the ledge and give me some straight up godly counsel! You are an angel if ever I have known one.
Thank you for sharing this.. it encouraged me and voiced out what I am goin through. All praises to our Lord Jesus
You are most welcome, thank you so much for the encouragement!
I so enjoy reading your blog and your page on Facebook! With all of your writings, encouragement, and sharing scripture you must have gone through some awful and terrible life situations to produce such beautiful writings and encouragement for all of us! I too believe that if it weren’t for these mind blinding horrible life situations we wouldn’t know the Lord on a level we do now. Speaking for myself when easy days are numerous the best praise I can voice is Praise God…..thank you Jesus! It is only when I’m totally crushed that I can say Lord , I love you and I trust you that whatever happens, you are my Lord and Savior!!
Thank you so much Lynn! What I have learned is that every one of us has been through so much. Life throws so many unexpected and challenging obstacles in our path. Some things are self inflicted, but most come without us doing anything to cause them nor deserve them. But for those of us who have the Lord, we in turn can be assured that the Lord does in fact have us. I think that you said it very well, that it is when you are crushed that you can best proclaim that at that time the Lord has you. Yes! He has you!
Great words of wisdom! A word in season! I’m going through some time of testing and people being removed out of my life. Lots of rejection and hurtful words. I’m growing closer to my Savior .
Thank you Brenda. It is interesting to me that as more of the world comes against us, the more it pushes us to nearer to the Lord. We never pray for the trials, but we are so blessed when we can see the gains we have from them.
Thank you soooo much for this!! Please pray for me and my family and ministry.
Thank you so much Janet. Praying for you and your family, and for the ministry God has entrusted to you. Praying for His purposes to be unstoppable in your lives as He goes before you.
Paul a friend of mine shared the link to this page with me, because I shared my story. Your post is encouraging and yet needed so that I know I am not alone. I had a random seizure about 2 months ago and have had a continuous headache since, the only thing that relieves it is getting into God’s Word and meditating on it so that I can regain focus to do the daily things that should come easy. It’s easy to focus on the things that drive me crazy right now, but when I do I find myself irritated and exhausted, but when I’m intentional and focus in on His Word I find I’m refreshed, I have energy and I can focus on tasks at hand and be a better wife, mother, and friend because I am inviting God into every thing I do. On my own I spin my wheels and feel like I’m going in circles, but with Him things are clear, I see the blessings and can grow past my comfort into where He is guiding me and into the person He created me to be.
Hi Richelle, we have such a wonderful Lord Jesus, that even in the hard times He is working into us a sweeter nature, His own nature. You are not alone. No matter what you are going through, you have many brothers and sisters in the Lord that are right there with you. I myself have had headaches for many years caused from a car crash. But I have glorious Lord and He is more than enough. There is healing in the Word because the Word has power and the Word is from God and the Word became flesh in Christ Jesus. Jesus heals yet to this day because He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Praying for your life to be so radically changed by Him, that you will see the seizure as a blessing.