[source: Paula White Ministries]
The plans God has for your life are far greater than the plans you have for yourself. He has significant plans for your life, your church, your city and the nations. The way we choose to deal with life’s troubles, trials and times of transition are pivotal.
On the agenda of God, you are significant.
“For I know the plans I have for you,"declares the Lord,plans to prosper you and not to harm you,plans to give you hope and a future.”[Jer 29:11… NIV]
In order to fulfill the plans of God and become “who” God has pre-ordained you to be, you will go through a “process.” A process can be defined as “a series of actions, changes or functions bringing about a desired result.”
The result is: you will be who God says you are, do what God says you will do, and have what God says you will have.
The entire process of growth and fulfillment of destiny hinges on a critical factor:
The way we choose to deal with life’s troubles, trials and times of transition.
Like the Apostle Peter who delivers the inaugural speech of the new dispensation on the day of Pentecost, many were standing by declaring: “What meaneth this?”
Many wondered, “How can he be chosen by God to do this?” This is the same person who almost got destroyed by the enemy, and will now stand in the face of our enemy? They had seen him deny Christ, spit, curse, and become an outcast and a loner. Now this man is going to usher in the promise of the Holy Spirit? “What meaneth this?”
If anyone saw you in the “contradiction” stage of development, they usually cannot accept you in your “success stage.” When they are talking about you, repeating lies and gossip, believing for your failure instead of success….that’s when you must learn to stand up and “keep doing,” regardless of what people think.
“Friends, when life gets really difficult,don't jump to the conclusion that God isn't on the job.Instead, be glad that you are in thevery thick of what Christ experienced.This is a spiritual refining process,with glory just around the corner.”1 Peter 4:12-13 MESSAGE
You are being prepared…you are the sermon God will use to preach. Through all these things, you are the light on a hill shining the message of Jesus Christ to those watching.
“You yourselves are our letter,written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.You show that you are a letter from Christ,the result of our ministry,written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”2 Cor 3:2,3
Our lives are the paper that God writes on. Many “sermons” will be born out of the furnace of affliction. People are going to watch you go “through it.”
The entire fulfillment of your destiny hinges on the way you choose to deal with life’s troubles, trials and times of transition. When you reach a “breaking point,” will you outlast the adversity?Will you keep going around the mountain, or will you break the chain and pass the test?
You shall be an OVERCOMER… Because of Jesus Christ!
“And they have overcome (conquered) him(the accuser of the brethren)by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony,”Rev 12:11
The way you choose to deal with your trial depends on where you go next. Calm faith and trust in God receives your deliverance before it ever appears. We keep our connection to God open when we can say to Him, “With all my failures, hurts, and disappointments, God…I hurt, I am angry.. disappointed… BUT HERE I AM.” We are authentic with God – He can handle our feelings!
Jesus feels our pain, our grief, our sorrows, and as our High Priest has a supernatural ability to sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb 4:15). He truly understands the things that hurt us, and is capable of empathizing completely with our conditions and our past wounding. Many of us have been through disaster, life-shattering episodes that changed everything. But God doesn’t want us to hurt, He wants to heal every place and restore us completely!
You must decide to say yes to the future He holds out to you!
When Peter faced the greatest test of his life, Jesus said to him, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not” (Luke 22:31-32). Simon means “flesh, weak, water,” and it is evident that Jesus knew that Peter would fail in his flesh. But Jesus declared that the Word activated on the inside of him—faith—would not fail.
In the fires of the trial, remember that God’s Word will stand, it will not return void. Remember that God works all things according to the counsel of HIS OWN will (Eph 1:11). The battle is not really yours, but the battle is the Lord’s! Having done all you can do, stand and see the salvation of the Lord! You will see the situation change because His Word always produces! When you outlast the trial and come out on the other side, destiny will be waiting for you!
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