No, I still haven’t conquered my worlds greatest fear of snakes. And to be honest, I don’t think that will ever happen! What I’m talking about here is public speaking…..yikes. It’s not something that I completely hate, but by no means is it something that I love. Let’s just say, I’m never the first one to volunteer to step up to the plate for this task. It’s probably the combination of lack of confidence and all eyes on me that make me feel so uncomfortable and anxious.
This month we have been visiting several schools, bringing with us a word of encouragement to each one. There’s something vastly different though, about speaking in front of a group of students who are all younger than you and interested in hearing just about anything, than delivering the sermon in front of the church. But, what better way to conquer your fears than to just do it?! Much easier said than done. But after a tall shot of courage and a compelled heart. I gave the sermon in our church today, this Sunday. Below is the message I delivered. Remember this isn’t my lifelong calling, and it’s no where near perfect, so grace while reading is much appreciated 🙂
Good morning! I’m gonna share something with y’all this morning that I think can pertain to everyone or just about everyone sitting here. Let me start by asking a question. How many of you here have ever experienced a struggle, felt pain, or just felt completely discouraged or let down? I’m gonna guess that at some point that has been most of us sitting here in this room, myself included. Whatever the struggle or hardship might be or might have been, whether you’re dealing with finical issues, experiencing family difficulties, or struggling with a personal battle, we can tend to find it easy to question God during these trying times, when things might not look so perfect. Or even worse, we may become angry with God. But, I’m hear to tell you all there is no reason for any of us to ever question God or become angry with Him during such times. Because our God provides for us, and He fulfills all His promises to us. He doesn’t ever leave or forsake us. He loves so much, more than we could ever grasp or imagine.
Let me tell you something else, these struggles and these conflicts that we might experience during our lifetime, are in fact given to us by God, for a purpose. He is the giver of all our problems. For as it says in Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have for you, declares The Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Our problems and our struggles are His tasks and our opportunities. They are our opportunities to grow closer to God and rely on Him more than ever. During these difficult times, it’s our opportunity to strengthen our faith and our trust in God. We must learn to trust in God even when things go wrong. Trusting acceptance of our trials brings forth many blessings. Disruptions to our typical, or our normal routine highlight our dependence on God.
James 1: 2-6 “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and he will be given it. But he should ask in faith, not doubting.”
Though at times things may feel tough or wrong, remember that God is sovereign over everything. Every problem in life can teach us something, transforming us little by little into the wonderful masterpiece God created and intended us to be. God can fit everything in our lives into a pattern of good, but only to the extent that we trust Him and let Him in. The best way to confront our problems, although it’s extremely hard, is to thank God for them. This simple act opens our minds to the possibility of goodness that can flow from our difficulties. Let’s remember to take all our problems to God, after all He is the giver of them, and allow Him to embrace us and our struggles in His loving presence. God won’t necessarily remove our problems and our struggles, but His wisdom and love is sufficient to bring good out of every one of them.
Romans 8: 28 “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
As I said before, God will never forsake us and He will never abandon us. His love for us is constant and abundant because God’s love for us is perfect. Completely perfect. Nothing we do can make Him love us less and nothing we do can make Him love us more. He loves us as we are. His love is full of grace and full of mercy for each and every one of us.
We are all beautiful men and women of God and He has a plan for each of us. He has lovingly planned every inch of the way. We may not see it, or we may not have a clear direction as to what that plan looks like yet, but if we keep our eyes and our hearts focused on The Lord, even during the hard times, we will walk down the right path. The path that will lead us to salvation and eternity with God.
So remember this. These bumps in the road, these struggles in life, are not punishments from God. Know that God isn’t abandoning any of you by laying down these struggles, these discomforts or these pains in your lives. Our trust in The Lord must not falter when the path becomes rocky and steep. He is leading us down the high road, but there are descents as well as ascents along the way. God is with us every step of the way. In fact, He knows our next step before we even take it. When we walk hand in hand with Jesus Christ all things are possible.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.”
I want to leave y’all with this. Remember that our lives are completely in the hands of The Lord. I want to challenge and encourage all of us here to remember to give all our struggles and trials to God. And while we may not see it in the midst of our trials, remember that God is working everything in our lives for good. There just might be some hard lessons or trials for you to endure along the way to strengthen your faith or to get you to the place where God wants you to be, because He has a plan for us and He loves us.
