Trouble and God's Grace, Christian

Mar.14.07:Light for the Day "Trouble and God's Grace" (<<) (>>)

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("Pray To Receive Christ")

-- James 5:13-15 + 13 Are any of you in trouble? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

-- Romans 8:28 + And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

In times of trouble, remember that God is too kind to be cruel, too wise to make mistake, and too deep to explain Himself. -- Unknown

You may never know that JESUS is all you need, until JESUS is all you have. -- Corrie Ten Boom

Troubles come in all shapes and sizes. Trouble can be as small as a run in your stocking or as big as an emergency trip to the hospital. The same flat tire that made you a few minutes late for the grand opening sale at the department store could also be the few minutes that kept you from harm on the highway. When troubles come, you have a choice -- to let troubles destroy you or transform you. A diamond is just a piece of coal that has undergone pressure. When you are handed a lump of coal in the form of trouble, it's an opportunity to see how God can transform it into spiritual treasure. Ugly things can become jewels reflecting the light of God, if you are willing to go into the darkness with Him and find the hidden treasure.

First, acknowledge that the trouble is real and needs to be faced. You can't ask God for help if you keep denying you have a problem. Admit that you are hurt or disappointed or angry. God can take it. He is not afraid of your honest questions, and He doesn't expect you to gloss over the problem in the name of being spiritual. Read the book of Psalms and you'll see that anger and sorrow are expressed as well as praise and thankfulness. If you can be real with God, then He can really help you.

Next, assess the situation. Ask God for wisdom and guidance. Take responsibility for what you can do in the situation. Do you need to admit a fault or ask someone for forgiveness? Do you need to make a wrong right? Is there a positive action you can take to ease the situation, relieve the trouble, or make things better? Avoid complaining.Instead, do what is in your power to do.

Perhaps there is nothing you can do right now to make things better. You may need to wait for the right timing.Or maybe something else must happen first or someone else needs to do his or her part. Sometimes a broken thing is broken and can't be fixed. Acknowledge what is out of your hands and put it into God's hands.

In the darkness, out of sight, God will use the pressures and problems to create the lovely jewel of a quiet spirit, a strengthened character, and a wiser heart. One day you will see -- whether in this life or in the shining, glorious crown of glory you will behold in the next life. There are treasures to be discovered in the darkness, and troubles can be transformed into glorious victories if you can walk through them trusting God.

-- CL4Life

No trouble can come so near that God is not nearer. God's grace enables us to ‘face the music even when we don't like the tune. -- Unknown

I would rather walk with God in the dark than go alone in the light. -- Mary Gardiner Brainard

-- Matthew 6:33-34 + 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

-- John 14:26-27 + 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will emind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you.I do not give to you as the world gives.Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

-- 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 + 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

-- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 + 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

-- 2 Corinthians 4:1,8-10,16-18 + 1 Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

+ 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus; so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our bodies.

+ 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

-- Ephesians 3:13-19 + 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

-- Psalms 27:4-5,13-14 + 4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in His temple. 5 For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.

+ 13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

-- Psalms 34:17-19 + 17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 19 A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;

-- Psalms 73:26 + My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

-- Psalms 86:6-7 + 6 Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy. 7 In the day of my trouble I will call to You, for You will answer me.

-- Psalms 119:81 + My soul faints with longing for Your salvation, but I have put my hope in Your Word.

-- Isaiah 40:28-31 + 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

+ 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Troubles are often the tools God fashions us for better things. -- Henry Ward Beecher

When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it. -- Edgar Watson Howe

Temper gets you into trouble. Pride keeps you there. -- Anonymous

Trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement - discouragement has a germ of its own, as different from trouble as arthritis is different from a stiff joint. -- Fitzgerald

Worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls due. -- W. R. Inge

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it. -- Mark Twain

The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be. -- Paul Valery

The trouble with facts is that there are so many of them. -- Samuel McChord Crothers

The trouble with jogging is that, by the time you realize you're not in shape for it, it's too far to walk back. -- Franklin P. Jones

Never go out to meet trouble. If you will just sit still, nine cases out of ten someone will intercept it before it reaches you. -- Calvin Coolidge

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. -- Terry Pratchett

My method is to take the utmost trouble to find the right thing to say, and then to say it with the utmost levity. -- G.B. Shaw

Trouble is part of your life, and if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you a chance to love you enough. -- Dinah Shore

If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you're old. -- Edgar Watson Howe

Times and Patience is the best remedy for every trouble. -- Plautus

Other people's troubles are bearable. -- Yiddish Proverb

Life is 10% what happens to you,
and 90% how you respond to it. -- Unknown

The will of God is never exactly what you expect it to be. It may seem to be much worse, but in the end it's going to be a lot better and a lot bigger. --Elisabeth Elliot