"Trusting In God, Always!"

 "But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 11:8 KJV) 

  "I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:16-21 NLT)

 As we think about how much God loves us, we should also realize that we can trust Him, based upon that love He has for us; knowing that even the things that might seem hurtful, seem like punishment, or trials that apparently have no happiness, whatsoever, nothing happening should stop us from trusting that He loves us, and always wants what is best for us! 

 I know it seems hard to realize that, while we are going through something unbearable and seemingly brutal; but He loves us more than we could ever imagine! What we must understand, hopefully without a doubt, everything works towards the good; whether it is our good or someone else, His purposes are for the good, all the time! 

 It might seem as though I am a little excited to be sharing about this, but I have been wrestling with this since about 11:00 last night, having the swirling- eddies in my mind all night long. I thought about the trust I had in God when I first was saved, compared to the trust I feel I have now; it seemingly feels as though I have more doubt now; most likely because of the many times I have stubbled and wondered away, over these many years. 

 I remember a book Pastor Bryan had us read, not that long after he took Pastor Burt's place. The book was about prayer, speaking about having complete trust in God, and prayers that actually work. In the book the author shares about an incident when they went to minister on an island, where pagans were getting ready to perform their annual parade for the god they worshipped. 

 They had a new Christian brother that was with them, and as they meet with the tribe, the new brother decided to speak out and say, "God is going to rain on your parade!" That was something that would have meant death to them all, if it really didn't rain. But as the author explained: there was no rain, not until the very last moment, and then it was a down-pour! The monks were trying to carry their god in the parade, but they just kept slipping and sliding; their god feel into the mud, and they were falling over themselves to pick it back up again. 

 The reason I share this is because of the boldness of the new believer. This is really not that hard to understand, because we all have the same beginning, being washed in the blood of Jesus, as newborn babies, spotlessly clean. Then we begin our journey! Some of us make little mistakes, and some, very big mistakes; but, without a doubt, everyone does make mistakes! 

 This is what I feel as Solomon is sharing about, in case you might be wondering. We cannot undo anything that we might have considered to be darkness; but we can focus on the Light! Putting any value, (meaning that it effects your salvation,) on the bad things you have done, then you are focusing on yourself, and not on Christ...

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!" For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NLT)