No one is glad about the
negative aspects of life. We all cringe when it happens and we often run and
hide from it. For instance, there is so much negative in the world that people
often fail to see anything positive. The Christian has the best advantage when
it comes to adversity. James advises us to rejoice in our suffering (James
1:2-8). That sounds like the advice of a
crazy man, but I am here to tell you that it works!
James’ advice is actually
very sensible. Rather than adding a pessimistic attitude and negative emotions
to our depressing circumstances, if we start to praise God in them, He will
eventually work everything out for our good (Romans 8:28). We do not have to praise God “for” our circumstances,
but a key to defeating Satan’s strongholds in our life is to praise God in
spite of them.
Rejoicing in our suffering
makes no human sense, but it makes every spiritual sense. We are telling God
that we trust Him with our spiritual eyes, no matter what our life looks like
with our natural eyes. At times, life takes us captive in unbearable
situations. If we are so absorbed in feeling negative about these issues, we
miss seeing the hand of God in them. Paul told us that suffering works
character in our life and gives us qualities such as perseverance, which
eventually produces hope. Hope helps us to rise above any disappointment (Romans
5:3-5).
God pours out His love into
our hearts and His Holy Spirit resides within each person who believes that
Jesus is God who came in the flesh and who surrenders their life to Him. Love
is the emotion of the heart. You can’t prove it, you just feel it and you know
that it is there. In this same way, faith is the emotion of our spirit. You
can’t prove it, you just feel it and you know that it is there. God pours out
His love on us regardless of our circumstances. We can trust Him in faith.
If we are stuck in a prison
of adversity and we do not see any way out, we may panic, grieve or just give
up. Once we change our focus from our dismal negative circumstances to the
limitless power of God, we relax. We believe that God has a purpose for
allowing these hardships in our life, just as He has a plan for our
overall life (Romans 8:28; Jeremiah 29:11). If we resist the negative, we may miss the positive that God is working
out in our life through it.
Prayer:
Father God, You never leave
us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). You
walk with us through every event in our life – the good and the bad. You even
walk with us through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm
23:4). When we cooperate with You rather
than fight our circumstances, You always make a way for us, even where there
seems to be no way. When one door closes on us, You open an even better one.
When we persevere, You develop in us the character to believe that You have our
best interest at heart (Romans 8:28).
Thought for the Day:
Faith
in God’s faithfulness gives us wings to fly above every sorrow and trial.
