Trust in the Lord: Through Trials and Tribulations

The apostles praise the Lord in the book of acts right after they were beaten; then where beaten and they praised the lord for there opportunity to suffer for Christ. How amazing of a group of individuals to do such a thing. Praise the Lord of creating such wonderful workmanship for his kingdom. I pray that the Lord will provide more men with this attitude and understanding of God. I pray that the Lord makes me like these men when I am called to suffer in my life.

Currently, I am being sued for a grand total of $ 30,000. Now I can fret and worry. I can freak out and throw my hands up at the sky and ask why, Lord, why! Or I can trust in the Lord. Psalms 40:3 blessed is the man who trust in the Lord. I want to be this man, me and my family. I want to praise the Lord of the opportunity to put my trust in the Lord and if I am called to suffer for the Lord praise his name. This is an exceptable reality.

It is not my story, but his-story. This is not my life – I count my life nothing. I am only here for the glory of the Lord. I am bought at a price. I am a slave, a doulous (greek word for slave). Who is man that God is mindful of him? God never answers this question because the answer is he is not anything that the Lord should be mindful of him. We are created for the glory of the Lord. If he is glorified by the the seasons of joy in you life praise the Lord! If he is glorified by the trials and tribulations in your life praise the Lord! What did Job say? The Lord gives and takes away, blessed be the Lord. Blessed it be the Lord and give him praise all you saints.

I love the song “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus” absolutely praise Jesus. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus . Psalm 127:2 says “The Lord gives his beloved sleep”. I shall sleep well today and tomorrow and forever more. My sleep and my rest in the Lord has nothing to do with my situations, but my relationship with the Lord. I am his servant! I am his son. If God is with me then who can be against me? Who can stand against the Lord and his anointed ? Not satan, not the world, and differently not trials and tribulations.

What does James 1:2 say, ” count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” Count it all joy! Let’s live this scripture. James also says, “be not hears of the world only but doers of the world.” It is easy to say you trust in the Lord when all is well but can you say it is well with my soul in the midst of the storm. This reminds me of when in the gospel Jesus was sleeping in a boat during a great storm. His apostles where freaking out believing they would be consumed by the storm and awoke Jesus. Jesus then rebuked them and said, “ye of little faith.” The Lord can calm the storms in your life and the Lord will take you where he wants you. This may not always be where you wanna go but this where the Lord wants you.

God bless you; fear the Lord all the days of your life and it shall be well with you soul.

The Importance of Education

Parents, adults, and the wise – they have repeated the truth of the importance of education since I was a young pup. I, however, either did not believe them at best and thought they were naive at worst. The power of education and knowledge, I thought, were simply theoretical. How could learning, beyond the mere basics of reading, writing, and basic math, actually help anyone? I applied this philosophy of suspicion and disbelief all through my life. I simply “got” through school. I gave school probably 40% of my effort in my first ten years. Then, I became a Christian and decided to give probably 70% of my efforts. I just didn’t see the lasting results, either eternally or long-term, benefits of giving my all.

It wasn’t until I got to AIT (Advanced Individual Training) that I truly realized the importance of education: How important things I previously shrugged off as unimportant truly were. Knowing how to spell, use proper punctuation, and to write and think analytically – these are all essential characteristics of an educated individual. This is knowledge that is taught free to all school aged children. You can choose to absorb all of this or, as I did, reject it. The latter is folly.

Why cripple yourself from the respect and ethos of all your future coworkers, employees, and bosses? There is nothing more embarrassing than to misspell a common or easily spelled word or to not punctuate correctly, complex sentences; ironically, in this situation, your ability to write complex and interesting sentences, actually, works against you rather than for you. This, however, is the only earthly reason to strive for knowledge, for God is concerned with this realm: education. Education, or better stated: our attitude on education, is underneath the sphere of labor; have you not heard the old saying, “school is your job”? As a school aged child or an adult in school, education is your job and God is very concerned in the sphere of labor. In Ecclesiastes 9:10, ” Whatever your hands finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where your going,” the bible commands us to do everything with our “might” (give it all you have). Is this a suggestion or command? You will find that in the bible there are very few suggestions in all of scripture. To conclude, Ephesians 6:5-8 says, “Bondservants [workers] be obedient to those who are your masters [bosses] according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ [Christ is who you should be working unto, not man] not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants [workers] of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, [working for the Lord] and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.” The Lord says when we work we need to work unto the Lord, not unto men. If we were to work unto the Lord, would we not work with all our might? I think not. Lastly, it promise that we will receive rewards for our good deeds. If you trust in the Lord God, you will be blessed: Psalms 40:4, “blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.”

Inscribed by Maritn, Jamie
Edited by Martin, Stephanie