I spent 46 years of my life being lukewarm for the Lord, His mission and His plan for my life and its time that my family see the man that God intended me to be!

Consider it pure joy for the trials in your life could easily be the number one Bible verse that I used to call B.S. on (sorry Lord)…. (James 1:2-4).  I used to think how can anyone honestly think that it is a reason for joy and celebration when their life is falling apart.  Furthermore, I used to blame God and be mad at Him for these issues in my life and that was exactly what the evil one wanted me to think.  What I never realized is why these trials actually happened and that they are truly for my own good.

Why do Bad Things Happen?

“God will most certainly use Satan’s deceit to grow you as a Christian!”

Dr. Tony Evans

Most people think is that God allows bad things to happen because He doesn’t care or is punishing you.  The truth is that God never punishes and never tempts us.  Sometimes bad things happen in our lives because of our own choices.  Sometimes the Devil is allowed to torment us (God never tempts us, that is from the evil one) for a little while, and sometimes God allows other people (usually loved ones) to torment us for a while (through the evil one’s lies). In all three scenarios, God allows or leads us into trials so that He may refine us (and often times those who inflict the pain on us in the first place) into what He has called us to do (predestined).  Furthermore, Satan wants you to curse God because when we do, we miss His development and grooming, and it lessens the protection God has over you. (1 Peter 6:7).  As you enter a trial, remind yourself that you are not alone because as sure as you are breathing oxygen right now, The Devil will turn your trial into a ton of different temptations that he tries to use to keep you from achieving God’s intended results from the trial (Matthew 4:1, James 1:14-15). For example, you can bet that when your wife wants a divorce and you do not, that every woman that has ever had interest in you (and even some that you don’t even know) will come calling on you because Satan wants to destroy your marriage and in doing so, put a massive dent into your children’s future with Christ.  Stand firm in the Lord and pray for your family! In all of these trials, the question you should be asking yourself isn’t why am I going through this, but what does God want me to learn from this. God uses tests to take you to the next spiritual level and Satan tries to drive a wedge between you and Him. God told me very clearly, “until I break you, I can’t make you into the man you were destined to be”.

Now that we know what causes or why the trials are allowed, how do we survive the bumpy ride that is to come?

How Do We Survive a Trial? 

John 10:10-11

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

2 Thessalonians 3:3

3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

Satan is a master at getting you to crave things that are not from God because then you are denying that God can fill every need in your life.  The best way to offset that is to not give sin the attention it desires (James 1:16).  God give us 4 simple ways to survive (and thrive) through each one of the trials that life will show us.  Here are those simple ways.

The first step in being able to survive the trials of life is to Focus on the goodness of God.  When God spoke to me, he called it a “a shower of thanksgiving”.  What that means to me is that I am supposed to focus on the good and not the bad.  To block out what I am going through, keep my eyes on Jesus and then focus on, make a list and remind the evil one of all the things that God has done and that you are thankful for.  Satan will hate this and run the other direction!

The second step is to Focus on how God has been faithful (1 Corinthians 10:13). God told me to remember the times that he rescued me, answered major prayers, did miracles like paying bills when we had zero $ in the bank account etc.  This was an interesting journey because as soon as I began to remember the first ones, God began to fill my heart and mind with dozens and dozens more.  God is good, He is the God of miracles and if you sit back and reflect on that, He will show you all the times that he has acted on your behalf if you just listen! Where has God been faithful in your life?

The third thing you need may be the most important piece of this puzzle. To survive the trials in life you will need to Focus on God‘s word “the word of truth”.  In everything that God ahs been teaching me, the one consistent thing that I have been force fed by God is that I need to know His word, need to read it daily, and need it to allow God to speak to me easily during the day.  I spoke about this in earlier blogs, but I hated reading the Bible before and now I never ever get enough of it.  I Find myself reading it 2-3 time a day and I was never that type of person.  It gives me strength that I never had before and honestly it shows me that I still need God more and more each day. The devil wants us to focus on our feelings and fears, but God wants us to focus on the truth. The only way we can do that is if we do what Jesus did in the dessert when he kept telling the devil “It is written….”(Matthew 4:1-11).   If you want to survive the trial you are in, you need to get into the Word of God!

The fourth thing we need to rely on in a trial is to Focus on God‘s perspective. “James 1:18. “We are first fruits. “ this is for us to focus on how special we each are to God.  He knows the number of hairs on our heads, he knows our deepest darkest secrets and He still loves us deeply. If we view ourselves as a gift from God created in His image, everything changes.  We become the light of the world for God and have the ability to forgive, forget, and bring people to Christ.  Being God’s first, we are His chosen ones and we commanded to take the gospel to everyone we know (Psalm 139:13-14) and the World will know that he is God by the way we act in times of trial.  Are you acting like Christ in your trial?

In summary, I can truly say that I am grateful for my latest trial.  It has shown me how very wrong I was in many parts of my life.  It has shown me a love for God that I never fully understood before, and it has show me how to break away from things that have held me captive for over 20 years.  Without this trial I would have been condemned to a life of being upset over stupid things and not understanding what it means to truly be a Godly father and a Godly husband.  We serve a God of deliverance (Psalm 50:15, psalm107:1-32,  Psalm 91:14-15,  2Timothy4:17-18) and He can deliver us from any sin or transgression if we believe in Him and put our faith, hope and life in his hands instead of relying on our understanding.  As for me, I have decided to submit that everything on this earth that I own is not mine, but God’s to do as he wishes.  My desire if for Him to deliver me from my trial, full refined, and lacking nothing to be the business owner, father and husband that He destined me to be.

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.