You
should have seen me earlier on today on the road in my little Kia car. I could
hardly recognize myself. There I was dancing away with a lot of excitement to
Preye's song "Bowing Down" from her Promise Keeper CD. My friend Bola
who writes the salt chronicles has talked about this song severally; I now know
why. I was in traffic for about 3 hours in all but guess what! I did not mind.
I was not only dancing but also thinking on God's goodness as I heard the
lyrics and joy filled my very being. At some point, I noticed that the man in
the car beside mine was starring at me and smiling; I imagine what was on his
mind would be that either life is so sweet for me or something exciting just
happened but none of these is my reality. The truth is, as believers, we
operate at a deeper level of reality which is that God is in control and
working all things out for our good.
Romans
5: 3 "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we
know that they help us develop endurance."
One
of the things I love the most about being a believer is the privilege of being
able to think on a God whom one knows and is revealed only to those who are his;
all of this is because of salvation. In my opinion, it is a privilege to be
able to think on Him especially when He is revealed to you, because He hides
Himself, one can't help but feel joy and peace despite that one's circumstance
in the physical remains unchanged. Reality is that more often than not,
everyone is involved in one struggle or the other; to pretend like life is only
full of roses is self-deceit. Only those who can struggle against this struggle
called life drawing strength from God will survive. It is best when one is a
believer.
Romans
12: 12 "Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on
praying."
I
really don't know how the gospel preached more often today which says
"when one comes to Christ, life is only beautiful" originated but the
gospel that drew me to Christ was one that made me realize my life without
Christ was empty and hopeless and salvation is my only way to live a true and
fulfilled life. Also, that salvation grants access to hope which does not fail.
Of course several benefits come with our salvation which include all the
beautiful things we desire in life but God has His process which we must go
through to enjoy them. The process which is the means, is as important as the
end when one is in Christ. Indeed the means impact greatly on the end result.
It determines whether or not a benefit is from God. Salvation does not upturn
life but instead enables us live life at a higher level than life. So that
while living life with all the struggles, our circumstance and/life is not
allowed to determine who we are or how we end up.
Ephesians
2: 6 "For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with
him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus."
Romans
8: 37 "No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through
Christ, who loved us."
So,
though we are involved in the struggles of life, we struggle differently
because our struggle is from a position of victory which is why we can rejoice
whilst still struggling. Deep down in our hearts, we know that it will be over
because Jesus already went ahead and paid the price paving the way for our
enjoyment. So we don't give up, we can't not even afford to because I can
imagine how disappointed God is when we give up with all the saints cheering us
on. No wonder God requires us to be strong. Indeed, no matter how weak one was,
if you must come through at the other end (the victory end) you would have to
become strong. It is inside everyone to be strong because God, The Lion Of The
Tribe Of Judah made us in His image and anyone who does not draw on that nature
will fail. Even the challenges that face true believer who desire to remain
true to God in our day, requires one to be strong.
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