Tag Archives: celebrate in times of opposition

Trusting God through very hard times, Waiting

When God Says Wait

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Growing up, I had an idealistic scenario of what I hoped my future would be like. My aim was a life of peace and circumstantial happiness. But it didn’t take long to realize reality is far different.

When I gave my life to Jesus Christ, I figured it would be much better since I’d chosen the right path. What I didn’t factor in is true life is about something far greater than comfort and smooth circumstances.

God is working for my good, but He alone knows what that is. Sometimes we face hard, confusing situations. Jesus tells us we’ll experience troubles , but we wonder why since all they seem to produce is pain. [1]

In a broken relationship my wife and I are facing with a close family member, God seems to have erected a ‘God at Work – No Trespassing’ sign. We’ve done all we know to do.

We pray ferociously. We cry out. We wait.

The following steps help:

Don’t Pretend 

Don’t pretend all is well. Acknowledge life is different than you had hoped. Accept the loss and feel the pain.

Lord, I call You near in the depths of my grief. You’re the God of all Comfort. Sooth my pain with the Joy of Your presence.[2]

Celebrate God’s Faithfulness

Celebrate the fact that God has seen you through tough times before and trust He will do it again in this situation.

Lord, You’ve been so faithful through so many difficulties. Looking back, I certainly see how You’ve used these trials for me to give up trying to live life on my own and to trust You.[3] The eternal work You’ve done in my soul makes this very hard situation worth it.  It has strengthened me emotionally and spiritually. It has drawn me closer to my bride.

Stop Fretting

Fret – to be worried or anxious.

Catch yourself in the act of fretting about what you can’t change. This is in the Lord’s hands. Decide to stop trying to figure things out.

Lord, I trust You to invite me into this difficulty when You’re ready. I don’t want to thwart what You’re doing. In the meantime, I trust You’re at work in the lives of all involved in ways I may never understand.

Focus on What’s Beautiful

Focus on the beautiful things on this side of the ‘God at Work’ sign.

With the birds, celebrate the waking of the new day. Look your loved ones in the face and take in every precious moment. Stay present. Engage your senses in all of God’s moments. Savor. Acknowledge God’s nearness in every detail of His creation.

Though we may feel as if we’ve failed, in Christ, we believers are complete. [4] and no situation can change that.  We died, and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God.[5]

Lord, in You I’m okay, even if this situation is never resolved. I’m free to enjoy life’s moments with You, in spite of  any unexpected situation. 

Take Time to Draw Near

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; (Psalm 73:28a NASB)

Lord, my heart is ready to be glad. In you, I rejoice always, even when life takes a turn which threatens my sense of well being. Through it all, my eyes are on You. My faith is growing because of this hard reality in ways I would have never thought possible.  I draw closer to You every day because of it. I don’t need this situation to work out to be okay.

You are enough.

My life is oriented from things above where I’m seated with You. My comfort is not the most important thing. Please continue Your work while I wait.

Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.  (Isaiah 40:31 NASB)

[1] John 16:33

[2] II Corinthians 1:3-5

[3] II Corinthians 1:8-9

[4] Colossians 2:9-10

[5] Colossians 3:3

Other Posts on enduring Hard Times:

When Things Get Hard

Turing Drainers into Gainers

Can we be Sad and Glad at the Same Time?

Casting Your Burdens

Knowing God’s Love in Spite of the Circumstances

Mustering our Faith

Fixing Our Hope on What Lasts

Dealing with Sadness and Disappointment

I Can’t Do This

Longing Hearts

Until the Darkness Fades

Finding the Silver Lining

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.

Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading. 

 Novels by the Author:

What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for?  Beyond Time

By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains

Choosing Joy, Eternal Joy, Joy in Trials

Yet will I Rejoice in the Lord

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Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail  and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.  God, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s; He makes me tread on my high places.  (Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV)

Wrightsville beach. One of our favorite places to get away and replenish. The warmth of the sun, the cool breeze of the coming fall, the constant rhythmic sound of the surf, the expanse of the ocean against the light blue horizon. Delightful. A small butterfly lands on my bride’s finger, a kiss from her Father in a moment when love was hidden.

For most of my life, I’ve seen problems as negative. However, I’m learning a new perspective. James tells us to, “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds in trials,”[1] but these verses, and others like it, are hard to get my heart around. Trials, hardships and problems don’t seem to correlate with joy.

In Habakkuk’s day the Lord raised up the Chaldeans, on horses swifter than leopards; horsemen bent on violence, swooping down like eagles to devour.[2] But He gave Habakkuk strength, raising him up to high places above the fray. From this place of God’s perspective, he declared his intension to rejoice in the Lord, come what may.

This is the perspective we all need in the midst of troubles we know will come. On the night before he died, Jesus said, “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”(John 16:33b NASB)

God has used some of our recent difficulties to teach me to cling so desperately to Him. In each hardship, I’m discovering more of Him. l don’t like these troubles, but I’m learning that Joy can sustain me, if I invite Him in.

On the ride to the beach we listened to a message from Graham Cooke[3] called the Language of Heaven. Cooke mentions that with every problem there are built in opportunities to experience God more fully. He says we should ask the question – What aspect of God can I realize now that I couldn’t have without this situation? He mentions that Joy always accompanies our experiences with God; the Lord is fullness Joy.[4] Cooke challenges us to begin and end each day with celebration.

I want to live my life this way, like Habakkuk, always looking to the Lord for my strength. I want to rejoice in the Lord always, even in situations which are like nightmares. I want to walk with Him on the high places of His eternal perspective, orienting my life around a story which is far more important than my pleasant circumstances.

Lord, right now I celebrate you. In the midst of very hard situations which linger, I seek You. You’re teaching me that Your love completes me. Being loved by you is my identity. You are all I need, my Peace, my Hope, my Joy. Please teach me to look at each new problem as an opportunity to be “upgraded[5]” into a deeper experience with You. I know, in Your sovereignty, You will provide “opportunities” for me to depend on You more. Please help me see all of life, especially the hard times, from Your viewpoint and trust in Your greater good for me.

 

 

 

[1] James 1:2

[2] Habakkuk 1:6-9

[3] Graham Cooke, The Language of Heaven – https://youtu.be/mi6nZA2wUqo

[4] Psalm 16:11b

[5] Word used by Graham Cooke.

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures. Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post once a week. Thank you for reading. 

 Novels by the Author:

Beyond Time

Hope Remains

Choosing Joy, Unlocking the Paradox of Joy in Trials

Rejoicing at all Times Doesn’t Make Sense

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What do we Rejoice?

The Bible has commands which just don’t make common sense. They’re out of this world. Commands which require us to take hold of something eternal in order to even comprehend, much more to obey them.

Like this one:  Rejoice Always (I Thessalonians 5:16 NASB.)

Just found out a very good friend of mine has a mass on their chest. They go in for a biopsy on Thursday.

A marriage is in trouble. A job was lost. Relationships are broken. A long-time friend died of a brain tumor. Loved ones are sick. People are in deep emotional pain.

Yet, we’re to rejoice always. Rejoice what? Certainly not our circumstances.

Then what do we rejoice? What can we grab hold of from God’s greater, eternal story to rejoice in? The story God’s writing on human hearts involves far more than just our happy circumstances. We’re complete in Christ[1] and God’s wants us to know it. He’s orchestrating our lives to  free us  from the false affections of a happy life.

Our joy must come from the Lord. We’re to rejoice in Him. And as we joy in Him, the whole world is unlocked for us to enjoy. After all, God created sunsets, puppies, babies, flowers, sex and chocolate. We’re designed to delight in the Lord first, above all else, and then to joy in His creation. If we get the order wrong, let’s be honest, we’re idolaters.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4 NASB)

What is Rejoicing?

Rejoicing means to be full of joy, to be cheerful, to be exceeding glad and calmly happy.

Let these meanings sink in. Savor them. Allow them to wash over your heart. Imagine being:

  • Full of Joy
  • Cheerful
  • Exceedingly Glad
  • Calmly Happy

Always.

We’ve longed for this quality of glorious satisfaction, but we thought things had to go well in our lives to get there. At least I did.

God is Joy. In His presence, Joy is full.[2] There’s a way to cultivate a lifestyle of rejoicing which isn’t dependent on the shifting sands of day to day living. There’s a way to be full of joy, cheerful, exceedingly glad and calmly happy every moment of every day. It must be possible. God commanded it.

How do we Cultivate a Lifestyle of Rejoicing in the Lord?

What James writes about joy is bizarre, especially if we’re looking for good circumstances to maintain our feelings of well-being:

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter varies trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you might be perfect, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4 NASB.)

Trials test our faith.  As we learn to celebrate in times of great opposition, endurance grows. Rejoicing brings the intimacy of our Lord into every crevasse of our most difficult situations, flooding our hearts with joy. The more we experience the amazing, paradoxical transformation of grief to gladness by the mere presence of Almighty God, the more we realize we lack nothing. This world doesn’t bring contentment. We’re joyous because He is near.

This isn’t easy.  But, Graham Cooke says no circumstance or person has the power to steal our joy unless we allow it. Even in nightmare scenarios, rejoicing pulls us above the circumstances and our negative mindsets.[3]

Perhaps our goal is not just to get through what we’re experiencing, but to enjoy the presence of the Lord in whatever we’re experiencing. Rejoicing in the Lord always.

Challenge  

Is there a situation or a person which is trying to steal your joy? Will you choose to rejoice in the Lord in spite of what’s going on?

Spend some time now asking for the Lord to cheer your heart with His nearness. Rejoice in Him in spite of how you feel.

Peter writes, “but to the degree that you share the suffering of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation (I Peter 4:13 NASB).  

To what degree should we keep on rejoicing? To the degree in which we share in the sufferings of Christ.

To Peter, not only did suffering and rejoicing go hand in hand, there was a direct correlation of one to the other.

Prayer  

Lord, this trial, these trials have been going on so long. You know. Sometimes I lose hope they’ll ever get better. Yet, life keeps coming. It doesn’t stop for us to catch our breaths. These things don’t make me happy, but I’m seeing something glorious happen in spite of them. Your nearness is bringing gladness to every situation. I can rejoice in You and be cheerful even in the miry pit of hopeless dreams. Even when the unthinkable happens, You fill my heart with joy.

 I’m a container of your Joyous Presence. You indwell me.[4] May I yield to your Spirit in every situation that your Joy may flow. Joy inside . Joy overflowing. Rejoicing always, in You.

[1] Colossians 2:10

[2] Psalm 16:11

[3] Times of Refreshing, Graham Cooke

[4] Galatians 2:20

Novels by the Author:

Beyond Time

Hope Remains