Monday 30 December 2013

HOW CAN YOU TURN YOUR TROUBLES INTO TRIUMPH?

Turn Your Troubles into Triumphs

“Pressure can crack pipes But it can also creates diamonds. So You can also turn your troubles in to Triumph”.

We live in a world of troubles and often holds the upper hand to our dreams, our desires, and ultimately to our destinies.  It's everywhere but turning those troubles into triumph, now that's the challenge. Jesus Himself experienced trouble and warned His disciples “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Paul said he was "troubled on every side" (2 Corinthians 4:8) it is reasonable to expect trouble in our lives as well. Psalm 34:19 says “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” Homer who wrote the Odyssey and John Milton who wrote Paradise Lost were blind. Beethoven was deaf when he composed some of the world's greatest symphonies.

HOW CAN YOU TURN YOUR TROUBLES INTO TRIUMPH?

1. BY FAITH

Bible says “For every child of God defeats this evil world and we achieve this victory through our faith.” (1 John 5:4 NLT)

 Paul said “We Walk by Faith, Not By Sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). 


1. THE OBJECT OF FAITH:  ALMIGHTY GOD – SEEK and KNOW HIM

Hebrew 11:6 says “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”

Faith is no better than its object. Weak faith in God is better than strong faith in anything else. Faith is what counts. It is not the size of your faith it is the object of your faith that really counts.

2. THE ORIGIN OF FAITH:  THE WORD OF GOD –LISTEN and HEAR HIM

Where do we get it from? We get it from God's Word.

Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

3. THE OBJECTIVE OF FAITH:  THE WILL OF GOD – SUBMIT and YIELD TO HIM

Psalm 40:8 says “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

By this we may judge the credibility of our faith. Do we want God's will or our own will, God's way or our way? Christ prayed, and all who follow him still pray, "Not my will, thy will be done."

4. THE OPERATION OF FAITH:  THE WORK OF GOD –LOVE and OBEY HIM

James 1:22 says “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

5. THE AUTHOR AND PERFECTER OF FAITH:  LORD JESUS –REMAIN and FIX OUR EYES ON HIM


"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith …”( Hebrews 12:2)

"Walk by faith" is to walk as Scripture directs (Romans 10:17) Faith has two ends, and at each end stands Christ.  He is the author (beginner) of your faith and the Perfecter (the end) of your faith.  Faith is God’s way of allowing you to experience the natural and the spiritual at the same time. Faith is what brings the things God has provided for us from the spiritual realm into the physical realm (Heb. 11:1). Everything the Lord does for us is accessed through faith.


2. BY His WORD

Psalms 119:71 king David Said “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.”By definition, affliction is painful to endure. How could we ever call it good? Yet that is exactly what the psalmist said about his own troubles. One of the purposes of affliction is to teach us things we would not otherwise know. Until hard times come, our knowledge of God and his Word tends to be rather superficial. Psalm 119:67 says “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word” David experienced extreme hardships, including the profound grief of losing a child and a best friend. Later, David’s own son led a rebellion against him. As drastic as these trials are, they were just few of the many difficulties he endured. Yet even in times of deep suffering, David found hope and peace in God. He declared it good that he was afflicted. Why was his affliction good? His affliction was good, because it led to his learning and treasuring the law of God. Martin Luther commented that he never learned the Word until he was afflicted. His sufferings then became his best schoolmasters.

3. BY His SPIRIT

“John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit,…….” Revelation 1L9-10


St. John the Apostle, the beloved disciple of Jesus, knew how to turn trouble into triumph. John was exiled to a small island called Patmos. The Romans used it to exile their political prisoners. Why did they deport John? It was because of his preaching of the Word of God and his testimony of Jesus Christ. John was under pressure. He was banished but he was blessed. He continued into his Nineties with his ministry. He was still excited! John knew how to finish well. John was preserving when the going got tough. God is with John and He can turn misery into majesty, grief into glory and trouble into triumph. Our God takes you when you are down and lifts you up in His hand. Bible says John was in the Spirit. He was not in a pulpit he was on the Island of Patmos. He was out of his friends and family but he was not out of God’s presence! John had God’s presence and protection. God was using the storm to perfect and fulfill John’s mission. When in the storm we need to be in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Have your eyes on God and not on yourself. They can shut John off from his dear ones but not from his God! God turns our eyes off the storm and onto Him. They thought they were shutting John up. God used this opportunity to bring us the last book of the Bible “Revelation.”

4. BY His PRESENCE

We only seek God’s presence when we find ourselves in tight spots, or when we are in troubles. Why do we act this way? We act this way because we haven’t become completely convinced that God’s presence is the only thing that can strengthen, and help us overcome the obstacles that arise. Now the question we must ask is: How should we seek God’s presence in our life? Let’s now turn to the Word of God to explore this topic. Moses said to the LORD, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. Exodus 33:15. Why is it so important to constantly seek God’s presence in our life? We must constantly seek God’s presence in our life because God’s presence in our life will help us in our walk, which will result in a dramatic change in our life, ministry and testimony. In other words, God’s presence in our life is the only thing that will produce a total change in us; a change that the world will not be able to ignore. Why won’t the world be able to ignore this change? Because God’s presence will provide us with rest and will strengthen us to overcome all problems or adversities. We must seek God's presence in our life at all times. We need to stop setting our sights on the earthly, and seek the spiritual. We have to stop being believers with a mediocre relationship with God, and become faithful believers who rely on God’s presence at all times. 

Final words

Someone rightly said God permits problems to CORRECT YOU, DIRECT YOU, INSPECT YOU, PROTECT YOU and PERFECT YOU. In other words an affliction will remove everything in our life that is not founded by God; it does not come to destroy but to correct, cleanse and carry to climax. Every great man and woman of God began with an affliction. It pulls the creativity out of your life. You cannot stop it, just like you cannot stop a cyclone but you can control your perception of it. Embrace it! The only proof that you are a man of God is your rewarding response towards an affliction. In our encounter with an affliction, God is there to bless us with His presence. If there was ever a man who learned how to overcome obstacles by faith... it was Joshua. In fact... his faith was so great that it landed him into God's great foyer of Faith. Though he is not named.. his faith was inducted into God's Hall of faith. And that Hall of Faith is found in Hebrews 11.30, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days." When Joshua begins his journey of faith, God spoke to him:  Joshua 1:5. “I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you”. God will not force Himself upon us, but He is there, if we will but reach out to Him. He is always as close as your breath. He is never more than a whisper away. Ask Him for grace and strength; submit our life to Him.

Troubles will be no troubles, distresses will be no distresses, and dangers will be no dangers--if God's presence is with us. God’s special presence will turn. .   Storms into calms, winter nights into summer days, prisons into palaces, weakness into strength, poverty into plenty, death into life. God's presence makes-heavy afflictions--light, and   long afflictions--short, and bitter afflictions--sweet. A man in misery, without this gracious presence of God, is in a very hell on this side hell. God's gracious presence makes every condition--to be a little heaven to the believing soul.

“Honor and majesty are [found] in His presence; strength and joy are [found] in His sanctuary.” (1 Chronicles 16:27)