favor | NEW LIFE

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statues”
Psalm 119:71

Already at the beginning of this a New Year most of us if not all of us have already experienced some type of loss, hurt, pain, betrayal, and disappointment. With extreme anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and fear.

By the end of January people were ready to give up and throw in the towel. I had seen post that said, “Thank you January for a good year.” Because of the magnitude of their afflictions, they have already counted out the rest of the year.

Today’s Word

af-flic-tion
suffering, distress, pain, trouble, misery, hardship, misfortune, adversity, sorrow, torment, anguish, grief

“We are troubled on every side, yet not destressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body”

2 Corinthians 4:8-10

In life we will experience things coming from all different directions and sometimes several things all at once, yet God will give us peace even during our storm. Life happens to us all and there are somethings that will throw us for a loop, have us scratching our head, baffled, puzzled, and confused. But because our hope and our faith lie in Jesus Christ, we don’t become desperate, thirsty and hungry after the wrong things.

Have you ever been talked about, lie on, cheated, used, and abused, but when you look around God was still there? He promised that he would never leave us nor forsake us, and He is always true to his word. Even in times when things are not going well in your life know that God has not forgotten about you. Though we are tossed to and fro, thrown away, disregarded, and rejected, I find the strength to push through because I know though the weapons may form, they want to prosper.

As Jesus hung on the cross, he had a moment where He questioned God, but he said not my will, but thine will be done. He said, “IT IS FINISHED”, hung his head and gave up the Ghost. Now as a believer we have to walk out the finish work on the Cross. So, in the end we still win. God will complete the work that he has started in us, but we must participate in the plan that he has for our lives.

NECESSARY…

Despite our afflictions when we trust in Jesus Christ, we are able to overcome and conquer the very things that should have taken us out. Through these scriptures I found encouragement and strength of some of the things that I will experience even while going through, if I faint not.

Psalms 34:19 Deliverance
2 Corinthians 12:9 Grace
1 Corinthians 10:13 Way of escape
Romans 8:18 His Glory revealed
Roman’s 5:3-4 Patience, Experience & Hope
Philipians 4:13 I can
James 5:11 Mercy
Psalms 22:24 Continual Praise
John 16:33 Peace

So why in the world would a God want us to go through affliction?

NECESSARY…

When David the Psalmist talked about “it was good for me that I have been afflicted” he was referencing to the fact of the change that it was rearing within him. No, it did not feel good, no he didn’t like it, nor appreciated it initially, but yet it allowed him to know God in a different way.

There were 3 continual prayers throughout David’s journey which were:

1. Psalms 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in my mine heart, that I might not sin against thee”
In order for God’s word to be hidden in his heart, meant he had to learn it, study it, meditate, contemplate, ponder, consider, reflect, digest on it day and night. Because of his love for God, his desire more than anything in the world was to know him and to please him by keeping his commandments.

2. Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path”
Through God’s word it will give us clarity, direction, a guide and a light even when the path seems dark. In Psalm 23 it talks about the Lord being a shepherd, so even if you were to get off the path his word will be like a GPS system and put us back on track. We must be willing to follow his direction and his plan for our life even when we don’t understand, or the way seems is unsure.

3. Psalms 119:133 “Order my steps in Your Word: And let not any iniquity have dominion over me”
He wanted God’s word to guide him, to align him and to not allow anyone’s wicked, sinful, evil, scandalist, unjust, and unfair actions of man to overtake him.

NECESSARY…

It is through the pressing together that the oil in your life is manifested. So, when you feel the pressure or the fire might intensify, it is because God is pruning and refining you into something greater. Do not be overcome but overcome through Christ Jesus.

Song List

I am who I am today
Because God used my mistakes
He worked it for my good
Like no one else ever could
God told me to tell
It was NECESSARY

Necessary by Fantasia & Dennis Reed

It so easy to thank and praise God for the open doors. As we consider those doors favor or an opportunity that we know only he could have done.

BUT……….

What about the doors that God chooses to close?

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

Aleander Graham Bell

We confess it with out our mouth, but do we really and truely believe that? If we sincerely believed that, why is to so hard to move forward?

Sometimes we can’t even see the opened door because we are so focused on the door that has closed. Normally it happens suddenly, out of no where and in most cases at the time that it can’t be explained. When we become emotionally attached, phsycially bond, spiritually connected to certain things and or people when that season has ended it is hard to close that door because we are still attached.

Times will pass and seasons will come and go

Roy Bean

Reason for closed doors:

Season Ends
God has something better
We won’t do it
We opened the wrong door
Not recognizing the reason for the opened door (misused the purpose)
Protection

Through life experiences I have realized that their were a lot of doors that needed to be closed, because it would have caused destruction in my life. There were some doors I should have left closed and because I failed to listen to God it wreaked havoc in my life. Some doors are also seasonal, but because of our attachment to the season we miss it or in most cases ignore the signs that the seasons have passed. Some doors God has to physically close for us because we won’t do it. Those are normally the ones that close in what seems unexpectedly.

When you know the signifigance of a closed door, you wouldn’t be so distraught over the ones that do. protection + purpose = better

It makes me appreciate the open doors, but I have even more appreciation for the closed ones. It is in those that I know God is looking out for me. As painful as it can sometimes be, it was a blessing in disguise. What turns out to initally look like a bad thing, actually turned out to be good one.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”

Romans 8:28

“For I am persuaded” Romans 8

I am so grateful for all of the open doors and continued doors that he allows in my life. Favor and opportunities that had he not granted them to me I would have not made it this far. I would diffently not be where I am today. But, when I begin to think about all the doors God closed on my behalf I get happy. Just think about all the doors that have been closed on your behalf that you know nothing about. I am thankful for his grace, but I am also grateful for his mercy.

SONG LIST:

“For Every Mountain” Amber Bullock