Trials and Tribulations

Trials and tribulations are meant to train me to develop Godly responses so as to enable me to reign in life.

Imagine this prayer, "Lord Jesus, I am drowned by this lack of material blessings. I know you died to give me all things. The Bible says so. Lord Jesus, based on Your Word, I am trusting You to manifest all these material blessings in my life so that I can have joy and a peace of mind."  Sounds spiritual?

When I looked deeper, I realized that my trust was actually in the material blessings to give me joy and peace.  The desire for material blessings was reigning over me. 

When I reverse the situation as such, "Lord Jesus, I don't know why the material blessings have yet to manifest in my life. But you are my joy and peace whether those blessings manifest or not."  This conviction can only come from the blessed Holy Spirit. No point trying to conjure that up.

To reign in life, I need a convicted response that Jesus the Christ is my joy and peace in the absence of material blessings. I go through whatever is happening in my life with God's promise that He will cover my back.  

Yet, when this convicted response is being developed within me by the blessed Holy Spirit, I find material blessings hunting me down.  During the process of development, the evil one hurled bouts of intense guilt and condemnation at me. I was crushed!  My Lord Jesus lifted me up!

The adversary made me believe that I was engaged in a war with him. "Resist the devil and he will flee from me", I was reminded. I realized that it was a deception; a distraction from what my Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished. My Lord Jesus has already made a public spectacle of the evil one for and as me.

The war is over! There is no war to fight except the fight of faith.  Looking away from all that distracts towards Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith. I resist the devil by ignoring his taunting. Why should I be bothered with a defeated foe? My Lord preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemy.

As I am reminded of what my Lord Jesus has already accomplished for me, I find myself reigning over guilt and condemnation in every form, shape and size.  Whenever I felt those negative and debilitating emotions of fear, worry, guilt , condemnation and the likes, I would speak in tongues until I feel the lightness in me.

I did whatever my hands could find to do, the best I could without being concerned if those things would translate into material benefits. In all that I do, I do it as if I am doing for the Lord.  Yet, my Lord Jesus protected me against exploitation; from being made a door mat to be trampled all over.

And yes, He provided food and clothing as well as the things I needed.  I learnt contentment.  Greed was losing its sway over me. Pride, the reliance on material things for assurance, was losing its grip on me. Those very things that I once thought I could live without became meaningless to me. Priorities took a paradigm shift.

The day that I caught a glimpse of all that was the day I started to live the victorious life that my Lord Jesus the Christ has died to give me.

I am beginning to be convinced that a Christian life is one of being and not doing; do this not, do that not ; I should have or should have not.  The moment I allow just one of those to take root, I place myself under condemnation. And condemnation kills! It really does! To those around me, I am irresponsible and lazy. Only my Lord Jesus Christ truly knows what He is doing in and with my life.

I thank my Lord Jesus the Christ and our Heavenly Father for having given up His only Beloved Son for me.