So you are saying lighten up Lord, “My cross is too heavy!”

“My cross is too heavy”

Jesus said:

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny

himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me”

(Matthew 16:24)

The following devotion speaks to a very important point in the life of every Christian. It seems we all eventually come to the place in our life where we feel the load that we bear is too heavy!

Not so, because the promise of God’s Word is:

1 Corinthians 10:13 (The Message)

¹³No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.

It certainly would seem that from God’s perspective, even though the Bible makes it clear that as any loving father is towards his children, God also desires that we prosper and be in health; but only as our soul prospers. This is what the Bible says is God’s desire for us (see 3 John 1:2), but only as we are maturing and growing in faith!

Also we can learn from scripture that it is said that even our Lord had to learn obedience through the things which he suffered (see Hebrews 5:8)… and so how is it that we figure it will be any different with us?

No, you see God’s priority is not to make us comfortable in this life; but rather it is to prepare us for eternity, and for our future ministry, and assignment in the earth, and fulfill our destiny.

So let us understand that these trials and tribulations, which we try so hard to avoid, are God’s training ground to prepare us for what lies ahead. They are not to defeat us, but rather they are to teach us how to overcome the obstacles that the enemy will place in front of us.

This pattern is seen all throughout the Bible.

• Did not God tell Abraham to leave the comfort and security of his home and family, and go to a place he knew not; and when he finally arrived in the Promised Land, he found he had to live in tents, as a stranger; and that he was right in the middle of a famine.
  
• What about Joseph? After receiving his prophetic dream, and God’s promise for his future, he spends the next 13 years of his life in the toilet; first almost being killed by his brothers; then he is sold as a slave; then he is framed for something he didn’t do; and finally he is thrown into prison!
  

  Joseph was 17 when this ordeal began, and it wasn’t until age 30 that he understood why. Joseph had no idea that God was fulfilling his dream and his destiny, and that all of this was in training for him to become the Prime Minister of Egypt, and thereby save his family from the coming famine. (read Psalms 105:16-19).
  

• What about the Children of Israel having to wander in the desert for forty years? Listen to what God said the reason was: “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).
  
• Then we read the Hall of Fame chapter in the Bible, in Hebrews 11; where each one of these individuals were tested severely, and it was not because God didn’t care about them, but it was because He had prepared something better. But that something better comes only after having our faith muscles tested, in preparation for the assignment which God has foreordained for each of our lives.
  
• Look to Jesus in the New Testament, did He not send his disciples into the storm; and then came walking out to them on the water? This was also a test.
  

It was President John F. Kennedy, who brought this to our attention, during the Cuban missile crisis (in 1960), about how in the Chinese language the word for crisis (“Wei Ji 危机“) is made up of two characters “Wei 危” and “Ji 机“, where “Wei 危” means “danger,” and “Ji 机“, means “opportunity.”

Now if we could only learn to see our trials and tribulations, which we are facing, in this same way; as opportunities for us to grow, in order that we might exercise our faith muscles, and learn to overcome our obstacles.

Let us also remember that the Bible says (in Hebrews 11:6) that without faith it is impossible to please God!

These are the mountains that the Bible says we can speak to, which are those material, financial, emotional, or physical obstacles that Satan places in our path, just like he did with Job.

The Bible teaches us that we can speak to these mountains, as Jesus has instructed us to do, and cast them out of our way!

Let us think about these things, in whatever it is that we are facing today; and let us begin today to see our trials and tribulations also as opportunities, and as the Bible says: “Let us glory in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5) Selah

Shalom,

Skip Barland

—–Original Message—–
From: HEARTLIGHT [mailto:editor@heartlight.org]
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:30 AM
To: myutmost@maillists.heartlight.org
Subject: My Utmost For His Highest : “What You Will Get”