Success Is Not a Random Act of God

Success Is Not a Random Act of God
By Don Nori Sr. www.destinyimage.com


Contrary to popular belief, success is not a product of chance. It is not the result of random selection or of a pre-determined function of fate. Success is written into the spiritual DNA by God for all mankind, no matter who they are, what financial or social environment they were born into, or what an individual may believe about himself. God has hardwired us to be successful. Failure does not exist in the plan of our Lord. Just as there is no failure in the hopes and dreams of parents toward their children, God has made us for success.
There are a few simple things we must understand in order for success to be a real part of our lives, but make no mistake, success is more attainable than most of realize.
Success is simply a series of right decisions. It is a progression of carefully researched, fully prayed over, and completely thought through decisions. Right decisions are made one at a time, with a clear goal in mind. No wonder the Scripture says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (Prov 29:18 KJV).
You will never know how to make a right decision until you know where you want to end up. For students, success is a good job, so the short-term goal is good grades. Therefore, the student will make a series of right decisions: Go to class, study hard, get plenty of sleep and prepare well for tests. Medical students decide to put in the time, work hard and sacrifice many personal desires because they have set the goal and now are making the decisions needed to attain that goal.
Olympians, professional athletes, and all of us who work a regular day job have a goal in sight. We make the decisions necessary to bring about the fulfillment of those goals.
A spiritual calling is an incredible reason to want to make right choices, but sometimes our calling is sidelined or stalled because the decisions we make hinder what God wants to do in us, for us and most assuredly, through us.
But the good news is simple. Jesus says that His burden is easy, the load we carry through life should be light. Communicating with the Lord through the Spirit will most certainly bring this promise to pass in this life.
A dedicated of devotion to Him keeps our heart soft and our spirits open to the path He wants us to take. Personally, I love to wait on the Lord while praying in the Spirit, in tongues. This is an incredible source of power and connection to our Lord Jesus that is overlooked far too often in the decision-making process.
No matter who you are, what stage of life you’re in, what church you attend or what trouble you have faced, you can pray in tongues. You can experience this promise of God in your everyday life, giving you confidence, strength and the wisdom you need to either get on the right path or stay on the right course. Our Lord Jesus did not leave us alone. He gave us the Holy Spirit, along with all the Holy Spirit is. He will lead us to one right decision after another, until we find ourselves in the center of His will, the center of His dream for us. You will have achieved success.

"Recovering YOU from the Enemy!"

"Recovering YOU from the Enemy!"

By Undrai & Bridget Fizer www.fizer.org


The only thing that was ever "stolen" from you was YOU. The enemy never took a thing from you. He didn't take your family. He didn't take your car. He didn't steal your job. If you never knew YOU "you never owned a thing." And if you never truly knew God, "you never truly knew YOU!"
Any material that is given to a "unknown or unidentified identity" is a loss waiting to happen. This biggest challenge of the soul is to rightly identify ones self. Many live in this generation "unknown, unborn, unfulfilled, and unrealized!" Whenever there is an existence without the knowledge of God and His Kingdom, "you have not yet arrived!"
The Kingdom will create an Awakening that will compel the heart to seek for God, which therefore will seek for itself also. Finding God "will also find YOU!" Jesus is the Way to God "which is also the way to YOU!" When you discover YOU, and recover YOU, then YOU will finally be able to worship the Lord. The greatest form of worship is not mere singing or the raising of the hands. The greatest form of worship "is imitation!" When you discover who YOU are, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO IMITATE your Father. Ephesians 5:1
Imitating the Father will also release the fullness of His Mind, Thoughts, and Ways, within you. You will find yourself imitating God in a world that is full of "reconciled, yet un-recovered individuals!" You will find yourself "living BORN" in a world of "unborn" men.
The enemy HAD no need for your material possessions. He had need of the BORN. He wanted to take away your Divine Life, Divine Identity, and Divine Mastery by way of holding you captive to ignorance, fear, and a severe esteem issue, all of which we call SIN. When you find it impossible to believe in YOU, you will also find it impossible to believe in God. When you find it impossible to believe God, you will naturally fear in believing YOU. YOU do matter. YOU are not insignificant. God never created you to be...
When you discover the Kingdom, after seeking the Kingdom, YOU will find yourself "and everything that is necessary to assist YOU in your Divine Life, will naturally be ADDED to YOU!" Wisdom will be added to you. Greatness and Influence will be added to YOU. Unlimitedness will be added to YOU. Fearlessness will be added to YOU. Anything that has overwhelmed death and limitation will be added to YOU. There is no need to seek things "that can die" to be added to you. Temporary additions "is not adding to anything." Things that refuse to die "is a true addition!"
Prepare yourself for things that can't be shaken, things that can't die, and things that will increase a Generation. Prepare your accounts for that addition!

Trust in My Life

Trust In My Life
by Chip Brogden
I am learning more and more the necessity of letting God have His Way with me. That is not to say I allow Him to live through me at all times as I should. Would that I would so yield, at all times, and without fail. But in the instances where I have allowed Him to respond through me the results have been startling. It is by this that I know He is alive. I am able to watch Him work through me, almost as though I were standing apart from myself observing it.
In order to bring my experience down to earth in terms of practicality, let me take an ordinary incident and demonstrate how His Life responds for us, and in our stead, when we allow it. I am not a patient person by nature, and I am prone towards laziness and irritability. At times I can be most difficult to live with, as my wife will certainly testify. On one occasion I was particularly angry and was on the verge of reacting as I always do, from Adam”s nature instead of Christ”s nature. But in order to test the sufficiency of Christ”s Life in me, I inwardly turned to the Lord and frankly confessed my inability to control my anger, or my tongue. I did not ask for help to do so, nor did I ask for strength, or for patience. I simply cast it all upon the Lord, saying, “Since I cannot, therefore you must. It is beyond me, therefore I depend on You to do what I cannot. If You will not, then I cannot.” This was not done in an arrogant way, but in a matter-of-fact tone that was simply relaying the facts of the situation. As long as we think WE can, or even if we think God will enable us to do it, we are still striving. We must cease to do, and allow Him to do. I already knew how it would turn out if I tried to handle this on my own.
After uttering this simple prayer I never gave it another thought, but waited to see what the Lord would do in me. Each time my mind would try to take the matter up again the still small voice would say, “Trust in My Life.” Over and over again in recent weeks this gentle prompting has guided me through impossible situations and carried me well beyond any short-term victory I had ever been able to procure by way of self-effort. We know that Christ was tempted in all areas like as we are, yet without sin. He is over all things, and there”s not a single temptation, situation, problem, or circumstance that He has not already mastered. We do not worry that Christ may stumble, or sin, or be taken advantage of by the enemy. Why? We trust in His Life; we know the Man; we believe He is sufficient, nay, more than sufficient, to answer any and every test, trial, and temptation. Since He lives in me, and I am a vessel which contains His Life, why can I not trust in His Life working through me as much as I would trust Christ on earth? Is it not the same Spirit? Decidedly so!
“Trust in My Life,” that Spirit urges. Cease striving, trust Me, watch what happens. In so doing, I can report that in this particular case my temper was non-existent; my words were soft; my manner meek; in essence, the Living Christ was expressing Himself through me, and my part was only to yield and watch in amazement as His Nature began to engulf my personality. Who else could display such patience? Such love? Such peace? It cannot be conjured up, nor can it be duplicated by asking “what would Jesus do?” and setting out to copy His example. Trying to imitate Christ is the path of frustration and despair. Let me say undeniably that you will never meet a Man like Jesus. Try for a million years and you can never duplicate His personality! Your best attempt to “be more like Jesus” is as feeble as trying to grow a plant out of a concrete rock. Only a proud, ignorant person thinks they can even come close to being like Jesus.
No, the answer is, “It is no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me, and the life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.” I live, yet not I but Christ. It is not Jesus reproduced in me, it is Jesus instead of me. It is not my life, my work, my effort at holiness. It is Christ my Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption.
As I learn to trust His Life for the small things, I am finding the larger things to be less large. It is all a question of leverage. When you have a large load you desire to lift with a lever, the closer you move the fulcrum to the load the less force you have to exert to lift it. Consequently, trusting His Life effectively positions the fulcrum in such a way that you exert very little force, while the Lever (Christ) does all the work . Of course we eventually arrive to the place of total rest and exert no self-effort at all. Simply “ask, and it shall be given unto you.”
A better analogy is one Christ made Himself: “take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me…and you shall find rest unto your souls”. A yoke is made for two oxen. It was common practice to yoke a weak animal with a stronger one and thus strengthen the weaker. In our situation we cannot get stronger; we must be made weaker. Our whole problem is we are too strong in ourselves. So we are never told to improve our flesh, for God has judged it unworthy of being saved and nailed it to the cross. But the illustration of the yoke shows us that Christ is doing all the work for us while we reap the benefit of His labor. He is not pushing us from behind, exacting impossible demands upon us like a slave-driver. He is beside us, laboring on our behalf. If I take His yoke upon me I am carried along with Him. We may rest since He carries all the weight. His Life is unrestricted and limitless. The weight of the world is not too heavy for Him to bear. We must therefore cast our burden upon Him, because He cares for us and He is well able to handle it. It is His privilege to do so.
Paul thought himself a strong individual until God weakened him. Now Paul rejoices in his weaknesses, boasts of his inadequacies, and revels in his sufferings. Why? “When I am weak, then I am strong.” How so? He is at last cognizant that “apart from Me, you can do nothing”; that human strength and self-effort only delays the inevitable and eventual defeat; that true strength is manifest through the denial of self and trusting in His Life. For His Life, that is, His Being, Nature, and Essence, is Christ Himself. Today there is a need of strength; He is my Strength. Tomorrow the need may be patience; He is my Patience. Next week the call may be for more self-control; He is my Self-Control. Each new revelation of weakness and need provides us with fresh opportunity to trust in His Life and observe a living Christ expressing Himself through us.

Renewing Our Strength

Renewing Our Strength

By Homer Owen www.samaritanfoundation.org


“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, 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 40:28-31
A friend sent me an article recently describing Molting Eagles. I have read similar articles over the years but this one came during my own molting season. An eagle can live up to 70 years; but in order to reach such a high age, somewhere between the age of 30 to 40, the eagle must go through a painful and often life-threatening renewal. Not all eagles survive. When molting eagles get into the last state of transformation, often times they will peck at each other, occasionally killing a weaker eagle.
The renewal takes 150 days. During this time it is difficult to fend or defend himself. The eagle has to remove his calcified beak by repeatedly knocking it against a rock. After the new beak is formed, he has to remove his old talons before new ones can grow. Then he has to pluck out the old matted feathers before he can grow new feathers. Mature eagles who have gone through their own transformation can hear the unique screams of molting eagles. This alerts them to drop fresh meat onto their perches.
With the help of God personally and then encouraging mature eagles, Homer will soar again and soar even higher than before. 2 Corinthians 3:18. I appreciate the love, patience and encouragement of every mature eagle. Not a single day goes by without both the Lord and mature eagles dropping fresh manna into my heart to feast on. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for standing with me during this molting time.
Here is a typical feast that came my way last week from a friend in East Texas. This was a decree in the form of a prayer. “Straighten up now, vertebrae, upon vertebrae … muscles, tendons, disks, nerves come into perfect order and line upon the sacrum … In Jesus’ strong name.” Thank you Rachel. Amazing, I went to the doctor a couple days after this and they x-rayed my back. You can clearly see in the x-ray that the two broken vertebrae are in the process of becoming straight. Glory! God and Rachel are so good.
I want to encourage every molting eagle to simply wait on the Lord. He has promised to renew your strength. Look forward to new wings and the supernatural ability to not get tired or weary. Better days or on the way. Remember this all happens one day at a time. Don’t let the enemy steal your healing and restoration by telling you that it just ain’t gonna happen. Learn to rejoice in today and know that tomorrow will even be better.

Foundational Prayer Before Crisi or Blessing

Foundational Prayer Before Crisis or Blessing

By Robert Ricciardelli www.vision2advance.com


Living by the Spirit of the Lord is something we all pursue in our every day life. How we do this, can be a challenge for sure. Jesus lived a life of prayer, and when He needed dedicated prayer time, He would even send crowds and most likely potential resources away, so that He could be with the Father. As a result, He would not move, speak, or do anything that the Father did not ask Him to do.

As I think of prayer and how often we come to the Father during a crisis, I am thankful that our Loving Father responds to hearing our cry. I am also reminded that prayer is really for us to connect with Him, His nature, and a conduit for His peace and joy to flow through us. His Spirit never leaves us, but we must participate and engage relationally with Him in order for His presence to manifest through our lives in power. This happens most often through prayer and spending time with Him.

I also want to make a distinction between prayer and talking or listening to God. Prayer is a focused time, and talking and listening to the Father should be a continuum or seamless activity. When we are in conversation with anyone we should ask the Lord “Father what do you want me to hear, and Father how would you desire me to respond.” When we are consciously doing this, the Lord will do amazing things, and you will find that you are now giving God glory in many more conversations, and releasing His love more abundantly to others.

When prayer is foundational and we allow His will to supersede our will, every day activities take on a new light. I begin to see as He sees, I begin to hear His voice more clearly, and I begin to respond to life’s successes and challenges to the glory of God, our Father. I have also found that prayer times for me, is tuning everything elase out so I can hear from Him. I make my petitions known before God, but more importantly I listen for His petitions to become reality for me and for others, according to His will, and His plans. Below our some quotes that will encourage you to pursue prayer in an increased fashion, and watch the Father do, what only He can do.

Richard Sibbes said, "God can pick sense out of a confused prayer."

Thomas Watson said, "The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel."

Oswald Chambers said, “Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God.”

Andrew Murray said, “Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue; God's voice is its most essential part. Listening to God's voice is the secret of the assurance that He will listen to mine.”

Abraham Lincoln said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day."

This one's from John Bunyan, the imprisoned pastor who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress: “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”

Robert Murray McCheyne said, "What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing more."

E. Stanley Jones said, "Prayer is surrender—surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat-hook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God."

And now the story, from the life of George Mueller:

Things looked bleak for the children of George Mueller's orphanage at Ashley Downs in England. It was time for breakfast, and there was no food. A small girl whose father was a close friend of Mueller was visiting in the home. Mueller took her hand and said, "Come and see what our Father will do." In the dining room, long tables were set with empty plates and empty mugs. Not only was there no food in the kitchen, but there was no money in the home's account.

Mueller prayed, "Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat." Immediately, they heard a knock at the door. When they opened it, there stood the local baker. "Mr. Mueller," he said, "I couldn't sleep last night. Somehow I felt you had no bread for breakfast, so I got up at 2 o'clock and baked fresh bread. Here it is." Mueller thanked him and gave praise to God. Soon, a second knock was heard. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. He said that before the milk spoiled, he would like to give it to the children.

Looking at George Mueller’s ability to know that Father would provide, makes it very clear that prayer preceded the miracle that was about to happen. Through prayer, and revelation, George knew that His Father would provide, and activated the faith in others, while preparing the table for the miracle.

“Prayer is not pulling God to our will, but the aligning of our will to the will of God." May we all pray like never before, in the midst of crisis or blessings, and begin to prepare the table for His miracles to appear in our lives, and the lives of others, in Jesus name.

Words of Repentance From Ted Haggard

Words of Repentance From Ted Haggard

By Lee Grady www.themordecaiproject.com


In an interview with Charisma, the fallen Colorado pastor reaches out to the Christian community and asks for forgiveness.
After Colorado pastor Ted Haggard admitted to an embarrassing moral failure with a male prostitute in November 2006, the Christian community wasn't sure what to do with him. Some people wrote him off and kicked him to the curb. A few wept and prayed for the pastor and his devastated wife. We all tried our best to move on—knowing that the American church had suffered a big black eye through the ordeal.
I didn't know what to say to Haggard when the news broke two and a half years ago. Like so many others who had read his books, listened to his sermons and admired his church, I felt betrayed. I sent one brief e-mail to let him know I was praying. After he appeared in the HBO documentary The Trials of Ted Haggard earlier this year, I decided to ask him if he would talk to Charisma about his healing process.
Ted and Gayle drove to Orlando and we talked for more than two hours over lunch. I thought it would be awkward, but both of them were as gracious as they were eager to share their hearts. They still seemed to carry a lot of pain. Their emotions were still raw from having the ugliest details of their personal lives broadcast on national television.
The Haggards agreed to do a print interview, and I gave them the liberty of writing their answers so that they could be sure the sound bytes didn't get distorted. I wanted them to express their hearts clearly. Below is a short version of that interview. The longer version has been posted on our Web site and is available here.
Charisma: You probably feel as though you've been to hell and back since your moral failure in 2006. How are you doing now?
Ted Haggard: My visit to hell on Earth as a consequence of my own actions was both devastating and eye-opening. It took a tree to fall on me, but I did get the point. As a result, my spiritual life is undoubtedly stronger now. I am becoming the man I always prayed to be. Becoming worse than a leper in the eyes of others has deeply humbled me, to say the least.
Charisma: Do you have any plans to go back into ministry?
Ted Haggard: Since the release of the HBO documentary The Trials of Ted Haggard in January, we’ve had millions of visitors to tedhaggard.com and thousands of e-mails that included words of encouragement and invitations to speak and write. We’ve appeared again on Oprah, had two appearances on Fox network and have spoken in a variety of venues. It’s all humbling and embarrassing. But it does seem to help others, and we are being received with more love and respect than I’ve ever had in my life.
Charisma: For about a year you were under the discipline of a team of ministers. What did you learn from that?
Ted Haggard: I learned that what I had been teaching others for years is true: We should all live our lives as though there is no such thing as a secret. And I realize how much my sin costs others. Secrecy empowers sin. What I should have done is find a safe place to openly confess my sin and find a path to effective repentance. I am deeply sorry for those I have hurt and disappointed in my process.
Charisma: No minister actually plans to have a moral failure. What mistakes did you make that led you to make wrong choices?
Ted Haggard: I wrongly thought I could take care of my problems without embarrassing my family and friends. I feared the consequences and shame so much. I didn't trust others enough to talk about it. I thank God, though, that the crisis got things out in the open so I can enjoy honest communication and freedom today.
Charisma: What do you say now to people who struggle with gay feelings?
Ted Haggard: I am not a psychologist, so I don't have any advice for others who struggle the way I did. Nor do I know with certainty that my childhood experience contributed to my problems. Some of my counselors have made that connection, and the treatment of that childhood experience completely removed all compulsive thoughts and behaviors. I no longer deal with conflicting desires the way I did.
Regardless, though, I do not believe my childhood experience is an excuse. I am responsible and I have repented. I highly recommend qualified Christian counseling for anyone losing their fight with any kind of compulsive thoughts or behaviors. I believe our generation of believers is going to have to accept that it's not always lack of faith if we need counseling for assistance with integrity. If I had gone to counseling, I probably could have completely avoided my crisis.
Charisma: How has the church treated you since your fall?
Ted Haggard: A growing segment of church leaders are choosing to publicly forgive us and welcome us. Other church leaders are quiet, which I think may be the way they communicate that we are irrelevant and/or embarrassing to them. Others haven't known what to do so they have done nothing. When people are quiet, mean, judgmental, ignorant, angry or distant, I think that is justice, and I don't blame them. When others are kind, gentle, loving, helpful, supportive and gracious I consider it a gift and am grateful.
Gayle Haggard: Since returning to Colorado Springs, we have discovered many church people who were as eager to reconnect with us as we were with them. In this atmosphere of love and forgiveness, true healing and restoration is taking place.
Charisma: Women watched you from a distance, Gayle, and wondered how you could stay with Ted. What do you tell women whose husbands have had affairs?
Gayle Haggard: The reason I could stay with Ted was that I settled in myself that he is worth it. Sure, I was hurting. I felt totally let down and betrayed. My heart was thoroughly broken. But I had to believe that in spite of all the pain Ted loved me and I loved him and our relationship was real. I determined that he was worth fighting for, our marriage was worth fighting for, and the honor and dignity of our children was worth fighting for.
I encourage women with the words that encouraged me: Love covers a multitude of sins. When I pressed myself to forgive and love Ted, I healed. When I judged him and scrutinized him for all the pain he caused, I would spiral down into despair. Love never fails—if we choose love and let it do its work, we are all better for it.
To read the full transcript of the interview with Ted and Gayle Haggard, click here.

In the Midst of Darkness, a Treasure Forms

In the Midst of Darkness, a Treasure Forms

By Kathryn Marquis www.kathrynmarquis.com


Recently, a friend commented to me about her disappointment when a dire situation suddenly arose in her family. She had just learned to live life without expecting the other "shoe to drop" and then it did. You must understand that this was not a casual or superficial complaint; this friend has faced her share of circumstances which would cause many of us to take one look, and run quickly in the opposite direction.
My friend was widowed very young by cancer, then, just as suddenly, this newly single mom's oldest son faced a cancer diagnosis of his own—and that's just the beginning of her journey. Her life story, meant to be a testimony of joy coming in the morning, has not yet seemed to have reached the light of dawn. Most recently a new set of "challenges" has reared its ugly head just as, in her mind, she could begin to trust in things not completely falling apart at every turn.
My heart aches at her situation and at my own, as we have faced seemingly innumerable losses and reasons for tears in the last couple of years. These are years which we had hoped would mark the end of our own season of "weeping and mourning"—only to replace the chronic pain and sadness I had lived with of raging circumstances. My raging circumstances included almost losing my marriage, walking through my mother's brain tumor diagnosis and her death a year later, the loss of jobs, a bankruptcy, the loss of our home, dealing with an immobilizing injury, and living homeless for three months. And yet, in the midst of darkness, a treasure forms.
Isaiah 45:3 "I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name."
"Lord, Haven't I Suffered Enough?"
One summer morning a few years ago, as I walked and talked with the Lord, I found myself sitting on a park bench, weeping, and out of my heart came this prayer, "Lord, how is it that it feels like the first 30 years of my life have been about grief and tears?" In that moment His inexplicable love surrounded me, and filled me like a warm and healing balm. I heard Him whisper, the way that only He can, to my innermost being: "Kathryn, though your weeping has endured for a night, the rest of your life will be about carrying My glory."
I went away from that encounter rejoicing at His words, seemingly a promise of better things to come. Only, those "better things" turned out to be the circumstances noted above; not exactly what one would expect restoration to look like. I was understandably confused and disappointed. Not that there weren't amazing, encouraging circumstances and miracles that also occurred during that time. Yet, I too, like my friend, was looking for a quality of life without the constant expectation of bad things happening. "Lord, haven't I suffered enough? When can I trust again that things are going to be okay?"
As it happens, I was asking the wrong question. I had interpreted His promise to me to mean a change of circumstances, but He was talking about much more than that. As always, He has the best in mind when I can only conceive of the crumbs. Hidden inside His words to me was a promise of the transformation of my very heart. My question to Him needed to be not, "When can I trust in better circumstances coming for me," but, "Lord, what did You mean about carrying Your glory?"
Oh, if we only understood the "nature of suffering." Christ's suffering for our ultimate redemption was the greatest passion play, the greatest illustrated sermon ever presented on the very character and Person of the Godhead: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). He is ultimate Love, in its purest, highest form. And, if we are very courageous in the midst of great trial, we suddenly become the seat of conception for the greatest revelation that can come to the heart of man: I AM.
The greatest treasure of darkness is that He is unchanging, He is still the same, He is on the Throne, His name is Love, and He never fails. Though the light become darkness around me, though the mountains be removed and hurled into the sea, You remain, Your love remains, and my Jesus is still the same.
In the Scriptures we are told to "count it all joy" when we face trials of many kinds, for to persevere through painful trials produces the character of Jesus, and His character within us gives birth to the hope that does not disappoint—even His GLORY (see James 1 and Romans 5) . Christ in me in perfect, intimate, conjugal oneness IS the glory of God in its ultimate expression.
The Glory About to Be Revealed In and Through Us
To carry His glory is His ultimate design and plan for humanity. Romans 8:18 says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." It goes on to say that even creation is subjected to the frustrated groaning of waiting for the revealing of the sons of the Kingdom. In Matthew 13 we see that it is in His sovereign design to harvest out of us every evil thing that hinders and causes us to stumble, "AND THEN" we will shine like the sun (with His glory!) in the Kingdom of our Father.
His ultimate design was and is to form and reveal in me a true worshiper; to give my life every opportunity to be a testimony and a pleasing fragrance, to reveal in me His glory, the treasure formed in darkness—the wealth in secret places. My place of suffering, at the merciful hands of adverse circumstance, is the crucible for the glorious "AND THEN" of Matthew 13, revealing the "pearl of greatest price."
Pearls are fascinating gems. Natural, uncultured (that is, without human intervention) pearls are very rare, forming only when a microscopic parasite or impurity accidentally invades the safe, pristine environment of the soft tissue or mantle of a sea mollusk. Being irritated by the invader, the mollusk coats the impurity with a calcium secretion in layer upon conjunctive layer. If one were to dissect a natural pearl, there would be no solid "centre" visible, but a series of concentric "growth rings." It's not a stretch to see the allegory. (Incidentally, my middle name is Margaret, from the Greek, meaning "A Pearl." In this sense, Trouble is literally my middle name.)
That summer morning when He spoke to me, He was giving me much more than a promise of better things to come. He was giving me a priceless key for life and having it abundantly. He was essentially saying to me, "Kathryn, I've chosen for you to endure; and where you have wept and thought it was 'for nothing,' you will come to find it has worked to ignite the brilliant, raging flame within you, the greatest treasure concerning darkness. If you will allow Me, Your life will carry the very I AM."
I long to be able to tell my friend that better days are coming for her, but they are not necessarily the better days of "easier circumstances." I have no idea if more loss will come to her, but I do know that as she comes through this time of trouble, she will emerge radiant and shining, with a better revelation of the character and Person of the God who loves her, who formed her, who has called her by name.
Often now, when I meet people, they look into my eyes and say something like, "Oh! I see Him! Shining there!" and I am reduced to tears for the honor of having been given the gift of an unveiled face, revealing His glory as a bright reflection in the mirror of my life. I have come to intimately know the truth of Psalm 84, that blessed are those who have set their hearts on pilgrimage, who pass through the valley of weeping, making it a place of springs—that the former and latter rains fall on them there.
Rightly He promised me that there would come a day for me when I would "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you...Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice...for you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be over" (Isaiah 60:1, 5, 20).
And, if He promised me, He has promised you.