Would you serve God with no blessing?

i know of this two harlots and prostitutes who are currently serving in senior positions within this "Christian" org, why? an ax to grind?

It's easy to serve God when all is going well. It's in the midst of suffering that our true love of God is tested.

One should serve God no matter what.

"Happy he that suffers most if it be for Christ" St Teresa of Avila.

We should apply that to our lives.

I am going through some very tough times indeed. With tougher ones yet to come when my divorce comes through. I will still serve God with all my heart and soul. Even though I continually fall, I will still continue to get up and follow God!

I think the answer is better explained (at least to me) this way.

We are joyful and full of peace when we are being/doing/living in the right place.
A dog naturally wags its tail when its in a family where it belongs where GOD put it.
A tree naturally gives shade and life when its planted where it should be.

I once had a situation, I could hear this fluttering, slight banging coming out of my
fireplace. From the flue of my chimney, it seemed to have a bird trapped in it.
So I took a wide and not to deep box and opened my damper and volia, this bird dropped/plopped right into the open box. Then with help from my son,
we closed the lid or tried to close it, and ran like mad to the door.
That bird was fighting with all its might and was pecking and scratching and pushing it self out the partially closed lid. We got up to the door
(still inside the house) and it flew out of the box, with great effort and
by GODS Grace, went right outside the open door and landed 20 yards on a tree branch and just looked at us...starred at us.

Later it started singing.
We saw it.
We heard it.

Then the LORD (DAD) spoke to me. It came to me spontaneously, like a whisper or
thought coming from the INside of me.
"Son, how much singing and chirping, did that bird do when it was in the chimney?"
"None", was my answer.
"And so you too will be singing, when you are in the right place I have for you."

Singing and being joyful is part of being in the SPIRIT and is open to everyone and we naturally do it, when we are in the right place - the place GOD designated us to be in.

We are joyful not because we get something so its our effort but rather a natural
expression that we are created for when we are where we are supposed to be.

-eric

Truly seeking God brought me to the place like a parched land crying out "My God, why have you forsaken me" in my dark night of soul. And yet, I hung on waiting for the promise. Seeking Him involves looking for Him to fulfill the promises, the substance of faith. And then, a light shone in a dark place, and the day dawned, and the day star arose in my heart. (2 Corinthians 4:6) Even Jacob wrestled in the dark of night til dawn. He got the promise and a new name.

"For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Ben Collyer said:

Lets say that God permanently withdrew the fruits of peace and joy from you, so that your life is perpetually in a state of angst and you have no inner joy. would you still obey God?

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Absolutely. He is God. King of all creation.

I would owe Him my service and unswerving allegiance whether there was any reward or not for doing so.

Ben Collyer said:

Im sure you can agree that the sweetest thing God offers us on a day to day basis is Joy and Peace, two fruits of the spirit

I want to pose you a hypothetical question

Lets say that God permanently withdrew the fruits of peace and joy from you, so that your life is perpetually in a state of angst and you have no inner joy. would you still obey God?

the reason I ask is because I said to a friend today. "A big part of the reason I obey God, is because I want to experience the joy and peace that he provides"

my friend didnt like that, he said that my motives for obeying were wrong and that I should seek to obey God because I love him.

what do you guys think?

Click to expand...

There are times when God will withdraw the sense of His presence from us to ensure that our faith is in Christ rather than on feelings and emotions. When we lose that sense of peace and security because God has withdrawn his presence, we run and hold on to Christ with more passion because we know more clearly that He is our only hope.

Martin Luther discovered this great truth, that we are justified by faith alone. Faith is the evidence of things not seen and the assurance of things hoped for.

The withdrawing of God's presence with its accompanying sense of blessing, is like the clouds covering the sun. It is a very grey day for us and we might think that the sun is no longer there. But it is there, always shining, but we are blocked from seeing. But if you get into an airliner and go up above clouds to 35,000 feet, then you come into brilliant sunshine.

The scripture says that tribulation works patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope makes not ashamed. When you sense that the presence of God is no longer there it is a tribulation and it causes anxiety. So you run to Christ and depend on Him that through faith and patience you will inherit God's promises, which includes the assurance of His presence. Then through patience, you develop experience in knowing to have faith when the presence of God is not there, and then through that experience your hope for the future revealing of His present is strengthened, so with patience you wait for it. In this way, you are not left deserted and ashamed when people say to you, "Where is your God?" when you express fear and anxiety when you don't sense His presence with you right now.

But as the clouds eventually roll away and the sun comes out, you rejoice in God's great mercy that He lets you sense His presence again. Before, you might have seen it as a smaller mercy and had taken it a bit for granted, but when you lose it and run in panic to Christ and have to wait patiently for it to return, when it does, you see it as a much greater mercy than before and you treasure it so much more.

Yeah

I have no idea, because when I didn't have peace, I was believing some very messed up things. When God rescued me and my faith grew, I had an increase of peace as a direct consequence. Hence, losing that peace would mean my having a James 1:6-8 "faith" if you can call it that. I don't want to go back there, and I don't think God would want me back there.

Ben Collyer said:

Im sure you can agree that the sweetest thing God offers us on a day to day basis is Joy and Peace, two fruits of the spirit

I want to pose you a hypothetical question

Lets say that God permanently withdrew the fruits of peace and joy from you, so that your life is perpetually in a state of angst and you have no inner joy. would you still obey God?

the reason I ask is because I said to a friend today. "A big part of the reason I obey God, is because I want to experience the joy and peace that he provides"

my friend didnt like that, he said that my motives for obeying were wrong and that I should seek to obey God because I love him.

what do you guys think?

Click to expand...

Following God is sometimes not so easy and it involves a lot of heartbreak and crushing of our will. This is necessary for our own good, our purification and for transforming us into His likeness. There's no other way around it. That's why the Bible says to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Christ.