A perfect faith would lift us absolutely above fear.
(George Macdonald)
So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold, and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. (1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT)
We all experience situations in life that we call coincidences. My friend Buster says about these situations, Is that odd? Or is that God? I have come to believe that many times when coincidences occur, that a loving God is working in my life to bring about His will for me. The latest coincidence in my life was yesterday morning and this morning. Yesterday morning as I sat in church my pastor delivered a message on faith and the trying of our faith by trials. This morning as I sit down to study the Word of God, I find myself with the same message at hand. I am learning that when certain Scripture verses show up more than once in a given time, to give some extra attention to their meaning and how they may apply to my life. Today I realize that my faith is constantly being tried by trials. The fire of the refiners fire is constantly burning in my life. At times my trials are no more than keeping up with everyday life. Things such as paying bills, keeping appointments, staying sober, and being honest and polite. And then there are times in my life when the heat of the refiners fire is much hotter as my faith is tested with the loss of loved ones, the loss of friends, our country being a war, and the many natural disasters that have occurred in the past few years. I find myself presenting the same question to God, why? It is only after I maintain my faith by daily prayer and the reading of Gods Word that I am able to see how good can come from any hard situation. I am not saying that good comes because of the hard situation, but that good comes from the situation. This morning the first person I talked to was my AA sponsor. We have been having ice storms here in southern Missouri and he called to see how I was holding up. During our conversation we talked about how the wild birds were busy at the feeders because of this cold spell we are having. I mentioned that how in fair weather the blue jays and the starlings will fight away the other birds at the feeders, but you let a cold hard situation occur and they all seem to get along. The trying of their faith brings about a love and understanding that works above the cold. I saw similar situations during the first few months after the terrorist attacked the World Trade Center. As our faith was tried, we all pulled together with love and understanding. Today I come to the realization that the trying of my faith will work for good in my life and for the good of those I meet. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself .JRE
The refiner would heat the gold in the fire in order to separate the worthless and impure dross from the precious and beautiful gold. The dross would be skimmed off until the refiner could see his image in the liquid gold. God uses the fiery trials and tribulations in our life to purify and beautify our faith so that one day he will see clearly his image in us. This truth offers great comfort to those of us who struggle to make sense of a past marked by suffering. We can be confident that God will separate something priceless from the dross of our experiences. (The Life Recovery Bible, page 1522)
Thought for the day: A perfect faith would lift us absolutely above fear.
(George Macdonald)
So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold, and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. (1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT)
We all experience situations in life that we call coincidences. My friend Buster says about these situations, Is that odd? Or is that God? I have come to believe that many times when coincidences occur, that a loving God is working in my life to bring about His will for me. The latest coincidence in my life was yesterday morning and this morning. Yesterday morning as I sat in church my pastor delivered a message on faith and the trying of our faith by trials. This morning as I sit down to study the Word of God, I find myself with the same message at hand. I am learning that when certain Scripture verses show up more than once in a given time, to give some extra attention to their meaning and how they may apply to my life. Today I realize that my faith is constantly being tried by trials. The fire of the refiners fire is constantly burning in my life. At times my trials are no more than keeping up with everyday life. Things such as paying bills, keeping appointments, staying sober, and being honest and polite. And then there are times in my life when the heat of the refiners fire is much hotter as my faith is tested with the loss of loved ones, the loss of friends, our country being a war, and the many natural disasters that have occurred in the past few years. I find myself presenting the same question to God, why? It is only after I maintain my faith by daily prayer and the reading of Gods Word that I am able to see how good can come from any hard situation. I am not saying that good comes because of the hard situation, but that good comes from the situation. This morning the first person I talked to was my AA sponsor. We have been having ice storms here in southern Missouri and he called to see how I was holding up. During our conversation we talked about how the wild birds were busy at the feeders because of this cold spell we are having. I mentioned that how in fair weather the blue jays and the starlings will fight away the other birds at the feeders, but you let a cold hard situation occur and they all seem to get along. The trying of their faith brings about a love and understanding that works above the cold. I saw similar situations during the first few months after the terrorist attacked the World Trade Center. As our faith was tried, we all pulled together with love and understanding. Today I come to the realization that the trying of my faith will work for good in my life and for the good of those I meet. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself .JRE
The refiner would heat the gold in the fire in order to separate the worthless and impure dross from the precious and beautiful gold. The dross would be skimmed off until the refiner could see his image in the liquid gold. God uses the fiery trials and tribulations in our life to purify and beautify our faith so that one day he will see clearly his image in us. This truth offers great comfort to those of us who struggle to make sense of a past marked by suffering. We can be confident that God will separate something priceless from the dross of our experiences. (The Life Recovery Bible, page 1522)
(George Macdonald)
So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold, and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. (1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT)
We all experience situations in life that we call coincidences. My friend Buster says about these situations, Is that odd? Or is that God? I have come to believe that many times when coincidences occur, that a loving God is working in my life to bring about His will for me. The latest coincidence in my life was yesterday morning and this morning. Yesterday morning as I sat in church my pastor delivered a message on faith and the trying of our faith by trials. This morning as I sit down to study the Word of God, I find myself with the same message at hand. I am learning that when certain Scripture verses show up more than once in a given time, to give some extra attention to their meaning and how they may apply to my life. Today I realize that my faith is constantly being tried by trials. The fire of the refiners fire is constantly burning in my life. At times my trials are no more than keeping up with everyday life. Things such as paying bills, keeping appointments, staying sober, and being honest and polite. And then there are times in my life when the heat of the refiners fire is much hotter as my faith is tested with the loss of loved ones, the loss of friends, our country being a war, and the many natural disasters that have occurred in the past few years. I find myself presenting the same question to God, why? It is only after I maintain my faith by daily prayer and the reading of Gods Word that I am able to see how good can come from any hard situation. I am not saying that good comes because of the hard situation, but that good comes from the situation. This morning the first person I talked to was my AA sponsor. We have been having ice storms here in southern Missouri and he called to see how I was holding up. During our conversation we talked about how the wild birds were busy at the feeders because of this cold spell we are having. I mentioned that how in fair weather the blue jays and the starlings will fight away the other birds at the feeders, but you let a cold hard situation occur and they all seem to get along. The trying of their faith brings about a love and understanding that works above the cold. I saw similar situations during the first few months after the terrorist attacked the World Trade Center. As our faith was tried, we all pulled together with love and understanding. Today I come to the realization that the trying of my faith will work for good in my life and for the good of those I meet. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself .JRE
The refiner would heat the gold in the fire in order to separate the worthless and impure dross from the precious and beautiful gold. The dross would be skimmed off until the refiner could see his image in the liquid gold. God uses the fiery trials and tribulations in our life to purify and beautify our faith so that one day he will see clearly his image in us. This truth offers great comfort to those of us who struggle to make sense of a past marked by suffering. We can be confident that God will separate something priceless from the dross of our experiences. (The Life Recovery Bible, page 1522)
Thought for the day: A perfect faith would lift us absolutely above fear.
(George Macdonald)
So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold, and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. (1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT)
We all experience situations in life that we call coincidences. My friend Buster says about these situations, Is that odd? Or is that God? I have come to believe that many times when coincidences occur, that a loving God is working in my life to bring about His will for me. The latest coincidence in my life was yesterday morning and this morning. Yesterday morning as I sat in church my pastor delivered a message on faith and the trying of our faith by trials. This morning as I sit down to study the Word of God, I find myself with the same message at hand. I am learning that when certain Scripture verses show up more than once in a given time, to give some extra attention to their meaning and how they may apply to my life. Today I realize that my faith is constantly being tried by trials. The fire of the refiners fire is constantly burning in my life. At times my trials are no more than keeping up with everyday life. Things such as paying bills, keeping appointments, staying sober, and being honest and polite. And then there are times in my life when the heat of the refiners fire is much hotter as my faith is tested with the loss of loved ones, the loss of friends, our country being a war, and the many natural disasters that have occurred in the past few years. I find myself presenting the same question to God, why? It is only after I maintain my faith by daily prayer and the reading of Gods Word that I am able to see how good can come from any hard situation. I am not saying that good comes because of the hard situation, but that good comes from the situation. This morning the first person I talked to was my AA sponsor. We have been having ice storms here in southern Missouri and he called to see how I was holding up. During our conversation we talked about how the wild birds were busy at the feeders because of this cold spell we are having. I mentioned that how in fair weather the blue jays and the starlings will fight away the other birds at the feeders, but you let a cold hard situation occur and they all seem to get along. The trying of their faith brings about a love and understanding that works above the cold. I saw similar situations during the first few months after the terrorist attacked the World Trade Center. As our faith was tried, we all pulled together with love and understanding. Today I come to the realization that the trying of my faith will work for good in my life and for the good of those I meet. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself .JRE
The refiner would heat the gold in the fire in order to separate the worthless and impure dross from the precious and beautiful gold. The dross would be skimmed off until the refiner could see his image in the liquid gold. God uses the fiery trials and tribulations in our life to purify and beautify our faith so that one day he will see clearly his image in us. This truth offers great comfort to those of us who struggle to make sense of a past marked by suffering. We can be confident that God will separate something priceless from the dross of our experiences. (The Life Recovery Bible, page 1522)