Skip to main content

Luke 21:19

When it comes to loving the Lord, endurance is key. When we are enduring something we are sticking it out though the good times and the bad times. Following the Lord isn't a promised easy life, but it is promised to be worth it. 
The Lord actually promises that hard times and temptation will come our way, it’s not a big secret. If we look a little bit further back in this chapter of Luke we actually see that Jesus is telling them that a famine will come their way, earthquakes will take place, and great diseases will come. Then in verse 21:19 the Lord promises that it will be worth is to stand by Him, and because the Lord is outside of time He knows what will come. He knows the things that are going to take place, that is why He is able to tell them and warn them. He isn't telling them this because God Himself is going to bring these horrible things upon them but because He knows the enemy will.
This verse really makes me think of the story of Job. (I would suggest that if you don't know the story that you read it.)The Lord told Satan to try to have Job curse the Lord because Satan was convinced that all men would crack if great temptation or great hardships came their way. The only thing that the Lord told the enemy that he could not so was that couldn't take Job’s life. Satan being so sure that He could have Job curse God, Satan took all of Job’s riches, killed his family, and diseased Job to the point that He was inches from death. Not once did Job curse the Lord. Of course Job had questions and wondered why God would allow such things to take place but never did Job curse the Lord. Something even more incredible is the fact that in this life Job never received an answer to why all of that hardship came his way.

If I were to regret anything, it would be the times that I grew angry towards God because of things that weren't even of Him. God calls me to endure the hard times and to persevere through the difficult and trying times. I used to live among the wisdom of the word. Not understanding why hard times were coming my way when all I wanted was comfort from my Savior. The Lord is calling us to endure for His glory and in these past three weeks that I have been in Guatemala I can honestly say that I now understand why it is so worth it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

James 3:13-17

The Lord’s heart is a vast ocean of love and mercy but more often than not I forget how deep and how wide that is. Both bitterness and jealousy are things that I struggle with on a daily basis. I have a hard time forgiving people the same way that my Savior forgave me. I struggle to not be jealous of the people around me. Being a girl there is always something telling me me that I have to be the prettiest and that I have to be the skinniest, but why? If the Lord is perfection He can not possibly create word that is imperfect. “I praise, you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well.” My God doesn't make mistakes. Selfishness is another one of those things that can try to take root in my life. I can look at what I think I have and think that I cant give that up because I worked so hard for it. But you know what, it wasn't my work. Nothing that I do has ever been done in my own power. All of my power is of the Lord and who am I...

Pslam 127:1 "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."

I have to make more of an effort to allow for the Lord to take over situations. Sometimes, in my immaturity I fail to allow the Lord into situations, even big situations, and they end up failing simply because I never allowed the Lord to play a part in them. If I am not inviting the Lord into something I cant wait around expecting to be blessed by Him. If the Lord isn't my center of all things I am simply being foolish.  I tend to worry a lot and I neglect to give that worry over to that Lord. The Lord cant bless the situations in which I don't invite His loving grace and mercy into. Even while being fully aware that I am able to do absolutely nothing in my own strength I forget, I try and attempt to do it on my own for one reason or another, usually because I am impatient. Thats another thing that I tend to forget to hand over the Lord, my lack of patience. On the other hand I might be scared to pray for more patients because I know the Lord will be faithful to bring somethi...

Luke 3:14

Being in a state of contentment where I can make it through most of the day without being discontent is far from my comprehension, let alone living in that contentment. Sitting at the Lord’s feet waiting PATIENTLY for my next instruction, if I'm being honest, blows my mind. How much stuff do I own that I don't even need? How many things did I buy just to buy? Endless. There are currently about 20 boxes sitting in my room at my parents house filled with stuff that I had in my old apartment. Things that I didn't need but bought for the sake of buying them. When packing my things to come here to Guatemala, about .5% of that stuff came with me. About .5% of that stuff I actually found useful in my day to day life. It has taken me a long time to realize that contentment isn't found in worldly items nor anything else of the world. It is something that I have to keep giving to the Lord every day. I have to allow myself to shift my focus and find my contentment in His love and...