I’ve been pondering today, ‘Lord why are so many faithful sons and daughters going through such intense hard times?’ For many, it has been a long season of great opposition and hardship in various areas, ie. health, finance, relationships, and ministries.
As I pondered that question, I thought of the struggle that many must face, especially those looking in from the outside. It is hard to trust in God’s goodness and kindness when you see a loved one suffer, in spite of their trust and faith in God. It’s so easy to assume that God is not the loving Father He claims to be, and it’s tempting to proudly elevate ourselves as more loving, with thoughts like, ‘I would never allow my children to suffer like that’.
However, God is Perfect, He is Love, and He is Good. We can fully trust in Who He is, regardless of what we see. This is a very important discipline to learn when things are shaken up in our lives. For the devil wants us to question God’s Character to bring a divide between us. Once separated from our intimate trust, we can’t hear or understand what He’s trying to reveal to us. Doubts fill our hearts and fear controls our minds, pushing us further and further away from His Presence.
From man’s perspective, it may seem unfair that God could allow His children such suffering, but from God’s perspective, He has a different purpose altogether. He has not neglected His beloved but has been refining her through His Fire. Even though the Lord hasn’t brought the suffering upon us, He has used the delay, intensity, and pain to refine us, our hearts have been tested to see if our trust would remain in Him alone. He has strengthened our faith muscles as we’ve endured so that we can bend a bow of bronze and a gate of iron. For the Lord knows the future, He knows the great courage, strength, boldness, endurance, and unwavering faith produced by His Fire, will be necessary to walk ahead.
He is raising warriors! Even within this nation, we might wonder the same things, asking, ‘Why Lord? Why all this suffering?’ The Lord is raising up a people who know Who He is, holding onto Him with all their might. He is calling forth a people, bold and courageous, who see beyond the impossible, the intervention of Almighty God bringing salvation to our nation.
When the Israelites crossed the Jordan and entered their promised land, they had to fight the giants in order to claim their land. In the same way, the Lord is awakening a fighting spirit within us, to fight the giants we face in our personal lives and in our nation. Through Christ, we have already overcome and we walk in His authority. The time is now, to stand and fight for that which the Lord has promised us.
Be not intimidated or afraid, nor be ashamed of the struggle and the wait. For the Lord is well-pleased with you, He is cheering you on, ‘Stand strong, My Beloved Ones! Give no ground to the evil one! Take the land of your promise, the time is NOW!’
Our inheritance is ready, but it has to be taken through faith, trust, and action. Be ready to receive strategies from Heaven, clear blueprints and detailed downloads needed to walk in our purpose. This is the time of the Supernatural Intervention of the Lord, His Manifest Presence, and Creative Miracles.
Look up sons and daughters of the King! Look up at your Loving Father, Who has given you the victory! If you have struggled with finance, expect to prosper! If you have battled with health, expect to operate in God’s Healing Anointing! Whatever your hardship has been, the opposite will be yours in your fruitful land. Believe it, see it, expect it, and inherit it!
1 John 5:1-5
Overcoming the World
1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Psalm 66:8-12
8Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
9who has kept our soul among the living
and has not let our feet slip.
10For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
11You brought us into the net;
you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
12you let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.Judges 7:1-8
Gideon’s Three Hundred Men
1Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
2The LORD said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 3Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
4And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” 5So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” 6And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7And the LORD said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.” 8So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
