Trust God When Life Gets Tough

So you’ve decided to “give up” on God. But your decision didn’t come as a complete surprise to me or God.

For a long time, you’ve been struggling with deep hurts, unresolved conflicts, and emotional baggage. You took your pains to be signs that God had abandoned you and left you alone in the wilderness.

I know it doesn’t feel this way right now, but I want you to know that nothing could be further from the truth.

Sometimes it can be difficult to see past what we’re going through, especially when the end seems to be nowhere in sight. And I know how hard you’ve tried to seek after God through the different trials you’ve faced over the past few years. I know how tightly you held on to Him even when you went through situations that you couldn’t understand. I know how desperately you tried to look for answers.

You sacrificed a huge part of your youth to serve Him. You traded lucrative job offers for the mission field—giving up material comforts, financial security, and even family relationships—to live among the poor and build His kingdom there. You were crushed when things didn’t quite go as you had hoped, and you were asked to leave after many heated disagreements with your co-workers. You came home broken, jaded, and disillusioned.

But still you did not let it deter you from continuing to live your life for Him. You wanted your life to count for Him, so you threw yourself into more ministry opportunities, signed up for theological studies, and spent more time with Him.

I know life has handed you many unanswered questions. Questions like why did God allow this to happen? Why didn’t He give a way out? Why doesn’t He make it easier for us to see what He is doing behind the scenes? I wish I was able to help you find better answers, greater comfort, and more peace.

I still don’t have answers for you now.

But here’s what I’ve known to be true: Even at the lowest moments of my life, God has never abandoned me.But here’s what I’ve known to be true: Even at the lowest moments of my life, God has never abandoned me.
I have had questions in my life too! I remember the time when I felt like I was on the top of the world—I was in what I thought was my dream job then—and then everything came crashing down in a single day? That day, I didn’t just lose my job. I also lost my vision and zest for life, and all my well-laid plans crumbled into dust. I lost my job, my family, my home and what I thought was my life. I went from being on top of my career and life to being homeless, alone and afraid. I thought I had lost everything!

It took me a long time to recover from it, and to begin to believe again that God knew what He was doing with my life. But God was there with me when I decided to move from the big city life, to south Georgia hoping that I’d have a clearer vision of what I should do next with my life.

I was like a fish out of water. I had no car so I walked around a strange town trying to find a job. I only knew how to draw blueprints. Everywhere I applied said that I was over qualified or under qualified. All I knew was that I was unemployed.
As if it wasn’t exhausting enough to apply for job after job and hear nothing back, I was confronted with so many questions about why I was still unemployed (with the underlying suggestion that I wasn’t trying hard enough). You knew how difficult it was to push myself out of the house to meet more questions I couldn’t answer. I thank God that my best friend and his wife kept encouraging me.

After nine months of living with my mother at the age of forty, which in itself was very humbling, I found a job working as a screen print artist.
It was a huge struggle to get out of bed each day, and I’d reach home every night drained and depressed, wondering how I’d be able to summon enough energy to get to work the next day.

God saw me grow in despair as I watched the only friends I had at work moving on to other things. I envied how easily God gave them a way out—while I was still stuck there, left to fend for myself. I was bitter and angry with God, I couldn’t understand how it could possibly be good for me to stay in that place.

God saw the big picture. I could only see the brick in the wall that I was facing. The owner had to cut back on labor, but he didn't want to lay me off, so he sent me to his biggest client, and hired me on the spot with a salary that was over four times what I was making.
This was not just a door opening. This was a floodgate of blessing! Someone gave me a beat up sportscar that I restored. Three churches in the area asked me to help them get started. Requests for revivals started pouring in. In the next decade God blessed me to travel to twenty six states and five countries preaching the Gospel.

Now, the different threads of pain and confusion from those years of struggle are finally coming together. And I’m beginning to see the picture that God intended to weave all this while.
I don’t know if I can ever say that the pain of what I went through was worth it, but I know that it gave me a little taste of what it’s like to share in the fellowship of Jesus’s sufferings (Philippians 3:10)—and I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.

I’m sharing my story with you not to belittle or trivialize what you’re going through, or even to add salt to your wounds. I’m writing this blog to remind you of how much I valued those times when God sat with me in silence, mourned with me in my struggles, and rejoiced with me in my breakthroughs. Like you I thought God had abandoned me. But He was with me every step of the way. You see I was trying to fix my life on my own.. He was gently saying, "Come here my child." And I want you to know that He is here to do the same for you.

For many years, I’ve held Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 close to my heart, and I rejoice in the opportunity to walk with you, and comfort you with the comfort that I myself have received from God (v 4).

Perhaps these words feel meaningless to you right now. But just as friendship and prayers helped me fix my eyes on God when I was tempted to falter, I am determined to keep praying and believing with you that we will see the Lord’s goodness together. That one day, everything will make sense. And none of what you have been through would be wasted.

And that you will wake up tomorrow with a different kind of fire. It will be with the hard-won confidence of the psalmist, who can now say, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1). It will be with the purity of one who has gone through God’s refining fire, and emerged as pure as gold (Job 23:10). It will be with the tenderness of one who has tasted and seen the goodness of a God who pursues us relentlessly, even when we’ve decided to let go of His hand.

Until then, I will keep praying with you, walking with you, waiting with you. And though you might not know me, know this...God and I are for you.

Don't Give Up !

"Do you find yourself feeling hopeless and ready to give up on God? Or are you buried in loneliness, having lost sight of God’s love for you? If so, I have been there, and I want to tell you that God has a way of meeting you in the midst of your struggle.

Some time back, I was working a job that I believed God had led me to. My work was unsatisfying, and I struggled to find the joy I once embraced. I began to make poor choices, small ones at first, and then slightly larger ones over time. I recall moments where I caught a glimpse of hope, yet I found myself constantly returning to my dark place. I was slowly breaking apart, piece by piece. I felt like I was in the pit of despair.

It was in the midst of this darkness that I began to question if following Jesus was the path I should continue to walk. I had sought after God in pursuit of this job and I felt misled as my expectations continued to be thwarted. All around me I had friends who were preaching and providing for their family in ways I could not, and appearing to finding a satisfaction in their jobs that eluded me.

I felt like a failure.

I started to consider walking away from my faith to embrace a world that seemed to have more enticing possibilities.

By God’s grace, He met me in my struggle, and opened my eyes to Him in a new way. He helped me see that the things the world could offer me were not what I needed. He opened my eyes and reminded me that He was worth seeking.

There are a few important truths that I came to know during this season, and I hope they will encourage you during this season in your life.

First, let me first assure you that you are not alone and God will provide a way out for you."

1 Corinthians 10:13 says:
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

You might see the word “temptation” and immediately think of sin, but the word actually means to test, try, or prove. God used this dark season in my life as a test of faith to show me what’s really inside of me. And as the apostle Paul pointed out, these tests or trials are common to man, which gave me the assurance that I was not the only Christian who felt like I did, and surely wasn’t a failure because of the difficult time I was having. As you face this trying time, please remember that you are in good company!
And, if you noticed . . . this verse comes with a promise: God is going to provide a way out so that you can endure this season you’re in.

You can have confidence that rescue is coming—though it might not look the way you expect it to. My rescue wasn’t dramatic, and it didn’t happen all at once, but it looked like God revealing to me that He was active in my life, and that I could trust Him, even where I could not see His footprints.
This brings me to the second truth I want to remind you of: you can live in certainty that He is at work, even in this time. Jesus says in John 5:17, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
There were actually some good things that happened during this dark time in my life. They were hard things, but there were soul-shaping moments. God revealed my dependence on achievement, and how that had become an idol for me. When I was doing well, able to meet deadlines, accomplish goals, and check things off my list, it was easy to draw near to Him. When I was not getting things done, or when I felt overwhelmed by the responsibilities and burdens I carried, I felt distant from Him. He also helped me see that whenever I took time to withdraw to meet with Him, life around me still went on. I am not so indispensable that I must keep achieving to matter in this world.
God was working in my heart, and I didn’t find rescue until I came to the end of myself and let go of the idol of achievement.
God is never not working. Even when we don’t see it. Even when it’s dark. Even when the hope appears to have faded. God is always, always, always at work.
Finally, I want you to know that you need God, and He is good. There is nothing else in this world that you can find fulfillment in, except a relationship with him.
There were moments during this season when the words of Peter in John 6:68 rang in my ears. Jesus had just taught some hard truths and John records that, “. . . from this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” (John 6:66)
But when Jesus turned to his disciples and asked if they too, want to leave, Simon Peter answered Him with a question, saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
This verse prompted me to ask myself, “If I chose to give up on God, where would I go?”

And the truth is, my answer was “nowhere.” There are a remarkable number of things in this world that I cannot “fix”. I cannot heal those around me who are fighting against cancer. I am unable to heal the hurts that my loved ones face. I have no ability on my own to see the future and know if a certain direction in the best way to go. These situations helped me realize how much I needed God. I remember that Jesus has the words of eternal life. He has words that go beyond me. His story is greater than my own, and if I’m being honest, I have nowhere to go that would ever compare to where I’ve been with Him.
I hope that you can remember that even when God’s ways don’t look the way we expect them to, it doesn’t change the reality that He is the only source of eternal life, and just as Peter concluded—there really isn’t anywhere else worth going. If we want to truly live, we need God.
As I came out of this trying time in my life, I learned the importance of rhythms that allow me to connect with God in new ways. I began practicing silence and solitude, taking time to be still with God regularly. I focused less on “doing devotions” and more on spiritual disciplines that led me into His presence. I stopped trying to work myself towards a state of spiritual “perfection” and pursued a life of meeting with God in the midst of my own messiness. It’s still a battle, but I’m in this for the long haul.
In retrospect, I don’t regret my season of struggle and doubt. Journeying through the darkness allowed me to have a bigger view of God. He was gracious, loving, and patient with me. He can handle our doubts, and is present even in the moments when we want to walk away.
So dear friend, don’t give up. Don’t lose heart. You are not alone and God is near. He is not done with you yet. He hears your cry and will rescue you, too.

Hang in there.

Man in the House

1) Pray with/for your kids. Job made offerings for his kids, just in case they sinned.

2) Pray with/for your wife. Isaac prayefor d 20 years for his wife.

Praying FOR your wife and kids is DIFFERENT than praying with them. Praying for them is what we commonly do. Praying WITH your kids is asking them about the troubles in their lives and leading them in prayer to receive the answers. Praying with your wife goes a step further. Not only do you ask them about their troubles, but you also SHARE yours.

3) Let your family see you reading the Bible, often.

4) Take your wife away as often as possible. She is not only your wife, but she is also your one and only FOREVER GIRLFRIEND.

5) Read to your family. Not only the Bible, but what you are reading, and things that help them grow.

6) Make decisions based on biblical reason, not your own.

7) Don’t rule by the letter of Scripture, but by the law of love. Build their faith by loving them like Jesus. Build their trust by being a servant.

8) Know Scripture for yourself.

9) Love intentionally.

10) Schedule time for each child and your wife.

11) Lead in family Bible Study. Set the time, insist everyone,ne is present and learn together as a family.

12) Lead with humility. Proverbs 15:2

13) Admit mistakes, without fear of losing your strength. You will gain your strength as a Spiritual leader because they will support your decisions ONLY as far as they can trust you.

14) Spend personal time with God.

15) Spend time being silly with your kids.

16) Let your wife vent. She may find it romantic.

17) Stay fit.

18) Stay spontaneous.

19) Always choose family over career. Always! Read what happened to Potiphar in Genesis 39. Yes, they need financial security, but THEY NEED YOU MORE.

20) Show compassion more than you show an iron fist.

21) Hold family meetings. Let them know your plans.

22) Calm your wife’s fears.

23) Find 3 Men of the Bible arn how to be a leader or father from. I like Jesus, Joseph, and Nehemiah.

24) listen to and consider your wife’s wisdom when making a decision.

25) Teach your kids what you know and learn with what you don’t know.

26) Speak positivity into your children early and often. You can do it.

27) Be honest about feelings and emotions. I’m afraid does not equal I’m not a man.

28) Don’t quote the Bible, live it.

29) Encourage your wife’s dreams.

30) set goals with and for each family member and then coach them to the finish line.

31) Share your goals with your wife. She wants to be your GREATEST cheerleader, but she CAN NOT cheer you on if she doesn't know what you are running to.

32) Find other guys to talk to. No one is perfect, each friend has a different strength.

33) Cherish your wife.

34) Wash your wife's and kids' feet on a regular basis. Pray the blessings of God over their lives.

35) Maintain the mind of Christ while interacting with your family.

 I Corinthians 2:10-14

Spiritual Leadership in the Church

Spiritual gifts lesson four: Leadership in the Church

Christian leadership is a dynamic relational process in which people, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, partner to achieve a common goal, It is serving others by leading and leading others by serving.
Leadership is NOT pushing. It is NOT directing. It is giving an example for people to live by.
The gift of Leadership usually is accompanied by another gift, whether it is being a Pastor, Apostle, Bishop, Overseer, Evangelist, Teacher, or some other office.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to lead in your own doing. Even if you are the Pastor of a church, IT IS NOT your church. It is God's church. You will become frustrated and burnt out if YOU try to run things. You MUST cast all your problems on the Lord. He alone can solve the problems that arise. Oh, He may use you to solve them, but unless you allow Him to do the work, it won't be done.
The purpose of Leadership is not to be in charge, but to build up, train and equip the body of Christ to be able to do God's will.

Lesson five: Hospitality

Spiritual gift lesson two

Spiritual gifts lesson two: Leadership in the home

The next lesson will discuss leadership in the Church, but godly leadership in the home is also a spiritual gift given to a wife.
Both types of leaders need to lead. That may logical, but often the husband does NOT lead.
There is a reason a wagon has a handle on one end. It is there so someone can lead it in the direction it needs to go.
God did NOT create us, men, to push our wives, or leave it to them to get to their destination.
If a man pushes instead of leading, he can cause his wife and children not to follow God. He can cause them to not only rebel against him, but God.
A true leader causes people to WANT TO FOLLOW them. Also, people can not follow if they are not being led.
Leaders and managers are different. The main difference between leaders and managers is that leaders have people follow them while managers have people who work for them.
God did not create men to manage their households but to lead them. Your wife is not your employee, and neither are your children.
Leaders lead by EXAMPLE. That men are to attend church with their families. They are to pray for and with their wife and children. They are to show their children how to worship, study the Word of God, and serve. The 

ᴍᴏsᴛ ɪᴍᴘᴏʀᴛᴀɴᴛ thing we can do for our children is not getting them into college, or on a professional sport team, it is raising them to become mighty men and women of God.

A mother may take her children to church just to see them drop out as adults because of dad. This is not always the case, but there is a greater percentage of children not attending church because of the lack of dad's EXAMPLE.

Lesson three: Leadership in the Church

The spiritual gift of helps

Spiritual gifts lesson two: helps

Before I go any further, let me say this, "Verses 1-7 are connected to verse 8 and 10. The entire chapter of 1 Corinthians is connected."
Many teach that verse stands alone, and they twist it to bash God Himself.

but when what is perfect comes, then what is partial will disappear.
1 Corinthians 13:10

The word perfect is WRONGLY twisted to be believed as the Bible. What is perfect in this verse is the Kingdom of Heaven and eternity. Verse 12 validates this.

What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete—as complete as God's knowledge of me.
1 Corinthians 13:12

Jesus has a face NOT the Bible. When we see Jesus face to face, these things will pass away. While the first 7 verses are good to practice in marriage and in relation to all people, Paul wrote this to the church in Corinth because they were NOT applying the gifts of God in love.
The Kingdom of God is here on earth. The Kingdom of Heaven is in...well, Heaven. They often get confused. While that happens, there should NOT be a visual difference.
Let me explain. In the disciple's prayer, the one Jesus taught His disciples, He instructed us to pray for His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
The Kingdom of God was given to Adam. He gave it away to the devil. Jesus took it back at Calvary. He gave it then to His bride. The Kingdom here on earth is to just like the Kingdom in Heaven. We are His Ambassadors. We are to bring Heaven to earth, just like Jesus did.
Jesus was His name here on earth. Christ is His position. His name is still Jesus in Heaven. His position is still Christ. Jesus means Savor. Christ means one anointed by God.
Christ Jesus is the proper way to give His name glory. Let's break that down. Christ Jesus literally means, The one anointed by God to save the world. However you say it, Jesus, Christ, Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus, He is pleased when you call upon Him.
When Jesus read from Isaiah, the religious leaders were appalled, because He claimed to be the ANOINTED ONE.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.”
Luke 4:18‭-‬19

To be a Christian means to be EXACTLY like Christ. So we can personally say that verse about ourselves. Without the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we can't do any of these things.
This is where the spiritual gifts are needed. I chose Helps as the first gift to talk about because it the most unseen gift. Notice that I didn't say hidden gift. None of our talents, skills or gifts should be hidden. God gave them to us so that He can BLESS OTHERS through us.
The person with the spiritual gift of helps is someone who tends to work behind the scenes to get things done. The individual with this gift will often do his/her job joyfully and take the responsibilities off of others shoulders. They have a personality that is humble and have no problems sacrificing time and energy to do God's work. They even have an ability to see what others need often before they even know they need it. People with this spiritual gift have a great attention to detail and tend to be very loyal, and they tend to go above and beyond in everything. They are often described as having a servant's heart.
The danger inherent in this spiritual gift is that the person could end up having more of a Martha attitude versus a Mary heart, meaning that they can become bitter about doing all the work while others have time to worship or have fun. It is also a gift that can be taken advantage of by others who will exploit a person with a servant's heart to get out of their own responsibilities. The spiritual gift of helps is often an unnoticed gift. Yet this gift is often an essential part of keeping things running and making sure everyone is cared for inside and out of the church.
Have you ever read or even heard of the book of Barnabas? Without Luke writing about him you wouldn't even know the name. Without the spiritual gifts of helps working in the life of Barnabas, Luke himself would NOT have been encouraged to write the book of Acts and the book of Luke.
He also encouraged John Mark and brought the reconciliation of John Mark and Paul when they had a disagreement. He then encouraged Paul.
Imagine only the Gospels of Matthew and John. Imagine after these two Gospels only having James through Revelation. Thank God for the gift of helps.


Lesson three: The gift of leadership

What makes life worth Living

There is a reason why you don't just die and go to Heaven when you get saved. The reason is because life is precious to God and He didn't send Jesus to die on the cross for nothing. There is a principle at work here. God won't give in to the devil. He won't retreat, and neither should you. Until Jesus comes back and kicks the devil into the lake of fire, you and I have a job to do. We are to be lights in a dark place, enforcing Satan's defeat and living in the power of the resurrected Christ.

It is our divine right to have what God says can have. It is our divine right to be free. That's part of the package of redemption. You see, the light of the resurrection makes life worth living. Not enduring, but LIVING! Life is something to enjoy; and joy can be found in all seasons of life. In the easy times, in the hard times, in the times of waiting, joy is available. You can enjoy your salvation even in the middle of suffering. How? By faith!

Your faith in God can sustain you during the hard times. You can even take pleasure in knowing that Jesus has defeated the devil; and although the devil may be trying his best to kill, steal and destroy what the blood of Jesus bought, he can not win! You will be victorious. Change your mindset. Recognize the power of what Jesus did. He rose so that you might rise too! Speak that out in times of trouble. Don't let the enemy steal your joy.

The blood of Jesus doesn't become less effective the harder the enemy fights. The power of the resurrection doesn't lessen in the heat of the circumstance. It is as strong today as it was the very day Jesus' body rose out of the grave over two years ago. Sometimes you just have to remind yourself of that and let the truth of what Jesus did set you free!