Sunshine after the Rain

Difficulties are a sign of new beginnings. In my life, I have been through some stages, some were tough and some were even tougher. Walking with the Lord by faith in this weak body is a journey full of surprises, victories and tears. I was reading someone stating that we should only celebrate our uniqueness in front of the Lord and "disappear" or mingle in the crowd of the church as a transparent servant. I believe this is a declaration of war against pride. I believe this is a great act of faith and commitment.

The difficulties we face in the world as believers in Christ and as members of His body are so versatile. They come from our flesh, from the world, from the Enemy himself. As seasons change and as we mature in Him, we tend to realize that He makes all things beautiful. It may cost us a lot of heartache. It may cause us to fall and rise again. Sometimes, it may cost us loved ones, family, and friends. We may lose our health, wealth and possessions. But one thing's for sure, we will enter a new season soon, we will enter it victoriously and we will enter it proudly. The Lord will return all we have lost. He will bless us abundantly according to his riches in glory.

That is our hope. The light at the end of the tunnel might seem dim. The road may seem to be too long, but the longer the road, the harder the journey and the narrower the path, the greater the glory and the victory that await us.

Like I was saying, I've been through some stuff, mostly because of pride. I've been through some heavy stuff, mostly because of fears and lust. I've been through some stuff because of loneliness and anger.

The life we live in our bodies is His. The filth we carry also in our bodies is our mess. We need to hand that over to Him. It may sound simple, but to actually do it on a daily basis needs courage. It needs a dying to self. The Apostle Paul says: "I die daily" (1 Cor 15:31). He also says that the corruptible cannot inherit the incorruptible (1 Cor 15:50), referring to the resurrection of the dead and gives a proper explanation to the following verse in the prophecy of Isaiah: "He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 25:8).

That is what awaits us, but before we get to that ultimate victory, we pass through trials, which should serve as an encouragement. They should serve as signs pointing to the greater victory that awaits us. Some mistakenly think that the Christian life is the comfortable life. It's comfortable indeed in the spirit but it is extremely painful in the flesh, because the flesh cannot inherit the Kingdom of God that is in us (1 Cor 15:50). But the flesh will be subdued by it until the immortal comes. 

The unfortunate thing in all of this is that when we do not live by faith in Christ who died and was raised from the dead for us, we lose hope and begin to complain in time of difficulty and we lose the opportunity to die to self, to commit to God and to take a step closer to that new season in the life of resurrection. We are too quick to anger, too quick to tend to fix it by ourselves, too quick to terminate and too quick to give up. The apostle Paul, however, saw things differently:

"I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily." (Col 1:24-29)

I declare the power of the Cross to work mightily in every believer willing to take part in the work of the Cross and especially in every minister willing to die daily for the work of the ministry, for the flock of God and the advancement of His Kingdom.

Lord Jesus, we wait for You, like the sunshine after the rain.