(Have you seen it?  It is our foundation)  

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  

Romans 8:28 

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

The Apostle Paul was beaten, lashed, stoned, shipwrecked, imprisoned, in constant danger during his journeys, often without food, cold, naked, and anxious for the churches he had founded.  And yet he could write with absolute conviction: "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

This is not an emotional optimism but a deep-seated spiritual trust in the character of God, and in his power.  Goodness and power that Paul had experienced first-hand in the midst of all his trials.

We have not experienced all the trials that Paul walked through, but living in a fallen world as we do, neither are we exempt from our own unique trials.  Some trials come upon us because the natural world, as well as humanity, is fallen; there are natural disasters and defective genes.  Some trials come upon us because of some bad choices we have made.  Some trials come upon us to reveal an otherwise hidden illness that the Lord would heal.  Some trials come upon us for a season to train us up in righteousness.  Some trials come upon us because of the attack of the Enemy in the spiritual realm.  There is no cookie-cutter template that we can use to discern what is at work when bad things happen - but there is a promise in the midst of them: "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

 When life seems its most unfair, when our emotions are in an uproar, that is the time to stay close to God, because that is the time when the Enemy would seek to separate us from him.  We must remember the goodness and power of God as it has been revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, in our own lives, and in the testimony of the lives of others.  And when we reach the place where it seems impossible to pray we must remember that the Holy Spirit who dwells in us "helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words."

Sometimes the Lord removes the trial from us, sometimes he removes us from the trial, and sometimes he gives us the strength not only to endure, but to grow stronger.  In the words of preacher Bill Bouknight: "no matter how sad our past has been, no matter how many battles we may have lost, God and we will win in the end, and even the heartbreaks that are spread somewhat randomly along our pathways will be transformed by a loving God to serve useful purposes." For "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." 

THIS FRIDAY!!!

Fish Fry Flyer