God doesn’t PROTECT you…
From that which He can use to PERFECT you.
image via flickriver.com
“Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.” Rom 12:12
Caught in a Trap?…
through Him with Him in Him…
God doesn’t PROTECT you…
From that which He can use to PERFECT you.
image via flickriver.com
“Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.” Rom 12:12
through Him with Him in Him... 
Sometimes, God has to trap us in order to mold us. This heart being molded by that mousetrap is just PERFECT to illustrate this thought today. We MUST rejoice in tribulation,for by fire we are purified.
Granbee, I am sorry but I take issue with your comment “Sometimes, God has to trap us in order to mold us.” God never traps anyone. He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7). The devil traps, but God sets free through Jesus Christ.
God bless
I think we are the ones who feel like we are in a trap…many times because we are trying to do things our way instead of allowing God into our situation, but God releases us when we turn to Him and allows us that rest. God is always bigger than any trap we feel we are in. And so we are able to live in the hope that whatever befalls us, God will bring great glory from it if we invite Him in. BLessings to you Granbee and to you Noel…have a grace filled weekend.
This is a hard one, J–although I have a much better understanding now, than in the past. Thank you for the good word–and the oh-so-perfect picture accompanying it!! God bless you abundantly.
Yes it is challenging…but that’s why we can encourage each other in hope. And yes you are right it is much easier to see this understanding after the fact of trials and tribulations. But we much always remember…God loves us and is with us through it all. Bountiful blessings your way!
Hi J, I was just wondering where the Scripture to confirm this quote you shared is in the Scriptures?
God gave me some wonderful promises to hold onto when I go through the Storms of Life, I may have shared theses Scriptures before but having known a lot of affliction in my life they has been a wonderful promise and confirm 100% God is Love and does no evil or does He willingly allow it….
Lamentations 3: 33 For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
Isaiah 43:1-3 – Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.”
Jeremiah 29 :11-12 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Christian Love Anne
My sister..I think the passage from Isaiah 43 is one such victorious verse that confirms. Its says WHEN and not IF, meaning its a guaranteee that we will go through deep waters, great trouble and fires of oppression…but WILL NOT drown or be burnt. Thank you so much for that passage by the way…its my lifeline for today.
Jesus also promises us trouble – AND triumph. John 16:33 is one of my favorites “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]”
And the triumph of the saints in Revelations that will be rewarded to those who overcome 3:21″He who overcomes (is victorious), I will grant him to sit beside Me on My throne, as I Myself overcame (was victorious) and sat down beside My Father on His throne.” I am reminded here that only the very wicked try to overcome good…but the concept of ‘overcoming’ implies in itself – a negative/percieved hostile challenge.
Excellent reply viphealthyleadership! I too am adeeply fortified with John 16:33…it ignites within us that virtue of hope…that reminder to look to the top of the cross in victory and not to become burdened with a fixed gaze on the rough splinters of the cross. We are children of the resurrection and need to be reminded of that often as we walk through the muck of the effects of sin in our lives and in the world. Thank you for sharing. Blessings on your weekend!
Thank you viphealthyleadership and yes it is very true Jesus told us we will have trouble but He did not say He will bring it on us or use it to teach us but that He would help us in it as you shared and bring good out of it.
What I find very disheartening with Bogging in America, but first I want to say that I have made some very wonderful American friends including J but also I have been shown great rudeness and lack of respect that I only ever experienced from Atheists in all my time of Blogging in Australia.
Even if you read the comments on this blog you will find contradictions they say they agree with J but say something differant on their own Blogs or agree with me on mine and there’s, one also said they agree with J here then corrected someone else who is saying the same thing as J, they feel safe to correct the other person but not J. All this being two faced is to get approval and shows lack of maturity and childness in their faith this is not what God wants from His Children, He wants honesty and for us to mature. He does not say we are to agree to disagree it never happens anyway and in the end it causes division God is a God of Unity, we are also not to argue or delete other peoples comments and block them or slander them behind their back etc we are to bring our differences to Him to be resolved because we are to be one in Christ Jesus in what we focus on and agree to and if we have the mind of Christ we will and we will also understand the things of God as shown us in – 1 Corinthians 2: 9-16
What I have seen on Blogs is lack of understanding as to the Loving Heart of God and not really believing what He tells us in the Scriptures, they need to ask for God’s wisdom and believe they have received it, instead of seeking others or trusting in what they think, they even reject Scripture if it dosen’t agree with their own understanding and agenda which causes their teaching to be in error, and a lot are living under the Old Jewish Covenant instead of the new one in Christ Jesus.
Sorry but I will respond to you later J as I need to finish some home responsibilities, I’m having a visitor for lunch.
Thank you again – Christian Love Anne.
Yes absolutely Anne…”God is love and does no evil or willingly allows it”. God has given us free will to freely choose to love HIm ( there must be freedom in love or there is no love…it reminds me of your screenname Anne). But it is us…the falleness of man that has brought such chaos in the world. There is no such thing as a private sin and when sin occurs it becomes a blunt force in the world that affects all of us. God is not punishing us…we have brought this up on ourselves. But since God is love he takes all those consequences of sin in the world and allows them to mold us and draw us closer to Him if and that is key here, IF we allow Him to…if we invite Him in. We are saying the same thing I believe Anne just in different wording. That is the beauty of a Christian…we must become witnesses with our lives that whatever befalls us, we believe in a God of love knowing He is with us and bringing us to a deeper place within Him through that which we suffer. We are blocks of clay in the midst of molding in this life.
Some Scriptures that are good to ponder from this are: Heb 12:4-12, 2Cor 12:9, I Cor 15:43, 1 Cor 10:13, James !:12-18, Romans 8:35-39, 2 Cor 6:4-10.
thank you for taking the time to comment Anne and for sharing the powerful verses you did! Blessings on your weekend.
I’m sorry J none of those Scriptuers you quoted are refering to God willingly using our suffering and hardship to teach us something, is this the same for babies, it is also not His disapline or correction this is like the Prodical Son He lets us go our own way and we suffer for doing so or from others or because we live in a fallen world and Satan controles this world and it is him who puts us to hard testing not God but He works it all out for good.
God moulds and shaps us by the fruit of the Spirit not hardship and suffering, many turn bitter because of these but we can count them all Joy because as we choose to walk in the fruit of the Spirit by His empowering we become strong in Christ Jesus by putting our flesh to death by the Spirit.
Christian Love Anne
Sorry Anne, but you are reading more than I wrote. Kindly re-read my comment carefully before you respond and allow us to honor each other as brethren. We are all saying the same thing. That trials and trouble will come – Jesus says it would. I was reading one of your comments on God not bringing trouble on His followers to punish them for sin – a socially correct standpoint – but when I read my Bible, and read it closely, I see that the fact that God DOES sometimes bring trouble to His children for choices that they made that are contrary to His counsel, is an indelible feature in His Character. To refuse to accept that side of Him is …in my thinking a refusal to accept an important part of His character as The Just God.
You and I both, are survivors of sexual violence so let me use that as an example. We were not deserving of that. But lets focus the Eyes of God on the perpetrators of that violence. Your God, my God and theirs, the ONLY TRUE God. Would God be contrary to His nature – as revealed in His Word – if He visited punishment on the ones that raped or violated us? When we choose contrary to what God has called us to choose, no matter who we are, we live out the laid out consequences, visited on us ultimately by The Most Holy and Loving God, sometimes through the hands of an enemy. Israel went through it. I think about the word to Hosea for instance…how God would take His own to the wilderness and hedge her in. It was not a romantic safari that He takes us to, but to a period of discipline – painful discipline with the aim of restoring His Good to us in that same wilderness. Accepting God for Who He is has settled me…that is my testimony. Both the tender and ‘terrible’ sides of Him depending on where we stand with Him.
So my question to you…is Jesus God? Was He always God? If He is God from the beginning…then all of the utterances attributed to God – is actually Him – as The Word of God.
Hosea 2:15 ‘I will give her her vineyards from there, AND the Valley of Achor [Trouble] AS A DOOR OF HOPE”
Hosea 6:1-3 “Come, and let us return to the Lord; For HE HAS torn, but HE WILL heal us; HE HAS stricken, but He will bind us up.
After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.
Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.”
As for the hurting of the innocents I love Joseph’s healing response to his brothers – the perpetrators of his pain ““Do not be afraid, for AM I IN THE PLACE OF GOD? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.” Genesis 50:20
What did he mean about being in ‘the place of God’ and why would God again take this place? Let us look squarely at the Character of God as already revealed even as we reach out for more. He is ALSO God of Justice, Commander of the Hosts of Heaven, The Mighty Warrior! And yet, still worthy of our love and adoration. Blessings.
Hi J what is not understood is that we bring our own punishment on ourselves, we are created in such a way that we reap what we sow yes this was by God’s will but He does not choose for us to sin and so suffer we choose this, He warns us sin leads to spiritual death and all manner of suffering and hardship that was why Jesus died not just to save us from the punishment of past sins but also to set us free from the slavery and bondage of sin so we don’t sin.. there is many Scriptures to confirm Freedom in Christ Jesus because it was know in the early Church, I will be happy to share them with you if this is what you want my contacts are in my About.
Lamentations 3: 33 For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
Christian Love Anne
Hi viphealthyleadership it would help you also to read my comments again but for now I have the same response to you as I have to J what is not understood is that we bring our own punishment on ourselves, is it is not God who brings the suffering on us we are created in such a way that we reap what we sow, yes this was by God’s will but He does not choose for us to sin and so suffer we choose this, He warns us sin leads to spiritual death and all manner of suffering and hardship that was why Jesus died not just to save us from the punishment of past sins but also to set us free from the slavery and bondage of sin so we don’t sin.. there is many Scriptures to confirm Freedom in Christ Jesus because it was know in the early Church, I will be happy to share them with you if this is what you want my contacts are in my About.
Lamentations 3: 33 For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
Christian Love Anne.
Hi J, I was just wondering where the Scripture to confirm this quote you shared is in the Scriptures?
God gave me some wonderful promises to hold onto when I go through the Storms of Life, I may have shared theses Scriptures before but having known a lot of affliction in my life they has been a wonderful promise and confirm 100% God is Love and does no evil or does He willingly allow it….
Lamentations 3: 33 For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
Isaiah 43:1-3 – Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.”
Jeremiah 29 :11-12 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Christian Love Anne.
Hi Anne, thank you for your return comment. I was not able to post it right next to your reply so please excuse the confusion.
God is in control of all things and there is a purpose and a reason behind all even if now in this life we do not understand the mystery of suffering. God’s discipline IS love. In Det 8:2-5 we read, ” Remember how for forty years now the Lord, your God has directed all your journeying in the dessert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments. He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord. The clothing did not fall from you in tatters, nor did your feet swell these forty years, So you must realize that the Lord your God disciplines you even as a man disciplines his son.”
Proverbs 3:11-12 reads, ” The discipline of the Lord, my son, disdain not; spurn not his reproof; For whom the Lord loves he reproves and he chastises the son he favors.”
We are taught that divine discipline is inspired by divine love. WIthout this understanding/wisdm one might mistake the trials of life for signs of God’s anger. But God is a wise and caring Father who desires only to make his children better. Because he loves them too much to overlook their sins and selfishness he sends difficulties to train them in righteousness and to raise them in spiritual adulthood. The sons and daughters of God are being forged in the image of God the Son. And we learn from Hebrews 5:8 “Son though he was , he learned obedience from what he suffered.” Therefore God does teach us through our sufferings and hardships.
Blessings!
I’m going to refer to just one of your comments at this point J the main one and I’m going to do so with honesty and also by making myself vulnerable to all who will read your Blog, on my own Blog I feel safe knowing that most of those who read my Life story do so with compassion, I have known some personally.
Your Statement …God is in control of all things and there is a purpose and a reason behind all even if now in this life we do not understand the mystery of suffering.
I was abused and molested from the age of 3 till my early teens and then raped by a Doctor who had aborted my Baby, I was not yet 15, you can read about my early years it’s called Little girl lost on my Blog if you want to.
Ron and myself went to a Bible Study a few years ago and the woman who was leading it said the same as you, so I asked her was it God’s will that I was abused, molested and raped as a defenceless child and she said yes that God is in control of all things and there is a purpose and a reason behind every thing that happens…. The Scriptures tell us to say God does evil to bring good out of it is slander, so we walked out.
I want to now share with you J what Jesus said to me in my poem it is also on my Blog, it’s called… In My Arms… God anointed my poetry with a sign and wonder that was witnessed by others, I will post about it soon, but I have no doubt that it was Jesus comforting and teaching me as He did in many of my other poems and I believe their not just for me but to help all those hurting in the Body of Christ..
Just a few sentences that Jesus expressed in this poem about my abuse….
+++The cruel and hateful ways of man to hide their pain and cover their shame finding release in an evil masquerade. They let you pay the price in your soul leaving you no longer whole and loosing the Joy that Childhood holds. Did I not care in the darkened night how I grieved at your fright, I wanted to protect you and hold you near I felt your pain and shed your tears.+++
Satan has the rights to this physical earth and until we are tested and tried and in Christ Jesus after coming to heart repentance and putting our evil flesh nature to death by The Spirit, we are under his control, you can deny this all you like but the Scriptures confirm it. Why do you think the Devil could offer Jesus worldly power and wealth, it is because it was his to offer and why was Job tested and tried and why are we, it is not by God’s hand that we suffer, Satan is trying to hold onto his power over us.
You can’t honestly Love someone who you think is going to harm you even if you claim it is for your good, we are just not created that way.
Lamentations 3: 33 For God doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
Christian Love Anne.
Hi Anne, If we were sittiing across from each other enjoying a cup of tea, I think you would see that we are saying the same thing, but unfortunately we are limited to the expanse of the blog comment area. Spiritual writers have written beautifully about the will of God and the interplay of this with our own free will and yet I won’t take that technical route here. As I had mentioned before God has given us the free will to choose to love Him or not…and the blunt florce of sin from those who have not chosen affects us all. Your story is truly painful to ponder. God didn’t look down upon you and say this is what I choose for Anne. That is not the God of love. In the transformation of His calling all mankind to freely choose Him, you were an innocent victim …victimized by the darkness and sinfulness of another. And yet He entered into that place of pain with you and very gently taught you about His love, His presence,His compassion, how He too was grieving with you, how He was fighting for you. And the reason I know this is because of the person you are today…one who speaks richly of the love of God and who longs to bring others to this truth. I would have walked out too if a teacher told me that God does evil to bring good from it…that is scandolous. God can’t do evil. God is greater than any evil the devil can inflict and how it must grieve Him so that men with their free will are choosing to walk that walk. He respects our free will however painful that must be.
The word discipline is a very interesting word and if one were to do a word study on it (have you ever done that Anne…it truly opens up the meaning of Scripture) you would come to find a slight difference in the limited way we define it today. To discipline is to teach just as a disciple is a learner. I am certain that you can probably look back over your life and speak of the incredible wisdom that the Lord has taught you from all the horrific life experinces you lived through. The fact that you freely chose to love God and share that love with others attests to the trulth that Love can and does conquer even the the worst of evils. Your life then becomes a powerful witness for others…which is what discipleship involves. I encourage you to share with others your writings from the heart that attests to God’s love in the midst of such pain. It can transform hearts. You have a message and wisdom to share Anne with those God puts on your path and it is a message that so many souls are desperately yearning to hear. Your broken heart and how God’s love triumphed through your life becomes a powerful witness to hope to the hopeless. I will when I can go back and read the posts you mentioned. thank you for this dialogue…Blessings.
Sorry about the double comment J just confirming my new e-mail address I have been having problems.
I am so sorry to hear you are having tech problems again! But I always come to the conclusion that when those type of things happen…which are true annoyances…I must by God’s grace be making a difference and so the devil seeks to shut that down. BLessings Anne!
Thank you for your kind words J and yes if we were sharing a cuppa together we would be able to resolve many of the worlds problems, but seriously God is Love, He does not seek to hurt us in anyway or for any reason, it is us who hurt Him.
God gave me a wonderful Truth called Freedom in Christ Jesus, it was taught in the early Church and there is much Scripture to confirm it, sadly Cults have twisted and used something simular to say you have to earn your Salvation, we don’t but the Truth is we will show we have it.
The Prodigal son like many who have gone astray today shows God’s Discipline, He allows us to do as we want which is what you also shared J and so we suffer the hard consequences of our own actions and others in the flesh until we come to our senses, but it is not what He wants for us or does He arrange for us to suffer and carry heavy burdens. All of God’s real Redeemed Children, all of us who He has known from eternity in His Spirit and known we would come to heart repentance and choose Salvation in Christ Jesus will never perish, it is has you said, our choice if we do because of rejecting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
I will leave a link to help you find my story….
Blog Post – http://freedomborn.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/the-early-years-a-little-lost-girl/
Christian Love Anne
Absolutely loved this one. Sometimes we hate it when our “tails are in the trap” so to speak. Oh how wonderful it is, when we are released and what wisdom we have when we are. Good job. God Bless SR
Yes the freedom of release! God bless you SR
Reblogged this on Hodgepodge 4 the Soul and commented:
Timely, and a very wonderful encouragement to me. Hope it blesses you as well 🙂
thank you Hodgepodge. I hope it blesses your readers…I have been enjoyiing your posts. Keep it up! Blessings for you and yours!
you’re very welcome 🙂 and thank you, too, for the encouragement! GOD’s BLESSINGS.
Indeed.
Yes nelsonRN….indeed with all capital letters! Bless you!
Very imaginative.
Thanks for sharing. God bless
thanks Noel…blessings on your weekend.