PR. DENIS KALUNGI

KIREKA CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

MONDAY/21/06/2021

DO NOT WASTE YOUR FOR TRIALS

In John 16:33 Jesus warned, “In this world, you will have tribulation.” Job said, “As the sparks fly upward so man is born to trouble.” (Job 5:7) The trials and difficulties of life are very important. This is one of the main differences between true Christianity and false Christianity. Many false teachers promise that God is going to free your life of trouble and difficulty. They claim that God will make every person healthy and wealthy. The Bible never makes such a claim. Jesus promised that His followers would experience tough times.

While the Israelites were crying out for help God was working through Moses. You might not see it, you might not understand how, but God is at work and He is going to deliver you! Be still for just a moment so you can realize that help is on the way. While you are currently worrying God is already at work.

Exodus 3:7-9 The Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

If he said in {Isaiah 65:24} before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. What are fearing? He told me, he called me by name in deeper water he will be with me, in fire, he will be what else can I fear to see {Isaiah 43:1-3} But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Denis, he who formed you, Denis: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine I am his.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. “Listen he never said I will not pass through deep waters, he only said he will be with me in deeper waters.”
 

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead, he never said that you will not go through! For sure he keeps his promises, if what I heard or I read about covid-19 is true that you lose smelling, testing, fever, I have been having covid-19 but I am free right now, “actually trials have been my master in my character development.”

God is working even in your unbelief. When you’re so busy worrying it’s hard to understand that God is at work when you don’t see even a small hint of improvement in sight. It’s hard to believe His promises. God sent an encouraging message to the Israelites, but because of their discouragement, they wouldn’t listen. They thought to themselves we’ve heard it all before, but we are still in these trials. The same thing happens today! There are so many verses in Scripture that tell us that God is with us, but because of discouragement, we don’t believe them.

I have had people tell me prayer doesn’t work and that was the spirit of unbelief talking. We have to boldly take hold of the promises of God. Has your discouragement stopped you from believing that God is at work? Ask for help with your unbelief today! This is what he told peter in {1 peter 5:10} And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast he never said that you will not suffer!

Exodus 6:6-9 “Therefore, say to the Israelite: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.” Moses reported this to the Israelite's, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

Mark 9:23-25 And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” I have seen this with my own eyes when I was organizing my wedding.

Psalm 88:1-15 O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry. For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to the grave. I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength, Adrift among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom You remember no more, And who are cut off from Your hand. You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, And You have afflicted me with all your waves. 

You have put away my acquaintances far from me; you have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot get out; my eye wastes away because of affliction. Lord, I have called daily upon you; I have stretched out my hands to you. Will you work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise you?  Shall your loving-kindness be declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in the place of destruction? Shall your wonders be known in the dark? And your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But to You, I have cried out, O Lord, and in the morning my prayer comes before you. 

Lord, why do you cast off my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer your terrors; I am distraught. No one can say those words to God when bread and better is there for him or she God loves to hear a heartfelt prayer.

John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? God is at work preparing for you. See here {1 Corinthians 2:9}, however, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”-__ the things God has prepared for those who love him—

Does God even care? God has seen me in my affliction and yet He does nothing. Does God love me? We often equate trials to God’s feelings toward us. If we are going through trials, then God is mad at us and He doesn’t care. If everything is going well in our life, then God loves us and is happy with us. No! This should not be! The Israelite's assumed God didn’t care about them, but they were His own people that He set apart for Himself.

In Exodus 3:16 God said I am concerned about you. Just like He was concerned about the Israelite's He is concerned about you. God knows your suffering and He has experienced your suffering. Did Jesus not say, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” God cares and He is moving, but you have to trust Him. Throughout Scripture, we see the affliction of Leah, Rachel, Hannah, David, etc. God works through the pain!

God is not punishing you. God sometimes uses difficulties to open new doors for us. God has done this in my life. Without trials, we wouldn’t move. God wasn’t punishing the Israelites. He was leading them to the Promised Land, but yet they still complained because they didn’t know the great blessings that lied ahead. Don’t murmur or mumble! God knows what He is doing. He heard you now be patient! Apostle Paul experienced this, {2 Corinthians 12:7-9} or because of these surprisingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 

Exodus 3:16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.” God is concerned about you.

Exodus 14:11-12 they said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? “Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.” The tribulations or trials you see you will never see them, there could be the enemies you will never see them.

Psalm 34:6 this poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. Jesus informs us that the lord is at work and he himself is at work {John 5:17} in his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 

Don’t waste your trials!

Don’t waste them! Use the pain to grow! God tell me what can I learn from this situation. Teach me, Lord. There is something about suffering that changes you. Something is going on that you don’t understand. God is teaching you through your suffering. Be mindful to know what God is teaching you in every situation. Joseph became a slave. He was lonely. He was going through difficulty for years, but the Lord was with Joseph. Joseph’s trials were not meaningless.

Before Egypt went into a famine, God was preparing the solution! His trial led to saving the lives of many people. Your trials could be used to save the lives of many, it could be used to encourage those in despair, and it could be used to help some in need. Never doubt the significance of your trials! Often we forget that God is going to conform us into the perfect image of His Son until the day that we die!

He is going to work in us humility, kindness, mercy, long-suffering, and more. How can you grow in patience if you are never in a situation where patience is needed? Trials change us and they fix our eyes on eternity. They make us more thankful. Also, I want you to remember that sometimes the things that we have prayed for are on the road of difficulty. Before God blesses us He prepares us for the blessing.

If God blesses you and you are not prepared you can end up forgetting God. Long trials build anticipation which makes it even more special when the trial is over. You and I might not ever understand what God is doing, but we are not told to try to understand or try to figure everything out. We are told to just trust. Jesus told them in {John 13:7} “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

Genesis 50:20 as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good things about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

{Genesis 39:20-21} Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

Corinthians 4:17-18 for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. {Philippians 2:13} for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

 Trust in God’s timing. Even if you have to cry your eyes out just trust God. Why do we worry? Why do we cast so much doubt? We get so discouraged because for some reason we want to hold on to the burden. Stop trusting in your own timing. Stop trying to accomplish God’s plan in your own strength. God knows what to do, God knows how to do it, and He knows when to do it. What really helped me trust in God’s timing was saying God I want what you want for me at the time you want it. I love you. You lead me and I’ll follow you. We have to trust God with our tomorrow.

Matthew 6:26-27 look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Habakkuk 2:3 for still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Galatians 6:9 and let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Psalm 27:13-14 I remain confident of this: you will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Says the lord Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

 Hard times are inevitable.

What we must never do is start thinking that I’m going through bad times or God hasn’t answered my prayers because of something I’ve done. Maybe God is still punishing me, maybe I was too prideful today, I’m not good enough, etc. 

If trials are dependent on us we would always be in trials. We wouldn’t be able to breathe! We are that sinful and we will make mistakes! Your performance is not good enough. Allow your joy to come from Christ alone. The godliest men went through severe trials. Joseph, Paul, Peter, Job, etc. God was not mad at them, but they all went through trials. Don’t lose hope! God is with you. 

God allowed me to go through a state of loneliness so that I could learn to be alone with Him and depend on Him more. God allowed me to go through financial troubles so I could trust Him more with my finances and so I could learn how to better manage my finances. I have been through many trials on my walk of faith, but God has always been with me. God is more real to me now than anything I’ll ever go through. I love God more than ever. God is not disappointed in you. God is working. You can trust Him with everything! 

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Listen he never said trials will not be there! That’s why he took the precaution to let them know.

Take it to prayer until the battle is won. Seek God! When you focus on your trials day after day and take the focus off of God it is going to kill you! It’s going to lead to depression and a sense of loneliness.  I’ve witnessed cases where people went into hard situations and it led to an extreme state of depression. Satan is dangerous. He knows how to affect the mind. If you don’t beat it then it’s going to beat you!

Some of you are changing and you’re becoming spiritually dry because of your pain. Get up and fight! If you have to lose your life in prayer, then lose your life. You’re an overcomer! Hideaway with God. There is something about getting alone and worshiping God that leads you to say, “My GOD WILL NOT FAIL ME!”

Worship changes the heart and it puts your heart exactly where it needs to be. When I’m alone with God I know I’m safe in His arms. This situation might be hard, I might not know what is going on, but Lord I leave it in your hands! God I want to know you. God, I want more of your presence! Often all we have to do is worship God and get to know Him and He will handle the rest. Scripture says to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added. You will receive an overwhelming peace when you are consumed with the Lord.

Philippians 4:6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Be blessed