1. God wants to get our attention
A Christian I know had sore eyes. His condition had gone on longer than expected and had caused much disruption to his busy schedule. I told him that sometimes in our lives, there are moments when God wants to slow us down to get our attention on an important truth He wants to teach us. When we turn to Him and ask Him what He wants to teach us through this trial, we will learn to trust Him in all that happens to us.
2. Perfect faith
Some Christians think that if they have more faith, then God can work faster in their situation. They think that if they have perfect faith, they can move God to act on their behalf. However, I have learned that perfect faith does not move God. Perfect faith moves us to trust God who doesn’t seem to be moving.
3. See with spiritual eyes the ‘random’ events
In the case of the Christian mentioned earlier, God may want him to learn to “see” with spiritual eyes the way God sees a situation. If so, that is one spiritual truth which will help him for the rest of his life. As a Christian, events that occur in our lives are not random. Behind the random events in our lives is a God with a purpose. He has a plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11) and will work it out according to His will. All He asks of us is to trust Him for what seems totally random.
4. God is angry with us?
Another mistake Christians make is to think that bad things happen to us because God is not pleased with us. Therefore, when a troublesome situation takes place in their lives, they confess their sins and step up on their Christian activities so as to appease an angry God. For example, they pray more, read the Bible more, do their Quiet Time more regularly and even fast to get God to work faster. All these actions spring from a misunderstanding of how God works.
5. Our sins are forgiven
Because of Jesus’ death on our behalf, God is not angry with us. God has forgiven all our sins; past, present and future (Hebrews 10:12). We don’t need to confess our sins to be forgiven. Instead, we are forgiven, therefore we confess i.e. to agree with God that what we did was wrong. Our forgiveness of sins does not depend on our confession. Our forgiveness depends on Christ’s death on the cross. When He died, all our sins died with Him. When God raised Jesus from the dead, He also raised us to a new life in which our sins are forgiven.
6. We are holy in God’s sight
We need to know that when troubles come our way, God is not upset with us. God loves us because we believe in His beloved Son Jesus. In God’s sight, we are holy (set aside to serve God), without blemish and free from accusation (Colossians 1:22) because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. The troubles we face are the means by which God is building our character (Romans 5:3-4). God is more interested in our character than our comfort. Therefore , our set back becomes a step forward in our growth in Christ. Ultimately, the way to live is to have a surrendered life; to yield to God and let Him have His say ; let Him have His way.
7. Will power vs yield power
I wrote a blog which explains this important truth about a surrendered life. It is entitled, “Will Power vs Yield Power”. Here is the link:-
http://chanmunwai.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/will-power-vs-yield-power/ .
8. God is good
God is good and what He does is good (Psalm 119:68). When we can “see” this truth about God, what we now find difficult to see through our eyes would have been worth it.
