Trusting God on Grey Days

 Dear God, I feel grey and deflated. The sky is grey, but where is the rain?
It's warm, but not nice and warm.

What can I do when everything around me and inside me is grey? Never forget that God's love envelops me.

If you know Jesus as your Saviour, God's Spirit lives in you 24 hours a day.
You carry heaven within you.

Are you threatened by evil people?

I've been thinking about it since yesterday. I feel anger and no love, but I must love my enemies.
I pray for my enemy to meet Jesus before he dies.

I pray without tender feelings, but I pray anyway.

To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me. Ps 25:1–2 NKJV

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance. Ps 42:5 NKJV

God's Wisdom in Hard Trials

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Jas 1:2–3 NIV

How can you find joy in very hard situations? When God deals with your situation, you will be happy about it. It is a challenge to be happy in advance, very hard.

Corrie Ten Boom was in Ravensbrück concentration camp with her sister Betsie because they had spared Jews in Holland.

It was terribly cold in winter and they were hungry. They were also itchy because of all the bedbugs.

They hated the bedbugs, but they wanted to obey God. They read in the Bible that they must be thankful in all circumstances.

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Th 5:18 NLT

They forced themselves to thank God for the bedbugs. Then they realised that the cruel guards usually didn't bother them in the dormitory because they also hated the bedbugs.

In difficult trials, God wants to help us to gain new insights, but this is often not easy. We must often resist our tendency to fear and bitterness.

In the Middle East, many Muslims are converting to Jesus. For hardcore Muslims, this is a terrible crime that deserves the death penalty.

There were some ex-Muslims in prison because of their conversion to Jesus, where they were brutally beaten daily.

After a few months they realised that they had not forgiven their tormentors. They must simply forgive, but it was very difficult. They resolved to forgive as Jesus did on the cross.

When they then began to pray for their tormentors with new hearts, a miracle happened. They were freed from prison.

Are you being bullied in your family? Or at work, or in your church?

How can you pray? You need wisdom from God.

Is your boss cruel? Should you stay and learn patience, or look for another job?

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. Jas 1:5 NIV

Living in Love

 God created us in love and for love. If we all loved as God wants us to, no one would be lonely.

But even if you love and are full of love, you will sometimes suffer from the unkindness of others who are not loving.

Jesus himself was a victim of rejection when he was brutally crucified.

But Jesus had to endure misunderstanding and rejection all his life.

Jesus taught that we must love everyone, even our enemies, or our friends when they misunderstand or even betray us.  

Jesus himself always loved in this way. Jesus is our example.

We are all learning to live a life of love.

God is love. He made you to live in love. When we do not live in God's love, we do not function properly. Our thoughts, feelings and physical health cannot be optimal.

If you are driving a Formula One car and you put in poor quality petrol, your racing car will not work properly.

You are meant to love and love must be the fuel of your life.

God is love itself. When we are connected to God, God's love flows in and through us like a river of living water that never runs dry.

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. Jn 7:37–39 NIVUK84

When you entrust your life to Jesus, you always have access to the source of life.

But it doesn't happen automatically.

•     How do you react when your boss bullies you?

•     What do you think when you hear the news that terrorists are taking hostages and probably torturing them?

 Jesus told us to love our enemies. How did Jesus himself react when he was slowly dying on the cross?

 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Lk 23:34 NIVUK84

You may be appalled by a political party and its policies. How do you respond in your spirit? Like Jesus on the cross? I often don't, but we are in a learning process.