I was talking to my husband about it this morning, as we were driving on the way home from the gym. My thought was pretty much like: Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His Purpose my thought being that, anything or anyone that pushes you closer to God, is a good thing; which would mean that even the uncomfortable and hard situations that lead us running straight to The Father, is good for us. I have a medical appointment today to run through my recent blood test results and about the state of my kidneys from the CT scan. It would be easy to stress and worry about the pending results, but whatever the results are good or bad or in the middle, at the end of it, I will still have Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. So with anything in life, in that way it is a win win situation. At least that’s the way that I am choosing to see it. Mind you, if the results aren’t too good, that doesn’t mean that I won’t be a blubbering mess when I come out of the appointment. Emotions are the way that we understand and deal with life, but it’s not our perspective of how we should view life, we should always be looking to God in every situation, for He is God, we are not and He is ultimately in control of everything. He knows our past, present and future and this is why I trust in Him. Jesus time and time again, since I met him and since He saved me, has helped me through every hard situation that I have ever been through and He is always the one that I go running to, in the good and no so good times. He always has the ear and time to listen. He leaves me in such a state of awe and great love for Him, because of who He is and what He did for me on the cross.
Lately I have been learning how to walk in the Spirit, rather than in the flesh and it’s amazing. I’m still learning, but the people that it has led me to and the conversations that it has opened me up to, has been nothing short of incredible. Walking in the Spirit, is so different to walking in the flesh. Walking in the flesh was what was taught to me as a child. To judge people according to what they look like, I was taught to idolise people who looked like what the world would class as beautiful and glamorous.
As Christians, we are taught to walk in the Spirit and not idolise what the world teaches, but to put God above everything and everyone else. We are to keep our eyes on Him at all times and during all times, He will always help us through. I don’t follow Jesus because someone or some book told me to, I follow Him because of all the personal testimonies that I have of every time He has helped me.
There’s also strength in walking in The Spirit and staying close to Jesus, that can only be explained through obedience to God. Anyone who has been obedient to God, can understand where I am coming from. It isn’t always easy to say yes to God, when He leads you to do something; but it is so worth it. I think when we are not obedient to God, we miss out on receiving the blessings that He had for us in that situation. Then there’s the fact that we serve a merciful and gracious God in that, if we miss our opportunity to be obedient to Him, that He will provide us with another one and so on, because He loves us so much and that He is a compassionate God.
I definitely think that one of the greatest spiritual gifts that God has given us, has been the church. The church is the body of Christ and if people aren’t serving effectively in ministry, the whole body of Christ suffers. That’s why I am so grateful to be in a church, that is full of humble people with servant hearts for Jesus.
As I’ve been walking in the Spirit recently, God has also shown me those who have been going through really hard seasons and are in the process of coming out of that dark season, with the grace, mercy, compassion and love of God.
That’s one thing that is deceiving about judging a person simply by what they look like. You never know what a person is going through and what they may be battling. That’s another thing that I have learnt about going to church and pushing yourself even when you really don’t feel like attending, because Jesus can use other people in the church, to listen and comfort you as you go through what may be a  hard season; I have experienced this to be true.
Brett and I were having this conversation recently too, where I was thanking him, for all the times I felt like I just couldn’t go to church for whatever reason, and he would always say that I would feel better if I just go. To be honest, it wasn’t always a good experience going to church when I didn’t feel like it, not because of the people at church, but just because I was caught up in being in a certain kind of way; spiritually we would call that a satanic attack, when satan gets inside one’s head and feeds us lies about ourselves and about church, to prohibit us from going to church. I feel like God let me go through those times, so I could relate to others who also find it hard because of anxiety, depression, whatever it may be, the church can offer the love, that is needed to heal a broken heart and or a wounded mind.
As Christians we are called to love each other, because Jesus first loved us first. Sometimes it takes taking the initiative to go and speak to someone and see how they are doing, as opposed to just sitting down, hoping that someone will come and speak to you. We need to be actively pursuing each other, with the love of Christ, in the same way that Jesus has been and continues to pursue us with His Agape.
Blessings
MH