There are many people in this world who wish they could go through life trouble-free never facing any trials, challenges or obstacles. What those people fail to realize is that it is the difficulties of life that shape us and mold us into who we become. The trials and troubles teach us wisdom, they give us motivation, inspiration and a resolve of steel showing us that after we overcome those challenges we become better, wiser and stronger than we were before them. Job had a faithfulness to God that should be thought upon and emulated because no matter what came his way, Job remained faithful and trusting as we read in Job 23:10 “…He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job had the forethought that after the trial, after the challenge, after the heartache he would come forth better than he was before. He would be rewarded because he stayed faithful to God despite his circumstances. That is a lesson that each of us should remember and keep in mind when we go through the storms of life. We should have that same forethought that this problem is sharpening us, it is molding us, it is giving us what we need in order to grow, mature and rise above that difficulty. (James 1:2-8) (Job 42:10-17)

When we bring into remembrance the many times that God intervened at just the right time we will be more trusting towards the Lord because if He delivered us in times past, then He will also be with us through our present difficulties until we come out of them with more wisdom, more growth and much more trust in the God who has not, can not and will not fail us. The Bible declares in Isaiah 59:1 “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.” God is able to deliver us, but we must be willing and obedient while we are in the midst of the storm, the uncertainty or the heartache. We read in Isaiah 1:19-20 “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” 

May we always be willing and obedient to fulfill God's will for our life and to trust the Lord in every circumstance and every situation having the assurance that our latter end will be much greater than our former beginnings. God is faithful to those who stay faithful to Him. The sooner we realize this truth the sooner God will take our life from ordinary to extraordinary for His glory.

I hope this message encourages your heart to know that every trial and challenge that comes your way serves a purpose to make you better than you were before.


THE BANK LOAN

Some years ago two brothers in their early thirties owned a medium-sized manufacturing company. The company had been started by their grandfather, and the two had inherited it from their father upon his death some five years before.

Since the two young men had taken over the firm, business had gradually gotten worse. Now, if they were to get things back to normal, they needed about $250,000 for operating expenses. With that money they could turn things around.

Accordingly, they approached their local banker, an elderly man who knew both the firm and the family. They explained their situation to him, and stated their needs.

“I have done business with both your father and your grandfather,” the banker said. “When your grandfather died your company led the industry.”

“Yes, we know,” said one young man, “and if you will grant us this loan for operating expenses, we'll lead the industry again.”

“But,” objected the banker, “when your company was leading the industry 40 years ago, where was George Weber, whose company leads the industry now?”

“Oh, he was a mechanic who started up on his own about that time,” explained one of the brothers. “I must say he certainly has made a success.”

“Yes, he has,” said the banker, “and he did not have $250,000 to operate on, even from a standing start. He started from scratch. His business has come up in the industry while yours has been going downhill. Yet, by your own admission, your company had a great deal of money during this very time when Weber had none. With all your money you lost ground. With all his shortage of cash he gained on you and overtook you.”

“Obviously, gentlemen, money is not what it takes to make a success in your industry,” continued the banker. “Where did your company's spare capital disappear to? How did you lose your customers to Weber? What is the matter with the way you two, and your father before you, have managed your company?”

The elderly banker knew the answers to those questions, and he was a shrewd judge of character. He knew that people often fool themselves. They talk about their difficulties as financial problems when actually the problem is within themselves.

He also knew that the father of the two boys had been something of a playboy, spending money freely, taking long vacations, and not attending to business. By asking these harsh questions, he was trying to get the two young men to take stock of themselves.

The two, rather easygoing young men, were shocked when the banker turned them down. They tried other banks with the same result. Finally, they were forced to face the truth. If they were to save the business, they must do it themselves.

And save it they did. They made it back to the top, though the climb back was anything but easy. It took long hours of hard work, scraping by, cutting expenses - especially their own salaries - and, most of all, a change of attitude on their part.

Eventually they took the elderly banker to lunch. They wanted to thank him. “You know,” they told him, “when you turned us down for that loan - well, it was the best thing that ever happened to us!”

Author Unknown


Read and meditate on these scriptures:

Psalm 34:1-4 “I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

Jeremiah 33:2-3 “Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is His name; Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

Psalm 23:1-4 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”

All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible. 


Today’s Selected Poem: HE HAS NOT FORGOTTEN YOU
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/enpoem155.htm

Today’s Selected Testimony: THE REWARD
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony105.htm


In Christ’s Service,

Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry