I Thess 5:18

*“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thess. 5:18)*


In England on Coronation Day there is a grand royal procession, when the king and the queen ride in the beautiful royal coach. The royal coach is used only on that day. Before it is used for the procession, it is sent to a special place for cleaning and polishing. There are lamp stands on both the sides of the coach. Once a young boy was appointed to polish these lamp stands. He worked very, very hard and made them look very bright. On the day of the procession, he too stood in a particular place waiting for the coach. After much waiting the royal coach drawn by eight horses arrived. As the coach came near, the boy shouted with joy, “Look how they shine, look how they shine!”. The man near him asked, “What?” He replied, “The lamp stands.” He was not looking at the king or the queen, he was looking at the lamp stands. Why was he so happy? Because he had made them shine; he had some share in the procession. The same is true of us because our trials, afflictions and difficulties will give all of us a share in the New Creation. This is mystery.

All of us as believers have some share in the New Creation. Our earthly trials, however painful they may be should not discourage us because all the suffering which we go through is contribution for the coming New Creation. So for a believer, failure and success have the same joy. As we grow spiritually we can thank God for everything because we know that God uses our failures also for a purpose. Many people who were careless have been drawn closer to God through sickness, poverty and hardship. Many truths in God’s Word become real at the time trials. The Psalmist says so in Psa. 119:67,71 and Psa. 66:10-12. If we go on praising God for all kinds of trials and afflictions and hardships we are brought into a larger and a wealthier place spiritually. “He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me” (Psa. 18: 17-19)

As believers, for every situation we can pray, “Lord, what are you teaching us through this situation?” Then thank God for the ways He uses; it may be sickness or health, failure or success, poverty or wealth, friends or enemies. We can thank God for all our enemies because they keep us humble. That is God’s method. The more enemies we have the more humble we are. By nature we are proud and keep away from God. By remaining humble we are brought nigh unto him. According to Isa. 57:15 *God lives only in two places, in the Holy place and in the humble heart.* And that humility does not come easily. We all have some pride of country, education, caste, job etc. But under all circumstances we must be kept humble. Paul testifies in 1 Cor. 15:10 saying, “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” We praise God for every situation He takes us through, to make us useful and fruitful to draw us nigh unto Himself, to give us the honour to be used by Him for the New Creation and a part of His dwelling place for eternity.

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🙏 Praise the LORD🙏

Thank you. This theme has been on my heart all night...Love to you and all there with you in Jesus-Yeshua, always.

The prevailing philosophy of the world is "Gnosticism". Gnosticism says that man is essentially good, but that his environment makes him do evil. It teaches further that the solution is knowledge and that this knowledge is only given to the few "enlightened ones". The name Gnostics comes from the Greek word for "Knowledge". The result of this doctrine is that man is spared any responsibility and the evil is attributed to God Who made the environment. The Bible teaches something else. It teaches that since the fall, man is utterly corrupted and is like tree that can only bring forth evil fruit. This teaching is abhorrent to the average man, even to most Christians, even though they have admitted the dire need of a Savior. Man cannot just get his head around the fact that he is continually on a downward spiral towards hell.

The Christian usually becomes a Christian when the Holy Spirit works in him/her to reveal this utter loss and that God has prepared a way out. This very often comes by way of a crisis in life. Some sort of anguish is the catalyst to prompt a man or woman to examine themselves. But once the new convert has passed through this crisis, he/she tends to revert back to the old lie that they are inherently good. You can see it very clearly on this Forum when a poster's integrity or doctrine is called into question. They will defend it to the death, even when the proof against it is huge. But our God, ever gracious to turn the wicked, has a very effective plan to overturn any "Gnostic" tendencies of the Christian. And to soften the blows of truth, God allowed Israel to go as a forerunner and then, in 1st Corinthians 10:1-11, points out that Israel's journey is also our journey - the wilderness journey.

In Deuteronomy Chapter 8 we have the mystery of suffering solved. To post the whole Chapter would frighten some souls off, but the gist of it is that God needed to prepare a people who would carry His name and His testimony and His Law before the heathen. Israel had left Egypt, but Egypt had not left them. They were intrinsically corrupted by Egyptian philosophy and even carried their Egyptian idols with them (Act.7:43). So God led them through a trial for forty years. It was a fiery trial of heat and fiery serpents, of hunger and thirst, enemies surrounded them and God chastened them. The tendency of Israel was to return to Egypt and they rebelled a number of times. One such chastening got 24,000 Israelis killed (Nu.25:9). All this time, hardship and trial was to achieve FOUR things;

1. for THEM to know what was in thine heart. God knows, but we always overestimate ourselves
2. that he might humble them
3. that he might prove them, to do them good at their latter end
4. that whether they would keep his commandments, or no

It is a fact of our make up. Muscles are built and a man is made fit by uphill, not going downhill. Character is built in adversity, not in ease. The best soldiers are those who had the most rigorous training. We learn a profound lesson in Jesus Christ - the most perfect Man Who ever lived. Hebrews 5:8, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." What??? Is not our Lord divine and does He not know all things? YES! But He added the full human EXPERIENCE to His divinity. Can God be tested? NO! (Jas.1:13). But can a Man be tested and tried. YES! (Heb.4:15). When our Lord cast out demons, He was not tried. When He walked on water, he did not suffer. When He taught the Kingdom He could delight to do His Father's will. But when He agreed to go to the cross He sweated blood. And even then He asked for the cup of suffering to pass. But His obedience was established, not by saying "yes" to the cross, but in actually experiencing the cross.

It is a universal rule that pain is the greatest teacher. The sword for ceremony can be inferior metal, but the sword for battle must be forged in the hottest fire. The clay pot is worthless until it has been in the kiln. The young man's bowels will empty when the first shell explodes near him. But after the months of training in the worst conditions he will have a new-found fortitude. In the Bible, gold depicts the nature and government of God. But not any gold. It must be pure gold. And how is that achieved? By refining at very high temperature. What is a diamond? A diamond was once mere carbon. Then it suffered extreme heat and pressure for over a billion years to become beautiful and indestructible.

The Lord has bought us with the most expensive thing in creation - the blood of His beloved and sinless Son. He will not give up on us until His plan is fulfilled; "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Romans 8:29). This "conforming" is not from one day to the next. It is the process over years of shedding the old man of self-interest and being forged into Christ's likeness. And if He must suffer to be perfected, what will our end be. It is only with this view of things that we can THANK God in adversity.