Sometimes trials will shock you. Sometimes trials are people. If you have a dream, your opposition is people. Remember that God is for you. If you don't, it will seem that everyone is against you.
Genesis 37:5 (NIRV)
5 Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
We have a Father who loves us. God has won battles for us that we didn't even know that God has fought. You have a heavenly Father watching over you.
If you don't realize that God is for you, you have a misconception of God. God is not mad at you, but mad about you. If God is for me, Satan is against me.
1 John 4:4 B (NIRV)
4 He (God) is more powerful than the one (Satan) who is in the world.
Satan uses people to mess up your day. There are going to be people in your life that throw off your day. How you handle a trial will depend on how God can use it. Pressure has a purpose.
If I can talk you out of your dream, you'd never do it anyway. If a dream can't survive the people that you love, you're dream cannot survive the pressure of the enemy who hates you. Your dream will receive pressured by God.
Psalm 105:19 (NIRV)
19 He (Joseph) was in prison until what he said would happen came true.
The word of the Lord (tested him and) proved that he was right.
God can take you to the top, but your character will decide if you stay there. Character will protect you from your own success.
God will never give you a life that makes Him unnecessary. You will have peace is a promise. You will have trouble is a promise also.
John 16:33 (NIRV)
33 “(Jesus speaking) I have told you these things, so that you can have peace because of me. In this world you will have trouble. But be encouraged! I have won the battle over the world.”
We should put it on a T-shirt. I've got problems. We live in the selfie generation. I remember when we didn't have cordless phones. No one took selfies because you didn't know if you got your face in the picture.
We had film. You didn't know if your pictures were good or not for days. It had to go through a process. If you opened the back of the camera before it was done, it was overexposed, and it would be ruined.
It had to go to a dark room. Some of our faith has been overexposed in a process of a trial. Your future is not ahead of you, but inside of you. The pressure is pushing it out. Nothing gives you pressure like a conflict.
1 Samuel 2:6-8 (NIRV)
6 “The Lord causes people to die. He also gives people life.
He brings people down to the grave. He also brings people up from death.
7 (First) The Lord makes people poor. (Then) He also makes people rich.
(First) He brings people down.
(Then) He also lifts people up.
8 He raises poor people up from the trash pile.
He lifts needy people out of the ashes.
He lets them sit with princes.
He gives them places of honor.
“The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord.
On them he has set the world.
On them he has set the world.
It's not the devil bringing you down. It is your destiny. Adversity will advance you if you'll let it. Trials will train you.
If you have the favor of your father, your brothers will hate you. Joseph was given a special coat. I can understand Joseph's brothers resentment. We see him tattle telling on them.
Some of the people closest to you will challenge you. You have to learn to make it through the hatred if your going to make it. Don't hate the haters. Haters will propel you.
Science tells us that friction creates flight. Haters are not bad. They are the doorkeepers of your destiny.
My frustration flows from whom I know God is. I know who God is. Sickness frustrates me when I know my God is a healer. Why hasn't God delivered me, yet? Don't diagnose it.
You may feel abandoned or alone. The silence of God does not mean the absence of God.
Psalm 27:1-6 (NIRV)
The Lord is my light, and he saves me.
Why should I fear anyone?
Why should I fear anyone?
The Lord is my place of safety.
Why should I be afraid?
2 My enemies are evil.
They will trip and fall
when they attack me
and try to swallow me up.
3 Even if an army attacks me,
my heart will not be afraid.
Even if war breaks out against me,
I will still trust in God.
4 I’m asking the Lord for only one thing.
Here is what I want.
I want to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life.
I want to look at the beauty of the Lord.
I want to worship him in his temple.
Here is what I want.
I want to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life.
I want to look at the beauty of the Lord.
I want to worship him in his temple.
5 When I’m in trouble,
he will keep me safe in his house.
He will hide me in the safety of his holy tent.
He will put me on a rock that is very high.
6 Then I will win the battle
over my enemies who are all around me.
At his holy tent I will offer my sacrifice with shouts of joy.
I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Why doesn't God use the power that I know that He has? God, where is my fourth man (Daniel 3)?
God says that you need more than deliverance. If I deliver you out of it, it won't work for you. The Hebrews boys had to walk through their fire to escape it.
If God has called you to lead, you will lead wherever you are. When you're in prison, it's not all about your dream. The greatest deterrent to your dream is your dream. It's about helping others with their dream.
Just because you are down does not mean that down is your destiny. There are some places that you can't go without a cross. If you're not dead, then you're not done. God may not deliver you from it, but He will not abandon you in it.
Notes taken from Jeremy Foster, Hope City Church
https://hopecity.com/sermons/trials-trophies-part-3/
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