Jesus was a man acquainted with grief and sorrows! Are you acquainted with them?

5/5/2020

Sorrow is better than laughter, For by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. Ecclesiastes 7:3-4 NKJV

When I was a baby Christian a friend told me, “When you suffer trials and heartache it either makes you bitter or better.”

Corrie Ten Boom was sent to the Nazi concentration camps during World War 2. Torture starvation and death were commonplace in the camps. She was stripped of everything but her faith in God. Corrie was the only member of her family to survive.

Corrie developed a habit of talking to God as if He is with her everywhere she went. Jesus had been with her in the camps. It was His presence that sustained her.

Corrie shared the Gospel with millions of people around the world. She even went to Germany to share Jesus with the nation responsible for her loss and suffering.

God uses trials, heartache and suffering to mold us and shape us into people He can use to bring glory and honor to His name. God uses hardship to make us useful vessels in His Mighty Hands. The Lord uses pain and loss to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ!

I cannot explain why Corrie Ten Boom had to suffer so much. Only the Lord knows what is needed for us to become all that God created us to be.

Corrie would have chosen another way if she could have. She was thankful for the trials and hardships God allowed into her life. She was grateful God found her worthy of suffering for Christ. She did not ask for it. She did not enjoy it. She was thankful for it!

Our time on planet Earth will not be fun and easy all the time. We will suffer seasons of sorrow and hardship. We will suffer heartache and loss. Jesus will use everything we experience on our journey through life for our good and His glory!

The world is struggling through a season of testing, trial and hardship today. We do not know what tomorrow will bring. We do not know how severe the pandemic will be. We do not know how long it will last. We do not know if we will lose loved ones.

Jesus will use this season of hardship and uncertainty to bring us to a place of resting in His mercy and grace. Jesus will build up our faith as we lean on Him for the wisdom, strength and guidance we need to walk boldly and confidently through the valley of the shadow of death!

Jesus can use you to bless people other people during this season of hardship and loss. God can use you to share the Gospel with a world that desperately needs Jesus!

Do not surrender to fear and uncertainty. Allow Jesus to mold you and shape you into a useful vessel in His Mighty Hands!

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Louie Garcia

Joyfor2day daily devotional goes out over the internet to thousands of people all over the world five days a week

Jesus can use you to shake the foundations of the prison and set people free!

Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very hour. Acts 16:16-18 NKJV

The slave girl was speaking the truth. She was possessed by an evil spirit. The evil spirit was drawing people away from Christ!

This attack came as God’s servants went to prayer. The enemy of our souls attacks when we step out in faith. Satan seeks to distract us. He wants us to focus our attention on things other than Jesus.

The devil perverts the truth. He uses it against us. No one can serve two masters. This girl was speaking the truth about Paul and his companions while practicing witchcraft. When people claim to speak for God we must consider how they live.

The girl followed the disciples for several days before they cast the demon out of her. It is important for us to wait on the Lord before stepping out in faith. The bible tells us Paul was greatly annoyed by this girl. Paul was not fearful. The Lord was with Him!

Paul and Silas were put in jail. The owners of the slave girl were angry at the loss of income when the demon was cast out of her. While Paul and Silas were in jail they shared the gospel with the jailer. His entire household was saved.

God uses Satan’s attacks for His glory and our salvation!

Satan is a real being. He takes people captive to do his will. There really are demons who seek to destroy God’s people and bring destruction to our world.

We have nothing to fear from the devil or his demons when we live according to God’s will. We have nothing to fear from anyone or anything when we step out in faith to serve Jesus!

Jesus wants us to fear Him and Him alone. He wants us to know His power and authority are unequaled in all of creation.

God wants you share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people in your life. Jesus wants you to walk in great boldness because He is with you everywhere you go!

Jesus can use you to shake the foundations of the prison and set people free!

Jesus was a man acquainted with grief and sorrows! Are you acquainted with them?

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Louie Garcia

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