God always gives His people hope! In Jeremiah 30:17 God tells His people through the prophet, “For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds, says the Lord,—.” This was the Lord promising that in the future Israel will have peace on the earth. That is coming when God sets up His kingdom on earth after the Great Tribulation. We, the Bride of Christ, will return with Him from heaven to the earth and rule that earthly kingdom with Him!
Jesus read about himself from the scroll of Isaiah 61 and in ‘my paraphrase’ Jesus told the Jews, “I’ve come to bring good news (gospel) to the poor. I also will heal the brokenhearted. I will liberate the captives of their ‘stinkin thinkin.’ I will free those who are bound in the pain from their past. Now it’s time to be healed and allow Me to be your avenger in My timing. I am the comfort to all who mourn. I will give you beauty for your pain and you will rejoice in your future. I have planted you in my righteousness and no storm of life can uproot you. It’s all for My glory!”
We do not like to be reminded of the fact that scripture tells us ‘in this world we shall have tribulation.’ But it also says, “Be of good cheer because I have overcome!” Yes, Jesus went through the most horrible death on the cross, but after three days and three nights He arose from the grave giving us a hope of eternal life with Him!
In the midst of our earthly troubles we must keep our eyes on Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith! Paul told us in Romans 8 that NOTHING can remove us from the love of God! In the middle of our adversity we can feel hopeless, helpless, loveless and abandoned, but this is not God’s truth. God promised that He would never leave nor forsake us. Our faithfulness to Him is not based on our feelings. Our faith must be based on God’s truth. The only way our faith can be proven as pure gold is to go through the hot fires of adversity.
Satan does all he can do to try and destroy our faith in God. But there is nothing that Satan can do that will turn our hearts from loving and serving our precious Lord! God knew Job would be faithful in his adversity. Job knew that he would be faithful because he had that commitment with God before the adversity. Satan learned that Job would always remain faithful to God. We have that same commitment and determination. We have suffered great adversity in providing this ministry of teaching, counseling and writing for God’s glory in the last several years. Satan thought he could destroy our faith, but he did not know our commitment of faithfulness to God! We have hope in God!! HE NEVER FAILS!
“I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that HE is able to keep what I have committed unto HIM until that Day!!!” (2 Tim 1:12).
© Carol Clemans – October 2013
www.carolclemans.org
(636) 448-0121 – to schedule speaking or counseling by phone/Skype.
carol@carolclemans.org