Positive Christian Motivation

Growing Through Life's Toughest Moments - Christian Motivation

Make God's word your ultimate source of daily motivation as you tune in to this impactful episode filled with motivational messages, empowering life advice, inspiring teachings, and stories. Enjoy this remarkable blend of spiritual insights and empowering inspiration that motivates you to become the best version of yourself and nourishes your spiritual connection with God.

Duration:: 8m
Broadcast on:: 30 Jun 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Life is filled with trials. Maybe you're coming out of one, and maybe you're going into one. James starts like this. Consider it pure joy, my brothers. Whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. See what James is saying is, listen, you should have joy in the middle of whatever trial you're going through, because when you're going through the trial, when your faith, he says, when your faith is tested, you are developing the ability not to quit. So you know what I've realized? It's so much easier to quit. (gentle music) It's so much easier to give up when the marriage gets hard, right? We want to quit. When the pressure seems like it's crushing us, we want to just get out from under it and God's saying, but do you not understand that when you're under the pressure, when you're under the weight in the trial seems like it's crushing you, that's when you grow and develop, that's when you become more mature and complete. Learn from pain before you leave it. Don't try to hit the fast forward button through the painful moments of life, sit in them. And that's God, what are you teaching me? What do you want me to learn in this? What are you trying to show me? And it's not just grief, like problems, pain can come in work, it can come in marriage, it can come through children, school, through sickness, mental health. Slow down in those things. Ask, what are you teaching me? When hard times come be a student and not a victim. A victim says, why did this happen to me? A student says, what can I learn from this? A victim believes his hard time has come because God wants to punish him. A student understands God allows hard times in every life in order to get us and help us to grow. We believe so much in the sovereignty of God that when hard times come, we know God is at work for our good and his glory. Thomas Constable has a very helpful word at this point. He says, when trouble comes, Christians often react by doubting they are where God wants them to be. They often think that they've done something wrong and that God must be displeased with them. - What if God wants me in the desert? What if I'm supposed to be here? What if this is the only way God can teach me? God knows that the only way we grow is through difficulty and through challenges. Just because I'm in the desert does not mean God has deserted me. - And I know for us as we walk through pain, as we walk through hardship, our natural questions are to say, well, where is God and why is this happening? And those are fine questions. Those are okay to ask, but I would ask another question though too, and it's this, what is my hardship doing to me? What kind of person am I becoming through this difficulty? Because I would imagine at some point, like the vision of you, like 10 years from now, the vision of you that you just love to think about and celebrate and dream about, that vision of you is only accomplished as you deal with afflictions, as you deal with hardships. The path to that new you is going to be the path of pain. That's what it is. And our hope though, what makes it possible for us to hope is that God's got a purpose in that. He's got a real purpose in that. - Life is hard, but Paul says this, and we know then in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Okay, there's a purpose for pain. And we know that God is working in us, no matter what we face, no matter what we go through, no matter how hard it is, we know that God is working hard for us. - You are not God. You are not God, He's God. And there's good days and there's bad days, but they're all God's days. And you can't see the future, not one of you can, no one here knows what tomorrow will bring. Everybody wants to tell God how to do His job. God, you really missed it here, right? Worry is being afraid He's going to get it wrong, and bitterness is believing He did. - So why don't you let Him be God of your life, and why don't you submit fully to His counsel? In bad situations, surrender to His sovereignty. I'm not God. And so when days are really good, I'm going to celebrate. Lord, thank You for the goodness You've allowed me to experience under the sun. And when days are really, really, really, really bad, I'm going to trust. I say, Lord, I know You're good, this doesn't feel good. I'm going to trust You're not done. I'm going to trust You. I'm going to feel all the things. I'm going to experience all the emotion. At the end of the day, God, I trust You. - And it's hard for people to believe, to put their trust into something they can't fully understand, especially when you face challenges. When you face things that you don't understand, when you or someone else can't explain why something is happening to you in your life. I love Proverbs, chapter three, verse five. It says, trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Trust Him. Trust the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding, but in all of your ways, acknowledge Him, submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. This verse insinuates that there will be things that happen in life, in ways that God works in our lives, that we don't understand. And we can't explain it, we can't reason it out, but it's in those times we have to trust His character. It's in those times where Jesus becomes very personal. And though how He's working may be unexplainable, who He is, is still undeniable. I heard someone say when I was going through a hard time and I was trying to make sense of it all. They said, Nick, when you don't see or understand what His hands are doing, trust His heart and trust His character. And I want to encourage those of you tonight that feel like everything in your life is shaking, that your only real answer. Is to trust God, and to keep on trusting God, and to keep on trusting God. And yes, it's difficult when you don't understand what's going on, and it's especially difficult when what's going on in your life just does not seem fair. But I want to tell you something, no matter what condition your life is in right now, no matter how many pieces it's in, with God's help, you can rebuild. Through the strength of God, you can rise up and rebuild. You can run and not be weary. You can walk, and you shall not faint. But let me tell you something. You're going to make it. Not because of who you are or because of what you did, but because of who Jesus is and what He did. And He has given you the Holy Spirit as a promise. It's a promissory note of what is to come. Of what is to come. And I know some of you are going through some real darkness right now, but I want you to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and His name is Jesus, and He is coming for us. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] (soft music)