Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said: "What does not kill me makes me stronger."
Strengthened faith. Building lives and living. God intends to do this. His way is always making our faith strong enough to survive the battles, the heart ache and the suffering that every day life sends our way so we can thrive with Him.
In this week's devotions I have talked about these issues and have given you James 1:2-4 that talks about allowing adversity to change your faith by God's grace.
James 1:2-4 (The Message) --- Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
What God builds, no one can tear down. What we allow God to do, it will change us and make us be ready for ministry and more.
QUOTED TEXT below....
"I'm convinced that the people God uses most are often the people who have experienced the most adversity. This isn't necessarily what I want to write, and it isn't necessarily what you want to read, but it's true. Adversity can produce an increased capacity to serve God.
Around the turn of the 20th century, psychoanalyst Alfred Adler conducted a fascinating research project that popularized the theory of compensation. He studied art students and discovered that 70% of them suffered from optical anomalies. He found degenerative traces in the ears of great composers like Mozart and Beethoven. And he cited numerous examples of other people who eventually became successful in the area of their greatest weakness. Adler believed that birth defects, poverty, illness and negative circumstances often prove to be the springboard of success.
What pits have you fallen into? What lions have you encountered? God wants to redeem the adversity you've experienced. He wants to recycle your adversity and turn it into a ministry.
I know so many people whose adversity has become their ministry. They go through a painful divorce or the death of a child or destructive addiction, but God helps them climb out of the pit so they can help others in similar circumstances.
God is in the business of recycling our pain and using it for someone else's gain...
(Quoted from In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson, pages 73-4)
God, use this stuff we go through to make us strong for you. Build our faith and remind us that you are building it as we go through things we do not like. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Strengthened faith. Building lives and living. God intends to do this. His way is always making our faith strong enough to survive the battles, the heart ache and the suffering that every day life sends our way so we can thrive with Him.
In this week's devotions I have talked about these issues and have given you James 1:2-4 that talks about allowing adversity to change your faith by God's grace.
James 1:2-4 (The Message) --- Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
What God builds, no one can tear down. What we allow God to do, it will change us and make us be ready for ministry and more.
QUOTED TEXT below....
"I'm convinced that the people God uses most are often the people who have experienced the most adversity. This isn't necessarily what I want to write, and it isn't necessarily what you want to read, but it's true. Adversity can produce an increased capacity to serve God.
Around the turn of the 20th century, psychoanalyst Alfred Adler conducted a fascinating research project that popularized the theory of compensation. He studied art students and discovered that 70% of them suffered from optical anomalies. He found degenerative traces in the ears of great composers like Mozart and Beethoven. And he cited numerous examples of other people who eventually became successful in the area of their greatest weakness. Adler believed that birth defects, poverty, illness and negative circumstances often prove to be the springboard of success.
What pits have you fallen into? What lions have you encountered? God wants to redeem the adversity you've experienced. He wants to recycle your adversity and turn it into a ministry.
I know so many people whose adversity has become their ministry. They go through a painful divorce or the death of a child or destructive addiction, but God helps them climb out of the pit so they can help others in similar circumstances.
God is in the business of recycling our pain and using it for someone else's gain...
(Quoted from In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson, pages 73-4)
God, use this stuff we go through to make us strong for you. Build our faith and remind us that you are building it as we go through things we do not like. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Comments