Woke Up at 4am...

Sometimes things get rough and sometimes our God gets hard to see through the roughness. Sad, but it happens. How could we possibly forget or allow something to overpower our minds from the image of the cross? Because we are fallen and everyone has fallen short of the glory of God. Yet that should not bring sadness, but joy. Let me 'esplain.

We fall short and God The Father loves us still. We fall short yet He remains perfect and strong. If we did not fall short here on earth we would fail to see the accomplishments of the cross. Not only that, but if we were perfect that would make God (who is infallible) a liar, but if we have not fallen then what did Christ die for? Christ accomplished on the cross more than we can understand, one being our reconciliation to God because of our sin. Yet, "¹What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1-4)."

Whenever life seems to get so rough that i begin to lose sight, i go to 1 Peter 1:3-7:
^"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

I remember my pastor talking about gold. He said, back in the day a gold smith would melt the gold in a pot. As they turn up the heat the "not great gold" comes to the top and becomes like the "film on jello". They would then scrape that stuff off, throw it to the side and it was called, "unapproved". The heat stays on, the not great gold continues to come to the surface and the gold smith continues to scrape it off. When the gold smith can look over this gold - that has all this heat on it - and can actually see his face reflected in it, he says, "approved", "genuine", "real gold". Our faith is tested to make it genuine so that God can see His face in us. So that at the revelation of Jesus Christ we can say, "i waited for You, i saw You pointing me to You and it gave me hope". When you put your hope in the inheritance to come you get a joy that is too beautiful to understand in this life.

God, the Creator of the universe, has power and control over all. There is nothing in your life He does not know about and there is nothing bigger than Him. He loves you and is guarding you by His power through faith.

Check out The Cup and the Glory and Why You Can Make It Through Anything