This might be a thing of just the cultures I grew up in, but there was something I really love about the Mexican culture I grew up in, and I won't even limit it to Christian Mexicans because this was pretty common among everyone (because everyone was Catholic pretty much). Everyone thanked God. It was so common for people to just naturally add in "gracias a Dios" to the end of whatever they were saying. Gracias a Dios translates as "Thanks to God" so my grandmother would always say "We arrived safely! Gracias a Dios!" or "Gracias a Dios, I got my paycheck" It was even the little things like getting her paycheck on time. Another saying that was popular is "Primero Dios" which would translate as "God willing" everything is modified by saying if it's the will of God. People would say "We'll be there on Thursday, primero Dios" or "Primero Dios, I'll get this job" and I really loved it. I loved a culture where things were so strongly based off what God wanted, and things happening as they were God's will to happen. It's so easy for us to be thankful and happy with God when things are going our way, it's so easy to want to be with Him when we feel things are going as they should, but what if we forget to even do that? What if we forget to thank Him and spend time with Him when we're happy, What happens when we're down and out?
Luke 23:31 "For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" This is one of my favorite verses and it goes pretty good with one of my favorite analogies during DTS. There was an analogy that Peter Iliyn told us, he told us that sometimes we have to be like trees. When a tree is dry, its roots go deep into the land searching for water to feed itself. It goes as far as it has to go to get that water so it can survive, and when it finds that water, it's such a strong tree with big ol roots. We have to be like that with our faith, when we're dry we have to search God and feed ourselves or our faith and our spirit will rot. When we find God in those hard times though, we're gonna have such strong roots, our faith will be so strong.
In Matthew there is the story of when Jesus calms the storm. Jesus and his disciples hop on a boat, Jesus falls asleep and then a storm starts up. His disciples freak out and shout out to Jesus "LORD! Save us! We are perishing!" Haven't we all be in those shoes? When we're scared and we shout out to him "DON'T YOU CARE? SAVE ME! I'M IN TROUBLE!" Whether we can't find a job, we're worrying about finances, somebody close to us died, a lost relationship, whatever it might be. We lay there and without realizing it, we doubt God. We shout to Him "LOOK! Help me! Everything is going wrong! DON'T YOU CARE? WAKE UP!!!! LOOK!!!" like the God who created the universe, the God who knew you by name before you were even conceived is going to answer back "Oh snap! What's up Mickey? Forgot about you, let me see, oh dang haha my bad, you really do have it kind of bad down there, hang in there bud, sorry lol" God is the ultimate looker, he knows what you're going through. He understands your pain, your frustration, your anxiety, your fear. His son dying on the cross was his way of telling you "me too" when you go through troubles. Jesus answered the disciples by saying "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" and then he he rebuked the wind and the sea and there was great calm. GREAT calm, snap y'all, be still and know that He is God, Psalm 46:10. He WILL calm the storm, things will get better.
I'm going to tell you something we all hate hearing, everything happens for a reason. Things can only happen if God allows them to happen, and all things that God allows serve a purpose. Hosea 6:1 says "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds." and then in 6:3 "As surely as the sun rises, he will appear" You can count on God to take care of things, to help you through your troubles just as you can count on the sun rising in the morning. A lot of times it's hard to see what God's plan is during the hard times but we always look back and go "Oh, well I learned this and this. Silly me, God definitely had his hand in that!" I encourage you to ask God to help reveal his plan for you during your hard times. When you feel down and out, search God like you've never searched him before. Satan thinks he's winning when he brings us down, but when Satan attacks me, guess what I do? I search for Jesus, I talk to my daddy. Satan thinks he's furthering his own plan by attacking me, but he's just helping God's plan by forcing me to talk to God, strengthening my relationship with Him. When I got fired from my job, Satan was laughing, but getting fired from my job forced me to do my DTS and I fell in love with God like I never thought I could. When I wasn't getting money in for outreach and I was freaking out and starting to wonder if God had abandoned me, Satan was laughing, but I went and cried out to God on the beach and broke down the walls I had around my heart and allowed myself to get close to God and really just allow God to wrap his arms around me. When Jesus died on the cross, Satan was laughing, but now we are saved, now we are FREE, now we can look forward to an eternal life in Heaven. So really, Whose plan is Satan furthering?
There was a poem one of our teachers read to us, from memory it was along these lines. A man had a dream where he was walking along the beach with Jesus. He saw different parts of his life flash across the sky and he could see footprints in the sand during each part of his life. He got pretty angry because he noticed that during the hard times, the times where he felt down, there was only one set of footprints along the beach. When he felt sorrow, when he felt defeated or when he felt pain, there were only his footprints in the sand. Angry the man shouts to God, "WHERE ARE YOU?! You promised me to always walk with me, you said if I followed you, you would never leave me. When I needed you the most, Why weren't you there for me? You abandoned me!" that is when the Lord gently replied "You only see one set of footprints because I'm carrying you, you only see one set of footprints because I'm protecting you, I have you in my arms, I'm keeping you safe"
Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Fear not, God is with you, always. He will strengthen you.
Luke 23:31 "For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" This is one of my favorite verses and it goes pretty good with one of my favorite analogies during DTS. There was an analogy that Peter Iliyn told us, he told us that sometimes we have to be like trees. When a tree is dry, its roots go deep into the land searching for water to feed itself. It goes as far as it has to go to get that water so it can survive, and when it finds that water, it's such a strong tree with big ol roots. We have to be like that with our faith, when we're dry we have to search God and feed ourselves or our faith and our spirit will rot. When we find God in those hard times though, we're gonna have such strong roots, our faith will be so strong.
In Matthew there is the story of when Jesus calms the storm. Jesus and his disciples hop on a boat, Jesus falls asleep and then a storm starts up. His disciples freak out and shout out to Jesus "LORD! Save us! We are perishing!" Haven't we all be in those shoes? When we're scared and we shout out to him "DON'T YOU CARE? SAVE ME! I'M IN TROUBLE!" Whether we can't find a job, we're worrying about finances, somebody close to us died, a lost relationship, whatever it might be. We lay there and without realizing it, we doubt God. We shout to Him "LOOK! Help me! Everything is going wrong! DON'T YOU CARE? WAKE UP!!!! LOOK!!!" like the God who created the universe, the God who knew you by name before you were even conceived is going to answer back "Oh snap! What's up Mickey? Forgot about you, let me see, oh dang haha my bad, you really do have it kind of bad down there, hang in there bud, sorry lol" God is the ultimate looker, he knows what you're going through. He understands your pain, your frustration, your anxiety, your fear. His son dying on the cross was his way of telling you "me too" when you go through troubles. Jesus answered the disciples by saying "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" and then he he rebuked the wind and the sea and there was great calm. GREAT calm, snap y'all, be still and know that He is God, Psalm 46:10. He WILL calm the storm, things will get better.
I'm going to tell you something we all hate hearing, everything happens for a reason. Things can only happen if God allows them to happen, and all things that God allows serve a purpose. Hosea 6:1 says "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds." and then in 6:3 "As surely as the sun rises, he will appear" You can count on God to take care of things, to help you through your troubles just as you can count on the sun rising in the morning. A lot of times it's hard to see what God's plan is during the hard times but we always look back and go "Oh, well I learned this and this. Silly me, God definitely had his hand in that!" I encourage you to ask God to help reveal his plan for you during your hard times. When you feel down and out, search God like you've never searched him before. Satan thinks he's winning when he brings us down, but when Satan attacks me, guess what I do? I search for Jesus, I talk to my daddy. Satan thinks he's furthering his own plan by attacking me, but he's just helping God's plan by forcing me to talk to God, strengthening my relationship with Him. When I got fired from my job, Satan was laughing, but getting fired from my job forced me to do my DTS and I fell in love with God like I never thought I could. When I wasn't getting money in for outreach and I was freaking out and starting to wonder if God had abandoned me, Satan was laughing, but I went and cried out to God on the beach and broke down the walls I had around my heart and allowed myself to get close to God and really just allow God to wrap his arms around me. When Jesus died on the cross, Satan was laughing, but now we are saved, now we are FREE, now we can look forward to an eternal life in Heaven. So really, Whose plan is Satan furthering?
There was a poem one of our teachers read to us, from memory it was along these lines. A man had a dream where he was walking along the beach with Jesus. He saw different parts of his life flash across the sky and he could see footprints in the sand during each part of his life. He got pretty angry because he noticed that during the hard times, the times where he felt down, there was only one set of footprints along the beach. When he felt sorrow, when he felt defeated or when he felt pain, there were only his footprints in the sand. Angry the man shouts to God, "WHERE ARE YOU?! You promised me to always walk with me, you said if I followed you, you would never leave me. When I needed you the most, Why weren't you there for me? You abandoned me!" that is when the Lord gently replied "You only see one set of footprints because I'm carrying you, you only see one set of footprints because I'm protecting you, I have you in my arms, I'm keeping you safe"
Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Fear not, God is with you, always. He will strengthen you.
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