Hardships, Suffering and in Shambles

Q: Everything is going wrong in my life and things are falling apart from my job to my family relationships and even my dream. All of which I worked hard at to get here. I used to pray to God for everything and trust in Him and His plan but now life is in shambles, why keep praying to Him??

A: I am going to share this as if speaking to a born again believer, with the belief that you desire to understand and walk the righteous path, but also so you can grow in your faith.

The most important thing to start with addressing here is the WHY of why you came to Jesus, as this seems to be the root issue.

If you came for life enhancement you recieved a false gospel. [He isnt a genie who magically fixes our lives and gives us whatever we want.]

The real gospel calls us to lay down our life, our desires, our plans [and all things self and self centeredly], to go and follow the Lord. It isnt about "me" it is about Him. Our life focus is to be "His will be done." Just as Jesus showed us by example.

Not only do we need to know the Scriptures to be guided by them, but we need to take action according to its directions. We cannot only pray and think God will do whatever we want. Our prayers are to align to His will. He moves us where he wants us and it is for our benefit in the end. Even if it doesnt seem like it now. 

God uses us for His purposes and to bring glory to himself. That includes us knowing and living out the Gospel, so we can (as good & faithful servants) properly carry out the great commission [the reason God left us on this sin stained earth after we got saved].

If everything us taken from us and we wander having nothing here, as Christ did, then that is fine. We have eternal life. Nothing here is more valuable then that. Nor should be clung to. It can all be burned and we can still rejoice. Paul said he learned to be content when having little or at times had more. We need to be rightly focused in that way. And know God always provides our needs. 

Secondly and is related, is that we need to truly grasp "humans all suffer in this sin stained world", but believers moreso >> since the world hated and killed Christ it will also hate and mistreat His followers too [so that is an extra thing we are "tried" with] but -- God has promised to walk through these times... all to produce perseverance, growth in our faith, and more submission to Him as well as desiring "to become less and less but Christ in me becoming more and more". We are to empty ourselves of "self" and fill our hearts, life with Christ [and the Word] so we can live out our Christian life.

I was just reading Romans 5 this morning and it pointed to that as well. I recommend looking into the Scriptures deeper to get a firmer grasp in this area of understanding. See links below for some guidance.

Recall or Read the book of Job. All kinds of things are happening behind the scenes that we likely will never know about which God is doing and moving. Scripture says we go through what is common to mankind and that God grows us thru them, and uses our situations to help minister to others later too. We can look at the lives of the prophets, disciples, Apostles, and Christ to see what we should expect to go through. God is with us through it all. Holding our hand and walking us who trust Him through it. He has never broken a single promise to us, and has declared that our best life will be in eternity (a place free from sin, suffering and problems we faced in this life). Praise God it is all temporary here. 

Third, similarly the above addresses issues with family and other relationships. We need to have gracious, loving and patient attitudes, thoughts and speech towards others (believers & unbelievers). But we also know that Scripture is very clear that [even though we are growing in faith and make mistakes too] we live in righteousness. And because we are born again, belong to God, and are living in righteousness ... the world hates us. Our own family members [led by sin and Satan] will cause problems and many even disown us. So our own family will be at war against us in this fallen world. We are called to live with others in peace as much as possible so this is a area of growth you need to grow in. It is an area we all constantly grow in. Below are some helps to get you moving in that direction (also read/audio "Instruments in the Redeemers Hand", book. It has great counsel👍).

Fourthly, it appears you are desiring the gift(s) more than the One giving it. God wants to be 1st in our life and we need to rearrange our lives, hearts, everything to align to God.

Finally, Make sure you are saved. Get a firmer grasp and understanding on the Gospel, and these related topics. But also make sure you are reading Scripture daily without fail. Set a 10 minute time in the morning before you eat or leave the house for work to read the Bible. Make it a majority priority. The Bible is God communicating to us. Prayer is us communicating with God. Start your day off right by aligning your heart, mind & focus on Him and all will be right in your thoughts, attitude and as a good servant who wants to please God [and be a light & help to others in this dark world]. At the start and end of your daily reading, saturate it in prayer for God to reveal to you for that day what it is He wants to communicate to you, & have you store in your heart and mind. That is not about "me" focused things, but growing in the faith to align to His will, and to grow in the knowledge of Scripture for a well rounded knowledge of the Word - which will help you more and more in daily living later on. [Ex. I had already known about suffering, trials, growth, perseverance. But today was reminded of Rom 5 truth while reading- and because of that, I was right off able to remind myself this truth but 🙂 also help guide you towards that understanding too. God uses us & what we learn not only for our own benefit but to help others. "Irorn sharpens iron." I am grateful and thankful to God that I could bless you with this today. May it be a life long blessing to you, also for all of what God wants you to know from the below helps 😊].

Resources:
Understanding the biblical Gospel
Understanding Sin & Suffering
Helps on Reading the Bible

Self Counseling for growth
*Includes conquering Discontentment, Ingratitude, and related sins

Growing in the area of grace, forgiveness & love towards others

71 Bible verses for going through hardships 

30 verses for enduring hardships

Growing Believers Resources *

For other helps and guidance beyond the contents here, reach out to your Sunday School teacher, deacons, elders or Pastor for some helpful counsel. 

The book noted will be of great help around relationships as the above link will as well, but for specific targeted helps in your particular sitiations w family they will be a good source of godly wisdom. 😊

⭐Bookmark this page so you can "go through everything" in the links all throughout this month. You will be very blessed if you do 😀😊🙏✝️

God bless! 

If you go through all the above links and inner links, and read the suggested books, go through the free videos, podcasts, sermons and resources, you will grow well in this area, and be truly blessed too. 

The book mentioned can be bought in print, or kindle at amazon. Walmart has preowned copies. However I recommend one of the following: 1. Buy the kindle ver and add the audiobook (low cost audio thru their link to audible). You play the audiobook right there by clicking audible option on the page. A player opens. 2. If you have Spotify, they give 1 free audiobook a month there. Link. 😀

Music to encourage in and through hard times