All Things - Part 2

Rom 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

First we noticed in the verses the fact that we all should KNOW that the Lord will work in our lives. We viewed Biblical characters that followed the Lord and knew that He was in control of everything in their lives. Christians today should know, but do we? Let us say that we do know, so, what is the next step in this verse? That brings us to the "ALL THINGS". You see, it is easy to trust God during the peaceful times in life, but what about those hard times? How can we stand tall in the hard things of life?

2. We should trust in All Things.

Faith, what a hard thing to have in our lives. In a conversation with a lady once, she said "Looking in the world around me today, It is hard to trust that the Lord will take me to Heaven with Him" What she was saying is that during the hardships of life she has come to doubt the Word of the Lord and whether or not the Lord is even real. She asks herself, how could God allow all these terrible things to happen in life? How can He allow these children to be killed, the wars to continue...? These things hurt the Christians who look at the terrible hardships around them rather than the good God has brought out of it. Many years ago a great man of faith developed cancer. This man, named Jim, was a soul winner, had the biggest bus route at the church, and was on fire for God. When he passed away everyone wondered why God would take such a great man out of this world? At his funeral many many people came to say good bye to this man. That day many souls were saved, many raised their hands and trusted Jesus as their personal Savior. Not only that, but one young man, myself, decided it was time to serve the Lord with my whole heart. May we all look to the Good things that God brings out of the hard things.

In Matthew 14:22-33 Jesus tells His disciples to cross over the Sea of Galilee to the other side and to wait on Him there. That night they never made it to the other side before needing the Lord's guidance. It has often been wondered as to why they had to go through this trial. Maybe some of them doubted and needed a taste of who Jesus really was. As they traveled, there came a great storm that rocked the boat. In the midst of this storm we can learn a few things about having faith even in hardships.

First, The Lord shows up when we least expect Him!

In the midst of this storm we see in verses 24 and 25 that the Lord shows up in the most unlikely of places. He was not expected to show up but He appears to them walking on the water. They saw the Lord and were afraid of what they saw. They did not have the faith to trust the Lord would save their lives that night.

Christian, please understand that God knows your trials and tribulations, He is near and He will show up when you least expect it. He did that night, and the outcome was that of peace in the midst of a storm.

Second, Do not take your eyes off of the Lord!

In the middle of the storm Peter gets a grand idea of following the Lord out into the water. Some say that Peter was just trying to show off his faith. He showed it for sure when he started to sink. No matter what people might think about Peter, we can say that he had more faith than those still sitting in the boat.

Peter was doing great during this test of his faith until one thing happened. Verse 30 "But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink," When he took his eyes off of the Lord he began to sink into the trial.

We must remember to keep our eyes on the Lord. I have seen too many Christians walk away from church, from serving the Lord, from walking with God just because during a storm in life they took their eyes off of the Lord. Keep your eyes focused on God, keep reading the Bible, and memorizing it. No matter how strong the winds of this trial may be, keep your eyes on the Lord and know that "ALL THINGS" will work for good.

Though Peter began to sink he cried out to the Lord to save him in the storm. The Bible states "And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him" Do you know to trust the Lord in all things? If we learn to keep our eyes on God in the midst of the storms of life we can keep from sinking in our trials.

Pray: Lord help me to KNOW that you work in ALL THINGS, and help me learn to trust you to overcome my trials by faith.