The Purpose to the Punches

·         Ever feel like you are a punching bag in life? There is a purpose to those punches. It is called growing pains. I know it hurts and you are tired but you are growing stronger every day with every trial. He is taking you to a higher place, a place only He can take you to but there are a few things you have to go through to get there. Trust Him, lean on Him, and let Him be your God. It will be so worth it!

·         Easier said than done at times... those punches hurt! Don’t they? Sometimes it is difficult to get over hurts in our lives. The enemy doesn’t just use strangers to punch you, he will use your friends, your family, the people you go to church with... he will use whatever he can to distract you.  

·         He is trying to: distract you, trying to make you focus on the punch, and the pain.  He hopes to discourage you, to frustrate you, to tear down unity, to make you build up walls of unforgiveness and or resentment, to rob you of your joy, to make you stumble in your walk with God.

·         He knows everyone of us has been called and chosen for a purpose to glorify God. We are appointed and anointed to do so. Just like Jonah... he was appointed and anointed to go to Nineveh. But he didn’t want to. Right? God ever ask you to go to or through something you don’t want to?

·         And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. THEN Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly" Jonah 1:17-2:1 KJV

KEY WORD THEN! He was in a stinky, dark, scary place. His trial swallowed him whole AND THEN after being consumed and in it 3 days that is when he cried out to Jesus! Don't wait for your trial to consume you! trial to consume you before you cry out to Jesus! He is waiting! Go ahead!

·         Ever wonder why Jonah waited 3 days BEFORE he prayed?

·         So many times we run from what God wants us to do, we don’t want to submit to God

·         Sometimes we think we can handle our problems on our own and don’t even talk to God about them, or we do talk to Him about our problem but instead of laying them at His feet trusting Him to take care of it/us ... we pick them back up again not trusting Him to handle it.

·         Sometimes people just don’t pray, they try to live off Sunday and Wednesday’s blessings but actually don’t have a prayer life UNTIL they are so consumed by a trial that they finally cry out to Jesus. They try to live off yesterday’s manna instead of collecting new every day. Manna was God’s daily provision for bread for the Israelites, the Bible is our daily provision. It had to be consumed the day it fell from the sky or it made you sick, you had to go get fresh everyday to survive. Same goes with spending time with our God, you need to spend time with Him or you die spiritually.

I want to remind you, we all go through trials and get “punched”.  It isn’t just you! And just because I am your pastor’s wife doesn’t leave me immune.... sometimes I think the ministry has bigger targets on our foreheads! If he can discourage the leaders of the church then he can discourage the church.

He is calling us to a higher place, out of the belly of the fish, and onto a path covered with praises!