Rejoice!

I'm in Church and Pastor Philip says - 'We rejoice because we know that whatever we are going through (as Christians) God will turn it out for good'. I receive that word as Rhema.

God can make us come out alright no matter what is going on in our lives. He can handle it. He can make them (the problems) crawl. And He can let them become whatever He wants them to become.

This would be consistent with the word that was laid in my heart during the service about things not being about our sins but of how much of God, His Word, His Spirit we have in our lives. Again, the picture would come to my mind of a transcending, an elevation that is a direct consequence of having more Word, more Holy Spirit, more of the God kind of life (which is still only possible by having more of God, more of His Word). In fact, this has been a recurrent theme imprinted on my mind all week.

The picture would always be of a body floating not as a direct consequence of the absence of sin but as a result of having more of God, more God. Sin is neutralized, impotent, made of non-effect by God. Sin cannot operate.

Pastor Bukola would say referring to scripture, 'As many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God'. Romans 8:14. It is impossible to make any progress without the Spirit of God!

I had to meditate, assimilate and regurgitate, chew and re-chew the word Pastor Philip spoke when he said God will turn out anything going on in our lives- debts, pain and so on- out for good. 'We rejoice because we know that whatever we are going through as Christians God will turn it out for good'. (This is confirmed in Romans 8:28.) I realised that even sin in the life of a believer will be overcome if only we just believe and rejoice in the Lord that turns all things out for good. Even that sin would be mocked, removed become a thing of history and overcome with and in God. I had gained power over sin. 

I came to understand that we were not rejoicing just because it was good and forgetting God when things went bad. Rejoicing is not about a manifest presence of things as we want them to be but a declaration of God and His goodness in ALL our situations – NO MATTER WHAT. Not because things were necessarily alright at the time but because one accepts the truth that as a son of God EVERYTHING works out for your good NO MATTER WHAT. Romans 8:28. 

If you will pardon my Grammer - God does not just CAN- but God DOES make EVERYTHING work out for good. It might rarely, if ever be how we expect it to be or want things to be but if we truly have the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2:16) we will be thankful to God for exactly how everything turns out to be because we see God's Hand in everything, in every minute detail. It is this belief that many Christians fail to hold on to.

Then I get the word before I alight from my car when I get home. ''A Christian is one who remains a Christian even in the furnace''. You don’t just call on God, believe in Him, believe Him and sing 'You are Good' only when it gets rosy. We call on God even when we are down and seemingly out because we know that He does not change. Not because we are down, not because we are sad, not because we think we are out does God change - never. God remains good (Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19), His plans for us remain good (Jeremiah 29:11) and He continues to bring good out of EVERY situation (Romans 8:28, Ephesians 2:10). He remains The Same - and that is what we hold on to.  Brethren, it does not get better than that!