COUNT IT JOY

This morning I really needed words for my journey. 

 I needed encouraging words. You see I have been under constant attack for months. And I know why. It’s because God is prospering my ministry, A Voice for the Persecuted. I help Muslims who have converted to Christianity and are under the threat of death. Because of that Satan wages war against me, my family, my finances, and on and on. This morning was really no different than a hundred other mornings. But this morning I was tired. A lot is going on in my life, my mother just suffered a massive stroke, my father is in heart failure, we’ve had no income since last November. A glitch on Amazon that stopped my book promotion from beginning today sent me in a downward spiral. And for just a moment I forgot something . . . 

I’ll start with when I learned of today’s problem. It was 4am. I got up to see if my novel The Winds of Sonoma was free on Kindle for the book giveaway promotion I have worked on for weeks. Blogs were set up, articles written, over 40 people involved in different aspects of the promotion. But the book wasn’t showing free! For whatever reason the promotion program had not initiated. After working with Amazon it was fixed, but to start tomorrow. I had to contact everyone involved with the change and they had to change all their pieces of the promotion. When I finally had all that done I took my hands off the key board, closed my eyes and asked God why. Why do You allow me to be attacked? Always in areas I have no control over. (As if we have control over anything!) Then, literally, as I opened my eyes, He answered.

Because I was in front of the computer screen, I saw the Oswald Chambers widget right on my own website. I’d been on the site trying to solve the problem. The title for Oswald’s devotion today was: The Habit of Rising to the Occasion. I clicked on it. And read:

God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life to see if you can jump over them properly—”By my God I can leap over a wall” (Psalm 18:29). God will never shield you from the requirements of being His son or daughter. First Peter 4:12  says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you . . . .” Rise to the occasion—do what the trial demands of you. It does not matter how much it hurts as long as it gives God the opportunity to manifest the life of Jesus in your body.

You can imagine how my eyes widened as I read. How is it that when the topics for My Utmost for His Highest were chosen that that is the one for this day in my life? Look at that first sentence. It doesn’t just kind of fit the question I asked of God just moments before. It is a direct, specific answer that couldn’t have been better worded if God and I were having a conversation in my office . . .

That brings me back to what I mentioned in that first paragraph. Reading that Oswald Chamber post made me realize that for a moment I had forgotten something. God is in control of my life. I gave it to Him. We were having a conversation in my office. And as I reread those words of wisdom, I couldn’t help but think of how God knew about this morning before the foundations of the earth were laid. He is in control of everything and everything from God is good. I didn’t say everything that’s good comes from God. That is a very different statement. EVERYTHING from God is good. Even glitches and delays in book promotions. They are good because of all the things the verses noted above say. God is the master designer. With Him I can leap over every wall. I can rise to the occasion. And I can praise Him for the trials because they give Him opportunity to manifest the life of Jesus in my body. The words of James come to now. “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” Yes, I can do that today. Today I have the joy of the Lord.