So what….

God Gold of the Day

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:3-4, 7‬

So had an experience yesterday where these verses I had sent out came to play big time! I couldn’t get away from God’s promise of new life, and “now we live in great expectation.” For me to write about it on the God Gold and read it is one thing but truly believing it so it’s true in your life, that’s a whole other story. I don’t know if you do this but I can hype it up and talk about how much I believe all day long but when life hands you trials or tough circumstances, it’s easy to see if it’s all talk or actual belief. Heard this the other day that emphasized these truths even more, “usually a person acts and lives in what they most strongly believe.”

I had a job interview yesterday and if you’ve been to one before you know how nerve-racking they can be. I had been telling myself and others all day, I’m good, I got this, I’m not nervous at all. Then I get in the car to go to the actual interview and I’m not feeling as confident as I sounded. It was game-time and I didn’t want to show up. I had no reason to be but I was nervous, my hands were getting sweaty and I even had the thought, “I don’t need the money, maybe I can invent something or come up with a cool new idea.” Honestly I just wanted to go anywhere but the interview

Then it hit me like taking a Rocky Balboa left hook to the chin, I had some questions come up, “dude don’t you believe in this life with Christ, the great expectation of having the Son of God by your side, His freedom, His victory, the inheritance of eternal life.” Those questions hit me hard because I was once again acting and living out of what I had, what I felt, and it brought nothing but fear and defeat into my mind, heart and most of all my expectations. The most freeing feeling was sitting there realizing, whether I get this job or not it’s not going to mess up the most important part of my life which is my relationship with Christ. If I get it then He must want me there, if I don’t then He’s got somewhere else for me to go, either way I’m going to be fine because I’m with Him, in His will, and no matter what happens I’m a child of God. Seeing His will like that gave me supreme confidence to walk in there with that “so…” attitude. So what if I don’t get this job, the Lord has another plan. So what if I completely blow it, the Lord must be teaching me something. I don’t have all the qualifications, so what??

Those great expectations in Christ became reality for me in that moment, not because I did anything special, the truth was too real not to believe with all I had. Going back to that quote, if you believe that nothing can stop you or hurt you as a Child of God walking in God’s will, if you believe that Christ has set great expectations for you. You live and walk in your strongest beliefs. It’s not doing something, it’s believing what He’s already done. That moment was just a mini trial and tough situation compared to ones I’ve had before and the trials people go through all around me every day. It was a big learning moment about faith and Christ that I can take into any trial that comes my way and you can too!

The truth is we face these trials and tough situations every day in our lives but how do act and live faithfully through them? Usually when life starts hitting you from all directions the easy thing to do is believe the lies you tell yourself, “I can’t get past this, I’ll never be good enough.” Or believe what the world tells you, “he’ll always be that way, he’ll never do anything in his life.” That’s like if you walk onto a football field with low expectations, expecting to lose and not stand a chance, guess what!? You will lose and you won’t stand a chance. That’s the stinkin awesome thing about having a relationship with Jesus Christ! When your identity is in Him, the Son of God, your identity isn’t in the yours or the worlds low expectations. When trials come and you feel too weak or too scared to feel anything but defeated, remind yourself where your identity is! Remind yourself that it doesn’t matter what you got or how bad it looks because Christ has given you another way, a way of great expectations, victory!!

That’s where these second set of verses hit me because too often I believe all the lies and low expectations we set for ourselves. I wonder why I can’t just have more faith when the fire comes? I easily forget that my identity is in Christ and so what if the fire comes! With Christ I can take all the hits, handle anything that comes my way. It’s really just as simple as looking at these verses, the literal Word of God speaking to you, He tells us the truth about who we are in Christ. He tells us about the inheritance we have to look forward to, the power and strength that comes with faith. Even if you struggle to believe Him and these truths for you like I have. Yesterday, after always praying, talking to God asking for so many different things, seeing the pricelessness of faith and what belief in Christ, what He has done for us and who we are with Him in this new life. It’s so hard to believe and have faith after spending so many years of our lives being defeated and trapped in this mindset of our situation will never change. I know for me it’s because I only like to believe what I can see with my own two eyes. So yesterday I asked God for help in an area that I should of embraced with Him long ago, “God strengthen my belief, help me learn more about you and Who you are, help me seek you more and keep my identity in you as a constant reminder.”

I say all that because I struggle so much and even more in trials, I struggle to have faith. I struggle to see past my old life as a weak, defeated person and to truly believe the truth about my new life in Christ. All I want to do is live more to please God, to live better, to live with my eyes set on eternity. Understanding the simple fact that it’s not something I can DO, it’s something that’s been done, believe it. To live it and walk in these great expectations that Christ has given us, believe. Even when the trials come, believe. It sounds so hard to believe when all hell is breaking loose around you but Christ has given you another way, Christ will renew your hope, set your eyes on the eternity that can’t be taken away, He’ll show you the freedom that comes in believing and living in these great expectations as a victorious Child of God. You may be get spit on, “so what…..” You may lose everything you own, your job, “so what….” You may feel so scared and nervous, “so what…” You have Christ, you have eternity to look forward to, you have freedom to walk in His victory. Can’t nothing hurt you, can’t nothing beat you because you are a Child of God.

.