Seeing All Things as Being From Him

A word of encouragement - By Arthur J Licursi        

                  

We may say we’ve received the Lord, but to what avail if we do not yet trust Him in all things? For the growing and seeking Christian, all the pressures of life, of all kinds (physical, situational, circumstantial, relational, financial) are sent, directed and willed by God Himself for us in love… because we have not yet come to trust our eternal foundational rock, as our all. We will only find and secure the benefit of Christ, personally, when we’ve gained a new habit of trust in Him in the midst of all kinds of life’s situations. We come to learn by constant repetition in facing the contrary situations and circumstances of life; we learn to transfer our attention, our believing, from believing the circumstances, which appear to be so real to us…to believe the real truth of our being in Him as our sufficiency. It is then that we are becoming fixed, centered, and grounded in the eternal well-being that is for us by His resurrection life within our spirit as our life.

 

It is in coming to that learned place of trust that we find the rest that God promises to all who trust Him, but which only some will find (Heb 4:6).

Hebrews 4:1 ... let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel (good news) preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. ^3aFor we who have believed (trusted in, cling to, and rely upon) enter that rest…

Hebrews 4:6 Seeing therefore it (rest) remaineth that some must enter therein, and they ( Israel ) to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

Hebrews 4:9-10 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works….

 

This does not mean that we do not take any medical or other help for whatever situation; we should take all within our reach because all is from Him (He is in all things saying either “yes this is for you.” or “No this is not for you.”). We have His witness within to guide us. In receiving help, despite any continuance of the problem and the sufferings or strains entailed, we still keep our attention turned to our eternal unity with Him – He alone is our source. He is our all, in body and mind, as we abide in Him, declaring the spoken word of faith that we are loved and blessed in Him, by and in all things, regardless of appearances.

 

I know no way to live in peace and rest other than by this kind of reliance in view of the eternal. I do not look to see how He may possibly manifest His handling of the situation, trying to figure it out myself. I simply go on believing and thanking Him, accepting my present state or condition (with whatever degree of medical or other alleviation) as being from Him for me. He will manifest the level of our deliverance from the difficulties whenever He wills. We know that He is working. Philip. 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.  We know these are all working for the good. Romans 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.

 

We have an example in our Apostle, Paul, by noting his way of living. (Paul said 1 Cor. 11:1Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.)  Paul, to the Ephesians, tells us them he was a prisoner of the Lord. Ephes. 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord… How could Paul call himself to be a prisoner of the Lord at that time? He was in Nero’s prison in Rome . Then, was he not a prisoner of Nero, that cruel Caesar? Yes, Paul was in Nero’s prison in Rome , but in Paul’s view of life, he saw all things as being from the hand of the Lord for Him. So, Paul saw Nero as “God’s Nero” being used in Paul’s life, for the good. He saw Nero as an instrument in God’s hands, for Paul. Paul had become fixed and grounded in his trust of the Lord, unto the uttermost. It was in Nero’s prison that Paul penned his last seven precious epistles to the Gentiles Ephesians, to whom Paul says of Christians, we are already “seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” far above every situation and circumstance of life. It was soon after that Paul was beheaded, and translated into the presence of the Lord. May this also be our view of life in the Lord, as we follow Paul.

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