When Lifes a mess

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have you ever felt like your life is just a mess?

I remember one time in my life everything just went wrong

I wrecked my car

I lost my apartment

I lost my job

I had to move to AZ

my band broke up

I had no friends where I moved

When things like this happen we often ask God WHY? and even some days we get mad and lost and even hopeless,

People even say things to us in those moments like

Things will get better

And we think, “Will they?”

just smile and have a positive mindset

and we think, I’ll slap you with my mindset

People mean well in these moments but when your life seems to be falling apart, words like these and others just seem to make many feel more hopeless.

OK, How many in here have heard or used this verse for when things are not going well

Romans 8:28 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Does this verse mean that we will have a perfect Life?

No Not at all

Sometimes the hard times brings the best results

Lets just set the standard of what would be the best

Psalm 84:10 NIV

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

The best thing for us is to be near to God, and serving Him

but we do go through hard times and they stink, but we need first identify our hard time

Sometimes

Sometimes Our Hard Times is Due To Decisions We Made

Galatians 6:7–8 NIV

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

When we live in the flesh, we will reap the flesh and hard times

See When you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit comes into our life and helps us live the way God

He Convicts us in our actions, He guides us

God has given us His Word that allows us to see His Will for our lives and shows us what sin is and how to live our lives

To be blunt, sometimes you are going through a hard time because you chose to listen to your flesh instead of the Word of God.

Proverbs 1:29–31 NIV

since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.

Sometimes we create our own hard times, and then blame God for it.

Sometimes it is for us to listen to God and follow Him

The story of my hard times came as a result of me not following God’s plan.

In prayer He told me to go to AZ for missions, and I said yes

Then I got back to LA and wrapped up in my own life again and kept not doing the trip so God had to strip away everything that was helping me stay in LA.

God wanted me to go there so that I could live a life that He had set apart for me, so that I could live in the calling that He placed on my life.

To say no to God for us to follow Him will only lead us away from Him.

Sometimes its the world

Matthew 5:10–12 NIV

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

John 15:18–20 NIV

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.

Before we get to far into this

There is such thing as persecution, and self made persecution

What is the difference

Self made is when people go out into the world and attack people based on the Bible, Not share the Gospel, but attack

Let me give an example

You go to a person that is living in sin and say, “You are going to Hell and you are so trouble and evil, and you smell funny and you like the Football team the Pats. so you are going to Hell

And that person tells you to shut up and calls you names

Well that is self made persecution and not the persecution that the Bible talks about

When you are coming to church and attacked because of Christ, because of your faith, that is persecution.

But what do we do when we are in the hard times

Let’s look at a few different examples of people in the Bible

Realizing God is With Us

Psalm 23:4 NIV

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

David is acknowledging that God is with him, even in the darkest times, and because God is with Him he does not have to fear .

Worship God

Job 1:20–21 NIV

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

First PLEASE DON’T GET NAKED during worship

But in the midst of Jobs despair he worshipped God

I have found when I am doing my worst, by just letting go and fully worshipping God, things might not change, Like Job just lost his sons and daughters, him worshipping did not bring them back, but when we worship God in the midst of our hardships it changes our heart.

It gives us peace and allows us seek him, it is because of God that we are able to have peace, the peace that only He can give, and through Jesus the Hope of a future with Him.

Understanding That We Cannot Do It On Our Own.

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 NIV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

When I went black Friday shopping in LA once which is a mad house me and my friends were in line and a giant pro bodybuilder was right behind us story

it is ok to be weak, it is ok to be going through hard times, but when we try to do things on our own, WE WILL FAIL. Lean on God, He is the source of our strength. We be boasting that God has worked in our lives and that He brings us through these times.