Call on Him in Trouble - Christian Motivation

Our life will not always be a bed of roses for all of us, because we need resistance. We need challenges. We need opposition to push us so that we can break through the shell of being comfortable. The Bible is filled with men and women of God who went through trials, trials that produced giant prayers, trials that produced passionate prayers, burning prayers to the Lord. When Hezekiah became deathly ill and the prophet Isaiah came to him with a message from God that he would die. The Bible says in 2 Kings chapter 20 verse 2 and 3, then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Can you begin to imagine the passion behind that prayer? Imagine being in the room and listening to Hannah praying desperately for her son. Imagine being in the vicinity when Blind Barna Meyes was shouting, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. All of these are examples of hard, tough and challenging situations. But equally, they are all occasions that produce passionate prayers to the Lord. Never be too quick to fall and be discouraged when you're faced with adversity. It could very well be the thing needed to light a fire in your faith. Adversity and pain is a catalyst for some of us. It moves us from being lukewarm to praying with ferocity. And for your prayer to be effective, it needs passionate faith behind it. Have you ever noticed how the fire and intensity you pray with when everything is good and comfortable in your life? It's very different to how you pray when you are in a testing season. At times, we need to have the presence of mind to realize that the Lord allows certain things to happen to us. He allows certain events to take place, all so that we can tap into the next level of prayer, our next level of faith. So what you're going through may not be designed to destroy you, but instead to build you. What you're going through isn't intended to ruin you, but instead it's all to strengthen you. Now, there may be someone who has gotten to the point where you are so low that you think God has forgotten you. There may be someone who finds themselves today at a point of uncertainty. You don't know whether to turn left or right. You don't know whether to cry or smile. And regarding whatever it is that's making you feel this way, if it's sin, if it's addiction, if it's your marriage, or if it's the fact that you can't seem to find someone to marry, if it's your job or financial situation, I want to encourage you to pray about it. Pray about it before you give up. Pray about it before you look anywhere else. Pray about it before you look to anyone else. And the reason I'm telling you to pray about it is because too often, when we find ourselves in these certain positions, we either drift away and get lost in the sea of our problems, or we start paddling trying to find a way out of our problems. We start trying to use our own strength to get out of the messes we're in. We do our best to use our resources and know how, just to try to save ourselves. But I would like to encourage you to pray about it. Call on the name that is above every other name, the name of Jesus. Pray about it and call on the lion of the tribe of Judah. When I read Jeremiah 33 verse 3, which says, Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. When I read that scripture, I hear the word of God telling me to pray about it. Whatever situation you face today, whatever circumstances or situation, God wants you to call on him. Psalms 50 verse 15 says, Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you and you will honor me. That means pray about it. You'll let your hope be found in God. He says, Trust me in your times of trouble and I will rescue you. He says, Abide in me and I will restore you. He says, Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Why does God test us? During my time as a young believer, I really struggled with understanding this. I thought, Why would God intentionally put me through something? Why would he choose to put me through a painful test? And the thing is, I would be uneasy when I would come across a scripture such as 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 12 and 13. You see, they say, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Now, I want you to understand exactly what this verse is telling us. The Bible is telling us not to be surprised, not to be shocked when trouble comes our way. Trouble is not a strange or unusual event. And where it says, Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you. Do you hear that? When? When it comes to test you. So this is a guaranteed ordeal. Therefore warned that there will be a fiery trial that will come upon us sooner or later. And this trial, it comes to test the strength of our faith. It comes to test the quality of our faith. So dear friends, if you find yourself in the middle of a fiery trial, don't be disheartened and don't be distraught. This is just a test. God is working something for your good. He is working to strengthen and better your character. He's working to sharpen your prayer life. You see, God is putting you through this fiery test, all so that he can burn away all of the impurities within you. Now 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 13 says, But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.