The Discipline of Difficulty

Welcome to the Internet sarcastic term for Thursday, September 16 and often sends his followers along ways that sometimes seem very dark and stormy, but through the discipline of difficulty. He wants us to set sail toward spiritual growth and maturity. Listen closely to some more help to holiness, not about what you difficulty may be this morning and it may take on one of many best.

It may be sickness in your life. It may be some financial setback. It may be a problem in your home may be a problem in your business. It may be some up of frustration about your future, your vocation or it may be that you feel like your back is to the wall. You're being beaten down. But, you don't know which way to turn. You don't understand what's happening and you complaining and moaning and groaning and you see our first responses we want to blame somebody roll about difficult you think were just about when things don't go right with you. Is it not your first response to look around to see who ought who is to blame for what's happening in our life when it may not be anything out there. The problem may be within you see the difficulty that comes from God, from Satan or from cell if it is from God. It is the deep on us. Discipline and to denote in some point of weakness that needs to be worked on sober we should not be a difficulty as always from Satan what have I done wrong. You see so often, the believers first responses mom out one of the world have I done wrong, it may be that you've done nothing wrong. It may be that God is zeroing in on a particular area of your life you so what is he just tell me I'll tell you why does just tell you. He's been trying to tell you you haven't listened. So you see what he says check you don't listen to that, he says I want you to check that out and you still listen and he says you need to listen to me you don't listen that he says you need to listen to me and then when you don't listen fond of what happens. He pulls the rug you fall flat on your face and then what happens when you fall flat on your face.

The first leaders turn over and when you turn of you looking straight up and that's exactly what he wants to do. He wants to bend and particularly get that he wants to bend and leave and lift our chin.

He's trying to get our attention so that most of our difficulty is the result of the deafness of our ears if we just listen to him. He could just whisper most of the time, but usually he has to pull the rock to get our attention because he keeps saying goes that area of your life needs to be checked out. That area of your life needs to be built up.

We just pay them no mind go our way. The second thing I want to note here is the refining process of difficult. The refining process of difficult. That is, God has something very different in mine and that definite thing he has in mind to be wrapped up in one word, that is, he is in the process of refining us now most of us would rather just go ahead and be saved by grace and love and mercy and go ahead and just tag along in life with with the roughshod minutes of life and say, well, after all, you know, and you can't be perfect. I know I'm going to have a my name is written in the book so I know I'm not going to be perfect and just hang loose.

The only problem that is there's nothing in the Bible about believers hanging loose. The Scripture says we are in the process of being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. That is, he wants to make others like him to make others like him. He must perform surgery in our life to execute the attitude of holiness and righteousness in our life.

Most people have never heard a single sermon on the holiness. I don't mean the holiness of God arming the holiness of the individual and if you notice in the first Peter chapter 1, for example, he reminds us here, he says. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves after the former lost what he says behold in verse 15, in all manner of conversation because as it is written, be holy from whole that one of the helps to holiness is difficult and you see what difficulty does is to refine us and the refining process is a smoothing, cutting, pruning, sculpturing process, you see, to refine something.

These you just eventually eliminate all the rough parts and all the rough edges that crop up. So let's look for just a moment at God's refining process in our life.

Looking up Malachi chapter 3 for just a moment I want you notice a couple of things that that he says here because Malachi 3 verse two says, but who may about the day of his coming and who shall stand when here. For he is like a refiner's fire and like colors so now you know what he's saying. He's saying that he's going to do something in our life that would be comparable to a refiner's fire now when you put far to metal you refine it when you put it to go. What happens all of the tarnishing all of the impurities rise to the surface and the taken officer far redefines so cleanses and what he's saying he was in the third chapter of Malachi that God often times acts like a refiner's fire and follow so, which is an indication that he's going to do something in our life that it first.

Probably will not be acceptable and surely will not be very, very, invite now.

He says the refining process to watch this and in Hebrews chapter 12 and also in second grade number one.

What is this refining process. First of all, the refining process is number one to expose the area that needs building up and strengthening.

So what is he do he puts his finger on our sin. He puts his finger on our weakness.

So first of all, he exposes the area that needs to be dealt with. Secondly, having expose that he enlightens us helping us to see what he wants to do in our life it will just write that out now. Back in the second Corinthians chapter 12. You remember that Paul had a tremendous spiritual experience and as a result of that God sent him the Scripture says, through Satan all thorn that buffeted him and what happened to them. Was this. As a result of his praying and asking God to remove this and God did not remove it. He discovered something he discovered that the grace of God was sufficient that God would be sufficient for him in time of difficulty so that the refining process for Paul that he became enlightened as to the graciousness the mercy the kindness and the goodness of God and difficult to listen most of the great things you and I need to learn about God. We never learn apart from difficult so the refinement is in the process of exposing our sin and our weakness is secondly enlightening us as to how God deals in time of difficulty. The third thing is to empty us. That is the refining process is to expose our sin, to enlighten us as to the way God works and then to empty us of that thing of that attitude that would hinder our spiritual walk. Now when you say into you say what you mean all that well in the 12th chapter of correctives numbers nine. He said my grace is sufficient for the for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches, in necessities and persecutions and distresses, for Christ's sake that when I'm weak, then am I strong now what is he saying what God does in our life in the refining process is to cut out the sand off to prune out of our lives.

Those things that are hindering us in our walk of holiness, righteousness, obedience and faith because you see you cannot have a holy walk and unbelief.

At the same time, neither can you have a fateful wall and on the holy walk at the same time, faith and obedience are traveling companions faith and obedience of the heart of holiness. Therefore, he must continuously be in the process of emptying us of attitudes emptying us of actions that hinder our holy walk in the fourth thing he wants to do is to enlarger. That is, he enlarges our vision of God's purpose for allowing easy once God begins the day with a particular area of your life. What happened suddenly your attention becomes focused on the given area, then what does he do, he begins to enlarge your understanding and your thinking about what's happening in your life, you begin to see that God could use you in that particular area. So he enlarges your whole attitude about himself, how he operates about yourself. What he's operating on in your life and his process of doing so. Then the fifth thing when he begins to refine you the refining process. Likewise is a process of enriching up was some time with the difficulty comes you say Lord, what are you doing to me. Listen. He's not just doing something to you. He's doing something for you. There is no way for God to work in your life without enriching you. That is, he deepens you he gives you understanding. He establishes you in your faith, your confidence, he's enriching your life all the time so that as we are pushing back from difficult it and asking God to hold only way just a moment and give us a little time he's in the process of enriching every area of our life, then the six thing as he sends difficulty. What is he doing but equipping us for what equipping us for service to give ourselves to other people. Listen, the most compassionate, loving, helpful people I know are people who walk in the deepest darkest valleys of difficult man.

They know how it feels. They know what it means to her. They know what it means to have a broken heart. They know what it means to be driven to the wall. They know what it means to have the rug pulled out from under.

They know what it means to have the bottom dropped out they know what it means to be covered in the clouds of darkness. They know what it means to walk in a fog. They know exactly what it means, therefore they can empathize with you. They can feel what you feel that when you go to the doctor you have something you want to sell well below prescription. You want somebody to feel what you feel when you unloading your heart to someone you want somebody say you know I understand what you mean. I've been there. You've been there. I've been there.

Then you understand what I meant. Did you know that's exactly why the Lord Jesus Christ God the father and the Holy Spirit in putting together this tremendous word of God. The one thing they could never have afforded to the left. That simple verse that says that the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted and tried in all points such as we that's why you can get on your knees and say Lord I know you understand Izzy you will not want to deal with someone who knows how we feel who's walk where we are walking and whose footprints we can follow through difficult and friends. You can walk through the darkest, deepest, most dangerous valley in life and if you get your eyes open you will find some say who's walk there before you have and you see difficulty and in its refining process is refining by equipping us to be available to be some body else's servant that help somebody who needs where we've been, what we've experienced and where we're going.

The last thing on what you notice in the refining process is. He says he refunds us in order to establish or in the Scriptures for all of these public in first Peter chapter 5 beautiful verse as he concludes this first epistle verse 10 and he's been talking about tribulations and trials and heartaches. It is says but the God of all grace, who have called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, this watch how beautiful this is. He says now that you suffered a while, make you perfect, that is, grow you up establish you room to down strengthen you expand your energies and settle you. I mean, he says, difficulty, trial heartaches, something what they do. They mature. You they settle you. They strengthen you, they establish you, so that the believer avoids difficult it is a boarding strength settlement establishment maturity. You don't want to run from cc the refining process is a burning process limits most of us are still like children, you fellows remind you about a 789-year-old boy how many of you, seven, eight, nine-year-old boys love to take a bath as well and thought you see dirty boys don't like so we didn't like so you see children. This is something good about being dirt is you know you kids go out late that used to go barefooted dirt between the toes and and that there were just subtle rollup on your feet in the your mama come and say what you can't go to bed like this will put some anime is nothing wrong there were differences that mom sees reality and a child just as if we're not careful, spiritually, will get just like children will have dirt all over us and Kate see it. He says God must put the soap to cleanse us he must put the fire to burn the dross and I watched as this, the believer who is walking in the spirit. But his continuous rate you see will walking and atmosphere and is anti-God antichrist will naturally going to keep picking up a little fragments of dirt here and the little unbelief here low frustration exactness so that what we need is a daily back and listen.

The best way to take a bath spiritually is to get on your knees and get the word and let him wash it out if you don't let him wash it out to the word and wash it out through prayer.

He's going to wash you out through fire you tell me what you did you read ahead. Had you rather bend your knee and open your heart in prayer and in the word of God. Just little so, or do you want him to send some difficulty to burn the dross out and I watched this.

It is in our daily devotion that we are cleansed of the confession of our sin and is he says the continuous flowing of the blood of Jesus Christ in our life but now if I allow something to remain on the surface.

After a while it gets beneath the skin. Before long, it's deep down within and then just a little so it won't take it off somebody's got to go on the inside and cut it out what God is saying to us is the refining process. The washing process, all to be a daily thing in our life. If it is daily it will not be of the intensity of pain and suffering that oftentimes it must be because we will not allow God to take it off day by day and a lot of we Christians who want to know why the spirit of God is not empower them to do anything I'll tell you why they been running like they were in a race in the opposite direction trying to escape difficult if you want the power of God in you, brother. You got to be willing for God to soak you down and refine you and create holiness within your life… I do not mean by creating holiness that he makes me better apart from himself. No, I mean the Jesus Christ is all of my holiness to watch this carefully, you misunderstand me is not that I'm getting holier and holier and holier out total holiness is in the presence of Jesus Christ within us I mean by all of what I've said and I leave the lastly you not miss. As I allow him to refund me, Jesus Christ, who is my holiness is available to express more of his holiness in me and through me so that for all outward circumstances and purposes, it is the holiness of God expressed through us and I don't know what your greatest spiritual desires, but you cannot have a higher spiritual desire in your life, then to be holy before God. Holiness and peacefulness are traveling companions holiness and obedience are the same and you see he says the refining process is simpler that I want to study this morning. God knows that struggle is essential to growth do not run from it, accepted, rejoice in it, and thank God that he sees within you the potential of the St. who can soar of the heavenly father, we thank you for loving us.

Forgive us for running. Thank you for refining us pruning us sculpturing us teachers had to accept the rejoicing because we do want to soar. We don't want to sit all of our life we want to soar, and I pray the spirit of God this morning has spoken all of our hearts. Whatever you need to print out.

We want to thank you for that. I pray for somebody who's not a Christian that you speak to that heart and give them the wisdom to make a decision I was trusting you and as we wait from somebody there to give their heart to Christ, and some to go home and consider very seriously what they have been attempting to sit while you have been trying to prepare them to soar, but we ask it in Christ's name for his same. Thank you for listening to the discipline of difficulty. You like to know more about child family for intense ministries, intense tantalizing is typecast in the presentation of intense ministries Atlanta, Georgia