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CASTLE
OF BOOM
James 1:4-6(KJV)
"My brethren, count it all
joy when ye fall into divers temptations;"
"Knowing this, that
the trying of your faith worketh patience."
"But let patience
have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and
entire, wanting nothing."
Romans 8:28(KJV)
"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."
In the journey of destiny, there
are
'places' on the road which are crucial to one's fulfillment.
Each of these 'places' is allowed by God as part of one's pilgrimage!
This 'place' is called a trial.
A trial is a trying of one's faith in God.
It is not a trying of one's natural strengths and weaknesses.
A trial is not meant to weaken and destroy one's faith, but to strengthen and perfect it.
One's faith is expressed by one's devotion to God as one's first
love(Gal.5:6).
Trials come to different people in different ways at different times.
A trial is likened to 'a castle' allowed by God to be built at some
point on the road to fulfilling one's destiny.
A trial can be called 'a castle of boom' or 'a castle of doom', depending on one's attitude towards it.
With a negative attitude, one will view a
trial as a 'place' to be avoided and if not avoided,
one will get imprisoned in 'the dungeon' of the
castle!
But with a positive attitude, one will see
it as a 'place' that one will get through so as to make progress in
life!
Yet it is important that this positive attitude is based on the
word of God.
Firstly one needs to be one of 'the brethren'.
Who are 'the brethren'?
These are members of the family of God and pilgrims on the journey of
destiny.
To become a member of this distinguished family, one
should receive Jesus Christ the Son of God as one's personal Lord and
Saviour (John 1:12).
Upon this commitment to Christ, one becomes
a pilgrim on the journey of destiny as his disciple.
Secondly, one should
develop a positive
attitude towards trials.
This attitude is one of joy!
This joy is in the Lord (Philippians 4:4).
This joy is one's spiritual strength(Neh.8:10).
This strength is based on knowing God intimately and
experientially(Dan.11:32).
One should rejoice because one is not the only person going through a
trial:-
1 Cor.10:13(KJV)
"There hath no temptation
taken you but such as is common to man: but
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye
are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that
ye may be able to bear it."
One should also rejoice because no trial can
separate one from Christ's
love:-
Rom. 8:35(KJV)
"Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"
One should also rejoice because the Lord feels and
understands what one
is going through:-
Heb.4:15(KJV)
"For we have not an high
priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin."
One should also rejoice that the Lord is making
intercession for those
who come to God by him:-
Heb.7:25(KJV)
"Wherefore he is able also
to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."
One should also rejoice because God is with one
during one's trials:-
Matt.28:20(KJV)
"Teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
In God's presence,there is fullness of joy(Psalm
16:11).
One should also rejoice because of his deliverance:-
Psalm 34:19(KJV)
"Many are the afflictions
of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him
out of them all."
One should also rejoice because every trial
certainly has an end:-
Psalm 30:5(KJV)
"For his anger endureth
but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."
As a 'castle', every
trial has two doors.
The first door is the point of entry.
Many times one passes through this door suddenly without warning!
Within the 'castle', it seems to be so dark
and cold.
And the voice of the devil, one's enemy
mockingly lies to one that there is no way out!
It is when one listen to this voice of deceit that one gets 'grounded'
in 'the dungeon'!
But in the light of God's word and with the warmth of his indwelling
Spirit one realises that there is actually a second door!
This second door is the point of exit!
Thirdly, one should
submit oneself to God
who allowed the trial to come one's way; and
resist the devil who seeks to destroy one's faith in God during trials:-
James 4:7(KJV)
"Submit yourselves
therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee
from you."
Fourthly, one needs to be
a help and
challenge to others during their trials,
not an instrument of discouragement and accusation:-
Prov.17:17(KJV)
"A friend loveth at all
times, and a brother is born for adversity."
If one has fallen into 'the dungeon' due to fear, doubt, and
discouragement during any trial, there is
still help from the Lord today:-
Psalm 37:23-24(KJV)
"The steps of a good man
are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in
his way."
"Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down:
for the LORD
upholdeth him with his hand."
As 'a castle of boom', a trial is designed
by God to boost one's faith,and subsequently one's progress towards
fulfillment of one's destiny.
In this context, a 'boom' is a period of
growth in one's inner man.
Everyone who victoriously passes through a trial as 'a castle of boom'
is progressing as an overcomer in the steps of Christ our Lord on the
journey of destiny.
As an overcomer, one not only becomes more
Christ-like; one also becomes more of whom
one really is in God according to one's divine destiny.
James 1:12(KJV)
"Blessed is the man that
endure th temptation: for when he is tried, he
shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them
that love him."
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