Monday, May 16, 2016

For the Busy and Burdened Life

Lately life has been very busy.

Too busy to care about too much except what is going on in the right here and right now.

Too busy to only feel tiredness and weakness.

Too busy, sadly, to sometimes go the extra mile for the ones I love.

Too busy and feeling guilty and burdened.

My love ones are depending on me but feeling like I am getting very little back in return.

BUT...


I serve a very faithful God with unbending promises who cries out to me,

"Kristina, you are not alone. You have me. You have my word. Seek it with all your heart. Quit trying to do it on your own. Seek Me!"  

My faithful God then sends me this scripture of hope to rest in that I want to share with you.
 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17,3:3,5
13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work...
  But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.
Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.
 
 
 
How can you and I find hope in these verses?
 
1) We have been chosen from the beginning for salvation, sanctification by the Spirit, and to have a belief in the truth.
We are God's own since the beginning of time. We were thought about before anyone was created on this earth. That makes us special and one of a kind.
Besides salvation, we are also set apart to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit that was given to us. God just does save us and let us go on in our own strength. He is molding us into His image through life circumstances and relationships. He is patiently making us like Him. It happens in His timing and in His way for His purpose, to be glorified.
How does that all happen? Through knowing His truth. His truth is what our salvation is based off of and allows us to be sanctified.
 
 
2) Because we are chosen, sanctified, and taught God's truth, we need to stand fast and hold onto the traditions and beliefs that we were taught.
God's word isn't just there for us to read and go on with life. It is there to change us. It is there to help us to press on during the hard and good times. God's word is there to hold onto and to hold us up. Instead of trying to do things in your own strength, go to His word. If nothing comes to mind, just pray because God will help you remember what you have learned. I have seen people dying of cancer or who has a struggling marriage and how they held onto God's word to help them through.
 
 
3) Through God's love and grace, He gives us everlasting consolation and good hope.
God's love and grace is resourceful. Consolation or the act of consoling means to comfort. These gifts of God gives us a comfort to our hearts or our whole being that will never go away, that lasts forever and ever. When we trust in that, it gives us hope to be able to do anything through Him. No matter what our circumstances look like, good or bad, burdening or freeing, God gives us what we need. His love and grace is that powerful.
 
 
4) Our faithful God establishes and guards us from the evil one.
Satan does not have a chance! We are Chosen, Sanctified, Taught, and Loved by God. When God sent His Son to die for us, He conquered death, sin, and anything that has to do with Satan and he knows it! It freaks him out! Our faithful God will strengthen us and protect us. This connects with verse 15 of chapter 2 when we have our traditions and God's word to help us stand fast. We have the capabilities to allow God to do all the fighting for us and He does. Instead of trying to do things in our own strength, we need to let go and allow our faithful God fight.
 
 
5) In conclusion, lets allow God to direct our hearts to His love and Christ's example of patience.
My Nelson NKJV Study Bible study notes on the bottom of verse 5 of chapter 3 states it better than  I can,
"With the prayer may 'the Lord direct your hearts', Paul was indicating that the heart, the seat of a person's will, is the place where spiritual renewal begins. There God plants His love and patience, traits that will produce a harvest of good works. Paul uses the word direct to indicate that God will clear the away the obstacles that may stand in the way of their progress toward love and patience. Paul prays that the Thessalonians, when faced with persecution, will be able to show the same type of patience Jesus expressed when people rejected Him."(1)
 
No matter how busy and burdened I feel, God is there for me. He will hold onto me as He sanctifies and molds me during this time because I am His. He will establish me and protect me from the evil one. All the meanwhile I need to let go and allow Him to direct my heart towards His love, which will strengthen me to be able to think beyond what's going on now and love my love ones who need me so much.
 
linking up with Jennifer #tellhisstory and Holley coffee for your soul
 
(1) Nelson's NKJV Study Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997

10 comments :

  1. What a powerful, edifying, encouraging post, Kristina! Bless your dear heart, I am sorry life is so busy and hard right now. Surely Jesus understands, and as I thought of your situation, I couldn't help hearing His sweet voice telling His disciples to come aside and rest a while. He loves you so much, and sometimes, He gently calls us aside from the busyness of life to sit at His feet for a while. I am so thankful you know Him as your refuge and strength. Sending you much love, sweet friend, and thank you for your precious, dear comments and comfort left at my blog.

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    1. Thank you so much! I am glad you stopped by and to say hi. I just know He is working in our situation. it is just temporary but bringing so much change but He is still in control. Hope you are well

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  2. I love how the Lord gave you so many gifts from these few verses, and that you passed them along to us. It goes to prove what you say: "No matter how busy and burdened I feel, God is there for me." Amen.

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    1. Amen! I am so glad that He works that way. Otherwise I would go crazy! lol Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. I know how it is to be so busy that it's hard to see beyond the moment, Kristina. Thanks for pointing me back to the Word for the encouragement my soul needs at just the right time!

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    1. So glad you stopped by! Yeah it is hard sometimes looking pass our circumstances and putting God second but I am learning and hope the same for others that God's word is the first place we go. Sending a little prayer up for you

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  4. This is beautiful, and much needed too! Life's a little messy sometimes but good thing we have a God who cares and who's always there.

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    1. Thank you for stopping by! I am so thankful how God can use one piece for different people for different reasons. His word is kinda cool like that. Lifting up a prayer for you

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  5. Wonderful reminder of God's love and faithfulness to us. He will always be with us to guide, comfort, strengthen and give grace. Blessings to you! I'm your neighbor at #ThankfulThursday.

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  6. So encouraging! I love when God gives us those verses that speak directly into where we are at in that moment. Thanks for linking up with Thankful Thursday last week.

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