Jesus is a must because he gives hope in exchange for despair

Crises are an inevitable result of a fallen world. Adam sinned, fell from his position of rulership and the earth and all his descendants thereafter became cursed. Sin resulted in Satan releasing all types of atrocities in this world.

In this world, we will have trouble but as people in a covenant relationship, God is on our side. All we have to do is to lean on Him. God can use a crisis for good in our lives.

Crises show us what is in our hearts. When trouble comes to your door, where do your loyalties lie? Do you seek first the Kingdom of God or do you seek your own comfort first?

Crises also show us our areas of weakness and cause us to depend on God more. When everything is going well, we often don’t depend on God. We think we are in control, so we ignore God and don’t pray as often. The Psalmist said “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.” Psalm 119:65-66 (NIV).

Crises teach us how to lean on our never-failing Father. When we are in despair, God says “Come closer, I am here for you”. We experience what He can do when there are no other options on the table. He will draw us closer and deliver us if we trust Him. We are sometimes most prone to allowing God to do mighty things in our lives when our back is against the wall. IF we allow Him, HE will use the crisis we are in to show us His power, presence and ability to turn our situations around.

Sometimes, the purpose of trials and crisis in our lives is to get us to cry out to God and then see Him come to our rescue. When this happens, we get to experience His power and His purposes at a higher level than ever before. We come to know God in ways we could never have known Him when life was comfortable.

EXPANDING KINGDOM

Many of the parables about the Kingdom of God demonstrate an expanding Kingdom, and this happens a lot in times of crisis. For example, Matthew 13:31 “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed …”. A mustard seed is a very small seed, but the tree is a very big tree. The symbolism is that the Kingdom of God starts small but grows to be a large influential kingdom. We have to see crises as opportunities designed for us to influence others for the Kingdom of God and to tell them the good news of salvation.

One of the things that is going to be very critical in our influence is how we ourselves respond to crisis. We are people of covenant. We have hope. God is with us even in death and we need to display that. As Christians, we need to grow in our faith and represent the Kingdom of God well.

If you’re going through a crisis in your life, this may be the nudge you need to turn and seek the Lord. Jesus offers hope for despair. God delivered the children of Israel from their enemies who enslaved them in Egypt. Do you need to be delivered? God took them through the desert and to the Promised Land. Are you in a desert and need the hope of a Promised Land? Today is the day of salvation. To get through these difficult times, Jesus Is A Must.