ALL GOOD THINGS

Posted on by michellethurman2344

Romans 8:28 And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Many use this verse to comfort themselves whenever something bad happens in their lives. They say things like: “Everything happens for a reason.” Or: “God has a reason for making this happen.” They just accept the bad as if God Himself was doing bad things to them. Some decide they don’t like God anymore because of the bad that has come into their lives. They blame God for everything: the tragedies, the destruction, the losses, the bad luck! Or they say, “God has a reason for bringing this into my life and I know it will be okay.” Even when it clearly isn’t okay, they shrug their shoulders and adopt a fatalistic attitude about everything as if they had no choice and no control over it.

That isn’t what this verse is saying. It doesn’t say that God caused bad things to happen in your life. It says that if you are ‘called’ according to His purpose He will turn things around for your good/benefit. He is at work on our behalf; but we must act in faith in standing firm on His promises. When we fatalistically accept everything that comes our way and just shrug our shoulders, we have become passive and inert; like a lump of clay drying out and becoming unmalleable. No where in the Word of God does it say we should become passive or complacent!

Indeed! Scripture tells us to be proactive in our faith. Jude 1:3 tells us to “earnestly contend for the faith”. This is a picture of actively practicing our faith, pushing forward with it, not standing still! We are told to ‘contend’, not to passively accept whatever comes our way. Ephesians 6:10-18 talks about putting on the ‘whole armor of God’ speaking to us of being warriors fighting the good fight. It’s a battle not against flesh and blood (people), but against the powers of darkness that come against us; against the situations and circumstances that try to pull us down, and, yes, sometimes it comes through people. They, however, are not the real enemy. The real enemy is the spirit behind their actions and behavior and that is who we are really fighting against.

We fight the good fight (II Tim. 4:7); praying without ceasing (5:17). We stand firm on the rock – Christ Jesus – which is the foundation our faith is built upon. And, when we stand firm in our faith and fight the good fight; then God is there to carry us through.

In this world bad things do happen to good people, because bad things are all around us. Storms, accidents, maliciousness, these things abound in the world and we are not immune to them because we are Christians. But we don’t have to let those things destroy us. II Corinthians 4:8-10 tells us that in spite of circumstances that come our way that are hard and brutal we do not have to be placid and accept them as if we have no choice or defense against them; nor should we think they are from God. Instead, we need to recognize that we are not crushed, not in despair, not destroyed. That’s not to say that it isn’t difficult to go through bad times and hard circumstances; just ask those who are being martyred. Life is sometimes hard, but we can know that God is with us and that He will take those things and turn them around for our good. He doesn’t make them happen, but He does…when we stand firm in faith and declare His promises for our life…turn those things around and make them into something good.

We don’t always see how a thing is good, especially as it is happening or even after; but we can often look back and see how He brought us through. We are not babies who need constant care and attention. We have our part to do in everything in our lives. Prayer, standing firm in our faith and our convictions, not backing down when adversity comes our way, remembering His word and His promises. We fight the good fight. We speak to the powers of darkness and command them to be gone. We do not hide from the truth, nor let others tell us what we should believe about God, His Word, or His promises. We actively oppose evil and declare the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is our mission in this life. We reach out to those in need and to those who try to hurt us. We remember that not only does God love us, but He loves our enemies too. John 3:16, He loves the world and we are His voice, His ambassadors to the world and we can’t fulfill that work if we are complacent and passive in the face of the life we live.

I have faced many storms in my life, gone through some very hard times; but I have never lost my faith in God. I always knew He would bring me through and I always knew that as I grew spiritually I would become strong and be able to not only stand in hard times, but I would be able to push back and take my stand in places the enemy tried to take from me. It wasn’t always easy. Sometimes I had to whisper instead of shout; I had to keep reminding myself that God was with me. Dark times can be frightening but if we put our faith in the One who redeemed us by His Blood then the Light will break through and we rise up and call God good!

God made us stewards of this earth and He gave us the authority to back that up, and when we take our rightful place in Him, then He takes His place alongside us and together we bring His plan and purpose into our space. That is what He is looking for us to do. He is waiting for us to step into our rightful place so that He can meet us there; and when He does it is glorious!

No matter how small or how great the goal you are reaching toward, put your trust in God, follow His plan and purpose for your life, stand firm on His Word and press forward. If you are where He has placed you then you will see victory; you will see Him working on your behalf.

Published by michellethurman2344

I was born in California, but both my parents were born in different areas of rural Oklahoma. My father grew up on a small cattle ranch and my mother grew up in the hills of eastern Oklahoma near the Ozark Mts. Both were born in the 1920's when Oklahoma was still more a part of the 1800's than the twentieth century so I like to say I was born of parents who were the last generation born during the old west. Their old west roots had a huge impact on my childhood. I spent the first three years of my life on my Granny's chicken farm. She was my father's grandmother and she owned 60 acres of alfalfa which she rented out and lived on three acres of barnyard where she raised chickens. There was some electricity, but no indoor plumbing outside of a faucet in the kitchen. The toilet was down the boardwalk in a small shed...in other words...an outhouse. The shower was a room under the water tank in the pumphouse. Granny's little three room house was the only painted building on the property. Everything else was raw, unpainted wood including the two room house my parents lived in. And I loved living on that little farm where I pretty much had free run of the barnyard and sometimes even wandered into the fields surrounding it. The town where I was born is along the Colorado River in the middle of the California desert and across the river from the Arizona desert and while we did live there for the first 12 years of my life, we moved a lot due to my father's employment. He was a big equipment operator and we moved to where the work took him, but usually only six months of the year then we moved back to our hometown. We moved to Northern California in 1958 and I have lived here ever since. I am a mother, a grandmother, have one great-grandchild and recently retired. I am divorced and now live with my youngest sister. My sisters and I like to cruise and take road trips. I am enjoying my life.

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