Am I presume that I will be consumed in this process of fire, fury, lies and deceit?  Should I give in to the certain and sustained cries of “give up” or “you can’t do it”?  Shall I lose this barrel of joy because the fallen seek to devour all that is right, good and pure?  Or maybe I should laugh just to laugh, dance because I’m saved and sing at the top of my inexhaustible lungs to Praise My King. I will not go lightly when expected to whither and blow away, for I am made of the stuff that constructed the heavens, the Breath of Almighty God.

What then should I say to them who would be depressed, unforgiving and forgetful of the Mighty, Righteous, Omniscient God who calls us His?  Should I help you wallow in the miry clay of your own remorse or drag you through the sadness of past episodic nightmare?  Maybe I should agree with the fallen that you never could, should, would or have the stuff to rise above your own inadequacy? Perhaps I should encourage your tears, fears and watch as you consume beers to buy your way out of the reality to which you find yourself frozen?  Then again, NOT!

You my friend are heaven bound.  Yes, it sucks some times but this short test will end and you will be set free into a life without sin, pain, age or time.  What then of your suffering, your poverty, your filth and despair?  Should we honor it, dwell in it, perhaps place it upon the shelf in the living room that we never forget the cruelty of our past, that we might gather pity out of our victimization?  I am not making short of this world’s capacity to kick our butts, leaving us dirtied with tire tracks over both sides of our bright white shirt.  I am not forgetting, diminishing or belittling the damage or pain you have suffered, the road you have traveled or the misery you have endured.  I honor your pain, I honor your travails, your worries, hurts, disasters and loss.  I welcome talk of how much it used to hurt, but we have been healed and shouldn’t the discussion then turn to the joyous transformation and the joy we have found through Christ?

We must be born again to stand in the midst of trials beyond our own will and authority to conquer.  We have the Spirit of Almighty God living inside, we are imbued with power, RIGHTEOUS power, to move mountains and laugh in the face of certain destruction, because at that moment we would enter our true lives as Citizens of the Heavenly Realm.  This is the fight that we voluntarily entered when we accepted Christ’s payment on that Cross.  Now is the time to realize your true position in the Kingdom and stand in the knowledge that we belong to and are empowered, protected and provided for by the King of All.  What is courage, I don’t know but I think that should give us courage.

Lord I love you and am excited by my trials as they sharpen, empower and shape me for my real life with you.  In Jesus’ Name.