We all have problems and many feel that life is not fair. Many feel overwhelmed by the problems that they face. Now everyone has a certain amount of problems that they are confronted with. While we may not like the problems that we have, we have an advocate with the Father who will help us overcome all of life's maladies.

The Bible tells us that we are to be thankful when we are tempted and tried with all of life's problems. When we are under the temptation, we do not feel like rejoicing and being thankful for the problem. All of the trials and tribulations that life presents is a chance to grow in the Lord if we allow the Lord to lead us on the path that he wants us to follow. This is one of the toughest lessons for the Christian to learn. The Christian has a hard time understanding that the Lord uses these trials and problems as tools to teach us to grow in the Lord.

James 1:1-27

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

All of life's problems when we lean on the Lord Jesus for the solution seem small when look upon in hindsight. The solution to all of your problems is to first think about what would the Lord do in this situation. The next thing is to seek the Lord's guidance and help with the problem. Every time I sought the Lord and his divine wisdom the problem reached a quick solution. Every time I tried to do it on my own, I only made matters worse. When I trusted the Lord and sought the Lord, the solution was readily at hand.

The ability to seek the Lord and even ask for his help comes with Christian growth. A new babe in Christ still wants to be their own person and depend upon themselves for all of their problems. The mature Christian will find himself leaning more and more on the Lord Jesus for the help that he needs. When Rita and I were in College, there was a man who gave a testimony about his father during the depression who went to Monsanto for a job. There were over a hundred applicants for the single job that was being offered. The new saint just wrote his name on the application and threw it in the trash. Somehow that application was resurrected from the trash and he was hired for the one job opening. No one knows how the application went from the trash to being the one called.

This was how the Lord answered prayer for a desperate Christian who was out of work for a long period of time. When he saw all of the other applicants, he lost all hope and did not complete the application. But the Lord works in mysterious ways and he was able to take something that was thrown away and turn it around to produce gainful employment. At times our situation seems the same, hopeless and desperate. That is the times that the Lord does the best work when he turns a hopeless situation around producing a positive result. When our problems become desperate, we need to seek the Lord with our whole heart and lean not to our understanding.

Proverbs 3:5-8

5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

No matter what your problems are, or how hopeless it seems, Jesus is waiting for you to seek him and ask for his help. Come to Jesus today and allow him to be the solution.

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Published by: Rev. LeRoy D. Cressy (215) 535-4037

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Copyright © 2002 LeRoy D. Cressy
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