I was listening....

I was listening to T.D. Jakes Sunday. He was talking about the times that your faith is essential if you are to survive. He talked of Paul and his thorn in the flesh and went on to say that God has to allow balance in your life. He talked about the fact that when we ask things of God and He says yes and we are truly blessed and happy, the need for our faith is less in a sense, but that "When all Hell breaks loose," that is when our faith is of the utmost importance to our walk in life.

It was interesting that I had just watched a movie about a Buddhist Monastery in the midst of  war torn Japan. It seemed that with every tragic event, the response of the monks was always, "Buddha be blessed."
I was thinking to myself, why are us Christians not more like these Buddhist monks? Does God's Holy Word not say, "In everything give thanks."?

My theory became that, in most other religions, salvation is based on works. I think in those religions, followers assume that if things go south, they must of done something wrong in their works towards enlightenment. In our faith, salvation is a gift and not of works, "lest we should boast". Sometimes when "all hell breaks loose", we assume God has deserted us, that we are all alone. We must learn to, immediately, turn to the God that has never left us, the God who stands beside us through the good and the bad.

Personally, I am happy and give thanks that God allows balance in my life, the Yin and Yang. I will say that I do not always like the balancing things that follow my great blessings, but they help me to exercise my faith. I look forward to the day I am no longer in need of the balance that my flesh requires. I continually want to be like Daniel, for people to know I am a Godly man, this His Spirit is in me. It is I that prevents that from happening, but the thorns of the flesh I receive are helping me to move towards my mark.

I thank God that my relationship with Him is a gift, because my works fall far short of the mark. Of course, the God who new the end from the beginning, knew this and provided a plan of adoption into a Kingdom of Victory and of no end.