Life Above Reproach

“In the World you will have Tribulations; But take Heed, I have Overcome the World.”  (John 16:33)

AFTER being saved over a decade, I am not where I thought I would be in my spiritual walk with Jesus nor am I where I was in the beginning.  The Lord rescued me from alcoholism and from a way of life which is described in the Word of God as the way of destruction and perdition.  ”Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.”  (Romans 3:16-17)  I was on that road.  Every person and everything I made contact with, I harmed.  But the Lord because of His love, mercy, and grace, He permitted the earthly authorities to put me in prison.  If that hadn’t happened, I would be more likely dead and my soul burning in hell.  I also know that God didn’t put me in prison, my sins did.

BUT paradoxically, instead of being locked up, my spirit was released; instead of been arrested, I was rescued; instead of being filled with anxiety and terror, I was filled with joy and peace; and instead of I being a failure, the Lord caused me to be more than a conqueror, according to Romans 8:37.  “The Lord brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a Rock and established my ways.” (Psalm 40:2)

THIS is wonderful, isn’t it?  Sure it is, praise Jesus!

BUT, has it been easy?

No, it hasn’t!

IN my spiritual walk with my Majestic Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, He has always been faithful to me because He cannot deny Himself.  I, on the other hand, have struggled to keep up with Him.  In my walk I can identify periods of my life as King David when he felt as:  “Walking through the valley of the shadow of Death” (Psalms 23:4).  I have felt, at times, within my soul the sensation of being abandoned by God, and I have cried from my soul the anguished cry:  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1)   Also, I have gone through days and nights of depression and despair.  I have felt as the Prophet Elijah when he went into the wilderness, laid and slept under a broom tree, and prayed to God that he might die because he was not better than his fathers (1Kings 19:4).  At other occasions, I have cried out to Jesus with the words written by the apostle Paul, “Oh wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24)  Due to the fact that I have to live in this body of flesh, which is corrupt, incites me to sin.

SO has my spiritual walk been easy?  No!  Is it supposed to be easy?  Well, perhaps for some of my brothers and sisters in Christ somewhere it maybe.  But for me, I will answer with the words of a man of God who pilgrimaged on this planet some thousands of years ago.

“The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and

thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my

life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life

of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” (Genesis 47:9)

WAS the patriarch, Jacob, being negative?  To my understanding, he was being humble and honest.  The old saint must have had experienced many things in his spiritual journey; both victories and failures.  He had deceived his brother, Esau, and made a rival in his own family (Genesis 25:29-34).  He had to run away and most likely, never saw his mother again (Genesis 28:10-22).  Jacob was deceived by Laban, his father-in-law (Genesis 29:26-28).  He was accused by Laban’s sons of being a thief (Genesis 31:7) and he had to flee from his father-in-law (Genesis 31:17-20).  Jacob had worked hard as a shepherd in the hot days and cold nights for twenty years (Genesis 31:38-41), his only daughter was violated, his sons committed a massacre (Genesis 34:1-31), and the love of his life (Rachel) died (Genesis 35:16-20).  Later on, his son Joseph disappeared and thought he was dead (Genesis 37:33).  His sons had sold Joseph to Egypt (Genesis 37:26-28) and this man of God went through trials and tribulations.  But what amazes me is that after all these afflictions, he was still able to bless the most powerful man of Egypt, who was supposed to be god, that is, Pharaoh!

WAS every suffering that the patriarch went through directly the will of God for him?  Some may say yes, but I have to disagree.  One thing, God allows bad things to happen, but not necessarily is He directly sending those situations to us.  Sometimes, we go through sufferings because that is the will of God for us as in the case of Job (Job 1:1), but sometimes we go through unnecessary suffering because we are doing our own will and going against the will of God.

THE patriarch Jacob sometimes pitched his tents in a location where he was not supposed to be.  At other times, he was too busy and did not take the time to pray, worship, and ask for guidance from the Lord.  There was that other time when he was trying to obtain a blessing from God, for example, Esau’s birthright.  According to the Scriptures, it was already his!  (Genesis 25:23)

GETTING back to my walk with Jesus, am I complaining or being negative?  Certainly not!  I am being honest and stating the facts of how it has been until now.  I love my Lord Jesus, He is wonderful to me.  Earlier when I wrote that at times I have felt as King David felt when he spoke of walking through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4).  I am not lying.  Prison is a dangerous and cruel place sometimes.  There have been some days and nights when I feel the presence of Jesus so far away, and I have cried with a groaning from my soul.  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?”  (Psalm 22:1)  I have gone down with depression for days and nights.  I felt as when the Prophet Elijah went into the wilderness and laid under a broom tree (1 Kings 19:4).  I had to cry out to the Lord because of my own corruption! (Romans 7:24).  Yes, all these things are what I have felt when under tribulations.

BUT as I keep walking after the Lord as he lifts me up, Jesus is teaching me that many of the feelings that I experience while under affliction are not what they seem at the moment.  I have an enemy who is not flesh and blood.  He is very cunning and the Father of lies (John 8:44).  He wants to convince me that I am way too insignificant and meaningless, and that God has better things to do rather than wasting His agenda concerning Himself with me.  Yes, the enemy of my soul wants to convince me that God has forsaken me in this forsaken prison.  He wants to persuade me to believe that when I am wallowing in my pity-party, God is indifferent to my woe.  But above all these, the Father of lies wants to convince me beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am corrupt and that there is nothing in me that God may be interested in.  He likes to bring to mind all the sins of my past life—that is, when I was without hope and without God in this world (Ephesians 2:12).

BUT Jesus teaches me and assures me that what I perceive as truth in those moments, most of the time, comes from the father of lies.  He says in His Word that He will never leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5).  He is teaching me to observe all things that He has commanded me and reminding me that He is always with me, even to the end of the world (Matthew 28:20).  If His Word says that He is with me, then I choose to believe Him no matter what the circumstances may look like, feel like, or the thoughts that I may have.

SO every time that I have failed my Lord, He has commanded me to get up, stand on my feet, and be very courageous (Joshua 1:7).  When I read in 1 Kings 19:1-8, I see how the prophet was going through a period of a variety of emotions that his soul must have been very disturbed.   But our gentle Savior and Lord gave him time to rest and to vent what he was feeling.  Then the Lord woke him up, fed him, and the prophet went back to sleep.  The Lord allowed him to rest because the Lord knows our very frame and our weaknesses.   In the meantime, He also protected Elijah from any danger while he slept.  Then the Lord woke him again without any sort of rebuke or reproach, fed him again, and—I ponder on what He told Elijah on verse 7, “Arise and eat because the journey is too great for you.”  Sometimes I wonder how long and how great is my journey still before He takes me to Himself.  Thus, likewise, when I slip and fall, my Lord sometimes allows me to dwell in the grief and slumber.  Then He gently wakes me up and causes His Word to feed me.  He does not reproach me as somebody else would; He lovingly and skillfully keeps me going in the way of righteousness for His name’s sake.

JESUS told His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace.  In the world, you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33)  Before the Lord went back to glory, He explained that while we are in this world, we will have tribulations.  I am blessed today with the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.  The peace of Jesus causes me to be (most of the time) in good cheer.  And because I know that my Jesus has overcome the world, I am now more than a conqueror.  It doesn’t matter how many and how big the tribulations I have to go through, I know that Jesus is bigger than all of them together.  Today, I am thankful to Jesus because I am a participant of His peace as written in John 16:33.  But I am also thankful because I am a participant of the tribulation mentioned in the same portion of Scripture; and thus, the whole content of John 16:33 as the Word has become part of my life.

WITH His peace, Jesus banishes fear and dread from my heart because I know that He is in control of all circumstances.  Tribulations and trials are also a gift from God; and in the midst of my afflictions, He comforts me because He is the God of all comfort who enables me to rejoice and be of good cheer.  God uses suffering as a tool to achieve His purposes in me to grow spiritually, to become more mature, and to bear more fruit for His glory.  Through all this, I become a part of the suffering, the peace, and the rejoicing of the Old and New Testament saints.

Finally, I was born again in 2002 (John 3:3).  Throughout this time, I have read in the gospels of all the instantaneous miracles that Jesus and His twelve apostles did.  I have also heard the testimonies of brothers and read in books, but I have not witnessed anyone close to me that has been healed from cancer or diabetes.  I have never seen a paralyzed or lame brothers being healed.  I believe with all my heart that God is able and that He can do all things and that there is nothing impossible for Him.  But one thing I know—Jesus is Lord! And He dwells in my heart!

I rejoice greatly when I read:  Jesus said to Him, “Thomas because you have seen Me, you have believed.  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29), “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2Corinthians 5:7), and “Whom having not seen your love.  Though now you do not see Him, yet believing the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8)   Praise the Lord!!

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

(2 Corinthians 9:15)

Written by:  Paulo R. Galicia