Part 7 All things work together for good

Part 7 All things work together for good

Romans 8:28	And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29	For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30	Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
31	What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32	He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

All things work together for good

How do we interpret this?

Is this really true? What does this mean? Are we to take everything that comes into our lives and accept it as something that will work out for our good. One of the problems we have which is a part of our fallen nature is this; we tend to either spiritualize or put into the category of a parable anything we don’t understand or anything that will cost us. Our fallen nature will always look for the easy way out; the least costly way out. Do all things that happen to us work together for our good?

The Either Or Syndrome

This syndrome expresses the hard and fast positions that people take in regard to truth or doctrine. Never compromise is the watchword for these people. There is no meeting of the ways it is either right or wrong. Take for instance the controversy over the two positions “Once saved always saved” and “You can be saved yet backslide and end up in hell”.  You have a choice either this or that: What if they both were right and both were wrong.  However the religious spirit always seeks to force us into a dogmatic extreme position.

One extreme says that no one can pluck you out of Gods hand once you are saved, however they conveniently forget that man has forever a free will, and a saved person can choose to walk away from God denying Him and end up in a lost eternal state.        

John 10:28	And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Hebrews 6:4	For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5	And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6	If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD:  REALY?

Yes really:   Let’s look at the context in which this was written

Romans 8:26	Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27	And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28	And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

1)   OK:  The verse of scripture re all things working together for good is preceded by scriptures that talk about the need to pray and intercede in other tongues, simply because we don’t know how or what to pray for, and what we really need. How much praying in the spirit have you done this week?

2)   Note: To them that love God and to them that are called according to His purposes.

Once we make a commitment to follow the Lord to obey Him and walk in His ways i.e. to love the Lord, Gods purposes will unfold in our lives and no matter what happens to us, He will turn it to good in our lives, and in His infinite understanding of what we need from an eternal point of view He will allow that which is needed to in order to groom us for eternal destinies.

One of the worst kind of expressions of the religious spirit is to assume and judge others by saying certain things happened to them because of sin in their lives. Try and tell Job that: 

Job 1:8

And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

I have been with many many people when they died, Old people, Teenagers, Babies, some in seemingly tragic circumstances others in the frailness of old age. Long ago I stooped asking why!  God does know what He is doing even if we can’t understand.

Distinguishing between trials set up By God and oppression of the enemy.

I have heard people say; “my children are into drugs, sex and rebellion it is a trial I have to bare, or it is a cross I have to bare!

It’s not a cross you have to bear it’s a battle you have to win

The cross you have to bear is to deny yourself the demands of the flesh:

Matthew 16:24	Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25	For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

You have to fight for your children: This morning I woke up with a headache bordering on a migraine; I had a busy day ahead and didn’t really need this. We have been in some real heavy opposition from the enemy over the purchase of the land for the Academy of light, with very high level opposition. I decided I had had enough and that I had to take a stand and secure the property we are living on.

We had communion and kept some of the wine over to secure the property. I went around the entire border of the property one acre and applied the wine the blood of Jesus to each corner post on the property. Then I made a declaration that the enemy could not pass over the blood line onto the property. Within half an hour the migraine had gone. You see this was not a test from God it was opposition to Gods purposes for us.

NOW: God does allow trials to come into our lives, these are tests in the school of the Spirit as God seeks to groom us, and align our character with the only standard that  God sets for us; “the fruit of the Spirit”. God is more interested in what kind of person you are than in what you can do.

1 Peter 4:12	Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
13	But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

But in the middle of trials don’t sin; pass the test.

1 Peter 4:15

But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.

God will allow situations in our live that will reveal what we are really like.

You must remember this:

You only have in God what you can hold under pressure

In order for the Lord to establish the fruit of peace in your lives you have to be exposed to that which is not conducive to peace. Three artists were asked to paint a picture expressing peace. One painted a tranquil scene by a very still lake in a perfect environment. The second one painted a picture of a desert scene with a very light breezes blowing and the light delicately portrayed on the sand dunes. The third man painted a raging waterfall thundering down a huge cliff face with a roaring sound. A branch from a tree had grown out halfway down the ranging fall stretching outward across the face of the waterfall, and on the end of the branch was a bird sitting on a nest asleep.   Guess who won the contest?

God will set up and allow circumstances in your life that will be a catalyst for the perfecting of fruit in your lives. Life is not fair, we live in a fallen world but what matters is not what is happening to you but how you react to it. We all know the saying it is not what you eat that harms you is it what is eating you. Becoming conformed to the image of Jesus is a process which we can learn quickly or slowly depending upon our reaction to such things as injustices, tragedies, unfairness, etc that come into our lives.

The Song of Solomon expresses this aptly

Solomon 4:12	A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
13	Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
14	Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
15	A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.
16	Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.
Solomon 5:1	I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

Our lives are depicted here as a garden where the Lord loves to come to taste the fruit of the garden.

However the North Wind is necessary in order to bring the fruit to ripeness. The North Wind was a very cold and blustery wind that was not at all pleasant but was necessary in order to mature the fruit. The South Wind was a very dry debilitating wind which hardened the plants.

All these thing work together for our Good in conforming us to the Likeness of  Jesus, and to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

God Bless you
N Johnson © December 14^th  2006