Psalms 24:7Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
Psalms 121:1
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
It is good to keep in remembrance how we can choose to keep our minds elevated and positive even in tough times, it pleases God to see us walk through storms as though holding His hand, staying hopeful and full of faith. The famous "Footprints" verses about a man envisioning seeing 2 sets of footprints when things were going well in his life like a walk on the beach but only seeing 1 set of footprints when times were tough like walking through the desert and He asked the Lord who said "in tough times you see one set of footprints because it was then I carried you. We need to let the Lord carry us now, but we must walk closely with Him, let Him speak to us regularly, but we only can hear Him if we are close, keep our ear close to His Mouth, our knees as it were before His throne. Walking and living in sin, breaking 11th commandment (Love Your Enemies) keeps us from being close enough in tough times. We cannot sin and walk with God at the same time, it's like trying to walk both East and West simultaneously. To sin we have to turn from Him. The Lord speaks to those who are facing Him, giving Him respect and Honor, who worship Him in truth, who have true-repentance that doesn't recklessly repeat itself. We must not lose sight in these tough times but keep looking to Jesus, draw even closer, He shouldn't (and wouldn't) have to reach far for us or chase us to attempt to carry us through hard times. Stay Close! If these are good days for you, Amen, stay close, tomorrow is coming.
It is written:
Romans 11:22 “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."
Notice this scripture says "IF",
with conditions and consequences for disobedience. So often we either hear more of troubles we go through or only the blessings we have or can receive, but we must note God's Goodness and how if we are disobedient with God or man, in loving everyone (which makes living holy foolproof) Like even raising a child we must both nurture and discipline appropriately when needed. We must know that God is both merciful and will chastise those who belong to Him, so that we wont be lost.
I'm reminded of the controversy of Joel Osteen's approach to preaching only God Blessing you and taking you to "places you never even dreamed of", it is good to keep the people inspired, it is Joel's gift, I believe his messages could nearly lift the head of the dead, but that's his calling, and he always finds a way to bring the message back to God, but how do the hearers deal with trials and tribulation, sickness, death, attack, hatred and the like? It is so important to know how to abound and how to be abased, how to enjoy the mountaintop with humility and how to survive in the valley thankfully. We're on a journey to go all the way to our new homes in heaven, the path is not always smooth, and can get rough, we must keep our hand in God's hand and He will take us through. He will not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able but will with the temptation also make a way of escape. 1 Corinthians 10:13
by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Chorus