The message was given by Mr. Victor Pereira
But we can change our trials into Victory
I had my part of trials and tribulations. I went through 7 years of trials, of which 5 years I was constantly sick. I was in and out of hospital. And as I lay in hospital, the two characters that inspired me to grow in my trials and sufferings, were the 2 J's from the Bible :Job and Joseph of the Old Testament. And through these characters God is calling you and me to face all trials, that come our way, victoriously.Lets look at the life of Job :
He lost everything - his family, his servants, his animals, his wealth, name it and he lost all. But still he praised God the maker and giver of all things. Seeing Job being tried till the end, his wife finally says to him " You are as faithful as ever aren't you? Why don't you curse God and die? (Job 2:9) But faithful Job even in this hour of complete brokenness replies "When God sends us something good, we welcome it. How can we complain, when he sends us trouble?" (Job 2:10). And as we read the book of Job we see - how Job's faithfulness was rewarded ; GOD blessed Job twice of what he had owned previously.Many of us do not accept the trials that come our way. God permits certain problems in our lives. If He would have to ask us 'Should I allow this problem in your life.' All of us would have said a big 'NO'. But still the fact remains unchanged that we shall all come across some trial, suffering, problem in our lives and at the end of it all God will reward the faithful servant / child who overcomes his or her trials and tribulations joyfully.
Our blessings in this world are imperfect ; When God blesses us, he does not promise us a bed of roses nor does he promise us a life free of problems. Many a times we make 9 novenas just to solve a problem with our job or with our family or with our marriage or with our property. When one problem is solved and we are about to relax the other one wakes up and when that is solved the third one sneaks out. We all face a chain of problems in some or the other area. Hence blessings however good they are, they are imperfect. James encourages us to endure everything, so that we may mature in our faith. James 1:2-4 says 'when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.'
Now let us go through the life of Joseph ; Genesis 37
Family
Joseph was seventeen years of age and was the beloved of his father, Jacob. This made his brothers jealous of him and what made it worst was; when Joseph innocently shares his dream about all his brothers including his father and mother bowing before him. The intensity of hatred was so much that they were even willing to kill their own brother and throw the body into the well. But finally they sold their brother as a slave for 20 pieces of silver to some traveling Midianite Merchants. Joseph was rejected by his own brothers, he was humiliated as his brothers stripped him of his clothes and threw him in the well.
Many of us are persecuted, torn down, hurt and broken by our own family and friends. Being a counselor I have realised, that many have been rejected and/or humiliated by their own family members and they cannot accept it. They feel physical pain is better than shame. Once a priest in his homily asked the congregation 'Whether they would prefer a headache or some humiliation? And everyone preferred the headache.
We may be going through a similar situation and feel hopeless, but the ever living, all knowing and loving GOD assures us that 'He will complete the good work HE began in our lives and will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus.' (Phil 1:6).
Joseph, being sold to the Ishmaelites was forced to go to Egypt and it seemed that his brother's evil plan for his life was succeeding. And in all this confusion, definitely Joseph would have wondered 'where is GOD?'. In our lives too, it may seem that others are more in control of our lives than GOD himself is. But let us be assured of one thing that GOD is in control of the result. Praise GOD.
Work
The Ishmaelites once again sold Joseph to Pothipar, one of the king's officers. Pothiphar realised that God was with Joseph and had made him successful in everything he did and so Joseph was given a sort of promotion. Being handsome and well built, Potiphar's wife began to desire Joseph. Joseph could have easily given into sin because of the rejection he suffered in the yesteryears, but 'NO', Joseph decides to escape from this sinful situation as he was dedicated to GOD. This shows that we too can choose good over evil irrelevant of our past. We too should be dedicated to GOD.
It was a law, when a man rapes a woman; he is to be put to death. But Joseph was put into prison. Potiphar knew that his wife was at fault and so to safeguard Joseph he did not put him to death, which was the law but was put into prison.
The Lord was still with Joseph. Joseph was doing a good job even in the prison. One night the King's personal servant and his chief cook had a dream in the prison, but their dreams had different meanings. And Joseph, who was blessed with the gift of interpreting the dreams, interpreted their dreams. Joseph told them once they are out of prison to remember him. But the King's personal servant completely forgot about Joseph. So often it happens in our lives, we have given of our time, our money, a helping hand to people in their hour of need / tragedies, but once the work is done we are forgotten. But Genesis 50:20 "You tried to harm me, but God made it turn out for the best, so that he could save all these people, as he is now doing."
People say first 'let me understand the circumstance, let me understand what GOD is doing and then I will believe', but that is a wrong attitude we carry along, which in turn leads to total failure. It should be, first I believe and then will I understand. It is upto us to make a choice, to turn our trials into blessings or not. All of us go through trials but they are not going to do us any good, if we do not overcome it and grow / mature in our faith.
We should make a commitment to go and grow through the storms of life.
We should understand.
1) God expects that we grow in our knowledge of HIM (Hosea 4:6)
2) God is present in my life.
3) GOD is not only there but also is in control of our lives.
4) GOD is not only present and in control of our lives, but He is also at work.
5) Above all we should understand that GOD is in control of the results.
Praise GOD.
I was in and out of hospital for 5 years of my life. I couldn't understand what was happening to me, but these characters in the Bible inspired me to be faithful and devoted to GOD even in those terrible moments. People who visited me would say 'I was in sin' or 'I was possessed with a demon.' And these statements would pierce my heart. But I chose to ignore these statements and put my trust in GOD, who has always been faithful.
My father as a part of the healing ministry was praying for everyone who was sick and they used to get healed. But with his son, there was no sign of recovery. It became a mockery. Those were the years 1986 to 1993 where in, I had all the sicknesses you could name it and I had it all. Because of my constant sickness and stay in the hospital I secured only 38% in my graduation. And I turned to God and asked Him 'what can I do about my career, with such a percentage?
With all the ongoing sicknesses, I managed to get a good job. But within a month I was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Doctors told me to take rest for 7 months. After 7 months the doctors took a report, and there were still some traces of tuberculosis in my lungs. Hence doctors recommended me to be admitted.
It so happened that, at one of the outreaches the conducting priest requested anyone from the congregation to come forward and pray over him. Since no one initiated, I got up went forward and prayed over him. I, the man suffering from tuberculosis with all boldness praying over the priest. But that indeed, was a time of grace and blessing. I was electrified and charged with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
I visited the attending doctors once again and they told me that they had lost the previous reports. So, we had to take fresh reports and the new reports showed no traces of tuberculosis. GOD had manifested his power in me and healed me. Since then I have never fallen sick and there was no reoccurrence of the sickness. I drink water in hotels or anywhere (which was not allowed earlier) and I am not affected by it.
GOD had a plan for me when I was going through those days of suffering. I trusted my GOD and chose to grow spiritually in the trials I was going through. Today I stand before you preaching for the glory of GOD THE FATHER
Amen and Amen……