“16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”John 14:16, 17 (NKJV)
Life is supposed to make sense. This is a really simple statement, and it packs quite a mighty punch. God designed the Christian life to be the perfect equation of power, love, and soundness; not confusion, mishaps, and missteps. Psalm 37:23 (NKJV) tells us, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.” This does not mean that God orchestrates every detail of our lives as if we were puppets. The word “ordered” means to be firm, stable, and established. From this you and I can deduce that God intends our steps to be sure and steady, not chaotic and out of sync. Some people would have us to believe otherwise. They’ve convinced themselves that God wants the exact opposite of order for us. They’d like us to believe that God causes trouble and chaos in our lives in order to see how strong we are, or how committed we are to His Word; but God knows us through and through. He knows everything there is to know about us, so why would He have a need to test us, when He already knows exactly what we’re made of?
Our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, said in John 14:16, 17 (NKJV) “16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” The indwelling Holy Spirit is our helper. John 16:13 tells us that he, the indwelling Holy Spirit, teaches us about Christ and guides us into all truth. He tells us what he hears from Jesus Christ, and he shows us things that are to come. If we would take the time to allow this jaw-dropping, mind-blowing reality to sink into our minds and hearts, we’d jump and skip around like a five year-old; this news is just that great!
It is available to be so in tuned with the Father’s heart that we avoid most of the traps, tricks, and pitfalls that the enemy uses to try and buffet the Christian. We can absolutely walk in the Spirit confidently; without fear, chaos, and trouble on every hand. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 116:8 (NKJV), “For You have delivered my soul from death, My eyes from tears, And my feet from falling.” Yes, God will keep our feet from falling, and one of the ways He protects, guides, and directs us to higher heights and keeps us safe is through the Spirit that indwells us.
In John 10:10(NKJV), Jesus Christ told us exactly what the enemy’s modus operandi is. He called the devil a thief. He also told us that the devil’s only motives are to steal, kill, and destroy; that’s it! After he told us about our enemy, Jesus then delivered the best news that any of us could ever hope to receive. He said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Our Lord and Savior did not go through all the horrendous things he endured so that we could walk through life defeated. No! He demonstrated God’s love and bore our sins on the cross so that we can live victoriously. He gave his all and all, and he made available to us a more than abundant life!
So what about the Christian who seems to endure one hiccup in life after the other? Why is it that he or she can’t seem to catch a break? Well it certainly isn’t because God is punishing them. God doesn’t punish us. The Apostle said in 1John 1:5 (NKJV), “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” Punishment is darkness, for 1John 4:18 tells us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” God’s love is perfect. He doesn’t cause fear or its remnants, like darkness and punishment. He drives them out. So, God doesn’t cause us to walk in uncertainty, but gives us hope and help through the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father is a God of order. When we experience one hiccup right after the other, that’s not order, but chaos, and we ought to know that something isn’t right. These hiccups are not punishment. Very often they are wake-up calls that should cause us to question where and how we have veered off the path of God’s love. Or perhaps we’ve strayed away from God’s purpose. Life hiccups often warn us that we are heading in dangerous territory because we are not paying attention to the voice of God. We’re too preoccupied with the cares of this world. This is preventing us from hearing and following the directives of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We’re supposed to be at point C in our spiritual walk, but we’re still at point A.
Sometimes, we become so absorbed with our everyday lives that we forget that God’s love is the glue that binds our lives together. We forget Colossians 3:23 (NIV) which tells us "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men". When we forget vitals like this, we cease to grow in the spirit. Any time that a person ceases to grow spiritually, signs of trouble will appear. This is really what hiccups are. God designed the universe to cooperate fully and completely with everything that flows in an upward and forward progression. Anything that ceases to move in this direction will come into contact with negativity. God doesn’t want this for us.
Some Christians will take a very pious, yet egotistical approach to the hiccups. They tell themselves that God has slated them for a very special work, and this is why they’re enduring such difficulty. We must be very careful not to blame the devil’s shenanigans on our Great Wonderful Father. We also need to be sure we’re not subconsciously absolving ourselves of responsibility for not praying, not spending quality time with God, or studying and reading His Word as we should.
Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew 6:33 to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness above all other things. When we do this, we’ll fall back in harmony with His Will and Word. We have to seek Him. Seek God! Do so with your whole heart, for His Word is water for our thirsty souls. It will arrest our hiccups, and set our lives back on course.■
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
"Life's Hiccups, One Right After the Other" written by A.Copeland for VictoryInJesusChrist.life© 2018. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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