Love Learns To Embrace Trouble/Tribulation In Relationships

The patience of eternity is found in living with God day by day. You can only do this by letting go of your worry and anxiety about how your life will work out.

Matthew 6:24-34 NKJV — “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; “and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

God is eternal. He isn't running out of time.  It is in this revelation that a person can be immersed with God in the day they are alive today.

If God isn't running out of time, neither are you or I.  No one knows His days on His own.  God can teach us, though:

Psalm 90:12 NKJV — So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

This Psalm of Moses is about patience.  Patience is found in the revelation of the eternal nature of God.  Patience uses each moment.  Impatience holds it's breath trying to "will" things to change and wasting all the time it waits through! Impatience is a complete and utter waste of time. It takes what could be beautiful communion with God and turns it into empty frustration.

If you want to find wisdom and patience ask God to help you number your days with Him.  Let today be enough for today.  Try to taste the beauty in the challenges God has arranged to connect you to Him today.

Trouble is important in every person's life. It is guaranteed to all:

John 16:33 NKJV — “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.”

Trouble is the truth of the fall.  We have trouble because of pride and impatience.  Pride and impatience were the root cause of the fall of man.  Yeshua rescues the faithful from all trouble.  Without the possibility of trouble, there is no context for faith.

Romans 5:1-5 NKJV — Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Trouble offends the prideful, shame-filled, and impatient parts of our hearts. But, trouble is the door to patience and hope when we apply faith to trouble.

No one will walk into heaven without walking through trouble with their faith intact, their heart full of hope, and their actions soaked in love.

Most of our trouble comes into our lives from impatient, prideful, shame-filled people... Just like us.  

The wise recognize this and learn to love others in the trouble they bring,  because God loves the wise so much and they are wise enough to let that soften them.  They don't close off their hearts because of the possibility of trouble. No. They stay soft and open, applying faith to the trouble of today and not worrying about tomorrow's trouble.

This is how you bear fruit In a time of trouble, or time of tribulation.  Tribulation and trouble are synonymous.  Today has enough tribulation of its own IF you have patience.... If you can see eternity with God, you don't need MORE trouble to get as close to Him as possible.  You get as close as you can with today's trouble. Most think it isn't bad enough to really be the time of Jesus' return.  This is wicked and impatient (Mat 24:48).

Trouble is only going to increase from now until Jesus comes back.  If you are already trying to use methods to keep your relationships from trouble, and those methods are separating you from those you see as troublesome, your trajectory is straight into hell. That's what the world already does without Jesus' leadership.  It's selfish and faithless to live this way.

We have entered a time of trouble unlike the earth has ever seen.  The point is to teach us patience and faith so we can live in heaven with Jesus forever.  You were/are trouble to Him, but He still loves you. He sweat blood over your sin, not His own!  He is patient with you. Soft. He isn't afraid of running out of time. He wants to love you forever.

God is a great Father and a great Groom. He has great hope for relationships that are troublesome right now. He believes in maturing relationship. It's who He is! He knows trouble is part of this process and embraces it... Accounts for it... Makes a way through it in His love. Do you follow Him in this? You must if you want to follow Him at all.

Psalm 37:39 NKJV — But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of trouble.

Daniel 12:1 NKJV — “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book.

Mark 13:19 NKJV — “For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.

Matthew 24:9-14 NKJV — “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. “But he who endures to the end shall be saved. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

If trouble in relationship is already a problem for you, you won't endure until the end unless you see you are your own problem and repent.  All of your methods to prevent trouble in relationships ARE the problem. 

There are no victims in Christianity.  Only those who decided that they wanted a cross and to learn to love those who put them on it, starting with those closest to them.

Most don't want a cross, which means they don't actually want to be born again.  Yeshua will only resurrect those who wanted to follow Him.

Trying to save relationships from trouble by ignoring Jesus' commands is the basis for rejecting the cross. It isn't loving to try to save relationships from trouble. It is loving to stay soft and open even as people don't understand what you are doing in God.

That is what this means:

Luke 14:25-35 NKJV — Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— “lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, “saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ “Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? “Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? “It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”