Who Are You Relying On?

'...We stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God...' 2 Corinthians 1:9 NLT

Good Morning,
This morning in Men's Connection, (and men if you can make it I would encourage you come and fellowship and pray,) one of the topic's was how hard it is sometimes to reley on God when things seem so hard. We want to try it our way before we say ok God, it's in your hands. Jesus said, 'Here on earth you will have many trials...' (John 16:33 NLT) You solve one problem, and another one comes along to take its place. They're not all big, but they're all necessary to your spiritual growth. How do you assess the strength of something? By testing it! The Bible says: 'Don't be...shocked that you are going through testing...It will prepare you...' (1 Peter 4:12-13 CEV) Some of your most life-enriching experiences will come during your worst moments-when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you're out of options, when your pain levels go through the roof-and you turn to God. That's when you learn to pray heartfelt, honest-to-God prayers. When you're in pain you don't have the energy for superficial ones. And that's when you discover, 'The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.' (Psalm 34:18 NLT) God could have kept Joseph out of prison, Daniel out of the lions' den, Jeremiah out of the slimy pit and Paul from being shipwrecked-but He didn't. As a result, each one of them was drawn closer to God and impacted the world around them. Your problems force you to look to God and depend on Him instead of yourself. This is especially hard on super-achievers, like Paul. 'We...saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us...' (2 Corinthians 1:9 TLB) You'll never know what God can do until God is all you've got. So place your needs into His capable, loving hands, and watch what happens. You are loved!