Have you ever felt that God has forgotten about you? We tend to believe that God is good and that anything that happens in our lives that does not feel good cannot be from God. However God is our Heavenly Father and He knows that His children often learn best when they face challenges that are difficult. We are more likely to seek Jesus in prayer when we know that we need His help.

God Shakes Our Lives To Help Us Focus On Him.

For a long time I have been frustrated that few people in sunny Southern California are really hungry for God’s love and help. My prayer has been “Lord please do what it takes to make people (including myself) seek your presence.” The answer to prayers like this may initially shake our lives but ultimately re-establishes many on a firmer foundation, resulting in a deeper awareness of Jesus.

The Witch Creek fire ravaged our area a year and a half ago and three years before that another massive fire burnt many homes. Watching the television from a hotel surrounded by concrete in San Diego, during the most recent fire, I watched as brush about half a mile or so from our home was in flames. The reporter was windswept and shouted that without water being dropped by helicopters, he did not know what would stop the fire spreading. It was too windy for helicopters. The wind was blowing towards our home and while my kids escaped to see a movie, my husband, Martyn and I watched and prayed.

God Has An Eternal Home For Us.

I prayed about what Bible verses I should read. Immediately I turned to 2 Corinthians: 5: 1. It reads, “For we know that if the tent , which is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens……….” This describes our physical bodies, death and our future eternal bodies in Heaven, but it also reminded me that if my home was destroyed, God had a much better plan.

When we pray fervently and faithfully, we receive God’s peace and the knowledge that whatever happens we will be blessed. On this earth the worst that can happen is to be killed or to experience the painful death of a loved one. 2 Corinthians reminds us that our “earthly tent” or body is temporary and it is “burdened” (verse 4) and we groan. We are not supposed to put our trust in our health, or in our physical appearance, or in our property. Our temporary existence is far less important than our future eternal existence in Heaven.

Don’t Put Your Trust In Homes, Physical Strength Or Income.

If we have the Spirit of the living God living in us we have a “guarantee” (verse 5) from God.  If we are Christians, what is mortal will be “swallowed up by life” (verse 4). Are we focusing too much on our homes, our physical strength and our incomes? All of these things will age, decay and pass away. Instead we should focus on the heavenly body and home that we will receive from God.

The Holy Spirit is life. The Holy Spirit is the life of Jesus indwelling our earthly bodies if we are believers. When life is challenging are we not more likely to seek strength, wisdom and power from Him? If our homes and bodies will one day die, burn or crumble down,  surely we should be thankful when our circumstances test and challenge our faith? Our perception of what life is about should be dominated by the one who offers us life to the full, for one day Jesus will give us a new heavenly body that will never suffer pain and death. Our home will be Heaven.

If We Worship Our Bodies And Our Homes We Will Not Worship God

Let’s receive the challenges that threaten our safety and prosperity as reminders to focus on Jesus. 2 Corinthians 4 encourages us that as we face difficulties we are dying to ourselves, carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies. As we are afflicted by pain, persecution, an aging body, disease or poverty… Jesus  transforms us if we seek Him. If we worship our bodies and our homes we will not worship God.

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Our home survived the fire but this no longer seems very important. If we turn to Jesus through the challenges we will realize that our lives are much more than the homes we live in and our physical bodies. Rather than blaming God for fires, loss of income, or declining health, let’s see these challenging experiences as opportunities to re- focus our lives on Jesus. Of course Jesus can heal our diseases and bless our finances but He may wait a while so that we receive the deeper blessing of seeking more of His presence.

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