“I am about to do something in My remnant people that most of My church will miss. I am about to implement My covenant with them in a much more visible form to separate wheat from chaff. To the casual observer, My hand on some will look as though they have made big mistakes and wrong decisions, appearing to fail Me and those around them. In reality, I am bringing a refining fire to their lives to purify them and bring them to the end of themselves, so that I can fill them with My Spirit.
“Although things may seem harsh at first, it is My mercy fulfilling My part of the covenant that I have entered into with My chosen ones. So often the church judges those who are going through rough times harshly. Often, I lead My children in a direction in which they appear to have failed. It is in that precise spot that they are of most value to Me.”
2 Cor. 1:8-9 NIV
8) We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
9) Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
Through foolish, self-serving teachings that sound good to the ear, we have doctrines that have little to do with biblical truth. Let me say this out loud. In some places this statement would be considered heresy. When you move in a direction that you believe is God and things don’t work out, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you haven’t heard Him.
The Bible is full of examples where His greatest servants looked as if they had failed miserably; when, in fact, they were directly in the center of God’s will. Paul is one of the most visible examples. He spent most of his ministry in prison. To others, even to some of those whom he led to the Lord, he was a failure.
Here are some well-worn statements that are used to cripple anyone who has moved where the Lord has led him only to find hardship and peril. You need to be on the alert for them, so they don’t cripple you when you hear them. Plan on it. When you are down, one or more of these will be given to you by someone ignorant in the Word and the ways of God.
“If God guides, He will provide. You are a burden to the church. If it was of God, it would not have failed.” These are usually said by people who have the means to relieve you from your plight but may not know what to do with you.
You don’t have enough because you are: out of the will of God, haven’t given enough, don’t tithe, there is sin in your life, you don’t hold your mouth right when you speak,” (that was a joke) and so on and so on and so on. These statements are true in some cases, but not all cases. They are usually presented to you by people who haven’t spent enough time in the Word to have their own opinion. They are simply mouthing the words of some well-known evangelist or teacher.
Don’t be discouraged if you happen to receive this counsel. Some of the most used people of God appeared foolish. Look at Jesus Himself. To many He looked like He had failed. However, plans that no one could see at the time of the cross were being implemented by the Father.
Wanting to trust my Father, even when it looks like I’ve failed,
Jim Corbett
