All Things Work Together Series

3. Do have a long-term perspective

This is the message that we’ve already seen several times in this chapter, particularly in verse 18 where Paul reminds us that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to our future glory. Knowing that God is working in my life to prepare me to receive an inheritance that is far beyond anything that I can dream or imagine is the key to being able to persevere and even have joy in the midst of my trials.

4. Do seek God’s development rather than His deliverance in my trials

It is not always wrong to pray for God to remove us from a painful situation, but in most cases that is probably not what we should pray first. Since we know that God often uses our suffering to make us more like Jesus, my first prayer ought to be that God would use the difficult circumstances in my life to accomplish that purpose. And we also ought to be praying that God would use my trials and the way that I handle them as a witness to others who have not yet put their faith in Jesus.

ACTION

As we close this morning, everyone here needs to do one of two things.

First, there are some of you here this morning who need to…

1. Surrender and be saved.

The promise of Romans 8:28 is exclusively for those who answer the call of God and accept Christ as Savior and Lord. As we saw earlier there is no limit to “all things” but there is a limit with regard to those whom the “all things” applies. Only those who love God and are called according to His purpose can count on that promise. So if you’ve never put your faith in Jesus alone, if you want the promise to apply to you, you need to do that today.

For those who have already made that decision…

2. Thank God that He is working in you to make you more like Jesus.

Sometimes we have a natural tendency to assume that the trials in our lives are God’s punishment for something that we’ve done wrong. And in some cases, it could very well be that God is using those trials to livingly discipline us.

But far more often, when trials come they are just part of God’s much larger plan to make me more like Jesus and enable me to become a more effective witness for Him and the gospel. So as we pray in just a moment would you take a few moments to just thank God for that.

INSPIRATION

God’s purpose is bigger than

my problems

Can you imagine how different our lives would be if we just understood that fact and lived our lives based on it? Can you imagine how Jesus could use us for His glory if we were consistently focused more on letting Him develop our character than we are on our comfort? Can you imagine the impact on the kingdom of God if we were constantly focused more on our holiness than our happiness?

I know right now that many of you here this morning are going through some very painful situations in your life, but the good news is that if you are a disciple of Jesus, you can face those trials knowing without a doubt that God is working in your life to accomplish His purposes and that those purposes are so much bigger than your problems.