3 QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN TROUBLE COMES

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas and he went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. It took Thomas Edison two thousand experiments before he invented the right filament for the first light bulb. When a young reporter asked him what it felt like to fail so many times, Edison replied, “I never failed once. Inventing the light bulb just happened to be a two thousand step process.”

Job said in Job 5:7 (AMP) Man is born to trouble as the sparks and the flames fly upward. You get blindsided with a setback of some kind. You lose your job. Maybe you lose your health. One of your children gets into trouble. Maybe you feel ostracized because you take a stand for Jesus where you work or go to school. How do you keep going when you feel like giving up?

You’ve got to ask yourself 3 questions. The first question is “Why? – Why am I doing what I’m doing?” Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem, which had been destroyed, and gathered around him those how had already gone back and had begun settling in the broken down city with broken down walls. He led them to rebuild the walls around the city. Why? Because he understood that to be God’s purpose for His people.

Paul said in Phil 3:12 (NLT) I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. Jesus saved you for a purpose. He saved you to serve a purpose. Your job is to keep working toward fulfilling that purpose. That’s His will for you and me. So when you’re having a bad day, you’ve got to remember why you do what you do.

Then there is a second question. “How? – How am I going to do this?” You’ve got to have a plan. Not only knowing why, but having a plan builds your determination and motivation for staying steadfast.

Nehemiah said in Neh. 2:16 (NLT) The city officials did not know I had been out there or what I was doing, for I had not yet said anything to anyone about my plans. Nehemiah got his plans together before he began building. He did his homework.

You’ve got to narrow your purpose in life down to some specifics. What exactly does God want you to do? What about your spiritual gifts, your strengths, what you feel strongly about? Most of us can only do 2 or 3 things well. Do you know what those are for you? Have you connected your spiritual gifts to God’s calling for you?

We’ve got to plan our lives around the plan that God has for our lives. Plan each day according to the purpose God has given you.

The third question is “Who – Who will help me?” Nehemiah knew he would need help. He would need protection during the long trip back to Jerusalem. He would need building materials. He needed the king’s permission and letters to the keeper of the king’s forests to supply the timber. When he arrived he asked for the help of a few men to survey the wall. In the building of the wall, he asked everyone to help.

You cannot accomplish the task, the mission, the purpose God has called you to do on your own. You need help.

Doing what God wants you to do and serving the purpose He has for you is not always easy. Truthfully it’s mostly difficult. It’s challenging. It’s hard. And the Devil is constantly hurling his ammunition at us, and more so now than ever before. He is setting traps where we least expect them.

The Good News is that the same God who strengthened Nehemiah to finish building the walls of Jerusalem will strengthen you to finish your purpose with joy and accomplish the work He has called you to.