John 12:24-28

[24] Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
[25] He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
[26] If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
[27] Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
[28] Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

Jesus realized and knew his purpose, even in the midst of the trials and sorrow. You see, Jesus came TO the hour. He was not saved from it, but out of the hour! Sometimes we are in such a rut in our life and we often get so discouraged when we see no immediate results. And believe me, I know that without some kind of sign in front of us as proof of hope that it seems so dark out ahead. Here more than any other place is where we all go out in different directions, trying to find our “own way”. We’ll do it through our passion at our job, or at home, or at church, etc. We’ll go out and try to pull our own weight and bear the burdens of our trials on our own because we think that we can really handle it. Eventually, when we begin to crumble at the pressure, we have to turn to something. People always do. Whatever it is that we turn to is always different with each person, and can prove to be destructive without the leadership of God in your life.

I have learned a few lessons along the journey of my life. Unfortunately, I have also paid a great price to have learned them since most of my wisdom has came from mistakes made in my past. First of all, I have learned that we will never find ourselves through success, because we will fall to pride. When we obtain our monies and our popularity, it never fails that we always attribute it solely to ourselves. We never remember to give glory to God when it counts. I always hear to count my blessings, but we only normally count them when we are in grim situations. Pride has its place in our lives, and we have to learn to put pride in its place. We will never do it through the monotony of the daily or weekly routines; there are plenty of people out there that have been living the same life trying to put of God to find their answers out in this world. The sad truth of it all is that the satisfaction for their soul will never be there to find. And as we all know if you have been through the fire so to say, you know it if you have been through it!

We will only find success by stopping our complaining and murmuring. We have to begin to realize that we cannot do it on our own anymore. We will only begin to build confidence by the strength of God. We will only be able to endure the things that we cannot control nor understand by the peace of God as only can be given by the wonderful Holy Ghost. I cannot explain it to you. It’s just one of those things that you have, and when you have it, it will keep you through it all and help you stand through it all. We need to come TO the hour and stop trying to run from it. God can bring us through it a lot easier with us going forward than us complaining and having no faith. Faith moves God. Prayer and obedience moves God. So let’s move God and get moving! Let’s find our success through God this year!