God's personal care for believers in Christ!

Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets.

As God is perfect, so His care must also be perfect and complete. The following overview covers some of the key areas of God’s personal care for believers in Christ as His beloved children. These are truths that are of special importance to new believers.

Be joyful!

Romans 12:12. 

Be joyful

Because you have hope.

Be patient

When trouble comes

and

Pray at all times

The apostle Paul reminds us that the one reason to be joyful is because we have hope as through Jesus-Christ we have peace with God (being justified by faith Romans 5:1). Somehow, life brings trials and tribulations of all sort whether they affect us personally or our beloved ones, including our dearest friends. How can we be joyful then! Well, trials refine us for the better. Comes to mind theses verses in Zecharia 13: This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'" 

What should we do when we are tested ? 
Grumble? certainly not (I fail the test miserably then).
Be patient! Waiting on the Lord who knows what's best for us is advisable. This is hard enough to do! It takes time to accept a situation that you don't like and/or you don't understand. If this situation is self-inflicted, you may feel even worse. 

The prophet Isaiah 40:31 reminds us of a distinct advantage if we follow this advice!
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Ultimately, talking to our Father in heaven (praying) who listens to our cries is the answer!Notice the phrase 'at all times' not just we are hit by unfortunate circumstances or various troubles, but when we sail by fair weather! Knowing that God loves us and is watching us, we experience complete peace and we rely on Him fully. 

Butterfly story

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

~ Unknown

Like the butterfly, our struggles are exactly what God knows we need in our life. There are heartbreaking and tough times we face that God wants us to go through in order to change us into the person He wants us to be. As Christians, the struggles we go though are a part of God's journey for us, so we need to learn to rest in His promise to never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) as He works everything around for our good (Romans 8:28). He's preparing us for what awaits - He's preparing us to fly.

Source:  thank you Dot