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Ruth Writes: Over the last twelve months, I have seen the destruction that the enemy wreaks all around me in the lives of some of those closest to me… relationships that have broken down, fear, lies, anxiety, depression, loss of trust, lack of hope. The list could go on and on.

I’ve prayed for those situations, not as consistently as I could have but still, I have prayed (and God doesn’t keep a list of how many times I’ve prayed before he’ll answer!)

I believe that what the Bible says is true: that God is faithful, that he saves, that he heals and restores, that he makes dead things come to life.

So why haven’t I seen answers to so many prayers I have prayed over the last 12 months? Some would say that the evidence goes against faith. You’ve prayed… you haven’t seen God change these situations… so God must not exist.

Yet that answer doesn’t ring true. I’ve seen him do all the things I listed above. I’ve seen bodies physically healed, I’ve seen people set free from oppression, I’ve known his provision, I’ve seen him transform people and I know, without a doubt, that I wouldn’t be who I am now without Him.

So… why?

I don’t have any answers for that question. I write this in the middle of the unknown and the mystery; where it is hard and my heart hurts and breaks for those around me, where all I have to stand on is what has gone before and the truth of God’s word.

Will I doubt in the dark what I’ve known with certainty in the light?

The Bible frequently talks about persevering under trial because this actually strengthens faith and builds character. It’s sounds counter intuitive, surely seeing the trials end would build faith because we could see God working so much more clearly? I’ve definitely thought and prayed this, particularly over the last few days but what I’m finding is that the harder the situations get, the more entrenched they seem, the more my faith is being strengthened. Inexplicably, I am more certain than ever that God is who he says he is, that I can trust his word and trust his character and though I may not see or understand what is happening, I don’t have to because He does. He is a good Father, a safe pair of hands and He WILL bring those I love through these trials. He is not a magician; there is no magic formula that we can say which will cause him to act in the way I think he should. All of this is forcing to my knees in a way that I haven’t known for years which shouldn’t surprise me as, in all these things, he is after our hearts and our devotion more than our comfort.

My prayer for you is that if you are in similar situations, that your faith will be strengthened despite your circumstances. That you will know without a doubt, that God is for you even if everything else is going against you and that He will bring you through, closer to Him than you were before.

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Funnily enough, as I was writing this, the song that came on in the background was ‘Don’t you give up on me’ by Brandon Lake. Listen to this song and hear the Father speaking these truths over you:

Ruth Writes: Recently, I’ve been struck by just how awesome (in the truest sense of the word) God is. I’ve been reminded again and again of his power, might and majesty. It’s very easy to focus solely on the Fathering nature of God. We like to hear that God is gentle and kind. We love the scriptures which talk of him ‘singing over us’, of quietening us with his love, of being our good shepherd. While all of these things are so good to meditate on and should never be ignored, I think we can sometimes forget the largeness of God’s character. He is all those things I’ve mentioned but He is so much more too.

There’s a song we sing at church, a line of which says:

‘Who can stop the Lord Almighty?’

It’s a rhetorical question – no-one can stop him. He is the Lord Almighty.

When God gives his name to Moses in Exodus, he calls himself Yahweh, commonly written as LORD in English Bibles. Loosely translated it mean ‘I am who I am’. There’s gravity in His name. It speaks of a God who always was, is now and forever will be. It echoes with eternity.

Often he is referred to not just as Lord but as Lord Almighty, just as in the song. The dictionary definition of Almighty states this: ‘having complete power; omnipotent’. So Lord Almighty means ‘I am who I am and I have complete power’. It is such a big concept, I just can’t comprehend it. I’m sitting here, writing this, trying to take in all it means to know a God who has complete power and authority, who can do whatever he wants and yet still chooses to love humanity and send His son to die for us so that we could be free… Wow!

The Bible teaches that all that God says, he means, so when it says that every knee will bow before him, that’s what He means. It’s not if, might or maybe, it’s will. There is absolute certainty. When God speaks, stuff happens and he does not say things lightly. He speaks light into darkness and darkness does not overcome it. He speaks purpose and hope and fear and despair cannot overcome them. He speaks life and death is defeated. Nothing and no-one can stop him.

It’s easy to look at the world and get offended at God for all the suffering and pain and I have struggled when I read that God’s plans are to prosper and not to harm, especially in the light I’ve what I’ve just written above. I’ve asked the question over and over, ‘then why can life be so awful?’ I think God’s beginning to answer that question – even though I still don’t fully understand, and this side of eternity, maybe I never will.

I feel that God’s teaching me that it is always His plan to prosper and not to harm; that’s it’s not his plan that any should suffer but that there is an adversary (the devil, satan…) working against the advance of His kingdom. This adversary brings pain, death and destruction when God’s kingdom is all about bringing light and life. However, God is all-powerful and He has a good plan, a plan for the furtherance of His Kingdom, that started with the resurrection of Jesus and continues, despite the suffering that the enemy wishes to mete out.

It’s tempting to think that this life on earth is all we have but God’s promises are for eternity and that’s so much longer than our span of life. Whatever we have to endure now, whatever trials, tribulations or distresses, are momentary in the light of eternity. That’s not to say it doesn’t hurt but living with a bigger perspective, living with an eternal perspective means that we have such hope – that the pain won’t last forever, that one day it will all be over and over forever. God’s kingdom is advancing, His gospel is being preached, people are being healed even now and one day it won’t be healing happening on one side and death happening on the other. We can’t forget that His ultimate plan is for a new heaven and a new earth where there is no more pain and suffering.

And best of all… No-one can stop him!