Answer this question of yourself: What mess is becoming your message? Think for a minute, where in your life have you experienced pain? Can you consider the idea that there might be purpose in it?

This might be gross but read on:

Locust were bugs three, sometimes four or five, inches long that look a lot like the grasshopper.

These insects swarm together in the hundreds and thousands wherever the wind takes them.

People feared for their lives when they saw a cloud of locust coming in their direction, because locust consumed everything (green/produce) in sight. Usually people starved after locust go through their village.

People eat locust. Some boil it, roast it, and other’s will take locust, ground it up, and mix it with flour to create cakes. I imagine something like a crab cake, maybe?

I found this so fascinating, that the thing that comes our way that is (without a shadow of a doubt) supposed to destroy our ability to live, is actually something we are able to eat and consume ourselves. Some people eat it like POPCORN! Pull off the arms and legs, salt, roast, and boom! Snack time!

I think it’s important to remember when the winds of this world bring us trouble, God says “Here! See this situation my way. Instead of seeing a plague to devour you and your future, see that I am supplying you with an opportunity to depend on me for a miracle. See that I am supplying you substance for the future, a situation to position you to receive my grace, to receive my mercy and to depend on me! Your ability to live and thrive is in me not in the produce.

Victory, health, and life are yours through a relationship with me, not what you produce.

Our human nature is so stubborn there is no way, without the leading of the Holy Spirit, that we can even begin to conceive that we need God. It is by God’s grace we gain this awareness, and it is by his mercy and loving-kindness that He keeps us even when we don’t see his hand in this troubled seasons of our lives.

Think about these verses this weekend:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” Genesis 50:20

“‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses.That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 & 10

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Revelations 12:11

“The Lord says, “I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts. It was I who sent this great destroying army against you.”‭‭Joel‬ ‭2:25‬ ‭NLT‬‬Resist the resistance.Stand and grow in the midst of the pressure.

What mess is becoming your message? What test is proving your testimony? Post in the comments below if you have a prayer request, I’m happy to pray for you this week!

xo,

Steph