Black and white

This is a post I put up some time ago which I feel led to repost.

  I  was getting ready to go to church and as I reached for my coat I realised that several pieces of clothing I had on were made up of  various patterns of black and white.    I had a strong feeling that  the Holy Spirit was revealing something to me here.    Black and white signifies something that is clear, with no grey areas, and can also stand for something that is written.

Two scriptures came into my mind, one was 'every day in  my life was written in Your book before even one of them was formed.' 
Psalm 139 v. 16.   
The other was 'It is written 'Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'  
Matthew ch. 4 v.4.
      

When I got home I looked at what I was wearing that was black and white.   I had a black and white striped top on, a black and white floral scarf and a black mac with white doves on it.  Thoughts started to form in my mind as to what these symbolised to me.  The black and white stripes portrayed the trials and hard times in  my  life,  the black and white flowers conveyed to me the good times. The white doves on the black coat portrayed to me the Holy Spirit's presence in the dark times, and the fact that this pattern was on my outer garment declaring God's protective covering in all situations in my life.   

I thought about the fact that although I had gone through, and still do go through, days of trials and hard times since becoming a believer in Christ, those trials were predestined.  I have also gone through many  good and happy days too, receiving blessings from the Lord, including healings, and these too were predestined.    They were written in His book before even one of them was formed.  Whether it has been a fiery trial to correct me or a fiery trial to bring me to believe a word of blessing that the Lord has spoken to me, it has all been to mature me in Christ. 

 

Whatever word God has spoken to me I must accept it and try to act on it whatever it will lead me into, whether it be testing me in a trial that will refine me or believing on a promised healing regardless of what my eyes might be seeing.  The carnal mind will always try to justify it's way of reasoning, sometimes by saying it is right to retaliate to what may have been done to me, or by encouraging me to keep a record of wrongs done to me.   That is not what the Holy Spirit instructs me to do however. 

It has not always been easy and He understands that I am flesh and have weaknesses, but I believe absolutely that all things will work together for my good if I follow His instructions to me, and try to live my life according to His will.  

 

We are told in Romans ch.8 v.28 'And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose'. In John ch.14 v.15 Jesus says 'If you love Me keep My commands' 

 

From these scriptures I see that the essence of loving Jesus is in keeping His commands, the things that He instructs me to do during my walk with Him.   The renewing of my mind is done through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, not only my comforter but my counsellor.  The necessity to fully follow the instructions that the Lord gives me in His word to me personally, was emphasised to me when I got home from church. 

I had intended that morning to do some washing before I went to church.  My husband said 'Put the washing in the machine, I will see to it later.'  So I put the items to be washed in the machine before I went out.   When I returned I noticed that the washing was still in the machine.  I took it out to find that the clothes were quite wet.  I told my husband that they were very wet and said that there may be something wrong with the machine.  Then he told me that he had moved it on a couple of times because he thought it was taking a long time.  I realized that was probably why the clothes were wet, he had probably moved it on when it was in the process of draining the water out, also the machine spins the clothes twice.

I know that just as there is a cycle that my washing machine must go through to get the perfect end result, so too there is a cycle that I must go through to mature in Christ.  If I don't go through that cycle I will not end up as I should do.  Sometimes I have not been patient enough to wait for the Lord's help in my life when I have sought Him,  or sometimes the enemy has been a bit too strong to cause me not to act on God's instruction, and I have tried to sort things my own way.   All sorts of pictures would form in my mind about what might happen if I did or did not do something.  I am learning slowly not to lean on my own understanding, but to trust in the Lord with all my heart and to do things according to His way of thinking, not mine.  His thoughts are not our thoughts and neither are our ways His ways.   Isaiah ch.55 vs.8,9.   

I might not like the trials while I am waiting for the answer to my prayers and I might not always at first understand  the direction that my life appears to be taking when I try to do what the Holy Spirit is telling me, but at my weakest points the Lord has been strong.  After many  years of being a believer in Christ I look back on my worldly life and compare it to my life in Jesus and there is no comparison and no doubt as to which one I would choose.  I choose life and blessing, regardless of the trials.


What I gain from being a 'doer' of God's word to me in Christ and not just a 'hearer' of that word far outweighs what my carnal mind tries to tell me I might lose in this world, and I have always been greatly encouraged by these words.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.   What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ   and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.    I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,   and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.   Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead,   I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.
                                                   Philippians ch..3 vs.7-14