A young friend of mind was diagnosed with the disease ALS. Inch by inch your body becomes paralyzed.
I witnessed the 3 years he suffered before dying.
Sometimes I thought, "I don't think I could ever go through that."
But then the Holy Spirit would remind me of the scripture which says God would not allow us to suffer that which we are unable to endure.
I Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
And I know that is true.
I was restored by the scripture and by faith in what God says to us so I could live in peace knowing this.
By the promises given us by God in the Bible, we live above the various fears of this world.
2 Peter 1
(Because we have truth from the Bible and know God by the scriptures, we live in a peace not possible to this world.)
3 According as HIS divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of HIM that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
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I have seen multiple people take on "assignments" which they assigned themselves thinking God was giving them these assignments when HE was not and they lived in torment.
One woman thought she was going to have to take care of me physically when I had fallen and was unable to care for myself. I hired a home care service to help me until I became able to do for myself. This woman said, "But you are taking away the assignment God gave me to do." (I was certain that was not true. After I hired the help, she admitted she was glad I did that.)
Some people think they have to suffer for Christ and they take on assignments from devils as a result.
Matthew 11:30 Jesus said: For MY yoke is easy, and MY burden is light.
If we try to do something, when God didn't tell us to do that thing, we will find we have taken on a yoke of our own thinking and we will not succeed.
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When the assignment if from God, HE prepares us and equips us in every way.
I fell in 2018 and had to have surgery. The day before the operation, a nurse came to my hospital room to get me to sign papers naming a person who would be in charge of me if I was unable to make decisions. One of our church people was in the room when the nurse came to get this information from me. I responded without any thought at all saying, "Pam Padgett is in charge of me."
That church member was shocked. She thought she would have to be in charge. And she said, "How can Pam be in charge. She doesn't even live here. She is 400 miles away."
I responded: "I don't know how she can be, but she is."
Apparently this church member still thought she would have the burden of me. After a few weeks she withdrew entirely from me. She said to me: "I no longer care about anyone or anything anymore. I don't read the Bible or the blog."
I knew what she was saying to me was authored by devils. She had a little dog and I knew she cared about her little dog.
I believe she was so troubled by thinking she was going to have to c are for me that she allowed devils to torment her and she got out of the "assignment" as best she could for she had taken on an assignment which she couldn't do thinking God assigned this to her.
But God had assigned this to Pam Padgett and Pam does this very easily. Pam has a spiritual gift of "helps". (I Cor. 12:28)
God showed me by a dream to begin Podcasts in 2020.
Pam is terrified of microphones. Often we laugh about this. Because I love the microphone and it loves me. I just go into my "radio voice" and start speaking, making the Podcast recordings.
We have gifts that differ and we must not think we have to do an assignment when we are terrified of that assignment and ill-equipped for that work. God would not give us such an assignment. We deceive ourselves to think so. And we bring unnecessary trouble upon ourselves to try to do that which is very hard for us to do.
James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
Above all, God's yoke is easy for us to do!
Pam Padgett does all the computer work required for the publishing of blog, books, and Podcasts.
These things are relatively easy for Pam to do. They would be impossible for me to do. But it is easy for me to write and record!
I can do my assignment from God but I can't do that which God assigns to Pam.
Each person in the body of Christ must be certain they are doing only that which God assigns them to do.
Doing what we think to be "our duty" can be disastrous.
We are equipped by God to do that for which HE assigns us.
God said to Joshua:
Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
We must be sure the assignment we take on is what God wants us to do.
Often guilt drives us. Or even our own desire to do something can drive us. But it is God that straightens us out and frees us and restores us.
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