Current Mood: On Fire 4 God!

Written by: Minister Linnette Barron

The 2009 year as we know it is coming to an end. As we reflect back, if we can be honest most of us can agree that we will be entering 2010 with some residue of 2009. To fully understand my point, let’s look at the word residue. RESIDUE is what remains, what you’re left with after the completion of a process.

Many of us have faced a number of challenges this year. Perhaps you’re like me where you’ve had to suffer the lost of some things and in some cases even some people. Maybe 2009 was a year of purging for you and God had to literally get rid of some things in your life that you no longer needed. It was like waste and it was only weighing you down and taking up space in your life. Truth is, you were so full of waste you couldn’t absorb anything else so God had to purge you to make room for the increase that is coming your way. Purging is usually very painful but for most of us, this year, it was just what the doctor ordered.

We as Christians tend to get complacent in our walk desiring everything to come easy as we skip down Blessing Blvd however, nothing could be farther from the truth. The Christian walk is one full of trials and tribulations. The bible declares that many are the afflictions of the righteous but the good news is the Lord delivers them out of them all. God never promised us a bed of roses. In fact, Job summed it up like this; man born of a woman has but a few days and they are full of trouble. Our lives may sometimes mirror Job’s life as we begin to lose everything around us. In fact, it may become so intense you may even curse the day you were born. Job had to suffer the lost of everything he possessed yet it was just what the doctor had ordered. God allowed Job to suffer because he knew in the end, once he was tried that he would come forth as pure gold.

Therefore, people of God think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s suffering; that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. This is good news because this teaches, suffering is inescapable on this Christian journey and God is gloried through our suffering. Furthermore, suffering is never in vain. Suffering always produces something in us far beyond anything that we could ever lose. It produces EXPERIENCE! How can you know God is a healer if you’ve never been sick? How can you say He is a way maker if you’ve never needed Him to make a way? How can you say He is a deliverer if you’ve never needed deliverance? It’s out of your suffering you come to experience who He really is to you. It’s the residue that’s left after you’ve come out of a situation.

For some of you it’s the residue of 2009 that’s gonna compel you into the blessing of your 2010. So thank God for the residue of 2009, and praise Him for what you have left. ‘The Residue”, what you have left after the divorce, the bankruptcy, the foreclosure, the rape, the addiction, the sickness, the situation!

Still stuck on what you lost, well lets go deeper. I can tell you that what you have left is worth far more than what you could ever lose. You have a God who loves you and loves to strut His stuff. He loves to flex His muscles and show off His Glory! He loves to make the devil out of the liar he really is after all. The liar who told you that the thing you were in was gonna kill you and how you would never recover from the situation. He loves to remind the devil that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that He is Lord. He is Lord over the residue of 2009. The residue is there to remind you of who your God is in every situation you face.

When the children of Israel were crossing over the Jordan the Lord commanded Joshua to have 12 men one from each tribe to take 12 stones out of the Jordan as a memorial. God wanted them to remember for generations to come the miraculous act He had performed before their eyes. And He’s telling you the same thing today! Take that RESIDUE of 2009 just like the children of Israel took those stones, and use it as a memorial of what God has done, will do and is doing in your life. Tell of His sustaining power. Then go tell that devil how he lost again. Bless God for the weapons that were formed that God prevented from prospering. Hallelujah!! Bless God that even under the residue you still have JESUS. After everything and everybody is gone. After the clock strikes 12 on December 31, 2009 and we bury 2009 in the dirt of our past. There yet remaineth He who is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. Glory be to God!!!

Written by: Minister Linnette Barron

© 2009 – 2010, Guest Writer. All rights reserved. A part of Shekinah Glory Outreach Ministries International