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God's 3 Rs 
God's ways.... (John Doe 666)
God's ways are not deadly as we follow Him. Remember every good and perfect gift comes from God and the devil is evil... (Ivan)
I hope... (John Doe 666)
I would rather suffer for being godly than suffer for wrongdoings. eom. (Ivan)
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Hi all,
I came across this article by John Gagliardi which was posted at the chc website. Be blessed by his article. <<<Weekly Breakthrough Word Issue 13 by John Gagliardi Subject: God's "3 Rs" When I was going to school in Australia (which seems such a long time ago!), we were taught that the basics of a sound education were the so-called "3 Rs" - Readin', 'Ritin' and 'Rithmatic - i.e. reading, writing and arithmetic. Educational systems have come a long way since, but God has His own "3 Rs" that never change. I first heard of God's "3 Rs" some years ago in the "Every Day With Jesus" series by Selwyn Hughes. It was one of those "Aha!" moments for me - you know, when you hear something that just makes so much sense and you say, "Aha!" According to Selwyn Hughes, God deals with us very often in a pattern he called the "3 Rs" - The first "R" is Revelation; the second "R" is Reversal; and the third "R" is Restoration. Revelation … Reversal … Restoration. God's "3 Rs" Look at some of the great characters in the Bible, and you will see this "3 R" pattern repeated time and time again. Look at Abraham - God promised him in Genesis 12 that if he left his country, he would become a great nation, and would be blessed (the Revelation). But Abraham had a long Reversal, and it wasn't until he was 100 years old that Isaac was born, and God's promise was fulfilled (the Restoration). Look at Joseph - God gave him a dream (the Revelation) but he ended up in all sorts of trouble, including jail (the Reversal)! Yet, in God's timing, he became a ruler of Egypt and his brothers bowed down to him just as he had dreamed (the Restoration). In the New Testament, look at Paul - who receives the blinding Damascus Road vision (his Revelation), but then is not received by the other disciples, has his life threatened, and ends up going back to Tarsus (the Reversal) until Barnabas goes to Tarsus and brings him to Antioch, where "for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church, and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch" (Acts 11:25-26). A great Restoration for Paul! Even in the life of Jesus you can see the pattern - remember his glorious baptism? With the Holy Spirit descending like a dove? That was His Revelation. Yet, He experienced his Reversal when He was driven into the desert for 40 days to be tempted by the devil, and then returning in the power of the Spirit to begin His earthly ministry in earnest (Restoration!). When you start to look at Biblical heroes, it is amazing how often you see this "3 Rs" pattern. But look at your own life … do you see the same pattern at work? Have you had great revelations from God … great dreams and promises … soaring visions, only to find everything falling apart, the dream not fulfilled, and God seemingly further away than ever under a brass heaven. Are you going through the process of Reversal now? Has your great dream evaporated? Has the vision God gave you for your life been somehow sidetracked? Are you in a season of depression, frustration and disappointment? Is it painful? Well, here's the good news - there's always a third "R" on the way! God's third "R" - His Restoration - is coming! It would be very nice for all of us, if we could jump straight from "R1" to "R3" without any "R2" in between. But unfortunately, God seems to do most of His work on us during that dreaded "R2" period. God tests us, and tries us … He refines us. If we never go through the hard times, through the fires and the storms, then we would never know what we are really made of. Time and again in the Bible, God tells us clearly that He will test and try us. It happened to the Israelites when they left Egypt. They were tried for 40 years in the wilderness, before they finally reached the Promised Land. They had a classic "3 R" experience! Proverbs 17:3 says, "The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts." 1 Thessalonians 2:4 confirms in the New Testament also that God will test our hearts, while Job says with total confidence, "When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). So if you are going through an R2 situation, remember that God loves you, and he only tests and disciplines those He loves! God will never let you fall, because "underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut 33:27). And when He has tested you, you can expect to "come forth as gold." The good news is that the Reversal phase, the R2, never lasts forever - God is faithful, and will bring Restoration, R3, in His own way, and in His own good time. Without a battle, there can be no victory … without a race, there can be no winner. And we all want to win the race set before us. We may not enjoy the process of the battle or the race, but we sure do enjoy that victory … the plaudit of success. God wants us to have that victory so that we can move on and develop into mature Christians. We have to move from "milk" to "solid food," and the Reversal process is where we are weaned! In your Christian walk, you will be able to discern the "3 R" pattern in both big and small affairs, and in both the short and long term. Look for it - then when you come before a situation of Reversal, you would know that it is just a phase that will pass! This "3 Rs" concept is not being presented as any sort of major "Biblical doctrine," but rather as something practical that will help you in your daily life, and help you see the "big picture" often when you are mired in the clay and can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is a concept that resonated within me the moment I heard it, because it explained so many things that had gone on in my own Christian life. I was indeed only too familiar with R2 … we were old acquaintances. In the next "Breakthrough Word", I will tell the story of one of my own personal "3 Rs" experiences, one that dramatically and vividly illustrates the truth of the concept. In that episode, you will follow my story as I go from the "mountaintop high" of a major personal Revelation, to the dismal depths of a frustrating and utterly discouraging Reversal, and then move on to an amazing God-inspired Restoration that ultimately impacted a city and a nation!>>>
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