Question about Randall's talk from Friday 5th

Hey cool kids!

So, I've been thinking about all the groovy things Randall talked about on Friday, about GROWing and Jesus being asleep in the boat beside us during challenges and stuff...
BUT!
I just keep coming back to one question, and I think asking it here would probably benefit a few other people, so I'm going to risk sounding a bit dull but i don't care

So, question is, how can we tell whether Jesus is just asleep in the boat next to us (and giving us an oppurtunity to be strengthened), or whether our problem is from the devil and is like temptation or something? And how do we react if it is a problem from the devil? Are we then able to ask God to minimise the problem, or do we ask God to help us be stronger to overcome it, or something else

Feel free to answer or post any other questions you had about the talk
Thanks and stay awesome everyone!

thats a really good question Kate i was sorta thinking along the same lines as that
i find that if you break things up then it's easier to understand...
Obviously Jesus will always be there for us and we just need to believe in him and that he will protect us. Usually when a problem starts you have a few different ways of working on it= eg. if your having trouble at school with a friend it is best to talk to them about it then to mull it over in your head because then the situation just gets bigger and more challenging to face.

The devil has many different ways to get to people and yes sometimes its hard to not fall into his trap. a couple of weeks ago Pastor Jim was talking about temptation and how its the devil trying to get to us and sometimes makes us do silly things that we wouldn't normally do and soon after that we realise what we have done and it's too late to fix it.

okay so say you're on a path and you come to a fork in the road. one way is happy and has everything you could ever want and the other is a narrow road which is hard to walk on but it could lead to something great but you dont know that, so you take the first road which in fact represents the devils work because your not working hard for the things you get. I guess what im saying is that you have a choice. the high road that is easy and everyone takes, or the narrow road which can be hard to stay on (Matthew 7:13- the narrow gate).

God sent us on this journey for a reason and he knew that there would be times where we face trouble however he will always be there for us no matter what because he loves us and is there to carry us and lead us away from the devil and his wrong doings.

this is a great poem that i think of whenever im in a time of need to talk to god...

Footsteps

One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking along
the beach with the Lord.

Across the dark sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed
two sets of footprints in the sand,
one beloning to him and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of his life
there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened at the
very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it.

"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life there is
only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why when I needed you most
you would leave me."

The Lord replied "My precious, precious child,
I love you and would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffereing,
when you see only one set of footprints in the sand,
it was then that I carried you."

i hope that answers some of your question and helps you understand a bit more.


I love you