od ordains our life
experience. Some people may now believe in a personal God but looking
back after coming to a True knowledge of God will explain your life's meaning
according to His calling on you as a minister of the Gospel. There are very few people who cannot relate to another’s personal
loss. We deal with personal tragedy frequently. People need an extraordinary
amount of encouragement to get them to openly expose the wounds. Most people
need help getting through life’s anguish when tragedy strikes. Though we may
undergo a similar tragedy every individual experiences different
repercussions. The answers to the questions they ask must look in depth
through their grief, sorrow, and false guilt - to one of hope.
Opening up and
being vulnerable catches most people off guard. Some people will not open up
to you, so we can pray to God to help them through life’s challenges and bring
someone into their life to assist them. We can pray God will help them to
accept the changes that are necessary to find peace and harmony again.
One of our
greatest errors we make as Christians is to get locked into preconceived ideas
and vain imaginations. We are exposed to flawed thinking patterns from our
past and we hold onto them without reason. The reason that we hold on to
these concepts is that we are comfortable with them. To be healed we need to
challenge our patterns of thinking.
Is God cruel?
A non-believer may believe God is cruel in their first encounter with death.
Grief and anger are a normal response in death, especially of a loved one.
Looking at my own concept of God's very nature led to personal reflection. Is
God cruel? After one of my first encounters with death, when my brother died
suddenly in an auto accident, I blamed God. The reason John died wasn't
apparent since I had no idea how God’s providential care works out all things
for our good. At the time I was on a self-destructive bent with drugs. After
several years of reflection my mother and I talked about the reasons John was
taken home. She realized one of the reasons God intervened in our lives in
this tragedy was to get me to confront my problems. She attributed his death
to the way God got our attention onto the family’s problems. My brothers'
death forced my family to deal with our mortality. I had not faced my own
mortality at the time. I did begin a quest after his death for truth and
Jesus found me. I had questioned the motives of God's heart, and whether He
is truly a loving God. As if God was just a disinterested party waiting to
judge me for my own sins. Fortunately, I discovered He is a loving God and am
turning my life over to Him.
The disparity
between knowing about God and knowing Jesus as my Lord, my Savior and Life is
what true balance is all about. It is as if God wrote a harmony to the melody
that I was listening to. At times, I'm perfectly in tune and at other times
it is how I think I sound when I sing, which is fair.
Experience Life
Practice,
practice, practice! No, this is my life, and I know we only get one
performance in life. So, we are challenged with the question, "How many times
do you want to go around the mountain?" Do we really want to know God's will
for our life? Or, will we choose to continue down the ‘road of hard knocks’.
Another way to look at our relationship with God is to ask ourselves, ‘Are we
working for God or are we working with God?’ How many times will we do it
wrong before we do it right?
Let’s just face
the truth. We are driven! More, more, more - toys, houses, boats, cars,
guns-bigger, better, best. We not only want to keep up with the Jones, we
have to be the Jones.
The Church is
often caught by the performance trap. We are no different; we are not exempt
from worldly temptations. We, the called out ones can help generate the
second reformation. We do not need bigger cathedrals, more lavish pews, or
the best pulpit. The answer is bigger Christians, people who put their faith
in God and share in the sufferings of Christ. We need people who believe God,
meaning obedient followers, rather than professing confessors who just believe
‘in’ God. The Scriptures reveal we are not all equal in God's sight. We must
choose to walk the narrow way. We are without exception. We are all
dependent upon God's grace to deliver us from this evil age and its
temptations.
Are you
crucified with Christ? Is Galatians 2:20 part of our reality or do we just
know the story of our Holy Bible. Will you come to the end of yourself as
Jacob did? It is written, "He who began a good work in you will be faithful
to complete it." The Abundant Life, the Victorious Life or the Exchanged Life
- came to the men and women of faith, only after their co-crucifixion with
Christ. We have to accept the truth about ourselves before God can really
change us. Accepting the truth means we are obedient.
A friend often
comes up with notable quips about this way of walking with God. When He knows
we need and are ready for a change, she says, "He'll smoke you out!". We all
have to adjust our way of thinking, so we might as well get used to, "on-going
change". Growing pains are inevitable.
As a garage
sale junkie my motto was, 'One man's trash is another mans' treasure!' Now I
find more freedom in what I don't have, as opposed to what I have to do to
maintain what I have. My mind is set on things above, as opposed to the
things of this world. I chose to believe the sufferings of the present world
are not worthy of the glory that will be revealed in us in the one to come.
My victory comes in knowing that God is able to work out all things for my
good. Jamie Owens, a contemporary gospel singer wrote a song with a lyric
twenty years ago that still rings true today. The words simply say, "the hard
times make it good." I've learned to treasure the times God carries me
through.
The author
expounds upon this reality; life is a parody of good and evil. Faith in God
believes that He will work out the evil for our good, i.e.; the Bosnian
orphans that a childless couple adopted! So the challenge is to believe God
and trust Him to complete the work He even when we cannot see the outcome.
I have to give
some credence to the television series, “The Twilight Zone” where Rod Serling brought a
challenge to the logical thought processes of the cognitive thinker. “Deep
speaks unto deep. Who knows the mind of God?”
"Why? Why me?
Why God?" All of these questions will be answered on the other side of
eternity. For now, we have to settle on the fact that God wants us to be
conformed unto the likeness of His Son. We are asked to trust God; perhaps we
should ask the right questions to get our answers. Instead of being drawn
into expository rhetoric and analytical self-examination we should be asking,
"What are we going to do with our life?" Why is the obvious so elusive?
Shouldn't we be asking ,"What now, God?" Perhaps we should make a life-long
covenant with God as we seek to dutifully obey His commands.
Help is on the
way when we trust in God again. Faith gives significance to our life, despite
the pain and suffering. Though we travel by ourselves, we will never be
alone. When life turns tragic, we can free ourselves from the shackles of
self-will and find freedom to praise God when we trust in Him.
Is the
following question, "What is the object of our faith?" the right question?
Do we trust in things or do we trust in a personal God? Do we trust God only
when it suites us or as long as we understand the blessing? My personal
examination of Job's affairs opened up the enigma's puzzle. God's people do
get hurt, so how do we rationalize our own frail theology? When life turns
tragic and we are no longer assured of God's blessing throughout life, will we
still serve God?
When tragedy
strikes, God will comfort those who mourn who trust in a personal Savior. We
do not need to rationalize, ‘What did we do to allow such a calamity?’ We
know we only need to ask, ‘Why?’ then God will show compassion to those who
are His in due time reveal the truth. Those who suffer with Christ learn how
to reveal the love of God by sharing His healing presence to put an end to
their grief. God will carry us through this life’s tragedies when we learn to
‘exchange’ our strength for His.
When people
cannot find an adequate explanation for their plight and they feel
abandonment, their solution is often flight. We often isolate ourselves from
friends and feel lonely because we cannot sense the presence of God.
Bitterness towards God is at the door because we believe He is ultimately
responsible for our pain and suffering. While we cannot understand the reason
for our perils, we may feel God has abandoned us. In reality He is drawing us
closer to Himself. Our suffering has a purpose in God's larger plan. Because
God is sovereign He choose the way and ordains our experiences to conform us
into the image of His Son. ‘Those who are led of the Spirit are the Sons of
God.’ - Romans 8:16
Hurt people
hurt people! The reverse of this axiom is also true: Healed helpers heal
helpers. We are asked, "Do we want to be made whole?", and, "Will you be made
whole?"
If confession
is good for the soul, it's necessary for spiritual growth. The time has come
to confront the foibles of the "feel so fine Jesus is mine" members of the
church. We need to accept one another and our different spiritual styles of
expression. It is okay to express our heart's ache. Confession is good for
the soul even when it is not a popular one. We need to bring to light the
anguish of our souls so the "healers" can help the "hurting souls". We do not
know what tragedies will visit us. Only God knows why the visitor comes to
us. God allows the visitor to come, so that when the night is over and the
new day breaks forth, we will begin our journey in the ministry of
encouragement.
The night is as
natural as the evening of the first day. God ordained it too! It's always
darkest before the dawn. When the light goes out, what are we to do? Keep
trusting in Jesus, run to Him, for He is the light of the world. We are not
told to bring any other light into our life. It would only serve to hamper
the purpose of God in allowing the tragedy. We are not to seek any other
source than what God has revealed through His Word.
Instead of
spiraling down, we are to persevere under pressure. We are to lift up our
heads from where our deliverance comes. There is a chorus which entreats us
to, "Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your many blessings see
what God has done". Memories resurrect feelings and, can be controlled when
we choose to live according to the facts and faith in God. To our comfort,
God’s Word reminds us to remember God's blessings in the face of adversity.
We need to spiral upwards to overcome the emotional downturns.
In dealing with
disappointment, we can be reminded how often our wants vary from our needs and
God's will for our life. We are encouraged to accept His will as it unfolds
step by step. Were we given this opportunity to accept God's plan for our
life? Are we to ask God, "What is your will for my life?" Have we come to a
place of personal trust in God? Do we have faith in God to take us through
each trial and tribulation? God desires that we have faith for tomorrow
because Jesus has taken us through once unknown and uncharted seas. We who
have been given much need to share what the Lord has already done for us. We
are here for our brothers and sisters, to comfort those who mourn, carry those
who cannot walk, and restore those who have lost touch with God's grace in
their time of need.
"And they
overcame him (the Devil) by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of their
testimony. And they loved not their lives unto their death, they loved not
their lives unto death." This chorus that we sing from Revelations 12:11-12,
is an eye opener for a lot of reasons. It reveals that our testimony is part
of what overcomes our adversary. Testifying is vocal, it is an act of the
will and reveals the thoughts and intents of the heart. When we voice our
praise for what God has done, the gift of faith is released to those who have
ears to hear. Faith comes by hearing and by hearing the Word of God. Faith
may come to those who hear what God has done for us because of our obedience
to and hearing His Word.
Memories can
serve us well, as when we are overcome by some disappointment or disaster, we
need to remember what God has done for us. This remembrance will sustain us,
when we forget to ask the right question, "What now, God?". The prescription
remains the same when we are asked, "Do we still trust Him?". If our memories
serve us correctly, the answer is an unequivocal "Yes!". God is awesome and
so is His care for us.
When we want
guidance, are we already predisposed to have our own way? When we pray, are
we just asking for God's stamp of approval? 'Yes', and, 'Probably', would
be honest answers. We can have some great ideas, but they may not bring us
into God's will for our lives. Wisdom would dictate that we should always
pray asking for God's will for our lives, after all, the Father knows best.
How many of us dare to pray this way, I wonder?
We are given an
excellent example of God's forethought. King David wanted to build a temple
for God, but he was a warrior. So God knowing how disappointed David would
be, told him to remember all of God's blessings in his life through His
prophet Nathan. In all of David's rejoicing, he overcame the sorrow because
of what God had already done in David's life. This motivated David so much
that he prepared everything in advance for his son, Solomon, who would build a
temple for the Lord. So, knowing God's perfect will and doing His will seems
to make our own belief system and theology ambiguous. God is bigger than the
box most of us put Him in. This example is another reason why we should
desire a broken and contrite heart before God. We will never out grow the
need for God's grace and providential care.
The thoughts
and intents of our heart are known only by God. We do well to keep them pure
and set apart for His purposes. Unfortunately, when bad things happen to good
people, they judge God, and when good things happen to bad people, we judge
God. We all need to learn that it is not to punish or bless us that good or
bad things happen to us. Events are caused by His Word so, in the end, God's
will is going to be accomplished. Our comfort comes, Romans, 8:28, 'And we
know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are called according to His purpose.' He knows our
sufferings. Shall be accept only the good and praise God, or, shall we praise
God in all things? He wants us to love Him for Himself, not for what He can
do for us or give us. Does suffering make any sense? Yes, if we consider
that it draws us closer to Christ. He wants us to put our trust in Him, not
in things. Our relationship with Him should be the object of our faith. When
we have been tried, our hearts will not condemn us, if our faith is in Him.
Providence says that God
knows everything that is going to happen and plans accordingly, so that "all
things" will work out for my own good. While persevering under pressure is
what establishes our character and faith in Him, He works out the not so minor
details. Our trials and tribulations are build up our faith when we trust in
God to continue the work He has begun in us. Through His Word, we know that
His will for us is to be conformed into a reflection of His Son. Knowing
this, we can believe God as the trials of life unfold and each step is guided
through the way of the cross, His Word and His Spirit. This is living by
faith, not by sight.
Everyone needs
to know that the life of a Christian is like a walk in the rose garden. The
only problem with this is a lot of believers are not told about the thorns.
My opinion of suffering is that it was necessary for my good and the good of
the church, the body of Christ, to see what life as a believer is really all
about. It is not in the blessings we accept, but in how we accept the
tragedies that shows our faith in God. To improve our life we need to reveal
more of our personal reflections and how we worked through the accusations we
encountered and how we overcame them. We can help others understand when
heaven seems silent; those who suffered through depression can help others
while their friends and family go through trials or tribulation.