Embrace it

"If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart."

— Oswald Chambers

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you endure trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
— James 1: 2-4

"It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn your decrees." - Psalm 119:71

Cares For Me

God's Spirit goes ahead and guides me. Other people who have thrown themselves into the River of God have been pushed by the Spirit to intercept my paths and carry me back to my Father.

The enemy tried to knock me down, but he knocked me into the River. Now I'm sinking in God's grace and being carried along faster and further than I can go on my own. I'm being carried to places too wonderful for me, seeing things angels long to look into, tasting grace I didn't earn.

The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him. Or in my case, He cares for those who are rebellious but who will come to trust in Him someday. God tells His people "Now I will break the yoke from your neck and tear your shackles away." He's a God who sets us free. An invitation has been extended and the offer for salvation is on the table of the Lord. Not just salvation from sin, but salvation from the fruit of sin: suffering, worry, rage, shame, regret.

The River is the only way to the table and it starts at the cross.

Bad News

My last post dealt with healing. And while I mostly intended to address spiritual healing, physical healing does take place. But not all the time. That's what I'm writing about today—the times when God doesn't answer in the ways we would like or provide the outcome we hoped for. Times when your career falls apart and there's no way to fix it. Or when a relationship ends and all chances of reconciliation goes out the window. Or when a prognosis isn't what you hoped for.

God is sovereign. He can do whatever He wants, to whomever He wants, whenever He wants. His plan is always perfect, even if we don't understand it. Sometimes He will crush all hope in one area of our lives in order to divert our attention to His plan.

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”  - 2 Kings: 20:1

God didn't sugar coat His news for King Hezekiah. He told him flat-out "you will not recover". Sometimes we work towards a lost cause, pouring so much effort into something that just isn't meant to be. It can be heartbreaking, but God has a purpose.

Personally, I've suffered through trials like that. I've never experienced impending death as Hezekiah did, but dreams of mine have died. I was involved in a long-term relationship. Despite years of effort trying to save things, it continued to crumble. I thought the relationship could be salvaged, but eventually came to realize that it "will not recover". I could continue to agonize over it, torture myself by clinging to a false hope that somehow it will work out. But that doesn't always happen. Sometimes it's best to move on and trust that God's plan, although unseen, is better than our own.

The modern cliche "you can do anything if you put your mind to it" attitude can cause us to force our lives in a direction contrary to God's plan for us. We might be trying to become something He never created us to be. Imagine if King Hezekiah thought there was a chance he could recover. He may have spent all of the kingdom's money on searching for doctors from all over Israel and the surrounding territories. He could have exhausted all their resources on a lost cause. But God, in His mercy, gave insight into the future.

"You will not recover".

God sees beyond what we can see. He knows that death is not the end.

Hezekiah was a good guy. If you read through the two books of Kings, there were a lot of terrible rulers in Israel and Judah. A lot. But Hezekiah wasn't one of them. He sought God and served Him faithfully during His life. Yet still, he would not recover. Being a disciple of Christ doesn't give you a free pass on pain. It doesn't grant all your wishes or put you in the express lane to success. What it does give you, though, is the assurance that there is hope for peace and joy in the midst of all that. Because of Christ's resurrection, we know that nothing, not even death, can conquer God or stop Him from doing His will. And His will is to do good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28). In His time, in His way, He will do good.

Running The Race: Tough Parts

My previous post talked about how exciting and simple the beginning of a race seems. Unfortunately, after the race has started and you have a few miles under your belt, the ease seems to evaporate. When sweat is pouring from your forehead and you're faced with a daunting hill, you might start to question why you ever decided to run the race at all.

As the apostle Paul pointed out several times in his epistles, the life of a disciple of Christ is quite similar to a running race. This, unfortunately, means that a Christian's life will have tough parts. We'll experience fatigue, pain, and perhaps question our decision to ever run this race.

"In this world, you will have trouble." - John 16:33

This is one of the most difficult to swallow promises that Jesus makes. We love promises about God's faithfulness and mercy, but this promise is just as true as the rest of them. As sure as a runner will break a sweat, a true disciple of Christ will experience trouble.

We can learn from running how to deal with these times of trouble. When we approach a trial with a godly point of view, it is a blessing rather than a hindrance. Running, just like any other form of exercise, it makes you stronger. The same principle applies to our Christian lives. James tells us to "consider it pure joy... whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." (James 2:2-3) We develop spiritual endurance and perseverance by enduring those "hills". Again, Psalm 119:71 tells us a similar story:

"It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees."

Our suffering, though painful, provides us a chance to grow and learn more about God. Without affliction, we can't experience God's healing. Without being broken by sin, we can't fully understand His grace. Taking this mindset can provide a major advantage in getting through our trials.

When tackling a steep hill while running, the runner's attitude can make the difference between making it to the top of the hill or collapsing halfway up. In terms of racing, I've been trained to think about reaching the top and coasting down the other side as opposed to thinking about the pain of going up. Similarly, when life puts a hill in your way, you have a choice to focus on the problem or focus on God pulling you through.

The story of David and Goliath has been beaten to death so much that it's a cliche for overcoming trials. But the method used by David to overcome his giant is the same one you and I can use. He focused on God and not on the giant. When all of Israel's army was looking at Goliath and his size, they were terrified and unable to defeat him. But David steps in, and he doesn't talk about Goliath. He talks about God.

"I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel... This is the day the Lord will hand you over to me... the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel... the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give all of you into our hands" - 1 Samuel 17:45-47

In the passage above, I've bolded each time David mentions God. Seven times in once speech. How many times do the other soldiers mention God? Zero. They're too busy worrying about how big Goliath is. When you forget God and focus on the problem, you often get paralyzed with fear and can't defeat the giant. But when you focus on God, your Goliath doesn't stand a chance. God is massive! If you're staring at Him, any hill in your way will look tiny in comparison.

Another strategy that many runners use when tackling hills is to change their stride. They slow down a little and take shorter strides. This helps them maintain their energy to make it through. When life gives you a hill, slow down. Rest!

Without rest, we have no peace.

"I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.” - Job 3:26

"Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest."- Psalm 55:5-6

God has designed us to rest, in fact He commands us to take a day of rest. Daily, we are invited to rest in Him. This is even more important during times of struggle.

"My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." - Exodus 33:14

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." - Matthew 11:28-29

When you reach the tough parts of this Christian "run", make sure you slow down, focus on God, and experience His rest. Earlier, I mentioned Jesus' promise from John 16:33, that we would experience trouble in this world. The beautiful part comes at the end of that verse: "But take heart! I have overcome the world". God won't flatten your hills for you, but he'll help push you to the top.

Painful Obedience

I'm still trying to work out some kinks in this new blog... so I haven't written anything new. But here's an old post from 2005 in another blog I had:

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Who of us have always been a perfect Christian? Have you been perfectly obedient? No matter how good of a Christian we this we are , we are still disobedient from time to time. I'm guilty of it. But obedience is something that is greatly appreciated by God, and He'll reward you for it. He's been showing me that lately.

About a week ago, I was with some brothers and a sister, and something amazing happened during prayer. God showed me a verse, Acts 5.38-39, a verse that, since that day, has become very very familiar to me. Although I have read through Acts last summer, I had forgotten what happens in each chapter, so I really didn't know what to expect. A few of the believers that were with me at the time were really struggling with some stuff we were trying to do for God. We knew He wanted us to do something, but didn't know if it would be as good as we were hoping.This is what Acts 5.38-39 said: "therefore in the present case I advise you: leave these men alone! Let them go! If their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men. You will only find yourself fighting against God."

What more can you say when you've just been praying for God to make your work for Him go smoothly, than for God tosay to you through His word, "don't worry about it, nobody can stop you". Wow.

Anyways, I thought that since God was speaking to me through Acts, I figured this would be a good time to go back and study that book. Reading through the various stories and trials the early believers faced, I realized that they went through a similar pattern each time.

First- The believers faced a trial
Acts 5.17Thenthe high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18Theyarrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

Second- They were obedient to God
Acts 5.19Butduring the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors... 20"Go, stand in the temple courts," he said...21At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told..."

Third - God rescued them from the trial
Acts 5.40 They called the apostles ... and let them go.

The apostles learned from this that obeying God would definitely pay off from them, and the result of this experience led to bear more fruit for God. (Acts 5.42Dayafter day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.)

In Acts 7, there is the story of how Steven, a very faithful man, was put to death, because of his faith. Some may see this as a defeat, but Steven was being led by the Holy Spirit. He was filled with it! He knew how real and powerful God was, and knew that obedience would pay off. He was obedient right to death. We can only imagine what kinds of rewards he must be enjoying now in Heaven!

I'm still studying Acts and reading the remarkable stories about these first disciples and how they risked their lives daily to serve God,knowing that God's rewards were worth it to suffer the pain they recieved.