Did ya miss the suffering?

I get the feeling sometimes that when people are encouraged to trust God to see them thru a drought or heartache in their lives that they expect it to happen without suffering.  And if they suffer the response is God is with you He's not with me.  Really? Un-cloud  that thinking Lord.  

There are many Biblical examples of heroes and they all suffered. Take Joseph for instance.  He was kidnapped by his jealous brothers, thrown in a cistern, sold into slavery, promoted to the man in charge. Life was going smooth when he was falsely accused, thrown into prison and forgotten for years. YEARS! Never doubting God through it all he was released from prison and rose to fame, fortune and ultimately able to save his family that was facing drought doom. (Genesis 37, 39 to 45). 

Who can forget the romantic tale of two sisters and the one man they love. Leah becomes Jacob's first wife and from her son, Judah, comes the line of David and Jesus. The love affair of Jacob and Rachel, as well as the love of the sisters for each other, lasted despite desperate circumstances. These sisters shared a home, a husband, and a history. They must have developed great inner peace to live together for decades. That, in itself, is a tribute to the women who raised the twelve sons who became the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel.  (Genesis 29-35) 

You might be very familiar with those examples and think yes but in reality: Joseph was a bit of a brat, Leah was sneaky,  Rachel pms'd a lot and Jacob had been deceptive in business. Ok those were normal people what about Job? God knew that Job was a righteous man, but satan opted to test his character. After Job was put through the fire, his character was undeniable. Job was able to maintain his faith in God and emerge even stronger and he lost everything. (Book of Job) 

No man in all of time, ever suffered as much as Jesus. He was bruised, beaten, rejected, scorned, and He carried the weight of the sins of the world. God even turned His back on Him, and yet still… Christ persevered. He finished His work. He is our ultimate example of heroism, with all that He endured. 

A pearl to string: Not going to get through this earth life without suffering.  Expect it because the thrill of victory is so quickly replaced with the agony of defeat.  The distance between a great victory and a great defeat is only one step. One sad truth of reality in a fallen world is that we can be riding high on the cloud of some great spiritual success and the very next moment find ourselves in a valley of spiritual failure and despair. The good news is our suffering is temporal and the harvest that suffering produces is eternal.  

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” (1 Peter 5:10) 

Be encouraged

you are loved,

                Lyndi

Anger Hunt

Some Christians can be as mad as a pit bull chewing bumblebees and still excuse their temper by saying that it is just the way they are. They take a perverse pride in being outspoken and honest. One man told his pastor, "I know I have a bad temper. I suppose that is my cross." His pastor said, "That is not your cross. It is your wife's cross. And it is your sin!" 

Anger? Sin? I get angry... am I sinning?  You never think so when it's you spewing bumblebees. I'm going on an anger hunt.  I want to find out what God says about this anger thing because I know He gave us the emotion. I also know I want to take captive any unrighteousness in my life.  I want to be in right standing with God.

Not all anger is sin, but some is. Just as lust is often confused with love, so the two sides of anger are misunderstood. Lust and love are powerful emotions of attraction: one to get something, the other to give something. Anger is a powerful emotion of resistance which also has two sides: selfish and selfless. Both sides, however, are expressed by the same word.

Two Greek words are used in the New Testament for our English word “anger.” One means “passion, energy” and the other means “agitated, boiling.” Biblically, anger is God-given energy intended to help us solve problems not anger involved self-defense, but a defense of others or of a principle.

A pearl to string: As I'm writing self-defense just leaps off the page.  Defending self....hmmm what does that really mean? Someone hurt me.... so I'll get angry?  It's not going my way...so I'll get angry?  That's not how or what I think or believe .... so I'll get angry?  Oh, oh, oh that was disrespectful to me.... so I'll get angry? The culture we live in has so radically changed from my youth.  It's topsy turvy and loosey goosey on every level so I'll get angry?  The government is not doing what I want.... people are not doing what I want..... church isn't doing what I want..... so I'll get angry? Really? Do any of us have a right to self righteous anger?  We have the right to defend ourselves just not in anger.   How can we be 'good and mad'?  Jesus shows us how. Unlike most of us, he was never angry at wrong done to himself. Even while he was hanging on the cross he said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". I've got some work to do with the Lord.

 Anger turns to sin when it is selfishly motivated: "...for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life God desires" (James 1:20).

 Oh my, we need the Lord,

                                    Lyndi

Are You Waiting To Be Called?

Pastor David Langerfeld tells a story of when the telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication.  A young man applied for a job as a Morse Code operator.  Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office address that was listed.

When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sound of the telegraph in the background. A sign on the receptionist's counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office.

The young man filled out his form and sat down with the seven other applicants in the waiting area. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in.

Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They muttered among themselves that they hadn't heard any summons yet.  They assumed that the young man who went into the office made a mistake and would be disqualified.

Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other applicants, "Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has just been filled."

The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and one spoke up saying, "Wait a minute, I don't understand. He was the last to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That's not fair!"

The employer said, "I'm sorry, but the last several minutes while you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code: 'If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.' None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his."

A pearl to string: We are so busy, living in a world that is full of noise and clatter, just like that office. People are distracted and unable to hear the still, small voice of God as He speaks in His creation, in His Scriptures, and most of all, in and through His Son Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.

So I ask you, as I ask myself, "Are we listening, or are we waiting to be called? Do you hear the Lord when he speaks to you?  Is your spiritual ear attuned to Him or are you blocked from hearing His voice because you're focused on all the other voices in your life?

"The sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. (John 10:27) 

In Him you are loved,

                             Lyndi

Take a Love Break

Find a quiet spot, maybe it's just closing your eyes right where you are to shut the world off.  Take a very deep cleansing breath inhale through your nose and slowly exhale through pursed lips.  Willfully release the burdens of your day. As if you could actually hold them all in your hands... open your palms up wide.  Let go of all the unmet expectations that caused the frustrations and disappointments that were like lightening strikes to your soul... let them go.  Take another deep cleansing breath.  Now the judgments that grow into resentment that ignite like a match to a dry forest and burn out of control... give those over... all of them.  Cease striving, "Be still, and know that I am God...". (Ps 46:10)  Just listen to your heart beat and breathe for 3 minutes. Feel your heart beat... isn't it miraculous?  God did that.  He created that heart and put it into every breathing being. 

When releasing our burdens to the Lord we become an empty vessel ready to receive.  Guard your freshly emptied heart.  To complete a love break one needs to fill the emptiness with love.  It just so happens that... God is love.

 
Jesus said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture said, streams of living water will flow from within him." (John 7:37-38)
 

A pearl to string:  Streams of water -- living water for dying hopes, cool water for parched hearts, refreshing water for those tired and weary. This is, of course, much more than a liquid we can drink with our lips. This is the ultimate water of the soul that God longs to give to us, his children.

 

Let us refresh ourselves with the promises of Jesus.

In drawing close to him, the Spirit will restore our soul.
Now that.... is love,
                         Lyndi

 A few promises to contemplate:

~That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame...for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:9-13)
~You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. (John 15:3,4)
~says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)
~being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
~Jesus says, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." (John 10:27-30)