Have you suffered lately?

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice”.

Philippians 4:4

There is little doubt in my mind that Paul was an optimist.  The Pauline Epistles are an amazing collection of encouraging words written to a people who at the time needed a lot of encouragement.  In the early church Christians died for their faith and beliefs as a common occurrence.  Our Brothers and Sisters from that era were often used as sport and feed to lions in public displays at the Coliseum.  Early Church records reference groups of Christians huddling together in prayer, as the lions attacked their cries of joy and prayer were often heard over the screams of pain.  The Roman Emperor Nero is said to have coated Christians in pitch and burned them alive to light his garden at night and better see the chariot races that took place for his enjoyment.  I know that I wouldn’t want to trade places with those in the past and they would probably laugh at what I call suffering.

And Paul gave us a little glimpse of how easy his life was in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 and here is a quick list of his joy:

·         whipped with 39 lashes (5 different times)
·         beaten with rods (3 different times)
·         pummeled with stones (1 time)
·         shipwrecked (3 times)
·         adrift at sea (one night, one day)
·         journeys (frequent)
·         danger from rivers
·         danger from robbers
·         danger from his own people
·         danger from Gentiles
·         danger in the city
·         danger in the wilderness
·         danger at sea
·         danger from false brothers
·         toil and hardship
·         sleepless nights (many)
·         hungry and thirsty (often)
·         cold and exposed
·         the pressure of anxiety for all the churches (daily)

And the reason Paul found joy in these things was that his circumstance forced him to turn to God.  Joy is a gift from God and it doesn't depend upon circumstances but found in Jesus' unchanging character and promises.   Jesus is the only way to true strength and the power to endure ANY circumstance.  Paul found his joy in Christ, not life and we all need to look beyond the present, finding joy in the promise of our future – Heaven.  That’s a good trade any day.

While our problems today don't compare to those of the early Church, they are still very real to us and have very real impact on our lives.  So how do we deal with them, how do we find joy in all things like Paul did?  When I find myself in a bad spot looking for the good in a specific season of my life I find tremendous comfort in the follow verse:

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

John 15:9-11

I like knowing that Christ takes a personal interest in my joy and He offers it freely if only I choose to receive it.

Be blessed today!

Jeff

Barrier to prayer

I took this down recently but have decided to repost it due to a LARGE number of request...

Recently a friend asked me to pray for them in reference to some trouble they were having with their “Ex”. Of course me being me, I felt the need to add response to their email in addition to adding the appeal to my prayer list. Hand out some good Godly advice before I got to their request.

I made some good suggestions and my reply was full of Biblically sound advice. Pray for them no matter how hard it may be. Satan can and does use the unsaved to mess with our lives. Ask that God give you, and them, direction. Concentrate on being the parent you need to be – not them. I even referenced a difficult situation I had recently with my Ex that I didn’t feel was right. I made sure to include that I had approached God in prayer for them even though with some difficulty. In other words – You think you have it bad, listen to this!

Feeling pretty good about what I offered up I pressed the send button.

Before I shut my laptop I noticed a daily devotional from Greg Laurie that I read everyday titled "Barrier to prayer" in my inbox. I always like reading his stuff and opened it up. Little did I know it would have the effect on me that it did.

The barrier to prayer was forgiveness.

Reading through this devotional about forgiveness was a very humbling experience for me. See my friend had described a scenario that I felt needed to be addressed with prayer because I had been handling a similar situation that way. (I have a bad habit of thinking I know all the answers sometimes, OK – all the time) Like most devotionals this one was lead into by scripture:

So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

Matthew 5:23-24 NLT

I do pray for my Ex-wife frequently but it wasn't until I read that devotional that I realized that while I had forgiven her in the past, I was harboring new resentment that had re-ignited the old. All the prayer for her soul was being muffled by a mountain of resentment. I felt like I was making a sacrifice by praying for her, but as the scripture said - God would rather I leave that at the altar and forgive her.

I had told my fried the ONLY thing you can do FOR your Ex was pray for them. I was wrong. As much as we should pray for the "difficult" people in our lives, we also have to forgive them. Even if they haven't asked or think they need forgiving.

The entire premise of being a follower of Christ hinges on forgiveness. I forgot to put that at the top of the list of things He has done for me and it usually makes the bottom of the list of things I want to do.

Being passionate for Christ comes easy to me. Loving Christ comes naturally when I see Him working in and improving my life. And learning about Christ is awesome. Being humbled by Christ hurts a little bit, but I always welcome it, most of the time after the fact. But forgiving like Christ forgave me – not so much. And forgiveness is what allows everything else to be fully engaged. Without forgiveness we can't experience the fullness of God or be blessed to the extent He wants to bless us. God expects us to do the same thing for others that He did for us.

I keep all the lessons, sermons and devotionals I’ve written over the past few years in a file and can access them by different topics. I searched “forgiveness” and found something I wrote in the series for the “One Month To Live” challenge:

"Forgiveness isn't about you and them-it's about you and Him"

 

I love how God chooses to reveal Himself in my life. This time He made sure that little devotional about forgiveness was in my inbox right after I gave someone what I thought was good advice. God’s way of telling me I don’t know it all. Love that.

I asked God to help me forgive my ex-wife this morning –again. Maybe He can get to work on her soul now that He can hear my prayer...

Do you have anyone you might need to forgive or ask forgiveness of?

 

Blessed only by Christ love,

 

Jeff

The Living Bible

I have a secret that not many people know about, until now I guess. I’m what’s known as a Bible Geek. If you've never heard that term before it’s not surprising because it’s not widespread in use. But a Bible Geek is someone who collects Bibles. I won’t tell you how many I have because you would probably consider me ridiculous after hearing the number but suffice to say, it’s a bunch of em.

When people come to my place or even my office and see that I have so many Bibles they are usually a little shocked. I’ve become very good at justifying my habit to others and once I get through my spiel they usually start asking Bible related questions. Almost everyone ask “So which one is your favorite”? I never know how to answer that because if I keep a Bible I really like it. See I have given away a lot more Bibles than I own, usually with the Book of John marked with the ribbon and a note with my phone number to call me with any questions. But in order to explain which Bible is my favorite? I need to share a little story 1st…




His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college.


He is brilliant. He is kind of profound and very, very bright. He became a Christian while attending college.


Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students but are not sure how to go about it.


One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and his wild hair. The service has already started, so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat.


The church is completely packed and he can't find a seat. By now, people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything.


Bill gets closer and closer to the pulpit. When he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet.


By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.

About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill.


Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and is wearing a three-piece suit. He is a godly man — very elegant, very dignified, and very courtly. He walks with a cane. As he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves that you can't blame him for what he's going to do.


How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?


It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy.


The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man's cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can't even hear anyone breathing. The minister can't even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do.


When the deacon finally reaches Bill, the church watches as this elderly man drops his cane on the floor. With great difficulty, he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships with him so he won't be alone.


Everyone chokes up with emotion.


When the minister gains control, he says, "What I'm about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget."




So what is my favorite Bible? It’s the Living Bible, the Bible that I hope we all represent to those who may never have read one.


I think our greatest shortcoming as Christians can be how we interact with those we consider of the “World”. But the truth is we were all part of that world until “something” happened and that “something” was usually a “someone”.


As you go through your day and week think about that "someone" who made the difference in how you looked towards the faith you now have. Think about the way you perceived them at the time. Would someone that didn’t have Christ in their life perceive you that way?


Be careful how you live and how others see your life if you make it known that you follow Christ. You may be the only Bible some people will ever read.


Grace and peace,


Jeff