LIFE IS SOMETIMES DIFFICULT

 

How much do you trust God? I really
mean this, how much do you trust God? Do you believe that he cares for you? Do
you believe that no matter what happens in your life that he is right there
beside you? Do you believe that if you live faithfully he will someday take you
home to heaven? As Christians we must believe these things, because that is the
hope we have in life; that is what our faith is about!

 

Philip Yancey, in his book REACHING
FOR THE INVISIBLE GOD, tells of his father‑in‑law, a Bible teacher and
committed Christian. The older man’s faith troubled him in his final years. A
degenerative nerve disease confined him to bed, preventing him from sharing in
most of the activities he enjoyed. In addition to his own illness, his daughter
battled a debilitating form of diabetes.

 

During the most severe crisis, he
composed a Christmas letter and mailed it to family members and friends. He
expressed his uneasy feelings about many things he had once taught. What could
he believe with certainty? The old Bible teacher staked his faith on three
realities. Here is his list: “(1) Life
is difficult, (2) God is merciful,
(3) Heaven is sure.”

 

Is life difficult? Yes! It is
rarely any other way, but God's word assures us that we have a loving God who
is merciful to his children and that the promise of heaven is sure. We believe
it, because he said.

 

Jesus encouraged his disciples with
these words found in John 14:1-3:
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in
me. My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told
you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be
where I am."

 

Has that promise ever changed? No,
God's promise to us remains the same no matter what difficulties come into our
lives. The writer of Hebrews encourages us with these words. "Because God wanted to make the
unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised,
he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things
in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the
hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor
for the soul, firm and secure." (Hebrews 6:17-19).

 

What is the anchor for your soul during difficult times,
what is your hope? It must be the "unchangeable" promises of God,
because those are the only ones that really last!

What do you do with Father's Day?

Father's Day is traditionally a day on which we recognize
the efforts of our fathers to provide for and care for their families. Many
make this a special day with a special breakfast, phone calls to those who are
separated by miles or visits if you are near. Perhaps taking them out to eat
and even gifts to recognize them. That's great and I am thrilled that so many
are able to do that, it is as it should be. Deuteronomy 5:16  told the
Israelites (and the example travels on to us) "Honor your father and your
mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and
that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

 

There are inherent in this day some problems, the first of
which is that there are those of us whose fathers have passed from this life
and we can no longer let them know how much they were appreciated. That brings with
it another set of problems, as we sometimes get buried under a load of guilt
called, "I wish I had". "I wish I had been a better
son/daughter". "I wish I had told them…" We can honor them by
simply remembering them and living a life that would show honor in our own
lives.

 

Then there are some whose fathers are abusive, non-caring,
unloving or have even deserted their families. It's hard to show love to
someone like that. How do you love the unlovable?

 

And then there are some who never knew their father at all,
perhaps they died or departed or refused to accept the responsibility for them
before they were ever born. That brings about a position of choosing in our
lives. Choosing whether to love them (or at least not hate them). The Greek
word used most in the scripture for love is "agape" which literally
means to desire the best for someone. It doesn't have the meaning of embracing
or even desiring to be with someone, but to truly hope that all things work out
to their good, which of course would be for them to have their life right with
God, no matter what their situation.

 

So, sometimes even our fathers are unlovable, they are not
perfect, in fact sometimes they mess up big time and then what are we to do?
Maybe we should ask ourselves, "What would Jesus do?" You see, God
loves the unlovable; ("But God has made clear his love to us, in
that, when we were still sinners, Christ gave his life for us." Romans
5:8  BBE) Would you think then that
he would expect you and I to do anything less, not just on Father's Day, but
all days.

 

Whatever your situation, I pray that you will honor your
father while you have him with you. If you can't do that, then love them with a
love that hopes for the best for them in their relationship to God.

Dealing with stress

 

In 1999, 36 year old Akira Hareuya filed bankruptcy for his
electrical contracting business. He immediately bought a pair of boxing gloves
and went out on to the streets of Tokyo
with a plan. He knew that there were lots of very stressed people on the
streets of Tokyo
so for $9 a minute he would allow people to punch him. To further deal with
their stress they could yell at him as they punched him. The report said he
made about $200 per day doing this.

 

Have you ever had to deal with stress? It's a reality of
life isn't it, everyone has some kind of stress about something. How about you,
how do you deal with your stress? Some folks seem to do just fine; they let the
stress that enters their lives just roll over them, not seeming to affect them
at all. But, then there is the rest of us who don't cope quite as well
sometimes. Actually, I've found that how I deal with stress varies quite a bit
and is sometimes even coupled with my physical condition. If I am not feeling
well, then things seem to bother me that at other times would be no problem at
all.

 

I think the same principle can be applied to us on a
spiritual level also. If we are strong spiritually then we are not nearly as
stressed as when we struggle spiritually. Have you ever been to a meeting of
your church family or maybe a special meeting where lots of folks attended
where you were especially uplifted? Maybe you came away feeling that you could
handle almost anything that the world threw at you; depression wasn't an issue,
because you were so high on spiritual adrenalin.

 

Now we know that God's word encourages us to meet with other
Christians and that we are to encourage each other at all times. Why is it
then, that when we are stressed, depressed and discouraged, that we stay away
from church meetings and other Christians? In my experience it is because
others seem so perfect, so godly; so spiritual, that it makes us feel even
worse about ourselves. Now if that is true, then we have a real problem with
our perceptions of others, because I have yet to meet anyone who is not
struggling with something; we just are not aware of it. Paul writes in Romans 3:23, "For everyone has sinned; we all
fall short of God's glorious standard."

 

What
about getting rid of stress, how do we do it? Well, personally I'm still
working on that, but I have a direction to go in my life. Paul writes in Philippians 4:6-7, "Don't
worry about anything. Instead, tell God about everything. Ask and pray. Give
thanks to him. Then God's peace will watch over your hearts and your minds
because you belong to Christ Jesus." (NIrV) I'm working on
bringing more of God into my life all of the time through study, prayer and
association with others of like mind. What about you, do you have a plan?

 

 

 

 

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO RISK?

It was a small and rather poor town with a small and rather poor church, so poor they could not afford their own meeting place. The only place they could find to meet was on the lower floor of a dilapidated old building with a dance hall on the second floor. It was a terrible situation, as the dance hall was almost always full of people with loud music accompanied by the stomping of many feet and boisterous shouts.

One Sunday the church was meeting and the usual melee was going on above them. Suddenly there was a loud crack and plaster falling from the ceiling as well as the lower portion of a woman hanging through a hole in the ceiling.

Immediately the preacher called out, "Any man that raises his eyes to the ceiling will be struck blind by the lord." Dead silence descended upon the congregation as everyone wondered what would happen next. Then in a shaky quivering voice an old man in the back of the hall was heard to say, "Well, I think I might risk one eye anyway."

I know it's a humorous story, but it speaks to a very serious problem in our world and sadly in our churches today. We are constantly bombarded by nudity and fowl language in the sanctity of our own homes now. The television programs seem to be trying to push a liberal view of what is acceptable and what isn't. Honestly, we have had to turn off and stop watching several programs in the past year, because of the sinful content of the programs. They know that sex and nudity grabs people and causes them to watch the programs. They know exactly what they are doing, but not living lives guided by God they really don't care.

One of the problems is that it is possible to become hardened to what is being shown and honestly we don't realize that we have been watching something wicked. God demands that we change the way we think, act, live and what we allow to influence us.

Paul writing in Romans 6:1 reminds us of the transformation we made when we decided to serve Christ. Notice his words, because his question is still valid for us today:  "Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?"(NIV) The old King James Version says, "God Forbid" that we should do such a thing.

The problem with far too many of us is that we are "willing to risk one eye," to indulge in just a little sin. Yet, that's not the way it works with God. You must be either 100% for him or you are against him, you can't be lukewarm in your commitment or he will judge you as guilty, (Revelation 3:16). Your kids might scream and holler that they like that show and all of their friends watch it, but God expects us to live differently from the world. The Psalms perhaps say it best in Psalm 101:3 here the writer says simply, "I will set no wicked thing before my eyes."

As for me, I think I'll try my best to keep both eyes where they need to be

Change

We live in a world where (almost) everyone wants change. We
want to see new things, do new things, move to a new house, change jobs, learn
new things, experience new thrills, challenge ourselves to do things we have
never done before. Desiring change is not a bad thing, at least in regards to
most things.

 

One of the more familiar quotes we see from time to time is:
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've
always got." (Doug Caufmann). There is truth to that statement. If you
keep doing things the same way, you are not going to have change. Our society
seems to think that the lack of change is a bad thing, but is that always true?
Now, I'm no just being an "old foggy," who doesn't believe in change.
I love change in my life and expect it in our world. My wife and I have lived
in 7 states as well in Kenya,
East Africa. We love to experience new things
and different people. We embrace change in our lives for the most part.

 

However (you knew there would be a disclaimer didn't you), I
cannot and will not embrace change to God's church or God's Word. I've been
disappointed in churches and church leaders throughout our land who want to try
and make changes to God's church. They go to extremes to try and make
"church" more palatable to our young folks who desire change. And, if
they don't get the change they want, they go somewhere they can find it. It's
really not surprising, we were warned about it a couple of thousand years ago
when the Apostle Paul wrote a young preacher, Timothy. Notice what he said,
"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.
Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number
of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (2
Timothy_4:3) 

 

Here is what we see happen so often. People who do not have
a lot of knowledge of God's word start to desire change. They want more
services that are more entertaining, something that makes them feel good. They
approach the leadership and demand change in the church. The leadership either
caves in to their request or they threaten to leave.

 

At some point we must realized that, yes, there are some
things that we can change, but there are some things that we dare not change.
Why? Because God gave us directions as to how things must be in His Word. He
was not mistaken, he did not communicate unclearly, he was not just kidding
when he told us what he wanted us to do. God doesn't think or act as we do as
humans.

 

We tend to forget what we are told in Numbers 23:19, that: "God is not human, that he should lie, not a
human being, that he should change his mind." God has given us
clear directions regarding what is necessary for our salvation. He it clear on
what is morally and ethically acceptable. He is clear about marriage and sexual
relationships. He is clear about the worship that is acceptable to him. These
things are not given to change just because or society has decided that they
want them to change.

 

What about those who demand change to what God has already
put into place? Psalm 55:19 speaks
of: "God, who is enthroned from of
old, who does not change, he will hear them and humble them, because they have
no fear of God. You see, it all boils down to having a "fear"
for God and His Word. (Hebrew lit. "respect or fear to displease
him").

 

Let me encourage you to be careful as to what you change
rather than one day standing before God and being brought to your knees in
shame, (humbled).

Different Standards

It's obvious to even the most
casual observer that different people have different standards that are
acceptable to them. In some cases it makes no real difference in life, yet in
other cases it does.

For example; for the past
couple of weeks my wife has been ill and because of that I have been 'helping'
with some of the household duties. (I offer a special thank you to each of the
ladies in our church who have offered to help.) Yesterday I had solid proof
that my wife is recovering. How? By the fact that "husband clean,"
was no longer sufficient for her. It was just little things, but I picked up on
them. Things like the comment: "You know; the kitchen floor really needs
moped." I thought it looked fine. I had wiped up the spots where I had
dropped food! Then there was the fact that she grabbed the hand vacuume and
cleaned up flower pedals and assorted other things in the living room that I
hadn't even seen. So, "husband clean," was not up to her standards of
what is acceptable. I have no excuse; after all, I am a husband and my ways are
not her ways of doing things.

One of the things about
standards is that they often change. You don't have to look to hard to
understand that our society's standards have shifted dramatically concerning
what is right and wrong or what is acceptable or unacceptable. God has set
standards in regards to what is acceptable in terms of morality, acceptable
worship and ethical behavior.

Our society, for the most
part, says there are no hard fast standards for morality; just do whatever
makes you feel good. Our society says, there are no standards for worship, just
do whatever makes you feel good. Our society says there are no standards for ethics;
just go with whatever profits you the most. Look at the corruption of our
world. Think about the thoughtlessness of our government leaders for the people
they govern. Think about the immorality that is flaunted by the world's
entertainment community and is mimicked by those they influence.

These standards of living and
action are not acceptable to our God, even though men say it makes no
difference. God said through the prophet Isaiah, "'For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD." (Isaiah 55:8)

The problem is that there are
so very many in our world who either don't take the time to read what God says
concerning His standards, or they disregard His words as being old fashioned
and say that God wouldn't possibly expect us live by those standards proclaimed
in His book today.

Paul writes these words of warning in 1Corinthians 6:9-11, "Or do
you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers
nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor
slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of
our God."

Now I'm pretty sure that some who read these words
will take offence at them, but you know what, you aren’t offended at me, you
are offended at God. He wrote them, I just pointed them out to you. God tells
us basically, "My standards are not your standards, and your ways are not
my ways, what you call right is not really right, what you call clean is not
really clean." You see, it's no different than my cleaning the house for
my wife, what is an acceptable standard to me is not to her. And if truth be told,
I like her standard of cleanliness and God's standard for living better.

Russ Lawson – Messages From The Heart

Blog: http://messages-from.blogspot.com

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HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH HURT IN YOUR LIFE?

This week posted by one of my Facebook friends was the
following question: "So what do you do when you REALLY want to tell
someone off who hurt you badly so that they realize the damage they've done,
but you know they won't care?"

There
were a great number of responses to this question, most of which urged the
person to pray about it or in someway turn to God about the problem. Several
people urged the perplexed person to write them a letter, so as to confront the
other person with the issue. All of the answers they received were good
answers, each with a personal insight, all involved God in the answer.

I can
relate to this question as probably each of you who read this can. Is there any
"one" right answer, probably not as long as we keep God's Word in
mind as we struggle with this question on a personal level. It’s the idea of
asking ourselves the question, "What would Jesus do in my situation?"
However, there are a couple of scriptures that come to mind as I consider this.

The
first is Romans 12:18-21, where Paul
writes, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with
everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath,
for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the
Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is
thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning
coals on his head."  Do not be
overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

How
we treat others is not dependant upon how they treat us, but on how God would
have us to treat them. It may be that our first thought is, "But that's
not right!" "Where is the justice in that, you are just letting them
get away with bad behavior."

Understand
that if it is a matter of hurting others, breaking the law, hurting God's
church or weakening the power of God's Word, I will stand up and confront
someone. But if it is a personal relationship issue, I may just deal with it
between me and God.

A scripture that goes along with this idea is
Act 8:32-33a, where a Old Testament scripture is quoted: "This
is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: "He was led like a
sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did
not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice."

We
are told that this scripture was fulfilled by Jesus, who was humiliated and
deprived of justice. Did he have the power to require that justice was served?
Yes, but he chose to suffer the humiliation and injustice for the good of
others.

I
don't know where you are at in your spiritual life, whether you can do that of
not, it's not for me to judge. I believe that is why Paul wrote in Romans 12:18, "If it
is possible, as far as it depends on you." It could be that our
prayers for others should included the words of another scripture concerning
ourselves as the man said to Jesus in Mark
9:24; "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
He still had room for growth and so do I, how about you?