Trusting God through the good times and the bad

I wish I knew why one person suffers and the next one doesn’t. I wish I knew why some people never seem to get sick and others are sick all the time. I wish I knew why one person prays and is healed on the spot and the next one prays and dies. I wish I knew why hands are laid on one person and they receive immediate and miraculous healing and the next person gets sicker.

For whatever His reasons, God has chosen to keep many things a mystery to us. He has revealed many great and wonderful truths in His Word, but He has also withheld the meaning of many things also. In many respects, it seems almost as if there are more things we don’t understand than we do when it comes to whys and wherefores of our Heavenly Father.

It must be remembered that God knows everything and thus He knows every detail regarding our lives, our bodies, our hearts and our minds. God knows what we have done with every minute of our lives. He knows the times we have trusted Him totally and the times we have drifted off to do our own thing. There is nothing about us that is a mystery to GOD. The mystery comes in us understanding what and how God thinks about us and our situations.

I would not want to even begin to try and explain how God deals with genetics. He is the one who determined what we would be like based on the genetic makeup we inherited from our parents. God knows who will be skinny or short or fat or tall. God knows who has the genetic markers which make for weak spots dealing with various diseases and cancers. God knows who will be fighting battles in the mental as well as addiction realms based on genetics.

Far too often I think we look at a person who is fighting a battle either with a disease, addiction or affliction and blame them for not being a “better believer”. Far too often I believe we allow our own fine feelings at a given time to trick us into judging another who is not doing fine. Far too often I see one believer lose patience with another believer who can’t seem to “more than conquer” a problem.

Where and how this attitude of judging and condemning entered into our faith, I do not know. All I do know is that we are not helping anyone by condemning them for their inability to get well physically or for their horrid financial state they find themselves in. It seems to me this is no different than the Pharisees judging everyone for not keeping the whole law.

Here is a newsflash that I wish everyone would pause and consider. The longer we live and have to deal with this rotten and corrupt world, the greater the chance there is going to be something that comes up in this life which will trip us up and cause us to stumble. When that time comes when we stumble, do we want others to come around in their sanctimonious manner and wag their collective fingers at us as they scold us for being so weak?

I know all about “tough love” and how supposedly that is what many people need to rise up from the ashes of their sins and problems. That may be so in some cases but it is also absolutely wrong in many others. What if Jesus picked up the woman taken in adultery and threw her against the wall and yelled at her for being a sinner? Do you think the crowd would have withheld their tones from being thrown?

What if Jesus had grabbed Peter by the collar and dunked his head under the waves when he failed to keep walking on the water? What if Jesus had decided to teach him a lesson and allowed him to drown when he started to sink? What lesson is served by allowing someone to flounder or die in their sins?

If there is one thing Jesus taught us it is that great patience and understanding must be manifested when dealing with people and their situations. Jesus did not heal every person he met. Jesus did not tenderly allow every sinner to wash His feet. Jesus did not come to the defense of every person taken in the sin they were trapped in. Jesus looked at each person and each situation individually and dealt with them accordingly.

I am not a perfect person in the flesh. I have tons of bad habits and have done tons of stupid things in my life.

God loves us not because we are healthy, wealthy or wise. God loves us because we are His kids. God does not sit in heaven throwing lightning bolts down upon us when we get sick, have financial woes or fall prey to a bad addiction. To the contrary, He looks upon us with great compassion and is always eager and willing to help us through these difficult times.

Regardless of where your life is at in the physical or material realm, always remember that God loves you for who you are and not whether you are the walking manifestation of perfect health. Always remember that God looks on your heart and He knows the battles you are facing due to genetics or other things. God will never judge or condemn you if you keep giving to Him your challenges and keep trusting in Him to take care of you.

What is the difference

I am truly hard pressed to find much difference between how most Christians and worldly people think, act and behave. By and large I see more similarities than I see differences in how people view life, work and raising their families. The unfortunate reality is that what the vast majority of Christians think separates them from their worldly friends is in reality nothing more than religion.

Two people show up at work on a given day at the same time. They both drive the same make and model car, wear pretty much the same clothes and have within their lunch pails the same meal to eat during their lunch break. These two people go to their jobs and do them equally well. At the end of the day they clock out and go home to houses that look the same.

Both of these people sit down to eat dinner with their family and then spend the evening watching television or playing on their computers. Sometime late in the evening they both brush their teeth, set the alarm and go to bed. The next morning their alarms go off at the same time and they rush to get dressed and get to work on time.

These two people do this same routine five days per week. They both receive their paycheck on Friday for equal amounts. On Saturday they both spend time watching their kids play soccer or baseball and on Saturday night they go out with their wives to a movie. The only difference between these two people comes on Sunday when one of them drags the family to church and the other goes to play golf.

The one who goes to church spends most of his time dreaming about the golf course where he would rather be while the one playing golf doesn’t think at all about missing church. By Sunday afternoon both of these people settle down to watch NFL football and pig out on pizza and nachos.

Here are my questions: Is the person in the above example who went to church on Sunday a Christian JUST because he went to church? Is the person who played golf on Sunday automatically a heathen because he didn’t go to church? Is one’s Christianity really determined by how one spends a couple of hours per week? What really is the difference between these two people other than religion?

God did not so love the world that He gave His only Son to promote a new religion. Jesus did not lay down His life so that two thousand years later people would show up at a building once a week and somehow magically be His people by doing so. The Holy Spirit was not given on the Day of Pentecost to be stuffed in a closet and forgotten until one is on their deathbed.

Christianity is a relationship between a person and their Savior and has little, if anything, to do with the carrying out of traditions or the showing up at meetings or the singing of songs or even the praying of certain prayers. All these religious things mean nothing unless there is a real, true and vital spiritual relationship in a person’s heart with their Lord and Savior.

When the time comes when the two people mentioned in the story above stand before God, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see the golfer have a better eternal lot than the other. God doesn’t like hypocrites and He certainly isn’t interested in people just going through motions and assuming they are His own. God looks on and desires our whole heart and it is our heart that He will use to determine our eternal destiny.

I pray we all spend much more time building our relationship with the Lord and much less time washing the outside of our tabernacles to make them look all clean and white. There are 168 hours in a week. Isn’t God worthy of more than just ONE of those hours? Something to think about.

I BELIEVE….

* the Bible is the inspired Word of God

* there is one God, eternally existent in Father, Son and Holy Spirit

* Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and that God raised Him from the dead

* Jesus Christ became man’s substitute for sin and that man is cleansed from sin through the shed blood of Jesus Christ

* in the baptism of the Holy Ghost

* in the gifts of the Spirit and that they are for the operation of the Body of Christ today

* in the manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit and that it gives evidence of the born again experience

* all who accept Jesus Christ should be baptized by immersion

* in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

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Serenity, Courage, Accept, Wisdom, Encouragement, Recovery, Live Life
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• Proverbs 3:5-6 ^- Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.  Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. MESSAGE BIBLE
• Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  (NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION)

What ever verse you read it’s all the same, Trust God, don’t try to understanding everything yourself, give God credit for what He’s done for you, if you trust in Him, He will keep you on track.

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Hope and Future

HOPE AND FUTURE

3/8″ wide stretch bangle with cut-out filigree and God’s promise from Jeremiah 29:11…”declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Penquins

Soon Apple Valley will have Penguins.  Penguins you say…yes I say.  Because of their walking/flying abilities they won’t be here until 2011.  I know, I know it’s winter now why aren’t they here now.

Because the exhibit is not scheduled to until 2011.  The exhibit will be called, the “Penguins of the African Coast”.

MY WITNESS – Job 16:19 – Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high

BREAD OF LIFE – John 6:35 – Then Jesus declared “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty

COMFORTER IN SORROW – Jer 8:18 – O my comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me.

MY HOPE – Psalm 71:5 – For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.

WONDERFUL COUNSELOR – Is 9:6 – For to us a child is born to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

THE STRENGTH OF MY SALVATION – Psalm 140:7 – Lord God, my mighty Savior you protect me in battle.

FAITHFUL AND TRUE – Rev 19:11 – Then I say heaven opened and there before me was a white horse.  The rider on the horse is called Faithful and True, and he is right when he judges and makes war.

A SURE FOUNDATION – Is 28:16 – I will put a stone in the ground in Jerusalem, a tested stone, everything will be build on this important and precious rock

MY FRIEND – Job 16:20 – The one who speaks for me is my friend, my eyes pour tears to God.

ALMIGHTY GOD – Gen 17:1 – When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty.  Obey me and do what is right”

GOD OF ALL COMFORT – 2 Cor 1:3 – Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is the Father who is full of mercy and all comfort.

GOD WHO AVENGES ME – Psalm 18:47 – God gives me victory over my enemies and brings people under my rule.

GOD WHO SAVES ME – Psalm 51:14 – God save me from guild of murder. God of my salvation and I will sing about your goodness.

OUR GUIDE – Psalm 48:14 – This God is our God forever and ever, He will guide us from now on.

HEAD OF THE CHURCH – Eph 5:23 – Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church.

OUR HELP – Psalm 33:20 – So our hope is in the Lord.  He is our help, our shield to protect us.

MY HIDING PLACE – Psalm 32:7 – You are my hiding place. You protect me from my troubles and fill me with songs of salvation

A GREAT HIGH PRIEST – Heb 4:14 – Since we have a bread high priest, Jesus the son of God who has gone into heaven, let us hold on to the faith we have.

HOLY ONE IN YOUR MIDST – Hos 11:9 – I won’t punish you in my anger, and won’t destroy Israel again.  I am God and not human, I am the Holy One and I am among you

RIGHTEOUS JUDGE – 2 Tim 4:8 – Now a crown is being held for me – a crown for being right with God.  The Lord the judge, who judges rightly, will give the crown to me on that day.

KING OF KINGS – 1 Tim 6:15 – God will make that happen at the right time. He is the blessed and only ruler, the King of all Kings and the Lord of all lords.

OUR LIFE – Col 3:4 – Christ is our life, and when he comes again, you will share in his glory

LIGHT OF LIFE – – John 8:12 – When Jesus spoke again the people, he said “I am the Light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

LORD OF LORDS – God will make it happen at the right time.  He is the blessed and only ruler, the King of all Kings and the Lord of all lords

LORD OF THE HARVEST –  Matt 9:38 – Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore to send out workers into his harvest field

MEDIATOR – 1 Tim 2:5 – There is one God and one way human beings can reach God that way is through Jesus Christ, who is himself human

OUR PEACE – Ep 2:14 – Christ himself is Our Peace

PRINCE OF PEACE – Is 9:6

MY REDEEMER – Psalm 19:14 – I hope my words and thoughts please you Lord, you are my rock the one who saves me.

REFUGE AND STRENGTH – Psalm 46:1 – God is our protection and strength, He always helps in times of trouble.

MY SALVATION – Exodus 15:2 – The Lord gives me strength and makes me sing; he has saved me. He is my God and I will praise Him. He is the God of my fathers and I will honor him.

MY HELP – Psalm 42:5 – Why am I so sad? Why am I so9 upset? I should put my hope in God and keep praising him my savior, and “MY GOD”

THE GOOD SHEPHERD – John 10:11 – “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

LORD – Luke 2:29 – Sovereign Lord as you have promised you now dismiss your servant in Peace.

MY STRONGHOLD – Psalm 18:2 – The Lord is my rock, my protection, my savior, my God is my rock. I can run to him for safety. He is my shield and my saving strength, my defender.

MY SUPPORT – 2 Samuel 22:19 – They attacked me at my time of trouble but the Lord supported me.

GOOD TEACHER – Mark 10:17 – As Jesus started on his way a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him “Good teacher” he asked “what must I do to inherit eternal life.”