The Companionship of Joy and Pain

The Companionship of Joy and Pain

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment.” Romans 5:3-4 (NLT)

Recently, I watched a friend bury his beloved wife. His heart is cracking apart with grief. The loss and loneliness are a crushing burden he carries every day.

It seems almost sacrilegious to read this verse about rejoicing when we face trials in respect to my friend’s circumstance. Does God really expect him to rejoice in this devastating sorrow?

Ephesians 1:5 says, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”

Do you see the joy and pain in this verse? God’s adoption plan was sending His only Son to die in our place. What pain! What sorrow!

Look what it says next, “He wanted to do it and it gave him great pleasure!”

Pain and Joy. They seem so diametrically opposed to one another and yet, their mutual presence is at the core of God’s rescue plan for us!

Why should this journey of following our Savior be any different?

Joy comes from knowing God and trusting His way. Joy comes from the deep springs of the soul. It doesn’t happen overnight, it’s developed over time as we grab hold of His hand and put one foot in front of the other. As we walk His way.

Jesus said in John 16.33 (NIV), “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Thought:
- Will you choose joy in the pain of your circumstances? What blessings are there in your pain? Take some time today to focus on the good, instead of the bad and make a list of signs of God’s goodness in your life.
- Are you embracing the joy and the pain in your life?

By Kristi Huseby

Growing Pains

Growing Pains

Often, as a child, when I complained about some ache or pain that had no clear physical explanation, the simple parental diagnosis was: “It’s just growing pains.” I used to imagine my muscles and bones actually hurting while they stretched and grew. While I know nothing about the scientific nature of this evaluation, I do know it has a spiritual application that is entirely accurate. It hurts to grow.

It hurts to grow because we have to die to old ways in order to live anew, and old ways die hard. We place a high premium in life on dying peacefully, but in reality dying almost always is accompanied by pain. We have dependencies with coping mechanisms that have enslaved us. It’s hard letting go of our security blankets.

In a touching scene from an older romantic comedy, Mr. Mom, Michael Keaton has to coax his toddler’s “whoopee” blanket away from him. Upon rendering it up, the little boy asks for a moment to himself to grieve the loss and we can almost touch his pain. We would like similar moments to grieve our little daily deaths, but we have to learn to move on, because the pain of losing is followed by the greater joy of finding God always meets us on the other side of our loss.

It hurts to grow because growing usually means facing into some fear or weakness that has limited us. Though God saves us through no effort of our own, he asks for our cooperation when it comes to our spiritual growth. Real spiritual growth only happens when our effort to act upon God’s word meets the provision of the Holy Spirit in us.

Or as Paul teaches, “Put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him.” Philippians 2:12-13 (NLT).

This is always the spiritual principle of growth. We obey by stepping into our weakness or our fear, trusting in the fact that because it is something He asks of us, He will meet us somewhere along the way with the power to do it. This is almost always a painful proposition because it requires a step into the unknown. What if God doesn’t show up? I suppose we can ask that question, but we will never get the answer on this side of the risk. We have to take the step, believing that there is something there that we can’t see. And if that doesn’t hurt, it’s probably not faith.

Old ways die hard, but new life dances on the gravestones.

By John Fischer

The Son of Man

The Son of Man Matthew 20:28 says of Jesus, “The Son of Man did not come to be served.  He came to serve others and give His life as a ransom for many people.” As a young boy, I read a Russian fable about a master and a servant who went on a journey.  Before they reached their destination they were caught in a blizzard and lost their direction. When they were found the master was frozen to death, face down in the snow. When they lifted him they found the servant, cold but alive. The master had voluntarily placed himself on top of the servant so the servant could live. Jesus did the same for you! Jesus wears a sovereign crown but he bears a father’s heart. The King who suffers for the peasant, the Master who sacrifices himself for the servant. He is the Son of Man who came to serve and to give his life as a ransom—for you! By Max Lucado From: And the Angels Were Silent

Just Be

Just Be

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10a

Sometimes we hear a verse so often we stop paying attention. This was true for me for Psalm 46:10. I have this verse on my bulletin board and I see it every day, yet way too often I am not still. In fact, I am anything but that.

At a church women’s conference, a friend shared with me a more meaningful way to read any way-too-familiar verse. She encouraged me to dissect it. Breaking down the verse renewed its meaning for me.

Be still and know that I AM . . . Even though I know He is God, do I let Him be God over my life? Do I put Him on the back burner until I need His presence? When Moses asked Him what His name was, God replied, “I AM.” Jesus told the Pharisees that before there was Abraham, I AM. He is forever present, be it two thousand years ago or two thousand years from now.

Be still and know . . . know not just with my brain but with every fiber of my being. To know is to be certain, without a shadow of a doubt or an ounce of hesitancy. We say, “I know for a fact . . .” when we are adamant about something. Do I know God? How can I know Him better? The answer is simple—by spending time with Him. That requires that sometimes I don’t do all the talking in my prayer life, but I stop and listen. And to listen, I must…

Be still. . . How very easy, and yet very difficult. To be still is also for me to be peacefully silent. Silence is hard to achieve in today’s world. We are surrounded by noise. Being still requires effort, a conscious act of not being distracted. But, this is where you can find God.

Be – that is all God requires of us. We just need to be what we were created to be—to praise and serve the Lord our God with our hearts souls and minds. Our merciful God accepts us as we are, with all our short comings and all our faults. Through the eyes of His Son, sees us as pure, blameless and made worthy when we come into His presence and ask for forgiveness. We don’t need to be perfect. We only need to be willing to “be”.

Heavenly Lord, breathe in us the desire to know You more and more. Help us to realize You are always I AM, and are present in our lives. Instill in our hurried state the yearning to be still and to be content to just be, knowing that in You we are made complete. Amen.

Thought: If a Bible verse starts to lose its impact, take it apart. Read each word and find new meaning, with God’s help. Scripture is alive and breathing with His Spirit. We are not to just read it, but to digest it, make it a part of us, and live it.

By Julie Cosgrove

Be a Lighthouse

Be a Lighthouse

“You are the light of the world…. let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14 & 16

One Sunday, Fran heard how Jesus Christ was the Light to a dark world.  The pastor told the congregation how Christ’s love and compassion for others was so evident.  That “light of love” shone brightly through Jesus.

Fran listened intently as the pastor challenged them to be Lighthouses.  She went home wondering if she were a light to others.  She wondered if people saw Christ reflected in everything she did.

Then it hit her.  She realized it wasn’t up to her to be the light. Jesus is the Light.  Fran needed to let Him work through her and God’s Light would be visible.  She began to share God’s love with her family, friends and neighbors.  Fran reflected the light of Christ to everyone around her.

Friend, be a Lighthouse!  Let God’s love shine through you every day!

By Vonette Bright

The Results of Insecurity

The Results of Insecurity

“Let me hear Your loving kindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.” Psalms 143:8

We’ve all seen some of the areas where insecurity shows up. Now we need to turn our attention to its effects.

To start, insecure people have difficulty establishing good, lasting relationships. They simply cannot see how they could add value to anyone else’s life. This is a tragic loss, because every single one of us needs deep and meaningful friendships to help us grow.

Also, men and women with insecurity are often seen as prideful or snobbish. Lack of confidence can cause them to withdraw from others, which can easily be mistaken for an act of arrogance. They can thereby give the impression that they simply don’t want to be around others.

What’s more, insecurity frequently leads to indecisiveness and fear. People can be so consumed with self-doubt that they can’t make any decision at all. They wonder, What if I make a mistake? Well, so what if they do? Making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn how to do something correctly. Don’t be afraid to try. Even if you don’t succeed, you can at least rest in the fact that you did your best.

After a while, insecure people typically get angry. When they go so long feeling so poorly about themselves, they start to resent the success and happiness of others.

Can you see how something as subtle as a lack of confidence can have a debilitating effect on one’s life? Don’t allow such devastation to affect your relationships. Pray for the ability to recognize areas of self-doubt. And then start to take control today by asking the Lord to heal your insecurities.

By Dr. Charles Stanley

Get Up and Get Out

Get Up and Get Out

Your mission today (should you choose to accept it) is to get yourself up out of bed and throw yourself out into the world. That’s right: Get up and get out.

My, how daring we are! Well, yes, when you consider how dangerous a place the world is, and how inadequate we feel when we try to make a difference in it.  But just read this:

“For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?” 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 (NIV)

Now there is a picture: You and me having a significant effect on people, churning up reactions as varied as life and death by our mere presence. It’s no surprise Paul would wonder, in the next breath, who, if any, might be equal to this task. It’s a rhetorical question that he intends to answer, and he does in the next chapter. “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God who has made us adequate.” 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 (NIV) In other words, we aren’t adequate, but we are. We aren’t adequate in ourselves, but we are in Christ. And we find this out when we jump into the world, believing.

By believing, you are taking the particular characteristics of a believer (a person in whom God’s presence is a factor) out into the world, and by nature of your presence in the world and the presence of Christ in your life, you will make a difference. So, you see, it is all about literally throwing yourself out there and trusting that God shows up when you do, even when you don’t exactly know what’s going to happen next, you just know you’ll be ready when it does by nature of the Spirit of God in you. How about that for living dangerously?

As a friend of mine said once, almost nonchalantly, a true Christian is choosing the most dangerous occupation in the world. I think he’s right, not only because Satan is alive and well on planet earth working to discredit those who believe, but because God likes us living on the edge in believing him. I really don’t think faith is mainstream. I don’t think it gets the popular vote. Real faith does not win mass-market appeal. True faith is a challenge of wits. It’s the mover and shaker of the status quo. Faith kicks us out of our safety net and into the world. If nothing’s on the line, then there’s no faith required. That’s dangerous, but all the more exhilarating when God shows up and shows himself to be true to his promises.

So get up and get out. It’s the only way to truly find out!

by John Fischer

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