Month: October 2024

The apostle Paul was on what you might call his Farewell Tour. He had called together the Elders of the Church in Ephesus in order that he might remind them of just how far that Church had come. Paul had invested himself for three years there…both in public & private teaching and instruction in God’s Word…and now was the time for the Elders to step up and step into the role of Shepherds and Overseers. He charged them with, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the Church of God, which He bought with His own blood.” (Acts 20:28) Paul could easily be speaking to the Church today as Baby-Boomer Pastors and Elders are retiring at an increasing rate. He is charging the younger generation to heed the call and step up to serve the local Church.

Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “Those who dive in the sea of affliction – bring up pearls! There is a sweet joy that comes to us through sorrow. Sickness has frequently been more use to the saints of God, than health has.” Illness & affliction can take on many faces, with just as many circumstances, situations, and outcomes. It could be you that is currently challenged with a disease process or infirmity…or it could be like me, who is a twenty-four-hour Caregiver for someone battling chronic illness. To understand this quote from Spurgeon we only need to look at Job and his season of affliction, loss, and searching out of God’s answers. Job drew on his foreknowledge of God and how He used affliction as a means for spiritual discipline and education. (Job 36:15) He also knew that affliction could bring us back from wandering away from God. (Psalm 119:67) Job was then reassured that – the Lord would sustain him on his sickbed and restore him, (Psalm 41:3) that his hope in his affliction wouldn’t ever perish, (Psalm 9:18) and that the Lord would ultimately deliver him. (Psalm 34:19)

Sometimes the very best thing you can do for someone is to back away, pray for them, and allow God to do what only He can do. It may be your wayward child who has turned their back on everything you’ve taught them in the past about Jesus. Or it may be a close friend who is going down the wrong path with a relationship. Then again, it may be a family member who’s making unwise & potentially dangerous life-style decisions. When we’ve talked ourselves blue in the face and they still refuse to listen in defiance & disobedience…it’s time to release them to God. For God loves them more than we will ever, He knows every detail of their life, and He can turn any situation around for good. And when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in their lives, He can woo, reveal, convict, and admonish as only the Holy Spirit can do. I know it’s difficult, but sometimes the only way a person will look up, is when they find themselves lying in the gutter.

At this time, Jesus was back in Galilee… when Jairus frantically beseeched Him to come and heal his beloved little girl. Now Jairus was a Jewish layman responsible for the upkeep of the synagogue plus monitoring the services and choosing the Torah readings, etc. He was very highly respected in the community…so it was odd that he not only knew who Jesus was but was aware of the many healings He had performed. So much so, that Jairus had sought Jesus out, knowing He could heal his daughter. They had not yet made it to Jairus’s home when someone rushed up to tell them the child had just died. What Jesus said next to Jairus did not dwell on her death, but on his faith. “Don’t be afraid just believe and she will be healed.” Jesus wanted Jarius to focus on faith not fear. That’s because hopelessness creeps in on the heels of fear. Or as Ecclesiastes 9:4 says, “Anyone who is among the living has hope.” And true to His word, Jeus took ahold of the little girl’s hand and raised her up healed and whole from her deathbed.

The time was now for the rubber to finally hit the road for the early Church. They had enjoyed a wonderfully blessed period of fellowship, building up the body of Believers within, and worshipping their risen Savior…but this was all inwardly focused. And it seemed like the disciples had kinda forgotten about Jesus giving them the Great Commission to, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:16-20) So in the same way the eagle stirs up the nest in order to teach her young to fly, (Deuteronomy 32:11) God was pushing His youngsters out of their warm cozy environment to try their wings. And thus, this was the very first Missionary journey of Paul & Barnabus as they carried the Gospel Message into new regions.

Think about this…prayer is the bridge between panic to peace, from anxiety to trust, from being scared to serenity. Prayer allows our emotions to pass from overpowering fear to that of quiet tranquility…or as Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” And when we make a habit of seeking the Lord in prayer first rather than as a last resort, we’ll find that the peace of Christ will indeed rule and reign in our hearts.

We are to be bearers of God’s light and truth in the midst of a very dark world. As the Scripture above reminds us, we are to be ambassadors or envoys, bearing the Message of the Cross to our dying world. We are to be the Standard bearers…. leading the cause & carrying the Gospel to the far reaches of the earth for His sake. But just how well are we doing? Can the casual observer standing behind you in the long line at the store, or at your child’s sports game tell immediately that you are an ambassador for Christ? Or are your attitudes & actions no different than anyone else’s? ln I Peter 2:9 we are called a peculiar people…that is, people that are different & stand out from the crowd… ever called to joyfully bear witness to the saving acts of God.

Earlier, Jesus had upset the Pharisees when He told them that, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” And so, Jesus intentionally healed people on the Sabbath just to make His point clear. There was the man with the shriveled hand, the man with dropsy, (edema from excess fluids in the body) and the bent over & crippled woman…all healed by Jesus on the Sabbath. For nowhere in the Law does it disallow healing on the Sabbath…but rather it had been man’s “interpretation” of the Law and piling on of legalistic traditions that had put all the undue burdens on God’s people. A day of rest & blessings was what God intended the Sabbath to be…but man had twisted it into a strict conformity of religious rules.

Experiencing fear from time to time isn’t unusual for God’s people. But our faith must then be exercised during these frightening times as we resolve to trust God. One of the most well-known Psalms tells us, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me…” (Psalm 23:4) Charles Spurgeon once wrote about this, “There is no excuse for fear when God is the foundation of our trust…We have been in many trials, but we have never yet been in a place where we couldn’t find our God all that we needed. ‘Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord is everlasting strength.’ (Isaiah 26:4) ” And so with this assurance, we can move from fear to faith…trusting in God’s deliverance. (Psalm 34:4)

This Scripture is about character-building…but not in the way we’d like. It’s the type of refinement that only comes through the tests & trials of suffering, pain, and hardship. It’s a deep-seated faith that perseveres through affliction with patient endurance, with us coming through the other side better, not bitter. When we let our problems lead us to become a better person, we can look beyond the misery, loss, and frustration to what God is really trying to do all along…that is perfecting us into His image.