Despite the fact that he didn’t understand why he was suffering, Job continued to trust in God. Could we keep trusting the Lord even when we don’t understand…when sickness and impending death permeates every moment of our lives, could we still be confident in Him? When we’re deep in the darkness of the valley, could we still hope in Him…and would we be able to wait in that hopeful expectation without fear, knowing God was our refuge and strength for whatever happened next? Though He strike me, nevertheless, I will put my trust in Him.
Tag: christianity
Mark 10: 14-15 ” Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
To get the essence of what the Lord is saying in this passage, we all need to go visit a Kindergarten class. While there, we will see every kind of emotion freely expressed by children who have yet learned to “stuff” feelings. They will have absolute trust in their teacher, and will look to her/him for help in every problem that arises. They will freely show love, acceptance, and enthusiasm towards others without reproach or bias. Ah, to have child-like faith…the world would be a much better place if it was one big kindergarten class with Jesus as our loving teacher!
I Chronicles 4: 10 ” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.
When your mother’s birth of you is so traumatizing that she names you ‘Pain’… you’ve got one strike against you from the very start! But it says that Jabez was more honorable than his brothers…honorable meaning wealthy and renowned. So what had turned his life around? It was the prayer that he cried out to the Lord…a prayer seeking His blessing, asking that God would multiply his sphere of influence, and beseeching the Lord to protect him. And it says that God bestowed on him what he had asked for. Right now, consider praying this powerful prayer into your own life…regardless of your past, God can bless you today!
Romans 8: 16-17 ” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…”
Growing up we all need validation from those around us that we are loved, needed, wanted, and important…when this is missing, we can feel devalued, outcast, rejected and worthless. These very negative emotions can follow us into adulthood and unfortunately, into our relationships with others. But you are not insignificant in God’s sight, rather you are His child. And not only a loved and valued child of His, but a joint heir with His son Jesus. If invalidation was part of your past growing up, give it to the Lord, and move forward as a treasured co-beneficiary of the Glory beyond.
Luke 6:38 ” Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
God’s premise is simple…give and it will be given to you…the proportion you use to give is the same proportion you will receive back. Give stingily, and you will receive little…give lavishly, and the Lord will bless you beyond measure…for you can not out give God! Blessings upon blessings, almost too difficult to contain, He will pour into your life.
Proverbs 16:7 ” When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies live at peace with him.”
Even though Joseph was thrown into prison after Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him, God granted him favor in the eyes of the Prison Warden, who gave Joseph the position of Administrator over the entire jail. God was well pleased with Joseph, and made even the Palace Guard live at peace with him…which probably drove Potiphar’s wife crazy! She wanted him punished for resisting her advances, and instead, he was granted a very powerful position. If God takes pleasure in us, even our worst enemies will befriend and show us partiality.
John 6: 5-6 ” When Jesus looked up and saw the great crowd coming towards Him, He said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do.”
As the Disciples traveled with Jesus ,they were witness to countless miracles, so when Jesus asked Philip where they should get food to feed this huge crowd, He was really asking him a much more serious question. He was asking… where is your faith level Philip? On our journeys you’ve seen many miracles…can you now use what you’ve seen and apply it here? Jesus wanted Philip to stop looking at things from his perspective, and start seeing them through God’s limitless one…He wanted Philip to take his eyes off the temporal and catch a vision of the boundless power of God. How would you answer that question?
II Chronicles 7:14 ” If My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.”
This entire passage hinges on one little word, and that word is “then”. If the first part of the scripture is accomplished, it will be followed by the final portion. God is very specific of what He requires of us first…we are to swallow our pride, pray fervently, seek His face, and turn from our evil ways…and then and only then will He act. We’ve got to do our part before He’ll do His…if we are serious about pursuing our task, He will be just as serious about fulfilling His.
Acts 17:24 ” The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples buildt by hands.”
It has to be totally presumptuous to think we could somehow contain God in a temple. The Creator of heaven and earth and everything in it, the God who gives us breath and life can not be contained in a building. His magnificence would far overshadow any building that could possibly be imagined by any feeble human mind. But there is one temple He fits in beautifully, there is one temple He desires to dwell in…it’s you, for I Corinthians 3:16 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” You are that magnificently sacred temple where He choses to live.
Mark 9:41 ” I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.”
The time was the early 80’s in Northern Idaho where I was working as a Charge Nurse at a large Nursing Home. We had just admitted a man who was dying, only to find out a day later that he was a hemophiliac…dying of Aids. Now back in the early 80’s there was not all the information out as there is today, let alone Universal Precautions in place to care for patients. We placed him in Isolation, which meant to go into his room you would have to gown, glove, and mask. Needless to say, you went into the room twice a shift to do vitals, and not much more. His family was intimidated and fearful of all the masks and gowns, and so stayed away, or stood in the doorway to talk to him. One particularly dark ,dreary day I was given report that he was slipping into a coma and would probably not live much longer. As I walked into his dark room to do my morning assessment, I felt overcome by saddness…sad because of his forced isolation through no fault of his own, since it was before blood for transfusions was checked for the HIV Virus…sad because of his uncomfortable, fearful family who couldn’t gather around him at this of need…and finally sad because I felt the entire staff had done a disservice to him by literally shunning him out of our own ignorance about the disease. He appeared to be in a coma, so I started to pray out loud softly, asking the Lord to grant him peace, and to tell him how much he was loved by his family. As I stood over his bed looking out the window at the dreariness suddenly bright sunshine completely filled the room..so suddenly that it startled me. I quickly looked at the man…his eyes were open, and he was smiling, this look of unspeakable peace on his face….He died a few hours later, with bright sunshine filling his bed… with that peaceful look still on his face.
Safetypinlove 