When Pain is Allowed

“Saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Luke 9:21).

Being confident in God doesn’t make the pain we experience less deep but it can become less broad. If you and I have some things settled with God, there are boundaries around the field of pain we experience. With God our pain doesn’t have to spread out into the endless spaces of limitless meaning. God allows the touch of pain to test us and to see if we will trust Him and find His reward to be better.

God set His plan in motion before the foundation of the world. His glory is seen in this aspect of His omnipresence. Before time was, He was. He sits upon time and He spans all time, history, and future. He circumscribed all things to happen to His people.

We mainly think of the glory of God when it comes to OUR salvation, but have you ever thought of the glory of God because of who He is? God overturns all things to bring glory to His name. He sets all things into motion. Therefore our salvation is to His glory.

If we confess Christ as the Son of God and Savior, and take up our cross and follow Him, He will reveal to us His kingdom and His glory. When you and I experience the glory of God, the demands of discipleship become blessings that carry us along in joyful obedience. Passing the test means loving God to the end.

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  • Accountability

    “Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all” (I Tim. 4:15).

    Over the years, our understanding of discipleship has changed — and not always in a good direction.  Discipleship has shifted — from an ongoing process over the course of one’s life to a class you sign up and hopefully complete.  Usually after some time the class that started with twenty dwindles to eight or ten.

    I grew up on the tail end of the “training union” of the late 1960s and early 70s.  But even in this the shortcomings were felt.  Again, it was based upon this premise…you come and sit, I’ll teach.  You and I ought to be dissatisfied with mediocrity.  God has placed in each of us the desire to minister and develop through others.

    Discipleship should not be left to chance.  The Lord Jesus was intentional and calculative from the beginning.  In fact, as Jesus discipled the twelve men who would change the world, He gradually released them into ministry through a definitive four-step process.

    First, Jesus ministered while the disciples watched.
    Second, Jesus allowed the disciples to assist Him in ministry.
    Third, the disciples ministered with Jesus’ assistance.
    Finally, Jesus observed as the disciples ministered to others.

    If Jesus had a model and a plan, shouldn’t we have one?  If discipleship was then, should it not be for today?

  • Moab

    “For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!” (Psalm 143:11)

    No one plans on dying in Moab. But Elimelech did. His two sons did. This man, whose name means “My God is King” left Bethlehem (The House of Bread) to go down to the place of backsliding. Moab came into being by Lot (Abraham’s nephew) and his oldest daughter. It was incestuous and ungodly. The child’s name was named Moab (Genesis 19:37). The Moabites had a false god by the name of Chemosh (Numbers 21:29). When a Moabite man was desperate for the help of Chemosh, it was a common practice for the father to sacrifice one of his children to this demonic god (2 Kings 3:26-27).

    It was to this land that Elimelech took his family. He left the land of Bethlehem to “improve his family.” Elimelech lived a lie. Elimelech was the king of his own life, and it’s certain the Lord wasn’t. During the days of judges this man typified a man “who did what was right in his own eyes.” Instead of following the path of repentance and faith, trusting the Lord to provide for his family’s needs during the famine months, he moved to follow what seemed best to him. He chose the road to Moab.

    Don’t streak down to Moab. It’s not worth it. Stay the course! Stay with God! Don’t become a platinum member of this club. The price and cost is too high. Elimelech, preoccupied with packing his U-Haul for Moab, never sought the solution: Jehovah God. Whatever you do–whatever I do–we both need to turn and run to the Lord. Ride out the hard times while trusting in the goodness of God.

     

     

  • A Revival of Repentance

    “…as many as I love I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19).

    Daniel was a man who lived among a people that was sinful and recalcitrant.  He found that even in his own heart there reposed a sinfulness that was not according to God’s righteousness.  His sinfulness within reflected the sinfulness of others without.

    What do you do when you find yourself in the midst of pride and disobedience?  You get on your knees and pray.  We are not looking within or without as we should.  We have too much of the world in our view that is blocking our AWE of God.  Can you imagine the heartbreak of God to look down upon the ones He created who do not realize how good He is?  And we continue to do what?  To take God for granted and tolerate the only One who is able!

    Let’s look and fervently ask the Lord to use us today.  It is of great joy to be in Rightness with God.  May we ask for His mercy to enter into our circles of influence so that others would feel the same about our God.  We need a revival of repentance in our circles that we travel in.

  • Don’t Falter

    “But we hoped that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel; and, besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done” (Luke 24:21).

    A.B. Bruce said, “If crosses would leave us alone, we would leave them alone, too.” The Lord Jesus took up His cross and followed completely the Father’s will. It was the will of the Father for His Son to die upon the very tree that He had planted years before.

    Why do we find it hard to believe that taking up our cross and following Jesus is not the way for us? Why do we not believe that as we die daily to the world and our desires that it is best? We are men just like the ones on the road to Emmaus who did not believe in the resurrection power of Christ.

    We can be so slow of heart and foolish not to believe all that the Scripture gives to us. When we follow our own desires and refuse the intuitive desire of God in us we refuse His life. Hope in the Redeemer of Israel and believe that the third day is the power of resurrection in you. Don’t disregard your cross for today. Report to God ready for His will as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

  • Do We Fear God?

    “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction”

    (Proverbs 1:7).

    We can tell if we truly fear the Lord. How?

    1. We joyfully delight in the Word of God.

    Psalm 112:1 tells us, “Praise you the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who delights greatly in his commandments.”

    1. We passionately apply God’s Word to our everyday lives.

    Psalm 128:1 proclaims, “Blessed is every one that fears the Lord, that walks in His Ways.”

    1. We place confidence in the promises of God.

    Psalm 147:11 has said to each of us, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in his mercy.”

    We need to get back to God’s Word! Anything that takes the place of God’s Word leads to idolatry.

     

     

  • Galactic Starveyors

    What a joy to study God, not just about God, but God. What a privilege to get outside of the world and come back to the center where we meet God who creates new things. What joy there is to know that God has revealed himself in the pages of his Word. We know Him, we embrace Him, and then we reveal Him as we obey Him.
    I am amazed at the Scripture. I’m amazed and stand in awe of God’s Word. It speaks. It is living, and this breathing Scripture gives breath and life. It transcends sin and death. It conquers all. God is in control and He is winning and has won.
    “Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
    Give ear; all you far countries;
    Strap on your armor and be shattered;
    Strap on your armor and be shattered.
    Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
    Speak a word, but it will not stand,
    For God is with us.”     (Isaiah 8:9, 10).

     

    There will never come one moment when we will say, “I’ve seen it all.” As you know and trust God through His Son by the power of His Spirit, you and I will not be bored.