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Friday, October 13, 2017

Why Me, LORD?

Why Me, LORD?
Sometimes in life, we face difficulties and trials.  Truth is we all have stories of heartache and pain.  Many times we ask God: “Why, Why me Lord?”  Sometimes the only answer we receive from the Lord is simply this: “Just Trust me.”  In our human heart, we cannot understand why God would allow these things to happen to us or to others around us.  The pain that enshrouds our heart seems to choke out any understanding or peace that we so long to have.  The statement “Trust the Lord,” seems to be easy to say but harder to do.  People that say this to us sometimes can make us feel like they have no idea what we are facing.  They could not possibly understand our situation.  God’s grace seems so far and distant.  We can feel alone and rejected.  We just don’t see what the Lord is doing.  If our eyes could be open to the spiritual realm, we would see that God has turned up the furnace of trials in our life to work out the dross that has been building up.  We would see that every time we cry, God gently works on us and cries with us.  God says: “Trust me, dear heart, I have everything under control.”  He hears our distant reply: “No, Lord!  I don’t know what you are doing and the pain is too much for me to bear.”  God has not truly left us; he is ever present with us.  However, we still yell out: “Why me, Lord? ... Why?”
The Lord is in control.  He is the Great Potter molding us into vessels of honor.  He is the Great Gardener pulling out the weeds that don’t belong in our lives.  “What a privilege it is to know that … I am a field under heavenly cultivation ~ not a wilderness but a garden of the Lord, walled by grace, planted according to a divine plan, worked by love, weeded by heavenly discipline, and constantly protected by divine power.”  ~ Charles Spurgeon.  We might think something like this: “Sure this sounds all good and easy, but this thing that I am going through no one understand.”  It’s true that I might not have gone through the trial that you are going through and you might not have gone through the trial that I am going through, but God knows our pain.  He suffers with us.  He bears our burdens.  1 Peter 5:7 states, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”  This means that he takes our pain upon Himself.  He removes it from our heart, and places it on His; and in return He replaces our fears with peace.  Just as a loving father protects his child, so the Lord protects us.  “Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.”  ~ Psalms 42:8.  In times of adversity and heartache, we need to continue to remind ourselves that God is in control and that He loves us and cares for His children.  Remember God always gives us the strength we need when we tap into it.  2 Corinthians 12:9 states:And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Practical Application:
Ø  Just Breath
Ø  Take one day at a time
Ø  Lift up your eyes - Remember God prays for you when you don’t have the words.
Ø  Get alone with the Lord, even when you don’t feel like it.
Ø  Keep key verses with you.  Verses like Isaiah 43:2.
Ø  Ask God to use this trial to reach the lost around you.
Ø Don’t quit on God! 

Friday, September 15, 2017

Excellent Spirit - Extreme Success!

For several weeks, I have struggled with writing a poem for our school theme.  I wrote draft upon draft, but still, it didn’t flow.  This morning, as I was driving to work, I thought about Daniel.  Yes, he had an Excellent Spirit and it brought him Extreme Success, but can you imagine the rejection he faced?  His own co-workers plotted to kill him.  They hated him, but he probably loved them and prayed for them. Can you imagine how heavy his heart must have been as he stood before the king and saw the smug faces of his peers? 
In life, we are going to face times of rejection.  We are going to have friends let us down.  We are going to get hurt.  It’s life.  A spouse may let down a spouse, a friend may let down a friend, a brother may let down a brother, a father, a daughter, a sister a brother, a mother, a son… and the list goes on and on.  Daniel set his spirit high, what I mean by that is he purposed that no matter what he faced he would look to the LORD and have a sweet spirit.  He always seemed to rise above what the world threw at him.  He wasn’t dealt a good hand by human perspective.  By the time, Daniel 6 takes place, Daniel is an old man.  His life experiences could have made him bitter, but instead, Daniel 6:3 says, “Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.”  He saw kings come and go, kingdoms rise and fall, through it all his attitude set him above all others.  My friend, you may be feeling rejected or hurt, can I encourage you to purpose to have an excellent spirit through it all?  And may I do the same.

People – they smile and pretend,
They say they’re your friend,
In the end, you’re in the Lion’s den,
Oh, Friend! Hope not in men!

Set your spirit high!
To the LORD draw nigh!
Day by day and Every day the same,
His promises we can claim!
No matter the rejection, no matter the pain.
When all is against you, do not wane!

Be like Daniel, who at his window knelt,
To do what was right, no worry he felt.
His spirit was of sweet Excellence,
And through it all, he had Extreme Success.

Set your spirit high!
To the LORD draw nigh!
Day by day and Every day the same,
His promises we can claim!
No matter the rejection, no matter the pain.
When all is against you, do not wane!

Faithful was he, no matter the accusation.
His spirit was sweet, he had the right foundation.
When all others turned on him,
His Excellent Spirit did not dim!
In that,he had great faithfulness,
Which brought him Extreme Success!

Set your spirit high!
To the LORD draw nigh!
Day by day and Every day the same,
His promises we can claim!
No matter the rejection, no matter the pain.
When all is against you, do not wane!