"Perfect through suffering" (Heb. 2:10)
Austin Phelps wrote, "Suffering is a wonderful fertilizer to the roots of character. The great object of this life is character. This is the only thing we can carry with us into eternity...To gain the most of it and the best of it is the object of probation."
We are often reminded that God is far more concerned with our holiness than with our happiness. The moment that we said "Yes" to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God went to work through the Holy Spirit to transform us into His image. Just as diamonds are forged from coal by pressure, so also much of our transformation comes from the suffering that we encounter in this world which is hostile to God. So we are told in the Bible not to be surprised by the "fiery trials' that we encounter. We are told to rejoice when we face tests. God is up to something purposeful.
Today, why not seek His face, and allow Him to change you by determining to obey His Word. If we say "yes" each time God speaks to us, it is a much easier process.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Do you Seek great things?
"And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go." (Jer. 5:25)
The Bible teaches that the closer we get to the end of time, the more difficult it will become to live the Christian life. There is no promise of safety and deliverance from trouble given with the call to follow Christ. So what is the promise that is given to Jeremiah when God says, "I will give you your life as a prize of war...?" It means, I believe, that God will deliver us from the destroyer. Nothing can happen in our lives that is not a part of the will of God. Sometimes God's will leads us into a lion's den. Sometimes it leads us through the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes it leads us into a fiery furnace. Because of who are enemy is (the false god of this world, satan), we will always find ourselves in the presence of the enemy and of conflict in spiritual warfare.
When you study the heroes of the faith through the Bible, you discover that they dwellt in the presence of the enemy because they dwellt in the presence of God. As long as we seek to follow Christ, we will be going in the opposite direction from the enemy, which means we are going to run headlong into him. That is why the scripture says we should not be surprised at the fiery trial. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer, we are assured by God's Word. So do not seek great things for yourself. Seek God's Kingdom first and foremost in your life.
The Bible teaches that the closer we get to the end of time, the more difficult it will become to live the Christian life. There is no promise of safety and deliverance from trouble given with the call to follow Christ. So what is the promise that is given to Jeremiah when God says, "I will give you your life as a prize of war...?" It means, I believe, that God will deliver us from the destroyer. Nothing can happen in our lives that is not a part of the will of God. Sometimes God's will leads us into a lion's den. Sometimes it leads us through the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes it leads us into a fiery furnace. Because of who are enemy is (the false god of this world, satan), we will always find ourselves in the presence of the enemy and of conflict in spiritual warfare.
When you study the heroes of the faith through the Bible, you discover that they dwellt in the presence of the enemy because they dwellt in the presence of God. As long as we seek to follow Christ, we will be going in the opposite direction from the enemy, which means we are going to run headlong into him. That is why the scripture says we should not be surprised at the fiery trial. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer, we are assured by God's Word. So do not seek great things for yourself. Seek God's Kingdom first and foremost in your life.
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