Christian Perspective on Suffering

So today I heard some really great things about suffering on two different sides of the scale. Suffering that God brings to bring us closer to him into a child-like dependence and faith in Him to take care of us and suffering that is caused by the corruption and sin in this world that robs our joy, love, and hope in God. I was listening to Derek Prince this morning on my IPOD talking about his life and how God allowed him to spend a year, yes a whole year in the military hospital inn Northern Africa while he was stationed there after the battle at El Alamein. He got this horrible foot disease that made him practically bed ridden most of that time. He was tried during that time, but it yielded a man that was ready to minister in the capacity that God had planned for him. In his desperation he rad through the whole Bible to find if God was a restorer of the body, a healer. He took a blue pen and underlined anything that talked about God renewing, healing, or strengthening. At the end of four months he made it through the entire book and lo and behold he had a blue Bible! God had taught him lessons about how willing God is to heal and restore, so he had a faith to stand upon. Next he found that the word was a medicine and he read it as if he was taking medicine, as certain times in definite intervals. After some time God healed Him and he recovered from a disease that others still had problems with that came months before him to the same hospital.
Next I heard a message from John Piper talking about the golden rule and how if we do to others as we would have them do to us. It means we need to be meeting peoples needs in suffering. It became clear that Jesus really was saying that we need to put ourselves in others' position and do for them what we would want done for us. In this way we can meet real needs, but we have to ask God for help to have the generosity and the right spirit, so that we can act on our empathy and do it in a way that the person actually feels loved. People do not want to be helped by someone who is complaining the entire time. SO yeah, those are some things I learned about today that were pretty eye opening.

"God of the universe, you are all-knowing, good, and perfect in righteousness. I need the power of your Spirit to fully obey this impossible command to love and treat others as I would want to be loved and treated. God show me people in my life that I have been failing to love and those that I am trying to love; give me insight into what their real needs are. And show me how to care for not just the needs right here and now, but to bring people out of bondage and meet their eternal needs. Let me not be one who is too "tolerant" to speak of Hell as it really is, to not shy away from the reality that all of us must face. Give me the boldness and courage to speak your words, so that I will be worthy to even receive them myself. Your name is above all. All praise, glory, and honor is yours forever. Thank you Jesus."

An encounter

Today I really rebelled against getting up early, even though yesterday I heard about the message about men acting like boys and not getting out of bed. While yes i can get out of bed in time to read my bible and say some prayers and get to work, I am choosing to sleep over spending time with God. I am realizing that it being with God and learning about and experiencing him is not something I have to do, it is something I GET to do. I pray God that not only would you give me a burden for the souls you have put into my life, but that I would not be slumbering during this time of mid-battle training. The battle is very real and is waging all around me, yet most times I would rather sleep in just a few extra minutes because I "deserve it". The only thing I "deserve" is Hell. But God has redeemed me, that means he paid for me so that I would not go where I deserved because God's love demands my life for himself. He has called me out of death into life. I love the way Galatians 2:20 puts it, "For I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I live in this body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." If I live by faith in the Son of God, I can faith to lose sleep for the sake of God, or lose a meal, or a drink, or a limb, or my life itself and know that I am His. When my foundation is on the rock, I cannot be moved, because he is unmoving, immutable, infinite, omnipotent, infallible. I declare your words over my life, that I will be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to you because it really is the only reasonable response to the vast oceans of grace you pour on me by your insane mercies.
Lord, thank you for today and for help at work. Thank you for tonight and for the sons and daughters that were added to your family. I praise you for your compassions that never fail, which are new every morning. I praise you that you are the God that is completely self-sufficient, that you do not need anything let alone from me, but yet you still desire me and want to partner with me to do great things that you could do quite easily on your own. God thank you for granting me repentance tonight and showing me the depths of my sin and how they grieve you. Help me to be holy as you are holy and to honor you with my body, mind, and spirit. Show me more of you that I would fear you and love you more that I might not sin against you.
Jesus, Jesus Lord of my life, I love you.