Living with Pain

Living with Pain

do you live with pain

Do You Live with Pain?

When there are those in pain around us, we feel helpless.  We may stand beside them, hug them, tell them that we love them as we observe their tears, listen to their cries and realize that there is a huge gulf between us.  It seems that we cannot penetrate their suffering, but to watch.  We feel weak.  Sometimes in these situations, there is even unexpected anger against God.  Some even ask, “God, why us?” as we see the beauty of our loved ones go through the shadow of death (Psa. 23:4).

There are some who believe that when this happens, that God is displeased with our life.  Faith healers believe we don’t have enough faith.  Others claim that it is God’s will to make us suffer like this.  In all these words, many have little advice to give people.  Why do people have to suffer?  Where is God when it hurts?

For those who have not suffered with the loss of a loved one, they have an inadequate view of suffering.  People speak and ask how can a God say He loves us and then allow His people to die from a holocaust, from diseases like leukemia, cancer and allow over a billion people each night to go to bed hungry with no food.  What does it all mean?  I think it is interesting that we do not gather around and discuss what it means to smell or what it mean to taste.  Why do we have these sensations?  No one debates these ideas, but people react so differently against the sensations of pain when it happens.

The problems of pain and suffering seems to never fade away, never seems to really be answered.  The problem of pain is like a big mystery.  Nevertheless, pain certainly alerts our body that something is wrong and we focus on that area.  Pain certainly is not an afterthought from God, it is part of His marvelous design for the body.  Even though things happen through life, the pain we feel, makes our lives miserable.

Pain will have no real solution while on earth.  But, we can sustain ourselves by faith in God and faith in His Son who is the great Physician (Gal. 2:20).  He has the ability to remove our pain.  God knows why we hurt and when we think on God, our pain can melt away (Job 38-41).  To know that God gives us joy and love, happiness and goodness (Gal. 5:22).  To know that in the middle of our confusion and frustrations of life, we find our Lord who is worthy of our trust (Rev. 4:11).  We need to know in times like this that God has been here from the beginning (Gen. 1:1; Rev. 1:8) and He allows pain so that we will turn to Him focusing on a time when there will be no more pain.  He allows us to cry like Job (Job 14) knowing that God comforts the poor and suffering, that He nourishes our souls and that when we are hurting, crying out, we may go to Him, casting our cares on Him (1 Pet. 5:7), having an intimate relationship with Him (Jn. 17:20-22).  He is always with us and so are the members of the Lord’s body who are commanded to bear up those who hurt to relieve them in their suffering (Gal. 6:2; 1 Thess. 5:11).

Be comforted to know that God is waiting for you and I, knowing that one day there will be victory over the world where God will take us with Him to a new home where He will wipe away our tears and where there will be no more pain (Rev. 21:1-4).  Death is swallowed up in victory and our faith overcomes the world (1 Cor. 15:54; 1 Jn. 5:4).  Remember that Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (Jn. 14:1-3).  Comfort one another with these words as we live through the pains in life.

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Are You Ignorant?

Knowledge is Power

dont be ignorant knowledge is power

Don’t Be Ignorant! Knowledge is Power!

Francis Bacon once said, “Knowledge is power,” which is a true statement. In the Bible, God had already declared such as true (Hos. 4:6; Luke 1:76-77; 1 Cor. 15:34; 1 Tim. 2:3-4). Thus, knowledge is important. For this reason, Paul instructed his readers with his writings to know certain things, cued in by the phrase “I would not have you to be ignorant” or something associated to it. Let us notice some of his statements more closely, as I believe that these things are also things that we need to know today.

Paul wanted his readers in Rome to know that he was interested in their spiritual growth:

Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles (Rom. 1:13).

In his mission of converting Gentiles (cf. Acts 26:16- 18), he was not only interested in the Gentiles of Asia Minor using Antioch as his base of operations, but he was also interested in the Gentiles of Rome (cf. Rom. 15:23-24). Nevertheless, he was interested in the spiritual growth of all of his converts (1 Cor. 1:4-8; Eph. 1:15-16; Phil. 4:17; Col. 1:3-10).

Paul wanted his readers in Rome to know of the revelation of the gospel:

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in (Rom. 11:25).

Paul often called this the “mystery,” in that God fully revealed His plan of redemption for Jews and Gentiles alike to the apostles through the Holy Spirit (cf. Eph. 3:1-7). This was something very difficult for the Jews to handle, and Paul had to deal with Judaizing teachers everywhere he went. Thus, to his readers in Rome, he uses an analogy of grafting branches into an olive tree in an effort to educate them concerning this wonderful news of salvation for all.

Paul wanted his readers in Corinth to know of the need of temperance in the Christian life:

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea…(1 Cor. 10:1).

The first word in this verse shows the connection that he had with his previous thoughts of personal temperance (1 Cor. 9:26-27), and in the beginning of First Corinthians 10, Paul uses the examples of the Israelites to show their need to add self-control to their spiritual lives in an effort to resist temptation (1 Cor. 10:1-14).

Paul wanted his readers in Corinth to know the proper teaching concerning spiritual gifts: “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant” (1 Cor. 12:1). In fact, he spends the next three chapters discussing the proper use and approach Page 2 The Southwesterner February 22, 2015 to the spiritual gifts that they had by the Holy Spirit. In a divided church as Corinth, they were using these gifts to create animosity rather than using them as God intended.

Paul wanted his readers in Thessalonica to know the proper understanding of the resurrection:

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13).

In the verses that follow in that chapter, he discusses what will happen at the resurrection in an effort to provide hope and qualm their fears and concerns for their loved ones who have preceded them in death (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Nevertheless, because God, the Holy Spirit, is the author of these all, then He would like for us today who read these priceless preserved treasures to know something about spiritual growth, the universal gospel of redemption, the need for temperance in Christianity, the proper understanding of spiritual gifts and the hope and comfort in the resurrection yet to come. In such, we appreciate the candor of the apostle Paul in providing for us this necessary knowledge! Indeed, a knowledge of the will and word of God is power!

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Spiritual Decoys

Spiritual Decoys

We are all familiar with the term “ decoys. ” Merriam-Webster defines a “ decoy ” in part as: “…someone or something used to lure or lead another into a trap; especially: an artificial bird used to attract live birds within shot.”

are you being fooled by decoys

Are you being fooled by Decoys?

Go into almost any outdoor or sporting goods store that caters to hunters and fishermen and you will find them – decoys of almost any imaginable sort, shape, and size. Everything from duck, to deer, to pheasant, to turkey, and oh so much more. In fact, many countless thousands upon thousands of artificial fishing lures would also fit into this category as well. This mesmerizing myriad of mostly plastic, truly life-like and look-alike creations of men, designed to deceive and draw the living within range of the death-dealing forces of their own destruction, can all be classified as “ decoys. ”

It is quite interesting to note how this is all-too-true and applies in the spiritual realm as well. In the first chapter of the Apostle Peter’s second epistle, he tells everyone exactly how to make sure that they are never spiritually deceived and drawn in by artificial decoys and false doctrines to their own destruction; this, by loving, learning and living God’s word, without exception, exemption, addition, subtraction, substitution or interpretation (2 Peter 1:16-21)!

And then he says this: But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber (2 Peter 2:1-3).

The phrase in verse three, which reads “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words,” actually translates an incredibly telling Greek word for “deceptive,” which occurs only once in the entire New Testament. It is the Greek word “plastos,” the very word from which we derive the English word, “plastic.” And what exactly is “plastic?” It is an artificial, man-made substance God never spoke into existence, and which therefore never naturally occurs in God’s creation like wood or stone. It can be shaped and molded into all sorts of things, including the aforementioned artificial lures and deadly decoys, all designed to look like the real thing in order to attract and kill those deceived by them! And those deceptive (plastos) man-made doctrines never, ever found in Scripture, are every inch as spiritually and eternally deadly as well, and more!

Jesus Himself warned about the many false teachers and false Christs that would arise and mislead many to their deaths in the days leading up to the siege and destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:1-14). The apostles Peter, Paul, and John also took up and echoed the very same warning cries in the decades to come (2 Peter 2 and 3; 2 Corinthians 11:15; 1 John 2:18-27, 4:1-6).

The fact is that there are many deadly and deceptive (“plastos”), fatal and false doctrines that are being put out in the spiritual field (Matthew 13:36-40) by Satan and his Scripture-denying servants, to deceive and call people in to their doom. These tantalizing and ear-tickling teachings are nothing more or less than empty decoys designed to deceive (1 Timothy 4:1-5; 2 Timothy 4:3-4). Like the Pharisees, these doctrines of demons may look and sound religiously pious and convincing on the surface, but are empty and more full of death and destruction than a “Trojan Horse” on the inside (Matthew 23:25-28). Examples of these deadly decoys would include saying the so-called “sinner’s prayer” for salvation; “attending the church of your choice” instead of the one God died to provide; and/or any and every other biblically foreign or contrary teaching known to man, designed to confuse and contradict the clear-cut commandments of God (Mark 7:5-13).

Don’t be deceived! Don’t be blindsided! Test the spirits! It may look like a duck and sound like a duck, but be nothing more than a deceptively deadly false doctrine, made out of spiritually-pliable and poison plastic, designed to draw seekers of the one true God in, while completely “ducking” His commandments in the process!

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Big Problem?

How Big is Your Problem?

do your problems seem to big to handle

Do Your Problems Seem Too Big to Handle?

No one ever said that life would be easy. From infancy nothing seems to go right. We are seemingly placed in a crib where we must cry endlessly, awaiting someone to notice that we are hungry, lonely or need our diapers changed. Later, there is that horrible task of learning to walk with the incessant tumbling and falling that is part of the process. Add to that the great “injustice” brought into our lives by parents and siblings. Life is not easy. Little do we realize that this just the beginning of a life filled with problems.

As we reach maturity, those first problems become insignificant with the problems which surround us. Look around you right now and think of what is happening. Life is not easy. It is characterized by insurmountable problems.

However, there is something a Christian has which makes life vastly different from those in the world. It does not matter what is happening, for the eyes of our God are over us, His ears are open to our prayers and His face is against those who trouble us (1 Pet. 3:12). Our problems often seem far greater than our abilities to deal with them, but we must remember that our God is greater than our problems.

Paul described the limitless power of God in his letter to Ephesus. “He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20). Read that passage slowly and notice the character of God. God is able. He is able to do what we ask. He is able to do what we ask or think. He is able to do more than we ask or think. He is able to do abundantly more than we ask or think. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.

The emphasis this year at Palm Beach Lakes is, “With God We Can.” The emphasis this month is “With God We Can Anchor Our Hope in Christ.” That hope is the anchor of our soul (Heb. 6:19) in the midst of adversity. Paul said we are saved by this hope (Rom. 8:24). Hope is not a wish that we might overcome, it is an expectation. It is not an expectation because of our ability, but because of His!

When Paul was traveling to Rome, his ship was caught in a tempestuous storm. For two weeks, they were driven by the ferocious winds and no one knew where they were. Luke described the situation as, “All hope was lost.” Yet, read Acts 27:21-25 carefully and see the hope Paul had in this situation. God was greater than his problems! That same God is your God, and He is greater than your problems!

The next time you look at what is happening in your life just remember that the question is not, “How big is your problem?” The question is, “How big is your God?”

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Jesus and Scandal

Jesus, Ferguson, Scandals, and Headline News

Dont let scandals and headlines bypass your spiritual life

Don’t let Scandals & Headlines bypass your Spiritual Life.

“Police Officers shot in Ferguson,” the headlines declared. The mainstream media was scrambling to determine how badly the officers were injured and to provide as many details as possible, adding to the already palpable tension.

Living in the narcissistic age that we do, we often detach the Bible from such headline news, thinking that it would have nothing to say about situations like Ferguson. After all, they didn’t have 24-hour news channels back during the time of Jesus. Sure, we may offer up some generalities, like “love your neighbor as yourself,” but oftentimes we read headlines without giving much thought as to how Jesus dealt with major news stories.

Jesus’ response to breaking headline stories would probably astound most Americans today. In fact, many would not heed His admonishment. Why? Because His response is not what our human ears wants to hear.

In Luke 13, we find Jesus being confronted with major headline news—bigger than what we find in Ferguson, MO. It was around 30 A.D. and Pilate had proposed building a new water conduit system. While the Jews had agreed to the construction of this new system, they were not aware that Pilate had assumed he would get some of the money from the temple—since it would benefit from the new water system. When the Jews learned Pilate was planning on using money that they considered to be consecrated to God they were outraged. There was a group of Galileans who were quick-tempered and easily inflamed in political fights. They were quick to rush the palace and protest. Pilate, predicting the hot-headed Galileans would demonstrate, had staged guards—dressed as Jews—all over the area. When the Galileans rose up in protest, the soldiers rose up against them. As the blood from those killed or wounded flowed down the streets, some of it mingled with the blood of the animals that were being offered as sacrifices. This situation infuriated many Jews, but had others asking if the Galileans should have stormed the palace in protest. Were this to have happened in modern times, it would have been wall-to-wall coverage on channels like Fox News and CNN.

So, what was Jesus’ response? Did He immediately take a side? Did He grab a sign and march in the streets? Did He write a stinging blog post or post His feelings on Facebook? No, He didn’t do any of the things we see going on with situations like Ferguson. Instead, He refused to judge—something we have trouble with. Second, he told those with Him that they should repent.

Consider that for just a moment. Those with Him were questioning Him, wanting Him to weigh in on the scandal of the day, and yet He refused to judge. These individuals were wanting to know: “Were the Galileans justified or not for their actions?” Instead of focusing on those involved in the scandal Jesus focused on those around Him. Jesus said, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:2-3). Imagine for just a moment that you want Jesus to make His opinion known on something like the Ferguson case, or same-sex marriage trial, or the O.J. Simpson case and he turns the spotlight back on you.

Not only did He not judge, but He told these individuals to repent. They were the ones living when this scandal happened. It happened on their watch. Instead of people treating each other with love, respect, and humility they were causing strife and division.

Is this hard medicine to swallow? Absolutely. It’s so easy to get emotionally charged and take a side. It’s so easy to pronounce what we consider to be the right judgment. But the Master teacher gives us a different response—a response that causes us to look deeply at ourselves and realize we too have some more work to do.

As major headlines and scandals occur all around us, may we as Christians follow the words of Christ—refusing to cast judgment and repent. If we really want to see differences in our communities and nations then we need to start with  ourselves!

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