Give God the Glory

"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." (John 15:8)

There's an old Full Gospel tradition that says God gets glory from the wonderful way His children bear pain and agony and that the world is impressed by that. What a lie! That's simply a tool of the devil to keep God's children in bondage.

People of the world already have all the pain and agony they want. They aren't looking for a way into it. They are looking for a way out. They don't care what you preach. It's the religious people who get worried about that. The world, the sinners, are smarter than that. All they care about are the results.

That's why they'll come to your church when they hear people are getting healed, delivered and set free from suffering. That's what they're looking for, and that's what God wants them to receive.

A Mother Called Wisdom

Written by Jack Hayford

Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding; for I give you good doctrine: do not forsake my law. When I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me, and said to me:

“Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands, and live. Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory she will deliver to you.”

Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life. - Proverbs 4:1-13

God’s Power Never Goes Out

Ruth Gulbranson

The diagnosis was grim: stage three ovarian cancer. My friend, Joyce, had no forewarning of a serious illness. Her regular check-ups brought no indication of a problem, and now she faced a major surgery and an uncertain road toward what we all hoped would be recovery.

In Pain and in Prayer

Within a matter of days, surgery was scheduled, and Joyce and her husband, Michael, called for a group of friends and elders from church to pray for them. We gathered with hearts sobered by the frailty of life and tender with gratitude for Michael and Joyce. We were serious—knowing the gravity of the prognosis—but hopeful that God would be pleased to grant healing and restoration.

Strong winds had blown all day, and when we met at Michael and Joyce’s condo, their electricity had gone out because of the storm. The dim, overcast evening left the home in shadows. With a lone camping lantern on the table, our group of fifteen or so crowded into the living room.

Healing Cry

Written by Julie Cosgrove

 Are you facing a period of suffering in your life? Take this interactive online study: Finding Hope When It Hurts

“O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.” (Psalm 30:2)

Recently I was hospitalized for a staph infection that had invaded a simple scrape on my forehead. One side of my temple ballooned into a red, angry mass and the skin around my eye swelled shut. The swelling even spread to my cheek and jaw. The nurses responded by giving me IV antibiotics. However, when the doctor entered the scene he informed me that true healing would not occur unless the wound was lanced and drained.

The moment the wound was lanced I felt excruciating pain. Surprisingly, only a couple days later I was back to normal and the wound healed nicely. Even though I had recovered quite remarkably, the doctor warned me take oral antibiotics for a week to make sure any remnants of the infection were dealt with.

Hope Returns When We Remember God's Unfailing Love

by Rick Warren

“Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing: The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.” (Lamentations 3:21-24 GNT)

Pain is a natural part of life. You can’t escape it. Broken relationships, missed opportunities, and rough seasons of life will always be with us. When they do come, you can either become bitter or hopeful.

The choice is yours.

Jeremiah faced the same choice. When his world came apart after Jerusalem was sacked in 586 B.C., the prophet wrote the book of Lamentations to share his honest frustrations with God. But he didn’t settle in his bitterness and stay there.

In Lamentations 3:21-24, after sharing his bitter feelings, he wrote, “Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing: The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope” (GNT).

Silver and Gold

A few months ago a reader wrote to tell me how devastated she’d been by the breakup of her marriage. One day her husband simply told her he no longer loved her and wasn’t interested in working things out. The marriage was ended.

At times her pain was physical. She felt as though she were having a heart attack. But through the pain and chaos, she refused to doubt God, telling him she knew he was faithful and good. During the months that followed, this heartbroken woman kept seeking him, yielding her life again and again.
Now a year later, after living through what she describes as the darkest time of her life, she speaks about healing and a new freedom to love God that she never imagined possible. Her hope is palpable as she tells of her confidence that the best is yet to come.

Finding True Love in a Hook-up World

Written by Sean McDowell

If you could have any wish come true, what would you wish for? When I pose this question to my students they often say things such as, “to be rich,” “to be famous,” or “to find the perfect mate.” But of all the responses I have heard, the words of Ashley, an 18-year-old high school senior, stand out most vividly in my mind. After I spoke on sexual purity at a Tuesday-night youth group, she came up to me with tears in her eyes and said, “If I could have one wish in life, it would be to go back four years ago and hear this same message. I might not have ruined my life.” Ashley simply said thanks, and then walked away.

I have often wondered what decisions Ashley made that caused such deep scars in her life. Was she struggling with guilt or depression from a seemingly “harmless” hook-up? Did she get a sexually transmitted disease? Did she have an abortion? My heart went out to Ashley because I could see the pain on her face as she so deeply regretted her past choices. Somewhere she bought a false idea about sex, acted on it, and now she is paying a heavy price. Ashley learned a painful, yet powerful lesson: ideas have consequences. What you believe about sex will affect your choices, and your choices will shape the direction of your life. Misunderstanding the purpose and nature of sex can have disastrous consequences. So, what is the purpose of sex? And how can we find true love in a hook-up world?

Picking up the Pieces

Written by Linda McCutcheon

Are you hurting and facing unbearable pain? We can pray for you.

“Our Lord, You Always do Right” (Psalm 119:137-160 (CEV).

As a woman who actively seeks to obey God, there have been confusing times when I read these words and wonder with a breaking heart feeling like the wind has been knocked out of me. It goes on to say that “your decisions are fair”.

How can I believe these truths when humans disappoint or hurt us deeply? How do I pick myself up and put one foot in front of the other? How is it that we are left grabbing our hearts trying to breathe? How can I understand that the Lord ‘who always does right’ watches me as I am left crumpled and defeated? It doesn’t feel it was a right decision.

Chaos Now For Beauty Later

Written by Claire Colvin

“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19, NLT)

I am in the midst of a kitchen reno and my house looks like a disaster zone. The simplest tasks are complicated and frustrating. The kettle is in the en suite bathroom, the tea bags are on the coach, the mugs are somewhere in the living room. Everything takes longer. Nothing looks familiar.
Even when it’s time to rest it’s hard to relax in a room that is literally stacked to the ceiling. The other day I stood on the bare concrete floor and thought about the beautiful kitchen that is going in. I remembered all the years I had prayed for a place of my own and I took a deep breath. “It’s chaos now for beauty later,” I said to my roommate and I heard a whisper in my heart. Oh, there’s a lesson in that.

A New Beginning

Written by Carol Van Atta

A woman gives birth…to twins. An alcoholic pours his bottle of booze down the drain. An abused wife chooses to seek help. A convict is released from jail. A worker becomes the supervisor. A daughter loses her mother to a car accident. A mother survives cancer and chooses a new, healthier lifestyle.

New beginnings can happen any day at any time. A new beginning always involves leaving one thing behind and embracing something new and different. However, sometimes, new beginnings may not be of our own choosing or liking. Maybe the worker didn’t expect or want the promotion; yet, a new beginning has been thrust upon her. The alcoholic, on the other hand, has clearly made a choice to try a different path evidenced by the dumping of his precious liquor. Both have entered a time of new beginnings. And although the birth of a child and the death of a loved one appear very different, they both have two things in common: an end and a beginning.

Pain Has Limits Set By God

One of our recurring fantasies is that there are some people who have it all, who have no problems, who just seem to cruise through life. You can see their faces and hear their stories on prime-time TV. Maybe you wish you could have a life like theirs.

Maybe you've also secretly wished you could be a Christian superhero like Abraham or David or St. Paul. Actually, the heroes of the Bible suffered as much as or more than you.

You're a Jewel!

The Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.     Zechariah 9:16 

The Bible gives us this unusual detail about the construction of the Lord's temple. "In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built." (I Kings 6:7). An unbelievable amount of scraping, hammering, chiseling had to be done on those mighty rocks that were used in the construction. But it was all done out of view and out of earshot of the temple site.

It's a little like the way God "dresses" us, fitting us for heaven. The apostle Peter reminds us that you and I are living stones, and we are being mined in the quarry of earth, a place of noise, chiseling, and clouds of dust. God is using our sufferings and afflictions to hone and shape us so we might fit perfectly into heaven's landscape, where there is "no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool." Where there is no suffering. No tears, pain, sorrow, or death. 

My Battle with Postpartum Depression

Even though I felt myself being sucked into an abyss of darkness, I refused to reach out for help.by Shoshana Kagan

Looking down at my 6-month-old daughter, Rivka, I am filled with immense gratitude for this sweet bundle of joy in my arms. I caress her warm soft skin and gaze gently into her sparkling eyes. Relishing in the simple joys of motherhood I relax in my chair as I feed my child, letting my mind flow.

Suddenly, I sit up with a start and my dreamy smile slowly evaporates. A far off memory has jolted me. In my mind’s eye, I see a younger version of myself holding another six month old little girl. I am catapulted a decade back in time. I’m 24 years old and I’m holding my second child Devorah who is screaming.

A Letter To My Friend Whose Husband Is Cheating

Dear Charm,

I don’t know if you are a Christian, so I don’t think you will understand my perspective, but I thought you might appreciate it anyway because I know you are lost and hurting and you have a big decision to make and your mind is overwhelmed from shock and denial now. Let me just say, that you don’t have to make a decision at all right away, this is huge and it will effect so many people, you have the right to take as long as you want to make this decision, there is no rush, you can even take a year or two to make it if you want. For now, I advise you to wait and don’t decide. The main reason I’m saying that is because your brain is not working correctly, it is under a lot of stress, grief and shock and that is not the best situation to make a decision like divorce.

It’s Only a Season

Trish and I have been talking a lot lately about seasons of life. As parents of two teenagers and one that drives, we have entered a new season of life. New seasons of life can be exciting. But not all seasons of life feel good. They can be painful, lonely, heart-wrenching or dry.

As I think about people in Scripture, their lives seemed to have seasons. Jacob went through a season of being deceitful, then a season of running. Joseph went through a season of being the favorite, then a season of being resented, then a season of being forgotten in an Egyptian prison, then a season of great success. 

"And It Came To Pass ..." - the verse that changed one man's life forever ...

The story is told of a Sunday class that had been asked the question, "In your time of discouragement, what is your favorite Scripture?" A young man said, "the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want Psalm 23:1." 

A middle age woman said, "God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1." 

When Tough Times Come

"Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." (Acts 9:31)

There are times when life on this earth is hard and uncomfortable...and even downright painful. When those times come, you deeply need the comfort that only the Holy Spirit can bring.
How do you receive that kind of comfort?

Transition Takes You Higher

JOY STRANG

 

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(Justin Hobson)

Nothing in life is certain except for death, taxes—and change. God never changes, but we do. Through sanctification we are transformed from sinful, carnal creatures into the image of God’s Son.

Becoming like Jesus requires a lot of change—and often involves difficult periods of transition.

Transition can take many forms. It can be like the transition during labor—intense pain followed by a clear reward. Or it can be like the momentary transition that takes place when you switch gears in a car to face the challenge of the road ahead.

For an instant you are between gears and though the engine is roaring, you have no control. You may not know what the road ahead is like or whether you even want to move to a higher level. But when the shift occurs, you are connected once again with the power of the engine and are translated into a higher level of operation—the next gear.

Riding Out Life's Difficulties

"He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed." - Psalm 107:29 NIV

If you're past the age of 10, you've probably already figured out that life is not free of challenges. Difficulties, pain in relationships, and even tragedies are part of every day life. As a matter of fact, Jesus told His disciples, "Take courage. There are many storms in this life. (Here's the good part...my emphasis added). But take heart, I have overcome the world." Wow. Now, that's a scripture to hang your hat on!

Whenever you face a storm, your first urge may be to scream, "Why?" Certain storms do come into our lives because of our own sin, but many challenges occur when we're right in the middle of God's will. We're not doing anything wrong. We're doing what God wants us to do. Certainly, that was the case for the disciples. Jesus told them to get into the boat and row across the Sea of Galilee. They were obeying Jesus when they suddenly found themselves in a horrific storm. It was so bad, they didn't even know if they'd survive. But here is the important message from that event - they did survive. With the help of Jesus, they survived.

Compassion

Pastor Mark Jeske

If this were reality TV, here's how the story would continue. "But while he was still a long way off, his father's security guards spotted him and relayed the message. The father gave strict orders that his wastrel offspring was never to set foot on the family estate again, and if he tried, the dogs should be set on him."

Here's how the Bible describes the father, your Father: "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him" (Luke 15:20).

There is hardly a more beautiful description in the entire Bible of grace, which is God's decision to love unlovable people because of Jesus' willing death on Calvary. Jesus wants you to know that you can always count on the Father's mercy, because it is not based on your performance.

Compassion means that the father felt his son's shame and pain. And get this: he didn't make his son crawl. The father ran to embrace his prodigal bonehead. Wouldn't you like to be in your heavenly Father's embrace right now?