Why Is Life So Hard?

by Rick Warren

“All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.” (Isaiah 53:6 NLT)

Everything seems to be a battle. Nothing is easy. The fact is, life is difficult.

So, why is life so hard in this world?

The Bible says rebellion against God broke everything.

It all started back with the first couple, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. When God created the world, everything was perfect. It was paradise. And Adam and Eve had no problems, suffering, sadness, temptations, or troubles.

But one day Adam and Eve decided that they wanted to do what they wanted to do. God told them, “You can do anything you want to in this paradise except one thing.” And what did Adam and Eve do? The one thing God told them not to do.

Expect to Hear His Voice

"The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice, and I know them and they follow Me." (John 10:27, The Amplified Bible)
So many believers are unsure of their ability to hear God or know His voice. They're always afraid that they won't be able to tell when the Spirit of God is talking to them.

What they don't realize is this: Hearing the voice of the Spirit is a privilege that the Bible says belongs to every believer (Rom. 8:14). All we have to do to exercise that privilege is to receive it by faith and put ourselves in a position to hear.

Hit Him With the Rock

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters." (Psalm 23:1-2)

Have you ever thought about David and wondered how a shepherd boy could become a man after God's own heart? A man so strong in spirit that God chose him to be king of Israel? I have.

In fact, I asked God about it, and He showed me that revelation was what turned David into such a spiritual powerhouse--revelation that came to him through hours of thinking about the things of God. I imagine the day he wrote Psalm 23 he was just sitting and singing praises to God and meditating on His goodness. Just fellowshipping with Him when suddenly the anointing of the Lord came upon him and he said, "The Lord is my Shepherd!"

Humor : The Young Man and The Cowboy

To lighten things up a bit on the blog this week, here’s a short story that a friend sent me.
–
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California, when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.

The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out his window and asked the cowboy . . .

“If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?”

Bud looked at the man, obviously a yuppie, and then looked at his peacefully grazing herd. He calmly answered, “Sure, why not?”

The yuppie parks his car, whipped out his Dell notebook computer, connected it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfed to a NASA page on the Internet. He then called up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he immediately fed to another NASA satellite that scanned the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opened the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exported it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany.

Within seconds, he received an email on his Palm Pilot saying that the image had been processed and the data stored. He then accessed a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet via email on his Blackberry, and after a few minutes, he received a response.

Finally, he printed out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-Tech Miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turned to the cowboy named Bud and said, “You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.”

Bud replied: “That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves.”

Bud watched the young man select one of the animals and looked on amused as the young man stuffed it into the trunk of his car.

Then Bud said to the young man, “Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?”

The young man thought about it for a second and said, “Okay, why not?”

“You’re a Congressman for the U.S. Government,” said Bud.

“Wow! That’s correct,” said the yuppie, “But how did you guess that?”

“No guessing required,” answered Bud. “You showed up here even though nobody called you. You wanted to get paid for an answer I already knew to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are, and you don’t know a thing about cows . . . this is a herd of sheep . . .

Now give me back my dog.”

http://frankviola.org/2012/02/22/acowboynamedbud/#more-7660

Trusting God With Your Tomorrows

Gwen Smith, www.GwenSmith.net

Editor's Note: The following article is excerpted from Trusting God: A Girlfriends in God Devotional, by Sharon Jaynes, Gwen Smith, & Mary Southerland (Multnomah Books, 2011). This selection is written by Gwen Smith. Used with permission.

On the far side of a desert, high upon the mountain of God, a voice called out to Moses from within a curious, fiery bush. He had been tending the sheep of his father-in-law’s flock, minding his own business, going about his normal day-in-day-out tasks when God spoke to him from the flames. On the day that God called Moses to a fresh and fiery mission. A mission of deliverance.

Once a noble prince of Egypt with the world at his feet, Moses had become a lowly shepherd with dust on his sandals. His crown had been traded in for a staff. The palace days were far behind Moses now. He fled them because of what he had done. Glancing to his left and his right to be sure that no one would see what he was about to do, Moses took a horrible situation into his own hands and killed a man. He had murdered an Egyptian and covered the body with sand.

Fear and shame bombarded his heart so he fled — away from his dream-filled, royal future to a desert place of humble hiding. The door to his yesterdays was closed. Moses had moved on to a new place. His past was his past and he had no intention of returning to it. His life was different now. Normal, not noble.

Then God interrupted Moses’s new normal. He made it undeniably clear that His plans for Moses were different. Bigger. God’s intentions were for freedom — the freedom of His people, the Israelites, who were captives, slaves to Egypt. God called Moses to face the pains of his past so that the Israelites could face a future of freedom. His plans of emancipation required that Moses obey Him, listen to His voice, follow His instructions, and trust Him.

Moses quivered and doubted. He made excuses about why he couldn’t do it. He felt completely unfit and unqualified for such a task. It was risky. But God met Moses at his doubts. He called him to courage and went on to use Moses as an instrument of deliverance, truth, power, and freedom. Yes, Moses made mistakes along the way, but God was powerful in, through, and in spite of each one. Through it all, God led as only God can. He led with power. He led with purpose. He led with love. And through Moses, God led His people to a new place of promise and freedom.

On the far side of Charlotte, North Carolina, high upon a mountain in a retreat center, a voice called out to me from within a curious and fiery story. I had been tending to my husband and children, to the laundry and the dishes, writing songs and leading worship at women’s events, minding my own business, and going about my normal day-in-day-out tasks on the day that God spoke to my heart through the testimony of another woman. On the day that God called me to a fresh and fiery mission. A mission of deliverance.

Once a sold-out, dream-filled God-girl, I had become a grace-embracing yet disqualified-for-anything-big-because-of-what-I-had-done God-girl. My use-me-in-a-big-way-Lord prayers had been traded in for average can’t-have-a-dream-anymore faith-living. My God-dream days were far behind me. I had fled them because of what I had done in my junior year of college. Glancing to my left and right to be sure that no one would know what I was about to do, I took a horrible situation — an unplanned pregnancy — into my own hands and killed a baby. I robbed life from my own child when I had an abortion, and I covered over the death of my precious child with sands of compartmentalization and reason.

Fear and shame bombarded my heart, so I fled — away from God, away from my dream-filled, royal future to a desert place of heart-hiding. After a season of brokenness, God brought me to a place of beauty, forgiveness, and healing. I was restored and redeemed by scandalous, merciful grace. The door to my yesterdays was closed. I moved on to a new place in Christ. My past was my past and I had no intentions of returning to it — or to the God-dreams that swelled my heart when I was a young, sold-out Jesus lover. My life was different now. Normal, not dream-worthy.

Then God interrupted my new normal. He made it undeniably clear that His plans for me were different. Bigger. God’s intentions were for freedom — the freedom of His people, the women who were captives,slaves to their life-wounds. God called me to face the pains of my past so that my Girlfriends in God might face a future of freedom when they hear my testimony. His plans of emancipation required that I obey Him, listen to His voice, follow His instructions, and trust Him.

I quivered and doubted. I made excuses about why I couldn’t do it. I felt completely unfit and unqualified for such a task. It was risky. But God met me at my doubts. He called me to courage and is using my broken-into-beautiful story as an instrument of deliverance, truth, power, and freedom. Yes, I make mistakes along the way, but God is powerful in, through, and in spite of each one. Through each surrendered day, God is leading as only He can. With power, with purpose, with love. And I pray right now that this story — my story — will bring you to a new place of promise and freedom through the grace of Jesus Christ.

What fresh and fiery mission is God calling you to trust Him with, friend? Let me encourage you to stop with the excuses. I’m living proof that God will free anyone from her shame and can use anyone for His purpose. Step up to the burning bush — into God’s presence. Listen to His voice. Obey. Follow. Take courage. Trust Him with your past and with your tomorrows. Allow His grace and love to decide what your mission should look like.

But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. (Exodus 9:16)

Let’s Pray

Dear God, with a trembling heart, I approach Your throne of grace today in reverence and humility, fully aware that You are holy and I am not. Speak, Lord. Show me the plans You have for me. Bind me to Your Word and to Your strength so I will have the courage to obey. May my brokenness be restored for the beauty of Your glory. Please help me to trust You with my today and my tomorrows. In Jesus’s name I pray, amen.

Gwen Smith is a co-founder of Girlfriends in God. She’s also a popular Christian speaker, author of Broken into Beautiful, songwriter, and worship leader. Be sure to connect with her on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/GwenSmithMusic or on her website:www.GwenSmith.net.

Adapted from Trusting God by Sharon Jaynes, Gwen Smith, & Mary Southerland by permission of Multnomah, division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Publication date: January 17, 2011

http://www.crosswalk.com/church/worship/trusting-god-with-your-tomorrows.html

The Door to Abundance

by: Alan Bullock

Although His birth brought no great fanfare or recognition from the institutions and governments of men, Jesus’ ministry of revealing the Father’s forgiveness of sin changed the course of men’s lives forever. Until Jesus, sin had an ugly permanency that gripped men’s souls like a black darkness without hope.Hope for the Journey
There is a garden provided for man,
A place of hope in God’s great plan,
Where your faith in Him will expand,
A refuge from storms in the Promised Land.
There is a light that glows from His lamp,
Giving power to battle the enemy’s camp,
With victory to conquer till the break of day,
Where the King of Kings makes grand His way.
There is a hope beyond a tempter’s scheme,
Where mighty billows of grace dost gleam,
Where the Balm of Gilead flows like a stream,
And the Day Spring of glory fulfills every dream.
There is a portal through the Door of Life,
Where grace is stronger than mortal strife.
A place where His sunlight will always rise,
The closest thing to Paradise.
There is a victory by a Broken Reed,
Where the Guide of Life meets thy need,
Where our feet flee from going astray,
And the Spring of Life makes its way.
There is a life beyond the Veil,
The wind, His spirit both fill my sail;
Beyond the valley where one travails,
Where the Rod of Jesse never fails.
There is a drink from the Master’s cup,
Where I, with love, shall drink it up;
That keeps me from the wilderness,
For the Savior’s love has power to bless. But with the Father’s forgiveness of sin, He brought relief from its clutches and a cure and hope to lost humanity. As Dr. Mark Rutland so eloquently stated in his book, The Finger of God, “…the reason common people gladly accepted Jesus was because He ministered to their needs. The two elements conspicuously absent from the tasseled robes and flowery public prayers of the Pharisees were reality and authority. Jesus’ ministry demonstrated the value of substance over image. Unlike the Pharisees, He understood and pitied their weaknesses and communicated with pure simplicity that He understood their pain and longed to bring the Prodigal Sons and Daughters home to the Father’s house.”Jesus then became the Door to Life and laid down the Welcome Mat of Grace to all that would follow Him. He drank of the cup in the Garden so we could drink of the cup of New Birth and share in His heavenly bounty. Of all the “I AM” statements of Jesus, of particular significance is the “I AM” found in John 10:9: “I AM the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

In Biblical times the door to the sheep’s pen was the shepherd himself as he would lie across the entry way to the pen to keep the sheep safe. Jesus is also the door or gateway to abundance and greener pastures. Walk through the door, dear friend. Come home to the Father who waits on the other side to keep you safe from all harm.

As the Door, Jesus is the one and only way of entrance into salvation. As the Good Shepherd He is the one who cares for the sheep and provides for their salvation at the cost of His life. He lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:1-11).

Hope is God’s sparrow that lites gently upon our soul and sings the tune of faithful
anticipation for a glorious future…

http://www.daystar.com/devotions/the-door-to-abundance/