Category: A Door of Hope

 

Philippians 4:9 "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you."

 

Part of my Twitter profile reads "…Information Gatherer".

Oh, I do love to learn things!  All sorts of things! 

Recently, I've looked up information on the following subjects:

• on how to make a vegetarian sandwich spread,
• on Medicare coverage for blood glucose monitors,
• on how to install a car seat in our new vehicle,
• on the anti-supplement amendment,
• on how to hone my writing skills and
• on hurricane preparation.

I really love to learn.

However, there comes a point when all my learning is useless, unless I actually DO something.

What good does it do me to learn all about growing cucumbers, if I never actually plant, water and tend a cucumber plant?

I can read all about hurricane preparation, but if I never actually prepare, I will find myself miserable, hungry, dirty and in great need during an actual storm.

Maybe that was Paul's point in the verse above:

• You've learned about God
• You've received Christ as your Saviour
• You've heard how other Christians are living
  
• You've watched how I serve the Lord

Now DO it for yourself!!!

 

All of this Scriptural study makes for great thinking, meditating, musing and debating; but if that is all we do with it, we are not fulfilling the will of Christ for our lives.

He wants us to leave our halls of learning, go out from our offices and studies, and LIVE out His Word in the world around us.

So, our challenge is this:

Did we learn something new about the Lord Jesus Christ in church yesterday?  Were we reminded of some truth of Scripture in the sermons that we heard?

Then let's DO something to live that truth today.

I can't wait to see what else we learn as we live out what we have already learned!!!

 

 

A Christian life well-lived, in spite of trial and circumstance, is proof of the power of God.

 

II Corinthians 4:7-10 "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body."

 

God is not only working out His will in us and making us more like Jesus with each difficult circumstance that we go through.  He is also showing His power to the world.

There is no way that we could live victorious lives without His resurrection power at work in us.

We are literally showing God to the world as we live out our faith each day.

So, what did the world learn about God by watching us yesterday???

And…what will we determine to show them today?

 

In our foolishness, at times, we blame our difficult circumstances on God.

He could, of course, rescue us from them at any given moment; but He does not.

He could protect us from every pain and injustice from the moment of our conception and see that no harm ever comes to us; but He chooses not to.

So, to our finite mind, all our problems are His fault.

However, if we spend any time reading the Bible, we quickly see that is not the case.  Often we bring our difficulties on ourselves. 

This quote from my pastor really made me think:

 

"Our decisions form our circumstances." ~ S. Carter

 

I know there are times when calamities come on us, and there was nothing we could have done to prevent them; but even then, we cannot blame God.  He allows sin to do its work here on the earth and so, yes the rain falls on the just and the unjust.  We all suffer.

However, I find the 107th chapter of Psalms to be so comforting.  The Psalmist lists circumstance after circumstance with the children of Israel; and then shows how God in His mercy provided for their every needs.  The last verse is especially precious to me:

 

Psalm 107:43 "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD."

 

Time after time the Lord provides for us, when we don't deserve it.  He repeatedly blesses us with things that are not even needs, but simply our desires and wishes.

When we are wise and observe the ways of the Lord, we understand that He is a God of lovingkindness.

And, really, what more do we need to know about our God?

We can trust Him.  He has our best interest in mind; and He will act with lovingkindness on our behalf in every circumstance. 

 

Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

 

Knowing this, how can we possibly doubt His love for us???

 

"Often God delays purposely, and the delay is just as much an answer to your prayers as is the fulfillment when it comes." ~Streams in the Desert

 

"Daniel had fasted and prayed twenty-one days, and had a very hard time in prayer.  As far as we read the narrative, it was not because Daniel was not a good man, nor because his prayer was not right, but it was because of a special attack of Satan." Streams in the Desert

 

Daniel 10:12-13a "Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days…"

 

Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

 

"The Lord will go through with His covenant engagements.  Whatever He takes in hand He will accomplish, hence past mercies are guarantees for the future and admirable reasons for continuing to cry unto Him." ~ C. H. Spurgeon

 

Psalm 37:5 "Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."

 

Have you prayed and prayed, and still no answer has come?

Are you tired from the waiting?

Do not give up hope, my friend!

Your answer is on its way, and God will keep His promises to you.

Continue on in prayer with the firm belief that all will be well.

In His perfect time, your answer will appear.

 

Psalm 77:6 "I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search."

 

"Indeed it is extremely doubtful if a soul can really know the love of God in its richness and in its comforting, satisfying completeness until the skies are black and lowering." ~Malcolm J. McLeod

 

The Jews, historically, have considered the night to be the beginning of the day – rather than the end of the day.

In Genesis, by God's description, we see that the morning follows the night:

 

Genesis 1:5 "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

 

Our night must preceed our day.

 

"Light comes out of darkness, morning out of the womb of the night." ~Malcolm J. McLeod

 

Are you in darkness?

Is the night surrounding you?

Does it feel that the daylight will never come?

Have faith, my friend!

You are learning of God in that darkness.  It is the beginning of your new day, even though the sun is dark and the moon is only a reflection of its brightness.

This is your "cool of the day" when God will come to walk with you in the garden of your heart. (Genesis 3:8)

From this darkness, you will gain the strength to live when the sun rises in its heat during the day.

Do not wish the darkness away. 

Bask in the quietness and commune with your God. 

He will give you a song in the middle of the night that will sustain you in the coming light of day.

 

"The pressure of hard places makes us value life…" ~ A. B. Simson

 

II Corinthians 1:8-10 "For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us"

 

"…Every time our life is given back to us from such a trial, it is like a new beginning, and we learn better how much it is worth, and make more of it for God and man. 

The pressure helps us to understand the trials of others, and fits us to help and sympathize with them…

The man or woman who has suffered much…is very tender and gentle and know what suffering really means…Trials and hard places are needed to press us forward…" ~ A. B. Simpson

 

"Pressed into knowing no helper by God;

Pressed into loving the staff and the rod.

Pressed into liberty where nothing clings;

Pressed into faith for impossible things."

~Streams in the Desert

 

We can celebrate LIFE today because we faced DEATH's dark valley yesterday.

Let us not despair.  We know the God that "doth deliver" and we believe that He will "yet deliver us" again!

 

 

This conversation happened in my head this morning.  (I hope this glimpse into my squirrelly thought processes is no too scary this early in the morning!!!)

 

"Oh, is my prayer ever going to be answered?!!

"I just have so many doubts!

"NO!  I won't doubt!  I'll just believe that it IS going to happen!

"Ah…but I have so little faith!

"I NEED more faith?"

"How can I get more faith?

"Does God just give me more faith?

"No…wait!

"'Faith cometh by hearing…'  Yeah!  I remember now!!!  And 'hearing by the Word of God', right?

"I'd better look that up."

 

So, I did look it up and this is what I found:

Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

 

Then I wondered, "What exactly does it mean by hearing?"

 

I looked that up too, and this is what I found:

HE'ARING, ppr. Perceiving by the ear, as sound.

1. Listening to; attending to; obeying; observing what is commanded.

 

Wow! So let me see if I've got this right:

I need a prayer answered.

I need faith to trust God to work out my need.

I get faith from hearing.

Hearing is listening, attending, obeying and observing what I have been commanded.

And what I have been commanded comes from the Word of God.

 

So, if I feel that my prayer is never going to be answered…

• Do I spend more time on my knees begging God for that answer? 
  
• Do I work and work and work to get the answer? 
  
• Do I find a ministry and serve laboriously, hoping God will deem me worth of an answer?

 

No.

I go to the Word of God and I listen to It.  I pay attention to It.  I obey It.  I keep the commandments in It.

Now, granted, as I read in the Word, I may find the instructions to spend more time in prayer, or to labor diligently in my church or community. 

But those actions are the results of my "hearing", not the method of obtaining my answers to my prayers.

 

Are you floundering in a sea of doubt this morning?  Are you waiting for answers that are just not coming?

At the risk of sounding redundant, Go To The Word!

Read it.  Learn from it.  Obey it. 

As you do this, you will find your faith growing by leaps and bounds, and you'll wonder how you ever doubted that God would meet your every need!