The Source of Our Adversity..... Dr. Charles Stanley

 The Source of Our Adversity

Dr. Charles Stanley

Isaiah 45:5-10

When we experience hardships, we usually wonder why God allows these painful situations to come our way. It just doesn't seem to fit with His role as our loving heavenly Father. We struggle to reconcile our suffering with His love for us and His power to prevent or stop it. In order to understand what's going on, we need to consider the possible sources of adversity.

A Fallen World: When sin entered the world, suffering came with it. God could have protected us from these harmful effects by making us like puppets who could not choose sin, but that would mean we'd also be unable to choose to love Him, because love must be voluntary.

Our Own Doing: Sometimes we get ourselves into trouble with our foolish or sinful choices. If the Lord stepped in and rescued us from every negative consequence, we'd never grow into mature believers.

Satanic Attack: The Devil is our enemy. To hinder anything the Lord wants to do in and through believers, Satan will never cease to harass us. His goal is to destroy our lives and our testimonies, thereby making us weak and useless for God's purposes.

God's Sovereignty: Ultimately, the Lord is in charge of all adversity that comes our way. To deny His involvement contradicts His power and sovereignty over creation.

For us to accept that God allows--or even sends--afflictions, we must see adversity from His perspective. Is your focus on the pain of your experience or on the Lord and His faithfulness? As believers, we're assured that no adversity comes our way unless He can use it to achieve His good purposes.

Seeking God through Community...... Craig Denison

 Seeking God through Community

Craig Denison

Weekly Overview:

Learning to seek the face of God is the foundation for experiencing the amazing life Jesus died to give us. We have available to us through Christ all the wonders, excellencies, and satisfaction we can fathom. God has granted us grace upon grace, mercy upon mercy, affection upon affection, and love upon love. When we pursue him through all the avenues available to us, a door is opened in which we discover all our heavenly Father longs to give us. May you grow in your pursuit of God this week as we study various ways we’ve been given to seek his face.

Scripture:“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” - Hebrews 10:24-25

Devotional:

We were not created to go about this life apart from relationship with fellow children of God. Without our brothers and sisters, we will never experience the fullness of life God intends for us. In  community, we discover our place in the body of Christ. In community, we learn what it is to serve out of love, honor, and respect. And in community, we receive the healing and love that can only come from those who share in the same Spirit.

Acts 2:42-47 says,

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 

Seeking God through Community

Weekly Overview:

Learning to seek the face of God is the foundation for experiencing the amazing life Jesus died to give us. We have available to us through Christ all the wonders, excellencies, and satisfaction we can fathom. God has granted us grace upon grace, mercy upon mercy, affection upon affection, and love upon love. When we pursue him through all the avenues available to us, a door is opened in which we discover all our heavenly Father longs to give us. May you grow in your pursuit of God this week as we study various ways we’ve been given to seek his face.

Scripture:“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” - Hebrews 10:24-25

Devotional:

We were not created to go about this life apart from relationship with fellow children of God. Without our brothers and sisters, we will never experience the fullness of life God intends for us. In  community, we discover our place in the body of Christ. In community, we learn what it is to serve out of love, honor, and respect. And in community, we receive the healing and love that can only come from those who share in the same Spirit.

Acts 2:42-47 says,

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 

 Acts 2 describes community that my soul longs for. We were made for honest, vulnerable fellowship. We were created to help each other, eat together, worship our God, and love others. Through engaging with fellow believers, we become a witness to the world of what happens when God works in the hearts of his children. We declare through our love for each other the life and joy that comes from relationship with our heavenly Father.

Scripture is clear that true community requires sacrifice and vulnerability. 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 says, “That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” God’s desire is for all his children to humble themselves and live as one body. When one part of a physical body hurts, the rest of the body feels the pain and works together to heal. God desires it to be the same among the spiritual body of believers. He desires to fill us with his love and use us to provide healing for one another. He longs to guide us to a lifestyle of humility and sacrifice in pursuit of being his hands and feet for each other.

It takes receiving the love of God to give love. It requires a work of the Spirit to fill us with courage to be vulnerable with our community in order to receive and give the love we’ve been given in Christ. So, will you be a child filled with the love of your Father today? Will you allow God to use you to help a brother or sister? Will you choose the purpose and joy that comes from living sacrificially and vulnerably? If so, you will discover a satisfaction only found in the edification that comes from believers loving one another. May you find the fellowship your heart longs for as you courageously love your brothers and sisters.

  Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the importance of community. Allow Scripture to fill you with a desire to love and be loved by your community.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” - Proverbs 27:17

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”- Acts 2:42-47

2. Reflect on your need for community. Where do you need the healing that comes from relationship with others? What people has God placed in your life? How can you in humility reach out to them for help?

   3. Take time and pray for an increase in God-filled community in your life. How does he want to use you to help another person today? How can you lead out in being courageously vulnerable? If you lack such a thing, ask God to provide you with this type of community to share life with.

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working . . . . My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” - James 5:13-16, 19-20

God doesn’t ask us to wait for others to step out and live in accordance with his Spirit before he calls us too. His will for us doesn’t hinge upon others’ obedience. God is calling you to a lifestyle of joyful service, sacrifice, and love regardless of people’s initiatives or responses. He longs to fill you with the courage to love others well and help them through their brokenness to a place of honesty and vulnerability. May you be the loving hands and feet of Jesus to your brothers and sisters who so desperately need a touch from God.    

Extended Reading: Philippians 2

          

When Joy Feels so Very Unrealistic..... LYSA TERKEURST

 When Joy Feels so Very Unrealistic

LYSA TERKEURST

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3 (NIV)

There’s no part of me that wants sorrow to be included in your journey or mine.

And honestly, there isn’t any plan God could present where I would willingly agree to heartbreak and pain.

But the longer I walk with the Lord, the more I see that picking and choosing what gets to be part of our stories would keep us from the ultimate good God has in mind.

If that seems hard to fathom in the midst of your own difficult circumstance today, I want to share some verses found in James that have helped me in my hardest seasons. I have to warn you: It might not feel good at first glance. But as we dig in together, I think you’ll see that it’s better to wrestle with Truth than to stay stuck in turmoil.

James 1:2-4 reminds us, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (NIV).

I confess I like these verses. Until I don’t. These words are easy to pull out when your worst issue is the drive-thru coffee joint got your order wrong. They frappéed your latte and waylaid the start of your workday.

But what about those other things we walk through? The ones that hurt too long? Or disappoint too deeply? Or feel devastatingly permanent?

To slap some “we should be joyful about this” platitudes on top of the hard things feels cruel. Like a bad joke about something excruciatingly painful. It’s just too soon for that kind of nonsense.

That’s why I’m glad these verses don’t say “feel the joy” but instead “consider where some glimpses of joy might be even in the midst of all the hurt.”

Our understanding of joy rises and falls on whether we truly trust God in the middle of what our human minds can’t see as good at all. It’s hard. So I like to think of it in terms of baking. Imagine if we decided to make a cake from scratch today.

After going to the store, we set out all the ingredients: the flour, butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, baking powder and a pinch of salt. But then maybe we felt too tired to mix it all together and make the cake. Instead, we thought we could just enjoy the cake one ingredient at a time. The thing is we don’t like some of the individual ingredients, so we’d rather leave them out.

The flour is too dry — leave it out. The sugar, butter and vanilla are all good — leave them in! The eggs are just gross when raw — definitely leave those out! And then our cake would never be made “… mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4, NIV).

We are so quick to judge the quality of our lives and the reliability of God based on individual events rather than on the eventual good God is working together. We must know that, just like the master baker has reasons to allow the flour and eggs in right measure into the recipe, Jesus, “the author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2, NASB 1995), will do the same with dry times and hard times.

And yes, we may have to go through some chaos in the mixing and some heat in the baking, but soon we will rise and live lives that are a sweet offering of hope, grace, peace and comfort to others. That’s how we can consider it pure joy today. We can also make peace with the fact that sorrow and celebration can quite authentically coexist together in a heart. Mixing them together is part of the recipe of life.

We can sit with and tend to all that still needs to be healed and at the same time laugh, plan for great things ahead and declare this a glorious day.

To have both sorrow and celebration in our heart isn’t denial.

It’s deeming life a gift — even if it looks nothing like we thought it would right now.

Our sorrows make our hearts more tender and allow us to grieve. Our celebrations tend to our heart’s need to recognize what is beautiful about our life, get back up and go on.

Let’s embrace the mix of all that’s worthy of celebration while fully allowing sorrow to add what it brings as well — knowing we can trust Jesus’ recipe of purpose in both the pain and the joy.

Father God, when joy feels so very unrealistic, help me consider where glimpses of joy might be found throughout my day today. Help me bring the perspective of both sorrow and celebration to my circumstances, and keep reminding me that Your plans for me are still good. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

What Does it Mean to Be Fearfully and Wonderfully Made?..... By: Jennifer Heeren

 What Does it Mean to Be Fearfully and Wonderfully Made?

By: Jennifer Heeren

BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY: “So, God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

The human body is a unique design of multiple systems that all work intricately together. The cardiovascular system gives you energy to move. The muscular system gives you the ability to move, lift, and hold things. The digestive system processes food into energy and discards waste. The immune system keeps you healthy. The hormonal system determines your gender. The eyes cause you to see. The nose lets you smell. The tongue and mouth let you eat and taste. The ears enable you to hear. And your skin enables you to feel textures. You were also blessed with a brain so you can think, process, and create.

God created you on purpose with love.

You were made with a hole in the center of your soul that only one thing fits. Until you find that very specific something, you will never be fulfilled. And that very specific something is God Himself. You were designed with an intense need of your Creator, God. Without a relationship with Him, you will always be searching for something to fill that void.

Drugs, alcohol, food, money, sex, material goods, occupations, hobbies, travel, success, fame—these are some of the ways in which we try to fill that empty space inside. But none of those things will ever fill it. They are like round pegs in square holes. The vacant areas at the edges will still leave you desiring more of something else. Whatever you attempt to put in there will dissipate because it never completely fills the space. Those things were never meant to fill the space; they never can.

Sadly, many continue to shove mismatched pegs into that hole. A little of this, a little of that… hoping that one day they will feel complete. They surmise that this thing over here didn’t work but maybe this other thing will do it. They just haven’t found the right thing yet but one day they hope they will.

People want to look to everyone and everything else before they turn to God.

Fortunately, God made a way for us to repent and turn to Him by sending His very own Son to make the way.

When you do finally realize that without God you are unable to make the most of yourself, that’s when things begin to change. The clay cannot mold itself no matter how hard it tries. However, God, the Potter, can not only mold His clay but He also knows what His original design of you was. He is both a Potter and an Architect with a Master Plan.

Do I always feel like I am fearfully and wonderfully made? No. Sin and pride always want to drag me back into my own way of thinking. The same thinking that kept me reaching for those mismatched pegs. Those thoughts tell me that I can do whatever I want, by myself, without God. They lie and they don’t even make sense. They say I can do anything but then turn around and say that I’m not good enough to do what I want to do. Feelings can’t be trusted unless they line up with the Word of God. And the Word of God tells me that I’m fearfully and wonderfully made for a specific purpose. Therefore, with God’s help, I will walk in that purpose as often as I can.

Whether I always feel it or not, I can trust God and His plans for my very life.

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Are You Bearing Fruit?..... by Ryan Duncan

 Are You Bearing Fruit?

by Ryan Duncan

"No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.” – Luke 8:16

One of the traditions my family had while I was growing up was that every fall we would go apple picking at a place called Edwards Orchard. It was a great place. There were barn animals for kids to feed, a maze that my siblings and I would always cheat to win, and a small kitchen that made the best apple doughnuts on this continent. Once we had exhausted ourselves on all the activities and eaten enough doughnuts to last us for days, our parents would load us up on the orchard's wagons, and we would go into the trees to pick apples.

Afterwards, we'd enjoy a long stretch of apple-related meals at home, and I was particularly fond of my mother’s upside-down apple pie. Then one year, as we clambered out of our van like usual, we were met by an employee who informed us the orchard had closed that season. I don’t remember exactly why -- I think a storm had damaged most of the trees -- but the absence of our usual Macintosh apples was pretty noticeable the following week. This was the memory that jumped to my mind a few days ago, as I was reading the book of Luke. Take a look at the following verses,

And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'" –Luke 13:6-9

The simple truth is that there is not much use in a fruit tree that doesn’t grow fruit, just like there isn’t much use in a Christian that isn’t living out Christ’s teachings. God made us, the Church, to be people of growth and action. It is his desire that we constantly seek to mature in our faith, and the way we do that is by getting involved in the world around us. It doesn’t have to be anything big. Become a greeter at your Church, make a small donation, or bring a meal to the couple that just had a baby. All that matters is if your heart is providing a harvest for God because you never know what he’ll do with the spiritual fruit you create.

Intersecting Faith and Life: Find your own way to serve Christ’s Kingdom, no matter how small.

Further Reading
Luke 14

A Prayer for When You Need Help..... By Tiffany Thibault

 A Prayer for When You Need Help

By Tiffany Thibault

I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. - Psalm 118:13

There are so many situations that cross our paths, that intrude into our lives, which so quickly throw us off balance.  When those difficult, unexpected things happen, we feel as though we are falling. Relationship issues, job loss, illness. No person is exempt from difficult times. 

Sometimes we can be strong enough to keep on moving through the situation, keeping our chin up, hoping that tomorrow will be a better day. 

Then there are other times when we walk through seasons of struggles that causes us to drop to our knees as we emotionally stumble, crawl or drag ourselves through, hanging on it seems for dear life. 

Seasons of hard circumstances and difficult relationships leave us exhausted emotionally and mentally discouraged. Seasons of job future outlooks and unknowns leave us worried and deprive us of our sleep. Seasons of grieving the loss of a child, spouse or parent leave our souls raw and empty. 

There are times when too many struggles and difficult moments leave us gasping for breath, leaving us feeling as though the very ground has collapsed beneath us and we are falling, falling into a pit and cannot see the end of the fall.

Have faith though! Just as David, the author of this verse wrote: I was pushed hard, so that I was falling. He had many difficult situations in his life that he had to walk through, but he kept his eyes on the Lord through them all. His faith allowed him to not only endure but to grow tremendous faith through them all.

For us, it is while we are walking through the hardest moments of our lives, that usually find us pouring our fears and pain out to the Lord for His help. We can beg Him for mercy in this situation. We can plead with Him for some relief as we journey through. Even when we are falling, we can allow peace to flood our souls. Through it all, we can fully rely on His strength and grow our faith as we journey faithfully through our difficulties. 

This verse encourages us to remember that the Lord is there to help us. There is no situation or circumstance that He cannot help us through. 

As we continue through our lives, we can live a life of faith. We can walk boldly through each new circumstance, because we can trust God to be there. We can trust God to help us. As we remember how He helped us in the past, we can step forward in faith, in confidence, knowing that He will also see us through each new difficulty that enters into our life. We can boldly declare in faith, over all our circumstances and say: “The Lord helped me.” 

Dear Lord, 

Thank you for your faithfulness to me in the past as you helped me through difficult times. Thank you that there is no situation or circumstance that is too difficult for you. Lord, you promise here in your word, that you will help me. I need your help desperately right now. This situation is too much for me. I am overwhelmed and feel like I am falling. There is no one else who can help get me through this except you. Thank you Lord that you are near, that you hold my past, present and future in your hands.   I walk in faith, thanking you Lord, that you will get me through this.

In Jesus Name, Amen.