"Because He Trusts Us!"

Mrs. Cowman's classic devotional book, "Streams in the Desert", was my Mom's daily encourager as she raised me and my brothers. Married to a fisherman who had to be away from home often, much of the day-to-day parenting was left up to Mom to fulfill. We watched her pray and soak in God's Word and especially Mrs. Cowman's inspirational pen was her strong pal.

Years later, Mom's three sons would all become local pastors. The same writings Mom cut her spiritual teeth on, in time, also became ours. 

This page from "Streams in the Desert" has proven to be the most powerful page in the book in my estimation. So, here it is. (The Bible verse at the end especially explains so very much and rights so much bad theology in our world.)

"Beloved, do not be surprised at the ordeal that has come to test you....you are sharing what Christ suffered; so rejoice in it."(1 Peter 4:12.) 

MANY a waiting hour was needful to enrich the harp of David, and many a waiting hour in the wilderness will gather for us a psalm of "thanksgiving, and the voice of melody," to cheer the hearts of fainting ones here below, and to make glad our Father's house on high. 

What was the preparation of the son of Jesse for the songs like unto which none other have ever sounded on this earth? 

The outrage of the wicked, which brought forth cries for God's help. Then the faint hope in God's goodness blossomed into a song of rejoicing for His mighty deliverances and manifold mercies. Every sorrow was another string to his harp; every deliverance another theme for praise. 

One thrill of anguish spared, one blessing unmarked or unprized, one difficulty or danger evaded, great would have been our loss in that thrilling Psalmody in which God's people today find the expression of their grief or praise! 

To wait for God, and to suffer His will, is to know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings, and to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. So now, if the vessel is to be enlarged for spiritual understanding, be not affrighted at the wider sphere of suffering that awaits you. The Divine capacity of sympathy will have a more extended sphere, for the breathing of the Holy Ghost in the new creation never made a stoic, but left the heart's affection tender and true. --- Anna Shipton. 

"He tested me ere He entrusted me." (1 Tim. 1:12.) (Way's Trans.)

Did you get that? God tests us, yes, He allows us seasons of suffering even times of uncertainty, not because He's mad at us, but because HE TRUSTS US!

Holiness Unto The Lord!

Grateful 

A New Perspective on Suffering

This past week the Lord has allowed and continues to allow me a new perspective on pain, yes especially physical suffering. Because of this new vision, I sense I am now able to appreciate to a greater degree the beatings, the severe physical punishment, and the brutal crucifixion that our Suffering Savior experienced. How His Holy Heart must have flinched in unspeakable terror.

Yes, my heart is experiencing blessed brokenness like never before. It's a good thing. Not easy, but good. In it all, I have only been able to cry out: "Thank You, Jesus. Thank You for what You willingly endured to save our souls from sin and eternal damnation. And forgive me for not thinking more often of the awful price of suffering You paid so that my soul might not perish forever."

Holiness Unto YOU, my LORD! I worship You, in the beauty of Your Holiness. 

I love you so much, Lord, because You first Loved me TOO MUCH!
Grateful 

"My Cup Overflows"

Summer is zooming past us, in case you needed to know :-). Hard to believe it is already July 17, 2013. Like, "whoa", already. Time continues to carry us closer and closer to Eternity.

How's your day going? Just to be honest with you, I never like beginning my day with back pain, and only to add insult to injury, wouldn't you know that I cut myself shaving. I'm really not whining, just being vulnerable. One of the first verses to come into my mind after I awoke this morning was from the Old Testament Book of Job, chapter 13 and verse 15: "Though He slay me, yet will I hope/trust in Him."

What I am saying is this: Life has a way of making sure we experience some measure of suffering. I know back pain and a facial cut are just small samples of suffering, yet both truly speak to the human condition.

Last evening in our Tuesday Campmeeting service at Table Rock, South Carolina, I continued to share from Matthew 11:28-30 and John 15:4. And once again, I only shared one-page of what I had written down and then the stories just came flowing from my heart.

Somehow, I eventually ended up at The 23rd Psalm -- especially verse 5b: "He anoints my head with oil. My cup overflows." I told the people how any good shepherd anoints his sheep at night so they can rest. The aroma and the rubbing of the oil lets the sheep know they are not alone. Especially it lets the sheep with pain know, they are not alone in their suffering. What comfort.

As a conclusion to the service, I had seven pastors come to the front with anointing oil and then it seemed nearly everyone one in "the fold" came for a fresh touch and a renewed reminder that His Presence, yes the Good Shepherd's Presence, is both with us and within us. In the end, I went to be anointed as well. It was a glorious moment. It's like we all received healing for our restless hearts.

So, this morning when I awoke still experiencing back pain and then I cut myself shaving, I just talked to the Good Shepherd. I am not alone. And though He hasn't seen fit to completely heal me yet, His Holy Presence with me and especially within me makes it all okay. Surely, "my cup overflows" with His Good Presence and I know His grace is enough. My soul is at rest.

Time for me to head out for the morning service. Thanks for your continued prayers, partners.

Baaa. Baaa.
Grateful

Why Jesus Was Wounded And Punished

(4) He certainly has taken upon Himself our suffering and carried our sorrows, but we thought that God had wounded Him, beat Him, and punished Him. (5) He was wounded for our rebellious acts. He was crushed for our sins. He was punished so that we could have peace, and we received healing from His wounds.
-- Isaiah 53:4-5 (GWT)

Let us turn from all rebellion and embrace Him with awe.
Grateful

Our Suffering is Temporary

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.
-- Helen Keller

Our suffering is light and temporary and is producing for us an eternal glory that is greater than anything we can imagine.
-- 2 Corinthians 4:17 (GWT)

Jesus, You are the Overseer of the overcomers.
Grateful

Nobody Escapes Being Wounded

Nobody escapes being wounded. We all are wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not "How can we hide our wounds?" so we don't have to be embarrassed, but "How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?" When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers. Jesus is God's wounded healer: through His wounds we are healed. Jesus' suffering and death brought joy and life. His humiliation brought glory; His rejection brought a community of love.
-- Henri Nouwen

He was wounded for our rebellious acts. He was crushed for our sins. He was punished so that we could have peace, and we received healing from his wounds.
-- Isaiah 53:5 (GWT)

Click: YouTube - Jesus Painter "By His Wounds" Glory Revealed

Crucified With Christ,
Grateful

A Rich Man And Lazarus

Have you considered the New Testament story that Jesus told about A Rich Man and Lazarus lately?

Here it is. I'd love to receive your comments after reading it afresh and anew:

(19) “There was a rich man who wore expensive clothes. Every day was like a party to him. (20) There was also a beggar named Lazarus who was regularly brought to the gate of the rich man’s house. (21) Lazarus would have eaten any scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Lazarus was covered with sores, and dogs would lick them. (22) “One day the beggar died, and the angels carried him to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. (23) He went to hell, where he was constantly tortured. As he looked up, in the distance he saw Abraham and Lazarus. (24) He yelled, ‘Father Abraham! Have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool off my tongue. I am suffering in this fire.’ (25) “Abraham replied, ‘Remember, my child, that you had a life filled with good times, while Lazarus’ life was filled with misery. Now he has peace here, while you suffer. (26)Besides, a wide area separates us. People couldn’t cross it in either direction even if they wanted to.’ (27) “The rich man responded, ‘Then I ask you, Father, to send Lazarus back to my father’s home. (28) I have five brothers. He can warn them so that they won’t end up in this place of torture.’ (29) “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses’ Teachings and the Prophets. Your brothers should listen to them!’ (30) “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! If someone comes back to them from the dead, they will turn to God and change the way they think and act.’ (31) “Abraham answered him, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses’ Teachings and the Prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone comes back to life.’ ”
-- Luke 16:19-31 (God's Word Translation)

Sobering Story,
Grateful

Through Suffering We Gain A Friendship.

Suffering is grand when the heart is right with God. Through suffering we gain a friendship with God. Oh, unspeakably blessed is the suffering of the sanctified.
-- Oswald Chambers

I want to know Christ and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings...
-- The Apostle Paul, Philippians 3:10 (NIV)

Count it all joy! (James 1:2-4)
Grateful

My Heart's Prayer As Easter Draws Near

Lord, during this season leading up to the celebration of Your Resurrection, You invite me to enter more totally into the mystery of Your suffering. I believe You are inviting me into a deeper desire that I might continue to know You with ever-increasing intimacy. As I journey on the way that You have charted for me, help me to embrace the burdens that I am to bear for my own good and more especially for Your glory. If I know my heart, I have died to the desire to choose my own way and to want what I want. The goal is not to be a hero but a servant like You, who Loves You. In Your marvelous and matchless Name I pray. Amen.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. -- Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

Count it all joy.
Grateful

But Among You It Will Be Different.

In this New Testament passage, Jesus teaches His own about serving others. The first seven words of verse 43 is where Jesus really nails the truth home for those of us who will be called "His fully devoted disciples".

(35) Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to Him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.” (36) “What is your request?” He asked. (37) They replied, “When You sit on Your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to You, one on Your right and the other on Your left.” (38) But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” (39) “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from My bitter cup and be baptized with My baptism of suffering. (40) But I have no right to say who will sit on My right or My left. God has prepared those places for the ones He has chosen.” (41) When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. (42) So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. (43) But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, (44) and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. (45) For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
-- Mark 10:35-43 (NLT)

Consider it all joy. -- James 1:2-4
Grateful

Vision from Brother Job (of all People)

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) says : Where there is no vision, the people perish.

I've been reading lately from the Old Testament Book of Job and my heart is encouraged by what he could see with the eyes of his soul especially in the midst of his personal suffering that was too awful for words.

Yes, Job said this in Job 19, verses 25 and 27:

But as for me, I know my Redeemer lives and He will stand upon the earth at last... I will see Him for myself. Yes, I will see Him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought.

Let's lift up our heads, my brother and sisters. Our Redeemer is Alive and Well! Yes, His Help is on the way. Our Deliverer is Coming! Are we overwhelmed at the thought?
Grateful

We Were Restored to Friendship With God By the Death of His Son!

My friend, Brian, leads our Mens' 20/20 Dawn Patrol Bible Saturation every second and fourth Tuesday morning of the week. Presently, we are saturating in the New Testament Book of Romans. This morning our concentration was on Romans 5. The opening paragraphs are so inspiring that I sensed I should share them with all the world, especially with you :-).

(I invite you to read these wonderful words aloud and to discover how long it takes for your own soul to be moved):

(1) Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. (2) Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. (3) We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to endure. (4) And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. (5) And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. (6) When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. (7) Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. (8) But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (9) And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s judgment. (10) For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by His life. (11) So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God. -- Romans 5:1-11 (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Singing for Rain

I'm not a music technological person at all, but I do own a simple MP3 player that holds about 200 songs that really do make up the soundtrack of my life.

Yesterday, I flipped one of the few switches on my simple little music-playing gadget, the switch that repeats one song over and over and over again until you're done listening to it. I'm not sure how many times I listened to the Mercy Me song titled Bring the Rain. I didn't count, however, I can say it's already a day later and I still have the repeat switch on for the same singing for rain song.

Here are the words. Let them saturate your soul and as you listen I invite you to ask the question: Is this really my testimony?

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain
I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV) -- (10) I want to know Christ and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, (11) and so, somehow, to attain to the Resurrection from the dead.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

A New Song of Beautiful Joy

For the one who belongs exclusively to God, yes for the saint, suffering is not merely something to escape but something to be entered into so that a new song of beautiful joy might be born and sung for the glory of the Lord.

A new song of beautiful joy always requires the blessing of bountiful rain storms. Lord, give me wings to rise above the storms of suffering with singing. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The suffering You sent was good for me... Psalm 119:71 (NLT)

Sing a new song to the LORD!
Sing His praises from the ends of the earth!
Sing, all you who sail the seas,
all you who live in distant coastlands.
-- Isaiah 42:10 (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Yes, Ascension Is Just Above Suffering!

On my multiple pilgrimages to the Holy Land, one particuarly geographical reality is very inspiring: The Place of Jesus' Ascension, The Mount of Olives, is located just above The Place of Jesus' Suffering, Gethsemane. This visual surely inspires hope.

Standing there, I hear my Granny's death-bed chant resounding in the depths of my soul. Yes, simply and profoundly because my Granny's death-bed chant was in reality a delightful cheer: If I suffer with Him, I shall reign with him. (My Granny's Paraphrase of 2 Timothy 2:12 KJV)

Be encouraged, friends of Jesus. Let us keep our heads up while our knees are down, because The Gate of Suffering always leads to The Mount of Celebration for those Who belong to Christ. Indeed, the bitterness of Gethsemane's Olive Grove is but the entry way to the blessedness of The Mount of Olives! Earthly suffering with Jesus ultimately gives way to Eternally reigning with Jesus.

Yes, if we endure suffering with Jesus today, we can expect celebration with Jesus tomorrow.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Beauty For Ashes

Crystal Lewis sings one of my favorites songs based on Isaiah 61:3. Here are the lovely lyrics:

He gives beauty for ashes
Strength for fear
Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair

When sorrow seems to surround you
When suffering hangs heavy o'er your head
Know that tomorrow brings Wholeness and healing
God knows your need
Just believe what He said

He gives beauty for ashes
Strength for fear
Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair

When what you've done keeps you from moving on
When fear wants to make itself at home in your heart
Know that forgiveness brings
Wholeness and healing
God knows your need
Just believe what He said

He gives beauty for ashes
Strength for fear
Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair

I once was lost but God has found me
Though I was bound I've been set free
I've been made righteous in His sight
A display of His splendor all can see

He gives beauty for ashes
Strength for fear
Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair

To all who mourn in Israel, He will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for His own glory.
Isaiah 61:3 (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Trusting & Suffering? Both Are Privileges!

For you have been given...
not only the privilege of trusting in Christ...
but also the privilege of suffering for him.
-- Philippians 1:29 (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Feeling As If God's Forgotten You?

(-: MY LONGEST BLOG POST YET! CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED! :-)

If you are feeling as if God's forgotten you, can I invite you to read the Old Testament Book of Job, yes the whole book, and read it if you can from the the Message Paraphrase of the Holy Bible. It is powerful, humbling, and helpful, especially if we want to somehow get a view of our human seasons of seemingly undeserved suffering from God's All-knowing perspective.

Here's Eugene Peterson's Introduction to the Book of Job from His Message Paraphrase of the Holy Bible just in case you want to take a few minutes to whet your appetite? It's a little long but a lot enlightening.

Job suffered. His name is synonymous with suffering. He asked, "Why?" He asked, "Why me?" And he put his questions to God. He asked his questions persistently, passionately, and eloquently. He refused to take silence for an answer. He refused to take clichés for an answer. He refused to let God off the hook.

Job did not take his sufferings quietly or piously. He disdained going for a second opinion to outside physicians or philosophers. Job took his stance before God, and there he protested his suffering, protested mightily.

It is not only because Job suffered that he is important to us. It is because he suffered in the same ways that we suffer—in the vital areas of family, personal health, and material things. Job is also important to us because he searchingly questioned and boldly protested his suffering. Indeed, he went "to the top" with his questions.

It is not suffering as such that troubles us. It is undeserved suffering. Almost all of us in our years of growing up have the experience of disobeying our parents and getting punished for it. When that discipline was connected with wrongdoing, it had a certain sense of justice to it: When we do wrong, we get punished.

One of the surprises as we get older, however, is that we come to see that there is no real correlation between the amount of wrong we commit and the amount of pain we experience. An even larger surprise is that very often there is something quite the opposite: We do right and get knocked down. We do the best we are capable of doing, and just as we are reaching out to receive our reward we are hit from the blind side and sent reeling.

This is the suffering that first bewilders and then outrages us. This is the kind of suffering that bewildered and outraged Job, for Job was doing everything right when suddenly everything went wrong. And it is this kind of suffering to which Job gives voice when he protests to God.

Job gives voice to his sufferings so well, so accurately and honestly, that anyone who has ever suffered—which includes every last one of us—can recognize his or her personal pain in the voice of Job. Job says boldly what some of us are too timid to say. He makes poetry out of what in many of us is only a tangle of confused whimpers. He shouts out to God what a lot of us mutter behind our sleeves. He refuses to accept the role of a defeated victim.
It is also important to note what Job does not do, lest we expect something from him that he does not intend. Job does not curse God as his wife suggests he should do, getting rid of the problem by getting rid of God. But neither does Job explain suffering. He does not instruct us in how to live so that we can avoid suffering. Suffering is a mystery, and Job comes to respect the mystery.

In the course of facing, questioning, and respecting suffering, Job finds himself in an even larger mystery—the mystery of God. Perhaps the greatest mystery in suffering is how it can bring a person into the presence of God in a state of worship, full of wonder, love, and praise. Suffering does not inevitably do that, but it does it far more often than we would expect. It certainly did that for Job. Even in his answer to his wife he speaks the language of an uncharted irony, a dark and difficult kind of truth: "We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?"

But there is more to the book of Job than Job. There are Job’s friends. The moment we find ourselves in trouble of any kind—sick in the hospital, bereaved by a friend’s death, dismissed from a job or relationship, depressed or bewildered—people start showing up telling us exactly what is wrong with us and what we must do to get better. Sufferers attract fixers the way road-kills attract vultures. At first we are impressed that they bother with us and amazed at their facility with answers. They know so much! How did they get to be such experts in living?

More often than not, these people use the Word of God frequently and loosely. They are full of spiritual diagnosis and prescription. It all sounds so hopeful. But then we begin to wonder, "Why is it that for all their apparent compassion we feel worse instead of better after they’ve said their piece?"

The book of Job is not only a witness to the dignity of suffering and God’s presence in our suffering but is also our primary biblical protest against religion that has been reduced to explanations or "answers." Many of the answers that Job’s so-called friends give him are technically true. But it is the "technical" part that ruins them. They are answers without personal relationship, intellect without intimacy. The answers are slapped onto Job’s ravaged life like labels on a specimen bottle. Job rages against this secularized wisdom that has lost touch with the living realities of God.

In every generation there are men and women who pretend to be able to instruct us in a way of life that guarantees that we will be "healthy, wealthy, and wise." According to the propaganda of these people, anyone who lives intelligently and morally is exempt from suffering. From their point of view, it is lucky for us that they are now at hand to provide the intelligent and moral answers we need.

On behalf of all of us who have been misled by the platitudes of the nice people who show up to tell us everything is going to be just all right if we simply think such-and-such and do such-and-such, Job issues an anguished rejoinder. He rejects the kind of advice and teaching that has God all figured out, that provides glib explanations for every circumstance. Job’s honest defiance continues to be the best defense against the clichés of positive thinkers and the prattle of religious small talk.

The honest, innocent Job is placed in a setting of immense suffering and then surrounded by the conventional religious wisdom of the day in the form of speeches by Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu. The contrast is unforgettable. The counselors methodically and pedantically recite their bookish precepts to Job. At first Job rages in pain and roars out his protests, but then he becomes silent in awestruck faith before God, who speaks from out of a storm—a "whirlwind" of Deity. Real faith cannot be reduced to spiritual bromides and merchandised in success stories. It is refined in the fires and the storms of pain.
The book of Job does not reject answers as such. There is content to biblical religion. It is the secularization of answers that is rejected—answers severed from their Source, the living God, the Word that both batters us and heals us. We cannot have truth about God divorced from the mind and heart of God.

In our compassion, we don’t like to see people suffer. And so our instincts are aimed at preventing and alleviating suffering. No doubt that is a good impulse. But if we really want to reach out to others who are suffering, we should be careful not to be like Job’s friends, not to do our "helping" with the presumption that we can fix things, get rid of them, or make them "better." We may look at our suffering friends and imagine how they could have better marriages, better behaved children, better mental and emotional health. But when we rush in to fix suffering, we need to keep in mind several things.

First, no matter how insightful we may be, we don’t really understand the full nature of our friends’ problems. Second, our friends may not want our advice. Third, the ironic fact of the matter is that more often than not, people do not suffer less when they are committed to following God, but more. When these people go through suffering, their lives are often transformed, deepened, marked with beauty and holiness, in remarkable ways that could never have been anticipated before the suffering.

So, instead of continuing to focus on preventing suffering—which we simply won’t be very successful at anyway—perhaps we should begin entering the suffering, participating insofar as we are able—entering the mystery and looking around for God. In other words, we need to quit feeling sorry for people who suffer and instead look up to them, learn from them, and—if they will let us—join them in protest and prayer. Pity can be nearsighted and condescending; shared suffering can be dignifying and life-changing. As we look at Job’s suffering and praying and worshiping, we see that he has already blazed a trail of courage and integrity for us to follow.

But sometimes it’s hard to know just how to follow Job’s lead when we feel so alone in our suffering, unsure of what God wants us to do. What we must realize during those times of darkness is that the God who appeared to Job in the whirlwind is calling out to all of us. Although God may not appear to us in a vision, he makes himself known to us in all the many ways that he describes to Job—from the macro to the micro, from the wonders of the galaxies to the little things we take for granted. He is the Creator of the unfathomable universe all around us—and he is also the Creator of the universe inside of us. And so we gain hope—not from the darkness of our suffering, not from pat answers in books, but from the God who sees our suffering and shares our pain.

Reading Job prayerfully and meditatively leads us to face the questions that arise when our lives don’t turn out the way we expect them to. First we hear all the stock answers. Then we ask the questions again, with variations—and hear the answers again, with variations. Over and over and over. Every time we let Job give voice to our own questions, our suffering gains in dignity and we are brought a step closer to the threshold of the voice and mystery of God. Every time we persist with Job in rejecting the quick-fix counsel of people who see us and hear us but do not understand us, we deepen our availability and openness to the revelation that comes only out of the tempest. The mystery of God eclipses the darkness and the struggle. We realize that suffering calls our lives into question, not God’s. The tables are turned: God-Alive is present to us. God is speaking to us. And so Job’s experience is confirmed and repeated once again in our suffering and our vulnerable humanity.

ALL JOY!
Grateful

The Power of Prayer, Praise, and Confession

James 5 contains these verses of encouragement for those of us who will believe in The Power of Prayer, Praise, and Confession:

(13) Are any among you suffering? They should keep on praying about it. And those who have reason to be thankful should continually sing praises to the Lord.
(14) Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
(15) And their prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well. And anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.
(16) Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.
(17) Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for the next three and a half years!
(18) Then he prayed for rain, and down it poured. The grass turned green, and the crops began to grow again. (New Living Translation)

ALL JOY!
Grateful

The Losers Win? Yes We Do.

In Luke 17:33 (MSG) Jesus said, If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms.

Galatians 2:20 (MSG) helps us to know more clearly what it means "to lose our lives": Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

And in Philippians 3:7-11 (NLT) the Apostle Paul applied the lose-your-life words of Jesus to his own life with these words: (7) But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. (8) Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; (10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (11) if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

So is it correct to say that "The Losers Win" in the Kingdom of God? Yes, in fact losing is a core value of Christlike winners. Think about it. On Crucifixion Friday Jesus looked like the #1 Loser of all losers, but on Resurrection Sunday He proved to be the #1 Winner of all winners! Indeed, Jesus turned His loss on Friday's Cross into our gain outside Sunday's Tomb. Let's exhale. The Losers Win? Yes, We Do!

ALL JOY!
Grateful